Jonathan Brunt

Spokane’s aggressive construction schedule for its new pools, coupled with record December snowfall, will leave the city without public outdoor pools for much, if not most, of the summer. The Spokane Park Board last year opted to move forward on its six new swimming pools at once – tearing out all five previous pools starting last fall – rather than staggering construction. That strategy appeared to pay off as the design process was ahead of schedule. Construction, however, was delayed by the harsh winter.

Mayor Mary Verner warned the Spokane City Council on Monday that the city faces a $5.5 million deficit next year. The gap is so large, she said, that the city probably can’t avoid layoffs to balance the budget in 2010.

City leaders say the River Park Square parking garage likely will not be re-inspected, despite requests by mall critics. Former Pend Oreille County Sheriff Tony Bamonte, among others, contends the garage wasn’t inspected when it was redeveloped in a complicated partnership with the city.

The son of former Spokane County Commissioner Phil Harris has been paid $28,000 to settle an employment dispute with the county. County commissioners unanimously approved an agreement last month that puts an end to claims from Steve Harris that the county didn’t pay him enough, inappropriately limited his use of a county-owned car and dismissed him in retaliation for filing a whistle-blower claim.

The son of former Spokane County Commissioner Phil Harris has been paid $28,000 to settle an employment dispute with the county.

The Spokane Park Board may have violated a public accountability law this week when it met behind closed doors to discuss how it will pay for the downtown YMCA. At Thursday’s parks meeting, the board adjourned to meet in private, in part to consider how it will come up with the $4.3 million that’s left of the $5.3 million it agreed to pay for the Y in 2006. The park board put $1 million down on the property soon after the deal was crafted. The rest is due April 28.

Times are tough out there. One hundred and twenty-eight people applied to be Spokane’s first police ombudsman.

Spokane voters on Tuesday rejected an $18.5 million property tax for a new police evidence building and an expanded animal shelter.

Never again. That’s the message city leaders say they hope is sent with the ordinance approved unanimously Monday that outlaws some of the most controversial elements of the River Park Square mall renovation deal.

Spokane Municipal Court Judge Tracy Staab will be eligible to run in the November election.

When former City Council President Dennis Hession was appointed Spokane mayor in 2005, the City Charter didn’t explicitly say how Hession’s vacant seat should be filled. So leaders guessed at the procedure based on rules for appointing vacancies in other offices.

Spokane business leaders were sharply critical Monday of a proposed 45-page sign ordinance that would restrict the size and height of signs and create numerous other regulations.

In the dark and musty warehouse where Spokane police store cars used in crimes, the wooden floors are stained with leaked oil, and light from outside shines through slits in the walls. A couple of miles away, not far from the County Courthouse, a newer warehouse – though still more than a half century old – houses more than 140,000 pieces of evidence gathered by police and sheriff’s investigators. There’s no sprinkler system in the building, and officials say it’s nearing capacity.

One of Spokane’s newly-appointed Municipal Court judges would be out of a job this fall under a new rule under consideration by the Spokane City Council. City Councilman Bob Apple has proposed a requirement for all city judges to live within the city limits.

One of Spokane’s newly-appointed Municipal Court judges would be out of a job this fall under a new rule under consideration by the Spokane City Council.