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2015, 04-24 Special Meeting MINUTES Special Regional Council of Governments Meeting Hosted by Spokane County Board of County Commissioners Friday, April 24,2015 9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m. Spokane County Fair and Expo Center, Conference Facility 404 N Havana Street, Spokane Valley, Washington Attendance: Spokane Valley Council Staff' Deputy Mayor Arne Woodard Cary Driskell, City Attorney Councilmember Chuck Hafner Councilmember Rod Higgins Councilmember Ed Pace Councilmember Ben Wick Others in Attendance: Various elected officials and staff members [Please note that the numbered agenda items were discussed in the order as shown below.] 1. Welcome&Review of Meeting Agenda—Spokane Co. Commissioner Shelly O'Quinn Commissioner Chair O'Quinn welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave those in attendance the opportunity for self-introductions. 2. 92 ARW Commander—Colonel Charles McDaniel Colonel McDaniel said our airmen are busy in Syria,Yemen and the Middle East; he said they are getting closer on some P-4 initiatives on the firing range and the KC-46 is still out for 2017; they are getting more focused on Fairchild as a Center of Excellence for air refueling and that air refueling will be a part of Fairchild for a very long time because FAFB (Fairchild Air Force Base) is one of three remaining Strategic Air Command bases. He said the air education and training Fairchild provides along with the strategic location of the base are key to its survival; he thanked everyone for their support of the base. 4. Cities and Town Updates First to give an update was Deputy Mayor Woodard of Spokane Valley who said we are working on the design of a City Hall, the Appleway Trail, Sullivan Bridge, Browns Park Volleyball Courts and several stormwater and street projects; he said we just increased our lodging tax to promote tourism, general fund revenues continue to increase and the Valley Arts Commission donated another statue that was placed at Discovery Park. Second, a Cheney representative on behalf of Mayor Trulove said Cheney faces several challenges and they struggle with their general fund revenues; he said their tax revenue does not adequately cover police and fire services and they are understaffed in police and need new fire equipment; they continue to talk with legislators about reinstating state-shared revenues and getting the Highway 904 project back into the transportation packet; he said the Palouse-Coulee City rail line is going to need upgrades and they are looking to relocate the tracks to the other side of Highway 904; he said Mayfest is May 29-30 and the event will have vendors, music and a three-on-three basketball tournament; he said construction is increasing, new business is coming in and some local companies are expanding and they are building a 50-acre park with softball fields. 6. Parks and Recreation Survey Results—Doug Chase, Spokane County Mr. Chase said they updated their Park Plan last year and they are looking at their funding options for parks, maintenance and repairs such as a ballot measure or levy lid lift; he said they conducted a survey Special: Regional Council of Governments 04-24-2015 Page 1 of 3 Approved by Council: 06-09-2015 and held meetings that considered twenty-seven projects and identified the top two projects for eight geographical areas; he said if the County goes forward with a levy, they are looking at April 2016 to do so; he said the overall top scoring project is the Centennial Trail repair. 5. Sports Commission Update—Eric Sawyer Mr. Sawyer said the Sports Commission is a non-profit agency focused on bringing tourism to the area and that sports drive economic development in our region; he said our community has not been able to keep pace with the demand for sports facilities; through their Project Sports Initiative they surveyed regional sports agencies and came up with a list of recommendations, one of which was a large multi- purpose indoor facility or Sports Plex which he said will be a 93,000 square foot multi-purpose building for volleyball, basketball, wrestling, and a running track that is easily converted between the uses; he said the cost projection is $27 million and it will be located near the Spokane Arena and Riverfront Park; he said they have identified over 200 sporting events that we are not able to host because we do not have the facilities and an indoor running track is in high demand; he said the building will be owned and run by the Public Facilities District (PFD) and the Sports Commission will market and book events; he said it will bring $2 million in tax revenue to the area but cost recovery of the Sports Plex is expected to be eighty to ninety percent,the balance would come from the PFD and lodging tax. 7. City and Town Updates Liberty Lake Mayor Peterson said they are investing heavily in their roads and are currently working on Appleway from Harvard through the city; he said they are heavily dependent on state-shared revenues, especially in roads, and there has been controversy about whether to raise gas taxes and he said his community benefits from gas tax revenues; he said their growth in housing and jobs have exploded; he said they cancelled Liberty Lake Days but will have Barefoot in the Park July 24-26. 3. Competitive Business Advantages and Disadvantages of Spokane County—Steve Stevens, GSI Mr. Stevens, Greater Spokane, Incorporated (GSI) President and CEO, said their top priority toward keeping and recruiting businesses to our area is medical education and they put a lot of money into that initiative because from medical education comes research which converts to commercialization or creating businesses based on the research; he said over the next ten to fifteen years we can expect $1.7 billion and 9,000 jobs created;Vision 2030 is a new group they have put together to talk about bringing in the right businesses to advance their vision; he said other top priorities include protecting FAFB from encroachment, strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem, higher education attainment, North Spokane Corridor transportation initiative, and AIR Spokane to grow aerospace in our economy; he said Spokane employment is up from last year with 3,300 more people in the workforce; he said consultants completed the first phase of a three-phase competitiveness study and are now working on the second phase. 8. Transportation Updates—Wayne Brokaw Newly appointed executive director of the Spokane-based Inland Northwest chapter of Associated General Contractors of America, Ms. Cheryl Stewart, standing in for her predecessor Wayne Brokaw, said the state is negotiating a transportation revenue package primarily funded by a gas tax increase and cost-saving practical design for future projects; she said they are advocating for the entire transportation package which invests $1 billion to our region's infrastructure and future economic development; she said the North Spokane Corridor is the top priority and it is included in both the Senate and House packages; she said the increase in gas tax will cost the taxpayer an additional $95 per year, the transportation package will create over ten thousand jobs in our region, have a $2 billion economic impact and an unlimited amount of future economic development; she said the current federal package expires on May 31, 2015 and they will not make the deadline and she said they may see a short term extension; she said funding is provided in the transportation packages to complete the North Spokane Corridor in the next eight years. Special: Regional Council of Governments 04-24-2015 Page 2 of 3 Approved by Council: 06-09-2015 9. Law and Justice Updates—Todd Mielke John Dickson and Jacqueline van Wormer In Commissioner's Mielke's absence, Mr. Dickson said the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council (SRLJC) started in August 2014 and hired Dr. Van Wormer of Washington State University to facilitate the process. Dr. van Wormer said the SRLJC is critical for our region and we need to make sure the criminal justice systems — police, corrections and courts — are collaborative, effective, efficient and affordable; she said they started the SRLJC by creating the foundation of the council under an administrative committee made up of elected officials; she said the council is required by statute and currently there are nineteen board members across the region and they plan to add two community at- large members; she said they meet monthly and have conducted training on risk, needs and responsivity and performance measurement; she said the Process subcommittee created the by-laws of the SRLJC,the Facilities subcommittee has focused primarily on the issues of the jail facility; she said they were one of over two-hundred applicants that applied for a $150,000 Mac Arthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge Grant and they should know if they will receive one of the twenty grants awarded in the next few weeks; from the twenty awarded sites, ten will be selected for a five-year program and will receive between $500,000 to $2 million per year to help continue with reforms. 10. City and Town Updates There were no other updates. 11 Around the Room—Agenda Suggestions for next Council of Governments Commissioner O'Quinn opened the floor to comments, suggestions for future agenda items and announced that the next Council of Governments meeting is scheduled for September 11, 2015. The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:00 p.m. Dean Grafos,Mayor ATTEST: Carrie Koudelka, Deputy City Clerk Special: Regional Council of Governments 04-24-2015 Page 3 of 3 Approved by Council: 06-09-2015