Spokane Valley Council sets procedure to fill Dempsey’s seat

People interested in becoming the next Spokane Valley City Council member can now submit their applications for the position after the council unanimously approved on Tuesday the procedure to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Rose Dempsey.

Any adult who has been a City of Spokane Valley resident for at least a year and is a registered voter may apply. The deadline for applications is 4 p.m. March 4. The council will then spend several weeks reviewing the applications and conducting interviews before voting on whom to appoint. The vote is tentatively scheduled for the March 29 council meeting.

The vote took only a few minutes and the rest of Tuesday’s council meeting wasn’t much longer. The council heard a report on the city’s program to repave streets following sewer installation. Spokane County has been involved in a “Sewering the Valley” project for years and two areas are scheduled for this year, said senior engineer Steve Worley. The city and the county have an agreement that the city will pay for road repaving while the county will pay to install the sewer lines.

The Green Haven area is south of Interstate 90 and north of Appleway to the east of Flora. The Micaview area is south of Sprague between Barker Road and Hodges Road. They are the last two sections of Spokane Valley that are scheduled to receive sewer improvements, Worley said. “This is the last year we will do this,” he said.

The estimated cost for the full-width street paving is $800,000, plus another $100,000 for needed drainage improvements. “We have a feeling the bids are going to come in quite a bit lower than that,” Worley said.

There are also some finishing touches to be put on some of the areas that had sewer installed last summer, including the South Greenacres, Corbin and Cronk neighborhoods. The work will begin this spring as weather conditions allow.

Councilman Bill Gothmann said he has heard ongoing concerns about drainage on 48th Avenue in the Ponderosa neighborhood, which was sewered two years ago, and questioned whether that would be addressed this year as well.

Worley said he plans to meet with the county about the issue soon. “There is a problem with paving on 48th Avenue,” he said. “We have not accepted that road yet and the county has not paid the contractor yet.”

In other business, two council members had suggestions of items they would like to see added to the advance agenda. Gothmann said he would like to look at finding city funds for pavement preservation during the council’s winter retreat, which is scheduled for Tuesday. City Manager Mike Jackson said staff was planning to address that issue. “We want to present some options,” Jackson said.

Councilman Dean Grafos said he wanted to explore sending a letter to the governor expressing support for continuing funding for the Museum of Arts and Culture, which would close if the governor’s proposed spending cuts are passed. “This is a real important vehicle for the universities here,” he said. “We’ve only got one museum. I think it’s really, really important for our city.”