Government Options Study Tabled

Sat., Oct. 17, 1998

By Pat Sciuchetti pats@spokesman.com

Busy with other issues, the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce has temporarily tabled a study of government options in the Spokane Valley.

Launched more than a year ago, the study was to compare incorporation with the status quo. Chamber officials originally planned to use volunteer labor for the study, but soon learned that the job would require paid consultants, and tens of thousands of dollars.

Bids submitted by consultants ranged from about $35,000 to $60,000, chamber officials said. A decision on whether to move forward with the project or scrap it was to have been made this summer.

Instead, chamber officials have decided to focus on more pressing issues - such as the county’s new comprehensive plan proposal - and wait until next year to deal with the study.

“It’s still an issue,” chamber chairman Frank Tombari said. “You look back at the last three incorporation movements, and we were reactive. We’d like to be more pro-active (in the future).”

Because several areas in the Valley are prohibited from additional incorporation attempts until 2000, chamber officials feel they aren’t pressed for time.

If approved by the board, the study would look at quality of life and fiscal efficiency, and compare them under incorporation and the status quo. It would answer many of the questions Valley people asked during incorporation bids in 1990, 1994, 1995 and 1997.

It also would allow the board to take a position on incorporation the next time the issue is raised.

Proceeding with the study would require the chamber to do some serious fund-raising. Because incorporation is a volatile issue, the fund-raising plan would have to be carefully considered, Tombari said.

Too much financial support from one group or another, he said, could stir concerns that the study would not be objective.

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