Rookery block’s fate unclear

A deal to save the threatened 1934 Rookery and 1915 Mohawk buildings in downtown Spokane was put on hold Monday, increasing the possibility the two structures could be demolished.

Spokane City Council members suspended action on the deal Monday after a prospective buyer failed to submit a required deposit of $100,000 on the $4.8 million sale.

Developers Ron and Julie Wells of Wells & Co. of Spokane submitted the only purchase proposal last week in a round of bidding initiated by the city in January after the city intervened to stop demolition of the buildings last November.

“The deal is not going forward as planned,” John Pilcher, the city’s economic development director, told the council on Monday.

He said that the Wellses were continuing to seek a financing package to purchase the building through the city from longtime owner Wendell Reugh of Spokane.

Reugh, who agreed to stop demolition to give the city time to find a purchaser, reportedly was willing to wait to see if the Wellses could come through with money to close the deal, Pilcher said.

Joanne Moyer of Spokane Preservation Advocates, which has pushed to save the buildings, said she hasn’t given up hope. “It’s dicey at best,” Moyer conceded.

Human services funding

In other business Monday, the council on a 4-3 vote approved $223,000 in additional grant allocations for city human services agencies, but it wasn’t clear whether there were enough votes to change the 2006 city budget to come up with the extra money.

Council members Brad Stark, Nancy McLaughlin and Al French tried but failed to limit the additional grants to $195,000. Council President Joe Shogan was joined by council members Rob Crow, Bob Apple and Mary Verner in favoring the higher amount.

The money would go to Community Health Association of Spokane, YWCA, East Central Community Center’s board, Shalom Ministries, Holy Family Hospital, Spokane Guilds’ School and a joint nursing education program for medical care, schooling for homeless children, a free-lunch program and other help for low-income residents.

The council would need five votes to add the funding to its 2006 budget, which sets up a showdown in the next few weeks between the four council members who favored the higher funding level and the three who favored spending less.

Busto gets extra $17,000

Also, the council voted 4-3 in favor of adding $17,000 to a contract with Seattle-area lawyer Mark Busto, who was hired last year to conduct an independent investigation into the workplace conduct of former Mayor Jim West. Busto originally was given a contract of up to $15,000. That amount was later increased to $20,000. Busto’s bill eventually came to $37,000.

Shogan, Crow, Apple and Verner voted in favor of the contract increase after Mayor Dennis Hession said Busto’s charges accelerated when West sought to seal contents of his computer hard drive from release to the public last November.

Pet license fees to go up

In yet another matter, the council late Monday approved a one-year contract extension for animal control through the SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. organization that would be financed in part through modest increases in license fees for cats and dogs.

Licenses for spayed and neutered cats would increase from $7.50 to $8 a year and for spayed and neutered dogs from $12 to $13. Both fees would match those in Spokane County.

Licenses for non-spayed or non-neutered cats would increase from $10 to $25 a year and for non-spayed and non-neutered dogs from $23 to $50 a year.

Apple explained the new license fees would encourage residents to spay and neuter their pets. He also said the higher fees will allow SpokAnimal to continue serving the city for at least one more year, and give the city time to reassess its animal control services.