Candidates vying for all 3 Spokane council spots

All three Spokane City Council positions will be contested in the fall elections after three more candidates filed Wednesday for the city’s legislative body.

Two first-time candidates, Daniel Day and Jeffrey Bierman, and perennial office-seeker Barbara Lampert, added their names to the list of city residents who want to be on the council.

Day, 48, is a designer for a mechanical engineering firm who says the city needs more input from property owners.

“I’ve been thinking about it for quite a few years, and the opportunity came up,” Day said. He filed for the Northwest District seat being vacated by Cherie Rodgers, who is being retired by the city charter’s term limits provisions.

He likened his candidacy to a time when he decided to coach Little League rather than sitting on the sidelines and complaining. The race currently has seven candidates, which Day said is a good sign of the public’s interest.

Also filing for the Northwest seat was Lampert, 59, a retired nursing assistant who has run for a council seat in every odd-numbered year since 1997. In even-numbered years since 1996, she’s run for other state or county positions, but has yet to win one.

Lampert said she’d address the city’s budget problems by first cutting “top-heavy administration” in city departments. She’s also concerned about Spokane’s transportation priorities.

“I think we need some solutions for transportation other than more streets and wider streets,” she said. “The bottom line is, it would save money in the long run not to have one person, one car.”

Running in the South District is Bierman, 37, a Gonzaga University physics professor who has been a member of the City Plan Commission for nearly four years. He applied for the 2004 opening in that district, which was eventually filled by Mary Verner. Bierman now will face her in the election.

Bierman said he believes that the city’s expenses are growing faster than revenue, and that Spokane faces a “closing window of opportunity” on growth and development issues. The council, he contends, should have done more to update regulations after the new comprehensive plan was enacted.

“We haven’t been a particularly aggressive city at trying to increase the revenue base,” Bierman said. He believes the city should be more aggressive about annexation or do a better job of promoting development in targeted areas within its boundaries.

The Northeast District also has two candidates, incumbent Al French and challenger Valentina Howard.

Candidates for city and town offices, as well as the boards of school, fire, water, sewer and cemetery districts throughout Washington, have until 5 p.m. Friday to file for office. In most counties, filing takes place at the elections office in the county courthouse; in Spokane, the elections office is in a separate building, at 1033 W. Gardner Ave.