Megan Cooley

Spokane Valley citizens can continue to check out books from Alcott, CDs by Zappa, and everything in between. The Spokane County Library District and the city of Spokane Valley signed a contract ensuring that residents will have library privileges without interruption next year.

The Spokane Valley City Council heard a committee's recommendation on how to spend $260,000 in lodging tax money Tuesday, and then heard one committee member's criticism of how the group conducted itself. The five-person committee, headed by Councilman Mike Flanigan, suggested giving the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center $9,000, Valleyfest $15,000, the Valley Heritage Museum $10,000, the YMCA $6,000, the Spokane Regional Sports Commission $75,000, and the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors and Bureau $136,000.

The Spokane area has landed another national sporting event. The 2006 Junior National Cross Country Championship will be held at Plantes Ferry Sports Complex in December 2006, the Spokane Valley City Council announced Tuesday.

Betsy Millar had never come to City Hall to stand up for an issue. But the possibility that the Valley library could be closed got her out Tuesday night. "It's just a basic need. You have to have a library," said Millar, 58.

Two years ago, there was talk of opening a dog park in the Spokane Valley. Nancy Hill, director of SCRAPS, and Spokane County Parks and Recreation Director Doug Chase, were envisioning a 10-acre park on county-owned land near Eastern Road and 12th Avenue. In the woodsy, hilly corner of the Edgecliff neighborhood, dogs could run off leash, socialize with one another and stay within a fenced boundary.

In today's fast-paced world, plenty of gadgets exist to speed things up. Cell phones keep us in constant contact. Cars go from zero to 60 in a few heartbeats. And the World Wide Web spins quicker than ever. Then there are doodads that are meant to slow life down.

Charred, water-soaked walls and a drooping roof were the only remains of a Spokane Valley warehouse where fire destroyed three businesses early Thursday. The two-alarm fire on the 2200 block of North Locust Road, near Yoke's supermarket on Argonne Road, was first reported at about 12:30 a.m., said Battalion Chief Dave Umthun of Spokane County Fire District 1. The fire was under control by about 4:30 a.m., he said. No one was inside the building when the fire broke out and no one was hurt fighting the blaze.

It's part Pac-Man, part Tetris. The city of Spokane Valley's staff has created an interactive "budget calculator" that allows citizens to make cuts and boost revenues to balance the city's finances. The tool, online at www.spokanevalley.org, was built to get citizens to answer two questions: what city services are most important to keep and at what levels? And what tax increases, if any, are people willing to pay to ensure that snow is plowed, the library stays open and police officers patrol the streets, among other services?

Strings of streetlights, even stoplights, already are blinking bright red and green. And while the shoppers aren't yet rushing home with their treasures, a tree on Sprague Avenue soon will join the approaching hustle and bustle of Christmastime in Spokane Valley.

Spokane Valley residents who've been meaning to curl up with a good book might want to head to the library soon. As of Jan. 2, they could find the doors to the Valley library branch locked, and they could be denied services at the Spokane County Library District's nine other branches.

Kindness takes many forms. At a house in the Spokane Valley, it looked like pruned hedges and a leaf-free lawn. Fred Chindahl, 83, has lived in his green house since 1955. No fewer than six trees tower over the property and a row of shrubs stands guard along the yard's perimeter. After Chindahl's wife, Phyllis, died two years ago, it has become more difficult to keep up with the housework.

Spokane County could lose its contract to maintain Spokane Valley's parks, which would force it to lay off about half a dozen workers. The Spokane Valley City Council is considering offers from the county and from two companies, Senske Lawn & Tree Care Co. and Skils'kin, to mow the lawns, repair walkways and do the other work that keeps parks safe and clean. Both companies underbid the county, and Spokane Valley's attorney said the county's bid didn't properly respond to the call for proposals anyway.

The Spokane Valley City Council passed its $44 million 2005 budget with little comment and even less discord Tuesday. It was balanced with no major effect on programs, services or staffing levels. But it was the 2006 budget and beyond that caused heartburn at the meeting.

The Spokane Valley City Council formally instructed its staff to negotiate a contract with the Spokane County Library District for services next year. But, in a 6-1 vote, the council chose to base the contract amount on "usage" rather than on property values.

Spokane Valley residents and businesses will pay more for storm water management next year, but not as much as the City Council had considered charging. The council approved a $17 a year fee per home Tuesday, up $7 over the current cost but less than the $24 fee originally proposed by the city's staff. Businesses will pay $17 for every 3,160 square feet of impervious land on their property, including the land on which the buildings sit.

The Spokane Valley City Council chose public over private. Making a decision that wasn't expected until next week, the council directed the city's staff to negotiate a contract with the Spokane County Library District to run the Valley library branch next year. In doing so, it rejected a proposal from Library Systems & Services LLC (LSSI), a private Maryland-based company.