Legislative representation discussed at council meeting

After a long weekend and no meeting last week, the Spokane Valley City Council had a busy night Tuesday.

In addition to hearing the yearly request from nonprofit organizations for funds from next year’s budget, the council also took care of several notable odds and ends. Among them:

• The city will solicit bids from lobbyists to represent Spokane Valley in Olympia during the next legislative session after a split council vote Tuesday night.

Mayor Diana Wilhite and councilmen Bill Gothmann and Dick Denenny supported the measure, saying that bills affecting Spokane Valley often appear and move forward faster than officials in Spokane Valley can react to them.

In previous discussions the maximum cost of hiring a lobbyist was pegged at $40,000, and councilmen Mike DeVleming and Gary Schimmels said Tuesday that they didn’t feel the expense was justified.

Councilmen Steve Taylor and Rich Munson were not at the meeting.

• The agenda was amended Tuesday night to include an item on council pay. Councilman DeVleming said the city’s financial situation has changed in recent years, and at his suggestion the council instructed city employees to begin setting up a new salary commission.

Last November voters turned down a ballot measure on a council pay raise that was suggested by a salary commission formed in 2004.

• The council also approved a resolution supporting the “foundational concepts” of a tentative agreement among local governments and polluters in Spokane County to limit waste discharge into the Spokane River.

• It reaffirmed an earlier decision not to form a local redevelopment authority to oversee the future use of the Walker Army Reserve Center at the Industrial Park when the Department of Defense moves its operations there to Fairchild Air Force Base in coming years.

• The council extended the city’s cable television franchise with Comcast for six months as it continues to negotiate a new contract with the company.