Spokane Valley Council: Lease cuts City Hall rent

The Spokane Valley City Council breezed through their agenda Tuesday night, voting to appoint a new planning commissioner, extend their lease on City Hall and award the first street preservation contract of the season.

Mayor Tom Towey had the task of deciding between land surveyor Michael Phillips and real estate appraiser Sam Wood for the vacant planning commission seat. Both men serve on the Carnhope Water District board and are very qualified, Towey said. “You always try to get the best person for the job and try to get a person that will be compatible with the planning commission,” he said.

Towey recommended Phillips for the position and his selection was confirmed by a vote of the council.

The council voted unanimously to approve a four-year extension of the City Hall lease. Finance director Mark Calhoun said he was able to negotiate an 18.4 percent reduction in the annual cost for the first year, which will save the city $73,596. The annual cost will go up 2 percent each year for the final three years of the lease. Overall the city will save $245,000 over the life of the contract, Calhoun said. The agreement also has a clause that allows the city to break the lease after three years if it gives six months notice.

The council thanked Calhoun for his efforts to save the city money. “Would you mind putting that into road preservation?” said Councilman Chuck Hafner.

In other business, the council awarded the first street preservation contract of the season to Inland Asphalt to redo Sullivan Road between the Spokane River and Trent Avenue. The company won’t have to go far to do the work; Inland is located on Sullivan Road just north of the Spokane River.

The winning bid, which includes storm water improvements, is for $1.1 million. The city had estimated that it would cost $1.4 million, said senior capital projects engineer Steve Worley. “We feel like this is a great price for the work that we’re doing,” he said.

The preservation portion of the project will be a little different than usual. Typically the city grinds off the top 2 inches of asphalt and then replaces it with fresh asphalt. An analysis showed that the asphalt on Sullivan Road is too thin to support the heavy truck traffic that uses it and the city will be doing an overlay to add thickness in addition to grinding and replacing the usual 2 inches, Worley said. “Once we’re done here, the road should last a good long time,” he said.