New items on Valley council’s agenda may show future path

A bunch of upcoming agenda items introduced at Tuesday evening’s Spokane Valley City Council meeting may provide a glimpse of the council’s future direction.

Councilman Sam Wood proposed a discussion about term limits. He said Spokane already has term limits and perhaps it would be a good idea for Spokane Valley, too.

“I imagine that you get kind of stale after you’ve been up here for a while,” Wood said. He suggested a maximum of two four-year terms.

Wood also said the council should look into hiring a consultant to help negotiate the law enforcement contract with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

He said it would be good to look at the contract at a cost level, and that an independent negotiator would be able to do that without being hung up on political issues.

Councilman Arne Woodard reminded the council that he would like to see annexation on the agenda. Annexation was also brought up by Mayor Rod Higgins during his recent state of the city address. Higgins said the city doesn’t have a process for annexation and it can’t continue to grow if it can’t expand. No one mentioned a specific area of annexation.

Acting City Manager Mark Calhoun said the city’s legal staff has been tied up with other things and has not had time to write up an annexation ordinance, but would get on it as soon as possible.

City Attorney Cary Driskell reminded the council that state law doesn’t allow for a lot of flexibility when it comes to the process, but a presentation will be made to the council.

Councilman Ed Pace would like to see a discussion of “undergrounding” all power lines in Spokane Valley. That prompted Calhoun to say, “That would be phenomenally expensive,” to which Pace added, it would also “be phenomenally long-term.”

Also approved:

The council also unanimously moved a $152,500 marketing contract with Denver-based Atlas Advertising through for a final decision next week.

Community Development Director John Hohman said the one-year contract will provide the groundwork for a five-year marketing plan, and will include development of a logo and a tag line that can be used in advertising.

Hohman said nine companies competed for the contract – four local firms and five from outside of the state – but the selection committee unanimously approved Atlas.

Wood said he’d prefer to use Spokane Valley companies for city work and encouraged staff to “scrutinize” local vendors for upcoming contracts.

That prompted Councilman Bill Gothmann to explain that a local vendor isn’t always an option.

“We are bound by law to go with the lowest bid,” Gothmann said. “We can’t choose someone in the Valley just because they are here.”