Spokane sets up process to recognize, take action on neighborhood resolutions

(The Center Square) – The City of Spokane is taking steps to unify its communities and create a more cohesive local government that responds to input from each neighborhood.

Members of the Spokane City Council discussed setting up a process for receiving resolutions from its various boards and commissions during Monday’s Finance and Administration Committee meeting. The officials regularly receive resolutions and requests but lack an internal process to respond.

The council spent the last six months creating the process alongside community members so the city has the means to respond. Per Monday’s agenda, this is the first attempt at piloting this process.

“One step of this draft process involves including resolutions and formal requests that [are] received from internal boards and commissions in a council’s standing committee packet,” according to Monday’s agenda, “which will formally enter the requests into the public record.”

The first items to officially enter the public record are three resolutions from the Community Assembly of the City of Spokane; each was adopted by the Assembly last year; however, due to the lack of an internal process, they never entered the city’s public record.

The Assembly’s first resolution called on the city to reinstate the Latah Valley building moratorium that expired last year, which the council did back in May ; however, that was also months after those communities asked the council to do so.

The second resolution also relates to the moratorium but calls on the council to update the city’s General Facility Charges, which developers pay when building new communities. The rates hadn’t been updated in over 20 years, which led to Latah Valley missing out on funding it could’ve used for infrastructure during the last moratorium.

The Assembly adopted the resolution calling for a change to the GFCs over a year ago. However, despite the council taking action to expand the fees, it didn’t take effect until after the moratorium expired; though, with a new one in place, there’s hope for progress this time around.

The last resolution entered into the record was approved by the Assembly in November. It called for transparency regarding the city’s Traffic Calming Program.

The Assembly wants more communication, semi-annual accounting reports on the funds, and a promise that the city will only use the money for council-approved traffic calming projects.

“The idea is that everybody is going to get a response that council office has received their resolution or letter,” said Giacobbe Byrd, director of the council office, “and that somebody from the council office staff is working on a recommendation for [council] to take formal action.”

While each resolution entered the public record far after being approved by the Assembly, the process marks the beginning of a new dynamic that fosters collaboration between the council and Spokane’s many neighborhoods.