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2025, 05-13 Formal A MeetingCity of Spokane Valley City Council Study Session Meeting Formal A Setting Tuesday, May 13, 2025 Mayor Haley called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was held in person in Council Chambers, and also remotely via Zoom meeting. Attendance: Councilmembers Staff Pam Haley, Mayor John Hohman, City Manager Tim Hattenburg, Deputy Mayor Erik Lamb, Deputy City Manager Rod Higgins, Councilmember Gloria Mantz, City Services Administrator Jessica Yaeger, Councilmember Tony Beattie, Senior Deputy City Attorney Laura Padden, Councilmember Chelsie Walls, Finance Director (viz Zoom) Ben Wick, Councilmember Kelly Konkright, City Attorney Al Merkel, Councilmember Steve Roberge, Planning Manger John Whitehead, HR Director Virginia Clough, Legislative Policy Coord. Dave Ellis, Police Chief Lori Barlow, Senior Planner Jenny Nickerson, Building Official Chad Knodel, IT Manager Marci Patterson, City Clerk INVOCATION: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Council, staff and the audience stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: City Clerk Patterson called roll; all Councilmembers were present. APPROVAL OF AGENDA It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the agenda. SPECIAL GUESTS/PRESENTATIONS: COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS Mayor Haley provided instruction regarding councilmember reports and noted that the Governance Manual Committee was working on updating the language for the reporting, but until it is updated she asked if council would be agreeable to waiving the current rules and allowing reporting on various topics to include those in which a councilmember represented the city at meetings, events, committees, a task force or any other activity. It was moved by Councilmember Wick, seconded and unanimously agreed to suspend the rules to allow for additional reports from councilmembers. Councilmember Merkel: noted that we need to focus on public safety. Councilmember Wick: attended the Human Rights Spokane meeting and noted there is a new chair, Commissioner Waldref, also attended a joint Kiwanis scholarship event, a FMSIB meeting with an update on strategic freight projects, an MRSC board meeting where they looked at legislative session overall, and an AWC Board meeting. Councilmember Higgins: stated he attended a Spokane Regional Clean Air meeting and a Spokane Regional transportation meeting Councilmember Padden: attended the Lincoln Day Dinner and a Valley Chamber Board of Director meeting. Councilmember Yaeger: attended the Lincoln Day Dinner event and a DSHS Board meeting. Deputy Mayor Hattenburg: attended three ribbon cuttings; a new car wash on Sinto, new Storage Solutions location, and the Mirabeau transit park and ride with STA and attended a Habitat for Humanity luncheon. Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 05-13-2025 Page I of 4 Approved by Council: 07-08-2025 MAYOR'S REPORT The mayor spoke about attending a Valley Chamber Government Affairs meeting this morning and gave an STA update. PROCLAMATION: GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: After Mayor Haley explained the process, she invited public comments. Kaylee Jackman, Spokane; Bob West, Spokane Valley; John Harding, Spokane Valley; Ben Lund, Spokane Valley; and Mike Dolan, Spokane Valley all provided comments. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Consent Agenda: Consists of items considered routine which are approved as a group. Any member of Council may ask that an item be removed from the Consent Agenda to be considered separately. Proposed Motion: I move to approve the Consent Agenda. a. Approval of Claim Vouchers, May 13, 2025, Request for Council Action Form: $1,800,701.36. b. Approval of Payroll for Pay Period ending April 30, 2025: $746,167.00. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the Consent Agenda. ACTION ITEMS: 2. PUBLIC HEARING: 2025 Budget Amendment — Chelsie Walls Mayor Haley opened the public hearing at 6:28p.m. Ms. Walls reviewed the increases and decreases in the various funds for the 2025 Budget Amendment. Overall there were $5,435,686 in revenue increase (decrease) and $13,984,784 in the expenditure increase (decrease). Councilmember Merkel questioned the Fund 312 balance. Mayor Haley invited public comment. Mike Dolan, Spokane Valley, John Harding, Spokane Valley, and Ben Lund, Spokane Valley provided comments. Council discussed the recurring funds and the need to continue expending funds for specific behaviors. City Manager Hohman noted that thus far there has been no change in the behavior and therefore there continues a need for the expenses. Council discussed the need to hold all accountable to the same laws and the same oath of office and it is necessary to continue being held accountable. It was moved by Councibnember Yaeger and seconded to end the discussion and close the public hearing. Vote by acclamation to end the discussion: in favor: Mayor Haley, Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, Councibnernbers Padden, Yaeger, Wick and Higgins. Opposed: Councilmember Merkel. Motion carried Mayor Haley closed the hearing at 6:55p.m. 3. Ordinance 25-006: First Read 2025 Budget Amendment — Chelsie Walls It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg and seconded to advance Ordinance #25-006 amending the 2025 Budget to a second reading. With no additional discussion, Mayor Haley called for a vote on the motion. Vote by acclamation to end the discussion: in favor: Mayor Haley, Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, Councilrnembers Padden, Yaeger, Wick and Higgins. Opposed: Councibnember Merkel. Motion carried. 4. Ordinance 25-005: Second Read STV-2025-0001 —Lori Barlow Prior to reading the Ordinance title, Councilmember Yaeger recused herself from the item as a conflict of interest. Council approved the recusal unanimously. After City Clerk Patterson read the Ordinance title, it was moved by Depiq Mayor Hattenburg and seconded to approve Ordinance #25-005. Ms. Barlow provided information on the property ownership, applicants' reason for the street vacation, the final process for the street vacation, and the city traffic engineering conditions. Vote by acclamation: in favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried After the vote, Councilmember Yager rejoined the meeting. 5. Motion Consideration: Homeless Regional Coordination ILA — Gloria Mantz It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg and seconded to approve Regional Homeless Coordination ILA. Ms. Mantz reviewed the PowerPoint presentation and went over the five objectives for the five-year plan to end homelessness and noted the collaboration efforts with Spokane County and the City of Spokane. Ms. Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 05-13-2025 Page 2 of 4 Approved by Council: 07-08-2025 Mantz also highlighted the joint responsibilities of the entities and how the jurisdictions would continue to work together once the ILA was signed. She closed with a review of some of the terms for the ILA collaboration. Council discussed the objectives and that it is necessary to receive funding. Mr. Hohman provided further details on how the ILA would work. Mayor Haley invited public comment. Ben Lund, Spokane Valley provided comment. Vote by acclamation to end the discussion: in favor: Mayor Haley, Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, Councilmembers Padden, Yaeger, Wick and Higgins. Opposed.• Councilmember Merkel. Motion carried 6. Motion Consideration: Governance Manual — John Hohman It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg and seconded to approve Resolution 25-005, repealing and replacing the Governance Manual. Mr. Hohman presented the updated changes to the Governance Manual. Council questioned the fine for the social media posting. City Attorney Konkright provided details on the fine. Councilmember Merkel noted that he was not pleased with the removal of offering verbal dissent. Councilmember Wick pointed out that they could dissent on the topic while its discussed, but not later in the agenda and that once the action item is done and voted on, it is over. Deputy Mayor Hattenburg agreed with the statement. Mr. Hohman noted that the committee was trying to get to a point where the business meeting can continue in an orderly fashion. Mayor Haley invited public comment. Jodie Buehler, Spokane Valley, Bob West, Spokane Valley, John Harding, Spokane Valley, Mike Dolan, Spokane Valley, Ben Lund, Spokane Valley, Daryl Williams, Spokane Valley, Kendra Rojas, Spokane Valley, and Don Buehler, Spokane Valley provided comments. Mr. Konkright spoke about the difference between using city devices and personal devices. Councilmember Merkel stated that it's apparent that this whole thing is to challenge me and the things I say are not ok with them and they are using their voice to silence me and if its overturned how would you feel if it came back on you. Mr. Hohman noted that he had been debating talking about this for some time, but public needs more context and the committee has reacted to the behavior that has been presented, why the behavior has been exhibited and that he had a conversation with Councilmember Merkel at the beginning of 2024 where he was very open with where his view points were and he asked me to delay the work on this and noted that he had two years to make this council look as bad as I can with these six idiots, wait 5 1/2 idiots and Mr. Hohman noted that is was really unfortunate and that the public needs to know the truth. Councilmember Yaeger noted that she got excited to be on the governance manual committee and thought she would have something to add and something for the community, but we have met a lot because of the behavior and the fact that we need to have this conversation is embarrassing. We are out at events and serving our public. This is a business meeting. Mayor Haley closed with a point of reference and stated that the Governance Manual is for everyone to follow. Vote by acclamation to end the discussion: in favor: Mayor Haley, Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, Councilmembers Padden, Yaeger and Higgins. Opposed• Councihnembers Merkel and Wick. Motion carried. Mayor Haley called for a recess at 8:12pnr for 15 minutes and that the meeting would resume at 8: 27prn. NON -ACTION ITEMS: 7. Admin Report: Recap of 2025 State Legislative Session — Virginia Clough, Briahna Murray Ms. Murray presented a PowerPoint presentation that included details on the 2025 Legislative Session. Ms. Murray provided information on the overview of the legislative session, the outcome of the 2025 city's legislative priorities and the next steps. She noted that there was a 105 day session with 2534 bills introduced, 431 passed into law and that there were 24 new freshman legislators. Ms. Murray also reviewed the operating, capital, and transportation budgets and highlighted budget totals for each one. She went on to speak about the city's 2025 legislative priorities that included the sports courts, barker/I-90 interchange, grant finding for Balfour Park Playground, documents recording fee admin charge and the cannabis revenues. She provided details on the regional items of importance, the investments in Spokane Valley in the capital and transportation budgets. Ms. Murray closed with the policy issues and the next steps for preparing for 2026 session. Council discussed specific house bills and funding that may be allocated to our area. The y also spoke about sales and use tax collections. Deputy Mayor Hattenburg called to extend the meeting to 9: 30p. in. Council approved unanimously. Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 05-13-2025 Page 3 of 4 Approved by Council: 07-08-2025 8. Admin Report: Development Activity Report — Jenny Nickerson Ms. Nickerson provided details on the development in our community, which included Dave and Buster's going in, the Scale House Market, Sierra Trading, a new McDonald's location, the residential developments, and upcoming projects in the area. Council did not have any additional questions or comments to provide. 9. Admin Report: Safe and Healthy pokane Regional Task Force Discussion — John Hohman, Mayor Haley Mr. Hohman provided details of the recent Safe and Healthy Spokane Regional Task Force meetings. He noted that they reviewed the needs of the community and that the planning team which is comprised of representatives from our area including Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Partnership, Empire Health Foundation, Spokane County and City of Spokane prepared a draft regional cooperative letter for the formation of the task force. Council discussed how many people would be part of the task force, how often they would potentially meet and what the time commitment may look like. Mayor Haley that this makes it interesting as they are taking the subject matter experts and doing what they can to make a difference. Mr. Hohman noted that he would take input on the matter until Friday and return at a later meeting with an update. Deputy Mayor Hattenburg called to extend the meeting to 10.-00p.m. Council approved unanimously. 10. Admin Report: Sign Code Review — Kelly Konkright City Attorney Konkright provided details on the ordinance and noted background on the city's sign code and that this was to prohibit signs on traffic devices to guard the safety and well-being of pedestrians and drivers using the city streets and sidewalks. Council discussed the types of signs prohibited and how they can be a distraction for drivers if too close to the traffic control device. Council provided consensus to return at a future meeting with the Ordinance. INFORMATION ONLY (will not be reported or discussed): GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: General public comment rules apply. After Mayor Haley explained the process, she invited public comments. Al Schrock, Spokane Valley provided comments. ADVANCE AGENDA Councilmember Merkel requested immediately continue hiring the next ten officers and put on the advance agenda. There was not consensus to advance the request. Councilmember Merkel requested a report from staff and what it would take to carry out mass casualty training. Councilmember Wick noted that we have those, and the police are currently handling that. Mr. Hohman noted there would be an update on that process. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS Mr. Hohman spoke about the RCO Grants and Mr. Lamb provided additional details on the RCO grant and what was happening with the grant moving forward. Mr. Hohman provided details on the grassroots event that he previously attended and had been invited to. Mr. Holtman closed with two reminders, the Farmers Market this Friday at 4:00pm and the Community Conversations next Tuesday at 5:00pm with the You Rock Recognition to follow at the Council meeting. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 9:48 p.m. A kTT ST: 1 J Marci atterson, City Clerk Pam aley, a;or Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 05-13-2025 Approved by Council: 07-08-2025 Page 4 of 4 PUBLIC COMMENT SIGN -IN SHEET SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, May 13, 2025 6:00 p.m. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY #1 Please sign up to speak for up to THREE minutes and the Mayor will afford the public the opportunity to speak. The public comment opportunity is limited to a maximum of 45 minutes. You may only speak at one of the comment opportunities, not at both public comment opportunities. NAME LEASE PRINT TOPIC YOU WILL SPEAK ABOUT YOUR CITY OF RESIDENCE .56& tc � Please note that once information is entered on this form, it becomes a public record subject to public &SCIOSnre. Mard Patterson From: noreply@civicplus.com Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 12:16 PM To: Marci Patterson; Chad Knodel; Justan Kinsel; Patricia Rhoades Subject: Online Form Submittal: Remote Public Comment Signup [EXTERNAL] This email originated outside the City of Spokane Valley. Always use caution when opening attachments or clicking links. Remote Public Comment Signup First Name Kaylee Last Name Jackman City of Residence Spokane Telephone Number That 7347707172 You Will Be Using to Call Email Address k.ann.gueen(a)gmail.com Date of the Meeting at 5/13/2025 Which You Wish to Speak Subject You Wish to Al Merkel's Sanctuary City Ordinance Vote Speak About Agenda Item Number n/a That You Plan to Speak To Are you planning to Yes make a general comment? Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. 1 5.13.2025 Ben Lund-36 year resident Topic: RCW 9A.80.010 — Official Misconduct Good evening, Councilmembers, Mayor Haley, City Manager Hohman, and City Attorney Konkright, Over the past 17 months, Councilmember Merkel's actions have cost the City of Spokane Valley $20,588 per month in attorney fees. These taxpayer funds have been spent trying to bring him into compliance with the Public Records Act and the City Governance Manual —rules every elected official is sworn to uphold. To make matters worse, Councilmember Merkel's legal team has stalled the City's court case by 70 days —delaying accountability and further driving up public costs. These aren't just procedural delays; they represent a pattern of obstruction that prolongs harm to our city and undermines public trust. This is not about personal attacks or political rivalry —and certainly not about a vendetta or "ganging up," as the councilmember so often claims. This is about the misuse of public office —about repeated, documented violations that disrupt city operations, disregard our laws, and erode confidence in local government. Fortunately, Washington law provides tools to address this kind of conduct. One of those tools is RCW 9A.80.010 — Official Misconduct. This statute applies to any public servant who knowingly abuses their position to benefit themselves or harm the public good. How much evidence does it take to prove someone has harmed the public good? In this case, the City has already spent over $350,000 in legal fees due to one councilmember's refusal to comply with the law. Official Misconduct by a public servant —such as knowingly violating their duties or abusing their authority —is a gross misdemeanor and carries a penalty of up to 364 days in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. These are not just ethical violations —they're criminal acts with real consequences. I believe it is time for the City to consider whether this statute applies to Councilmember Merkel's conduct. I respectfully urge Mr. Hohman and Mr. Konkright to evaluate its use —not only to address past misconduct, but to prevent further violations by this councilmember and deter others who may believe they can operate outside the law without consequence. As President Theodore Roosevelt said: "No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it