Kate Telis sworn in as newest Spokane City Council member, ending streak of appointees

South Spokane is now represented by a second elected council member for the first time since 2023, after Councilwoman Kate Telis was sworn in Tuesday.

Telis won election earlier this month by nearly 20 percentage points. While new council members are typically sworn in at the start of the next year, the process was accelerated because Telis is replacing an appointed council member, Councilwoman Shelby Lambdin.

Lambdin was appointed to the position in July, following the resignation of Councilwoman Lili Navarrete, who herself was appointed to the position in January 2024 to fill a seat vacated by Betsy Wilkerson. Wilkerson represented the council seat until winning election as city council president in 2023.

Telis was sworn in on a family Bible – the most prized possession of her late father, David McNair Campbell – that belonged to her great-great-grandmother Suzanna McNair Gregory.

“It was a nice, meaningful way for me to have him at the ceremony,” Telis said, noting that she inherited the middle name McNair, as have her children.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Breean Beggs, former Spokane city council president, presided over the swearing-in ceremony. Telis, a former prosecutor, noted that the two joked it is likely best that there is no more than one attorney on the council at a time.

Wilkerson and former City Council President Lori Kinnear “joked that the jury is still out about whether having an attorney on council at all was a good thing,” Telis chuckled.

Given the holiday week, Telis’ first day at the council dais will be Monday.