Council Initiative Passes

Spokane voters overwhelmingly supported an amendment to the city charter aimed at limiting the number of City Council meetings a member can miss.

The amendment - prompted by Councilman Chris Anderson’s extended absence - limits a member’s time away to four consecutive meetings before that seat is declared vacant.

A longer absence will require council approval.

Currently, a council member can be gone up to six months.

Councilman Jeff Colliton drafted the amendment after Anderson took a job driving a truck on the set of a movie filmed in Idaho and California.

Anderson returned to the council this week after five months away. He plans to leave the council permanently Dec. 31.

On Monday, Anderson described the initiative as a “knee-jerk reaction to a particular circumstance.”

City voter Eugene Michel - who cast a vote in favor of the absence amendment at Holmes Elementary School - didn’t see it that way.

“That deal with Anderson was too much,” he said.

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