Spokane council once again considers changing when it holds votes

The Spokane City Council is again considering changing 114 years of tradition by moving its weekly legislative meetings from Monday to some other day of the week, likely Tuesdays.

According to archived copies of the Official Gazette of the city of Spokane, where the city publishes minutes from council meetings, the council has typically held its regularly scheduled legislative sessions on Mondays since Oct. 7, 1912.

The change in meeting date has been proposed for a number of reasons, including that too many council meetings were being canceled because of Monday holidays. Most canceled meetings, however, are not due to holidays, and past councils used to simply hold a meeting the next day if it would have landed on a holiday.

First proposed at the tail end of 2024, the topic has resurfaced twice since, each time getting tabled amid pushback from the council’s conservative minority, who argued at the time that Tuesday meetings would hinder then-Councilman Jonathan Bingle’s ability to attend due to family conflicts.

Bingle lost his reelection bid in November.

A draft version of the change suggests Tuesdays are again the day of choice for legislative meetings, though that could change before a final vote. Introduction of the rule change is scheduled for the council’s Feb. 9 meeting and then a vote on Feb. 23 rather than on Monday, Feb. 16, which is President’s Day, and all council meetings will be canceled for that day.