John Craig

A plan to develop new shoreline regulations in Spokane Valley generated little enthusiasm Tuesday among City Council members. Several members resented having to spend $150,000 of city money for a new Shoreline Master Program the state wants.

Newman Lake Fire & Rescue commissioners will conduct a public hearing Monday on their proposed 2010 budget. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at Station 1, 10236 N. West Newman Lake Drive. The $575,415 budget is up 2.7 percent from this year’s total of $560,098.

Spokane Valley City Council members enthusiastically received a consulting report Tuesday that recommended they maintain their contract with Spokane County District Court. Based on the report, it “looks like we want to continue our partnership with the county,” Councilman Ian Robertson said.

Dean Grafos so far has spent nearly $16,000 to win a seat on the Spokane Valley City Council, more than twice as much as any of the city’s other candidates. Public Disclosure Commission reports through September showed Grafos’ $15,869 campaign to unseat Ian Robertson was the 42nd-most expensive municipal campaign in the state.

Spokane Valley voters must choose between City Council members who slashed $10 million from the budget or challengers who would “just say NO to deficit spending.” At least that was the dilemma posed in a double-barrel blast of campaign advertisements last week. Both views offer more rhetoric than fact.

With smoke coming out of an apartment Monday and no one responding to their knocks, Spokane Valley firefighters were just about to break down the door. Other tenants at the Applewood Apartments, 4403 E. Eighth Ave., evacuated when the alarm sounded, but the tenant of the smoking apartment didn’t respond even when someone telephoned him.

Court records show Spokane Valley City Council candidate Dean Grafos admitted in 1983 that his mobile home business “knowingly and willfully” committed four federal felonies. Newspaper clippings about the court case, in which Grafos wasn’t personally charged with any wrongdoing, were delivered to The Spokesman-Review by a supporter of incumbent Councilman Ian Robertson.

Like an orchestra after a discordant warm-up, Spokane Valley’s police contract players began hitting the same notes at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “Go figure,” Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said afterward, smiling.

Developers would be allowed to exceed density limits under a proposal to increase low-income housing in Spokane Valley. The plan is proposed by the city planning staff in cooperation with Northeast Washington Housing Solutions, a public agency that administers federal housing programs.

The past couple of weeks has been a time of “did nots” for the Spokane Valley Fire Department. A chemical-leak scare at Honeywell Specialty Materials, 15128 E. Euclid Ave., didn’t result in injury – nor any deadly hydrogen cyanide gas. A faulty detector was suspected.

Spokane Valley City Council members adopted a 2010 budget Tuesday and opposed a statewide initiative they felt would undermine future budgets. Both actions were unanimous despite some sympathetic rhetoric about Initiative 1033. The measure would limit spending increases to the amount of inflation plus an allowance for population growth.

The last major piece of a new Spokane Valley snowplowing operation slipped into place Tuesday night with a unanimous City Council vote. A plan to pay for that and other general fund services with a higher tax levy also passed, but without Councilman Gary Schimmels’ support.

The Spokane Valley Fire Department is having trouble convincing people that potted plants don’t make good ashtrays. A proper ashtray is fireproof, but potting soil burns because it contains wood fiber.

A harsh exchange Tuesday revealed that Spokane Valley’s contracts for county service are in more peril than previously acknowledged. County Commissioner Mark Richard said after Tuesday’s City Council meeting that the county budget staff is “frustrated beyond belief.”

Spokane Valley City Council candidate Dean Grafos got tired of having his campaign signs at 16th Avenue and Dishman-Mica Road disappear, so he hired a security guard to hide in the bushes last week. The guard came up empty Monday night, but spotted a man early Wednesday morning who he said took one of Grafos’ signs and threw it away on the other side of Dishman-Mica Road. Spokane Valley Police said the guard called them and was still following the suspect when they arrived around 3 a.m.

Thanks to an alert police officer, the Spokane Valley Fire Department was able close a night of hydrant mischief with arrests. Eleven fire hydrants were opened in the Greenacres and Otis Orchards areas in the wee hours last Saturday. Firefighters began closing hydrants about 2 a.m. and didn’t finish until 5 a.m.