Residents’ Goals To Be Revealed Group To Tell Council Results Of Polls, Town Hall Meetings

The group chosen by the Spokane City Council to find out what services residents value most is ready to share its findings.

Three months, two town hall meetings and hundreds of resident surveys later, the Community Partners plans to unveil its 76-page study to the council tonight.

“I think we were able to get a grasp of the key issues,” said Chris Marr, the group’s co-chairman. “What you realize is that there is a tremendous amount of information out there.”

The council hired Seattle consultant Cary Bozeman in June to lead the 29-member group through a series of meetings designed to find out what city services residents consider priorities.

Bozeman’s $45,000 contract drew fire from critics who charged the group would regurgitate the council and city employees’ desires - not those of residents.

Those people will be surprised by the report, said Marr, who added the group didn’t want to make its report public in advance. “There were concerns this would be staff-dominated or council-dominated.

“That’s not true.”

Also tonight, the council will consider three separate contracts to buy 18 trucks from Wendle Ford, including:

Four truck cab-and-chassis sets for $183,340.

Nine three-quarter ton, four-wheel-drive pickup trucks for $163,512.

Five small pickup trucks for $66,355.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETING The council meets at 6 p.m. in City Hall.