Council postpones vote on recalls

The Spokane City Council will discuss next Monday whether to ask voters if they want to change the recall process for elected officials.

A proposed change to the City Charter, which would allow elected officials to be removed by voters for violating the city Code of Ethics, is being considered for the Nov. 7 ballot. On Tuesday the council delayed its previously scheduled vote on a resolution requesting the election. An ordinance on the same matter is set for a hearing next Monday evening.

Voters would be asked to change the charter to allow an elected city official to be placed on a recall ballot by a majority vote of the council after a recommendation from the new Ethics Committee and if the violation of the Ethics Code is “so egregious that the monetary damages available … are not proportionate to the violation.”

– Jim Camden

Cheney

Cougar prompts school lockdown

Windsor Elementary School in Cheney was locked down for a short time Wednesday morning after a cougar was seen on the playground.

The adult cougar was spotted shortly after 9 a.m. by students in a music classroom, which faces the playground, and authorities were called, Spokane County sheriff’s officials said.

“We have a nice field that goes off into the woods, and (the cougar) probably wandered in from there,” said elementary school Principal Kaye Aucutt.

By 10:30 a.m. officials hadn’t found the cat, which was last seen entering a nearby grove of trees, said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan. According to deputies and state game agents, several residents in the area have reported seeing the cougar in recent weeks. There have been no instances reported in which the cat appears aggressive, Reagan said.

The school, which has 470 pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students, is at 5504 W. Hallett Road in Cheney.

The elementary school principal joked Wednesday that the cougar probably intended to go to Pullman for the Washington State University Cougar game this weekend and got confused because the elementary school is the Windsor Wildcats.

– Jody Lawrence-Turner