Flood-plain work honored

Before the start of Tuesday’s Spokane Valley City Council meeting, a handful of people gathered in the hall for cake and lemonade to celebrate a decade-long process, led by Spokane Valley resident and business owner Dick Behm, to redo the Chester Creek flood-plain maps.

His efforts mean that more than 200 properties have been removed from the flood plain and will no longer be required to buy expensive flood insurance. “I’m just sorry that it took that long because of all those people who have had to pay flood insurance,” he said.

The meeting began with Mayor Tom Towey reading a proclamation recognizing Behm’s efforts and declaring July 6 as “Richard Behm Recognition Day.”

Transportation benefit district discussed

Most of the meeting was spent discussing the regional transportation benefit district proposed by Spokane County. The district would raise money, through car tab fees or a local gas tax, to repair and maintain roads. The proposed agreement requires a majority of the jurisdictions in the county to participate. “If they want to do a regional, then we have to be a player,” said City Attorney Mike Connelly.

Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke said the county is looking for input on the draft interlocal agreement and also an indication on whether cities are interested in creating a TBD. He said feedback he has heard indicates that most would want to put any fee to a public vote, even though state law allows a fee of $20 without a vote. A car tab fee would have to be about $45 in order to raise the $20 million needed for road maintenance every year. In the current proposal, each jurisdiction keeps 70 percent of the money collected in its borders, with the remaining 30 percent pooled for large regional projects.

Towey said he agreed that any fee should go to a vote. “It should be their right to vote on whether they want to pay it or not,” he said.

Councilman Bill Gothmann said he wanted to see more information on whether Spokane Valley should go it alone and create a separate district, because he doesn’t think Valley voters would approve a regional plan. “To me it’s a rough decision,” he said. “We were elected to take care of our residents.”

Councilman Dean Grafos said he would “like to table any discussion on a TBD until our budget workshop next week.”

The council agreed to have staff research a local TBD option before moving forward, but Councilman Gary Schimmels said the city may have to join the regional plan.

“I really believe we’re too small of an area to not think regional,” he said. “We wouldn’t have much.”

Bike-path bid awarded

In other business, the council approved awarding the bid for the 44th Avenue Pathway Project to Red Diamond Construction for $270,497. The project will add a path to the north side of 44th Avenue between Sands and Schafer roads. A section of that road already has bike lanes; they will be added to the rest of that segment. Two federal grants are paying the full cost of the construction, which is expected to be completed in August.