Liberty Lake: Camp hired as parks superintendent

The Liberty Lake City Council on Tuesday welcomed the city’s newest employee, Jennifer Camp.

Camp will serve as the city’s new parks and open spaces superintendent, a position the council created that combines the parks superintendent and the golf course superintendent.

Doug Smith, community development director, introduced Camp to the council, explaining that she has a background in turf management, horticulture and is an arborist.

“We look forward to the future together,” he said.

Camp’s position is a cost-saving measure for the city – the council decided to combine the two separate positions in December during its lengthy budget discussions.

The change allowed the council to bring the golf pro position back to full time after changing it to seasonal last fall.

The council also heard an update from Karl Otterstrom, director of planning from Spokane Transit Authority.

Otterstrom told the council STA is considering making reductions to its service throughout the region. STA will have a public hearing regarding the changes Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. in the Spokane City Council Chambers, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. He added the decision to finalize the plan will be made March 16 and if approved would go into effect Sept. 18.

In Liberty Lake, the changes include consolidating route 72 with route 74. Route 74 would be modified to run from Liberty Lake with a stop at Mirabeau Park and Ride and would increase the frequency to every 15 minutes during peak hours. There would be limited service during mid-day hours.

A new route, 98, would be created on Sprague Avenue east of the Valley Transit Center to the Greenacres area and continue to Mission Avenue and Harvard Road and will end at the Liberty Lake Park and Ride.

The next Liberty Lake Council meeting will be held Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.