Spokane Valley City Council candidate drops back into race after health scare

Daryl Williams is back in the race for a Spokane Valley City Council seat.

In September, Williams sent a message to City Councilman Al Merkel, with whom he’s politically aligned, saying that he was dropping out of the race. At the time, Williams cited health issues that he said would make it difficult for him to give the city the “full attention and energy” a position on the council would require.

Williams has reactive hypoglycemia, which means he can’t “get up in the morning and have a maple bar and Coke.” Reactive hypoglycemia is a condition where blood sugar levels drop abnormally low after eating.

Williams says the concern was brought up by Merkel, who asked what Williams would do if he had a blood sugar incident during a city council meeting. Williams reacted to that concern by dropping out of the race – something he regrets now.

“I have no health issue. I had a thought or a concern, and spoke before checking with my doctor. I am very healthy,” Williams wrote in an email to The Spokesman-Review on Sunday.

Williams has no concerns about his health now and says he is fully committed to the race against Ben Wick, the incumbent.

“I am in it to win it,” Williams said. “I am always willing to listen and do what I can to help. Let me work for you. I promise you diligent, caring and productive representation.”

When The Spokesman-Review asked Merkel to comment on Williams dropping back into the race, Merkel said he didn’t know anything about it.

Williams is a part of the Coalition for Common Sense, a group composed of Merkel, Williams, Hohn and Catherine Nelson. The coalition, organized in July, says it stands for public safety, keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible in the Valley. Williams said his campaign points are all in line with Nelson’s and Hohn’s.

“I can’t think of any place where we disagree,” he said.

Williams works at Ace Hardware and the Green City Saloon, out of which he’s run a karaoke business for 16 years. He attended Spokane Community College, but did not graduate.

If elected, Williams said his biggest priorities would be keeping the city in a balanced budget and supporting law enforcement. Williams is opposed to raising property taxes and would be interested in eliminating the license plate tax in the Valley, which is $20. The fee began in July 2023 and was created to help the city pay for street preservation and reconstruction projects.

“The current council is just not handling the finances correctly,” Williams said.

Williams also noted that the council often cuts off Merkel during meetings. If he’s elected, Williams said the council will have more decorum.

“I’m running against a nice guy,” Williams said about Wick. “He is a nice guy, but sometimes in politics being a nice guy all the time doesn’t work.”

If elected, Williams said he won’t go with the flow.

Wick, a Valley native, has been a familiar name in the city’s local politics for over two decades, first running for the inaugural City Council when he was a college student. When Wick wasn’t initially voted in, he continued running until winning a seat in 2012.

Public safety and infrastructure are Wick’s biggest priorities for the city. Although he feels the city should continue contracting with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office to provide the Valley’s police force, Wick said the city could do more to crack down on local crime, particularly property and retail crimes. Wick noted that the Valley’s Best Buy was the only one east of the Cascades with an armed guard during the holiday season to prevent shoplifting. That kind of thing not only keeps crime down but also shows that the city supports the business community, Wick said.

Infrastructure projects like the one to build a railroad bridge over Pines Road to help the flow of traffic need to be completed, Wick said. The Valley has $43 million in state and federal funds to cover the project, and the city likely will break ground on the underpass this month, city spokesperson Jill Smith said.

Wick said he will continue to prioritize maintaining and expanding the Valley’s roads.

Williams intends on attending as many council meetings as he can before the election. The Coalition, including Williams, will have a town hall at 4 p.m. Friday at the Spokane Valley Library.