Spokane Valley will stick with its policy of providing all-new pavement where streets are torn up for sewer construction for at least another year. Unexpectedly high costs this year – nearly $4 million – caused city officials to take a hard look at the program, but the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to press ahead.
Some Spokane Valley City Council members, like their critics, are asking whether it makes sense to implement zoning regulations based on a road that doesn’t exist. The city’s proposed Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan calls for new zoning along current and future sections of Appleway Boulevard as well as Sprague Avenue.
For the second year in a row, Spokane Valley city officials have had their knuckles rapped by the state auditor’s office. As last year, state auditors said they found no evidence that money was misappropriated, but they found errors serious enough to undermine confidence in the city’s financial reports.
Spokane Valley firefighters saw some of the best and the worst of human nature in the past week. Shortly before 4 p.m. last Saturday firefighters were called to 14203 E. Springfield Ave. to rescue a 32-year-old man who was trapped under a car when a jack gave way. Before they arrived, though, two of the man’s friends had lifted the car off him and pulled him to safety.
Spokane County commissioners have decided a proposed electric line over the Spokane River north of Liberty Lake is not an “essential public facility” requiring extensive study of alternatives. The decision last week means Avista Corp. doesn’t have to identify and study 10 options as commissioners had to when they selected a site for a proposed new jail.
Spokane Valley may be paying for this winter’s snow removal over the next four years. Federal disaster assistance is expected to remove a little of the sting, though.
The Spokane Valley City Council voted Tuesday to proceed with a $377,000 architectural contract for a new city hall over the objections of members Gary Schimmels and Rose Dempsey. “I think we’re buying a pig in a poke,” Dempsey said, even though the council specified that only $50,000 may be spent without further council approval.
Savage Land Pizza, a popular Spokane Valley hangout that burned a year ago, is expected to reopen in mid-May – and Robby Foote plans to be there. “My kids are really excited to get that thing going,” Foote said. “Kids love it there. We love it there. It’s got one of the best pizzas around, and a good atmosphere for the family.”
More than three years in the making, Spokane County’s first DUI Court “graduation” ceremony conferred new leases on life instead of diplomas to a half-dozen former drunken drivers. “I’m just thankful that I got caught,” Kathleen Copeland told Judge Richard White and other public officials last week. “You guys are lifesavers.”
More than three years in the making, Spokane County’s first DUI Court “graduation” ceremony conferred new leases on life instead of diplomas to a half-dozen former drunken drivers. “I’m just thankful that I got caught,” Kathleen Copeland told Judge Richard White and other public officials last week. “You guys are lifesavers.”
The Spokane Valley Fire Department solicited new bids this week for a pumper-rescue truck that was $61,000 over budget in a previous round of bidding. Earlier this month, commissioners of the independent fire district rejected a $541,008 bid from Seagrave Fire Apparatus of Clintonville, Wis. It was the only bid received.
When 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wanted to know whether there was a Santa Claus in 1897, she turned to the New York Sun. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” reporter Francis Church famously responded.
If architectural work continues on a new Spokane Valley City Hall, it may be limited to $50,000 until the city owns or controls a site for the building. Council members Gary Schimmels and Rose Dempsey said Tuesday they weren’t willing to spend any more money at present, but the rest of the council expressed interest in work that would be useful at any location.
Firefighters are good at breaking and entering, but the Spokane Valley Fire Department has taken it to a new level. An engine crew from Station 3 in Liberty Lake cracked a safe for Spokane Valley Police last week during the search of a home at 17914 E. Montgomery Ave.
Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson says he wasn’t opening a new front in the city’s contract disputes with Spokane County when he talked about seeking an alternative to a county sewage treatment plant. A Feb. 23 city-county meeting to sort out an increasingly contentious relationship produced what diplomats might call a full and frank exchange of views, but not a potentially dangerous escalation of rhetoric, according to spokesmen on both sides.
Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson says he wasn’t opening a new front in the city’s contract disputes with Spokane County when he talked about seeking an alternative to a county sewage treatment plant. A Feb. 23 city-county meeting to sort out an increasingly contentious relationship produced what diplomats might call a full and frank exchange of views, but not a potentially dangerous escalation of rhetoric, according to spokesmen on both sides.
The Spokane Valley City Council agreed Tuesday to consider compromising its protective standards for the Felts Field airport. Also, the council finished its review of the proposed Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan and called for another public hearing.
Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson didn’t shy away from the city’s controversies Wednesday evening when he pronounced the state of the city “very good.” The first topic he covered in his annual assessment of the city’s condition was its need for Spokane County to build a new $170 million sewage treatment plant in time to prevent a construction moratorium based on lack of treatment capacity.
The Spokane Valley City Council decided this week to accept a 3 percent annual increase for a three-year lease extension on the city’s rented City Hall. Finance Director Ken Thompson told the council in a report that city staff members thought the city might be paying too much, but information gathered by an independent real estate agent convinced them it would be best to stay put and pay the 3 percent increase.
A proposed $377,000 contract to design a new Spokane Valley City Hall came under fire again Tuesday, and the City Council once more postponed action. The contract was tabled two weeks ago after the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce urged caution in view of the fact that the city still hasn’t purchased land for the building.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is experimenting with an automated ticket-writing system that Spokane Valley Police Chief Rick Van Leuven says is “better than sliced bread.” “This is like giving a police officer a steak dinner every night,” Van Leuven told the Spokane Valley City Council in a recent briefing.
A new consortium of fire departments throughout Spokane County plans to solicit bids next month for what officials hope will be a money-saving, performance-improving contract for ambulance service. “It’s pretty exciting that we’re getting this close,” said Spokane Valley Fire Chief Mike Thompson. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of bids we might get.”
Spokane Valley firefighters had only 168 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday, down from 215 in the previous reporting period. However, a disturbing hazardous-materials call had tragic potential.
Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson’s State of the City address will be even more accessible than planned this year. Not only will Munson give his speech in the evening this year, it will be free. Plans for a $40-a-plate dinner have been scrapped.
What were the odds, sheriff’s Detective Mark Stewart wondered, that a highly specialized document camera would show up for sale in a Spokane Craigslist ad within a day of when one was stolen from North Pines Middle School. And then what would be the odds that the thief would neglect to take the camera’s power cord and the one listed last month on Craigslist.org would be offered at a discount because a dog had eaten the power cord?
