‘Urgent’ letter brought forth with no advance notice sets off council debate

With no advance notice, the Spokane Valley City Council was asked by one of its members to sign a letter supporting a water rights bill sponsored by a Spokane Valley legislator.

The bill affects water districts and their ability to sell or transfer water rights. One of the members of the Spokane Valley council, Sam Wood, is chairman of the board of just such a water district.

After a debate, in which two council members asked for more time to review the proposed legislation before signing a letter supporting it, the majority of the council signed it.

The issue was brought up by Councilman Ed Pace at the Feb. 16 meeting, when he asked the council to sign the letter supporting a bill sponsored by state Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley. Pace noted that the matter was urgent.

At the center of the discussion was Padden’s Senate Bill 6215, which would allow agricultural water rights to be transferred to municipal water rights so the water can be used as city water instead of for irrigating crops. Current law does not allow for this switch.

That transfer is an issue for water and irrigation districts in communities like Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, which were originally mostly agricultural but now are mainly urban.

When Councilman Dean Grafos asked Pace if the letter could wait for a later meeting so he could read up on the bill, Pace insisted it couldn’t wait.

Wood supported Pace, saying the bill would make a big difference for smaller water districts like Carnhope Irrigation District on East Third Avenue. Wood is chairman of the board of Carnhope, a position he said he has held for between five and eight years.

Municipal water rights may be sold to other districts at a profit for the district and its shareholders.

Carnhope serves about 1,750 people on 537 service connections.

At the council meeting, Grafos and Councilman Chuck Hafner refused to sign the letter, saying they didn’t know enough about the issue.

Wood said he didn’t understand why the two wouldn’t sign or were surprised by the request.

“They should be up to speed on stuff like that – I don’t know why they didn’t know about this bill,” Wood said.

The remaining five councilmen signed the letter at the meeting.