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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025, 11-18 Formal B MeetingMINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Meeting Formal B Format Tuesday, November 18, 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 Pam Haley, Mayor Tim Hattenburg, Deputy Mayor Rod Higgins, Councilmember Laura Padden, Councilmember Jessica Yaeger, Councilmember Ben Wick, Councilmember Al Merkel, Councilmember Staff John Hohman, City Manager Erik Lamb, Deputy City Manager Gloria Mantz, City Services Administrator Kelly Konkright, City Attorney Tony Beattie, Senior Deputy City Attorney Chelsie Walls, Finance Director Robert Blegen, Public Works Director Virgina Clough, Legislative Policy Coordinator John Whitehead, HR Director Dave Ellis, Police Chief Mike Basinger, Community & Econ. Dev. Director Jill Smith, Communications Manager John Bottelli, Parks & Rec Director Lesli Brassfield, Tourism & Marketing Manager Teri Stripes, Economic Development Specialist Jerremy Clark, Traffic Engineering Manager Kendall May, Recreation Coordinator Sarah Farr, Accting & Finance Program Manager Justan Kinsel, IT Specialist Marci Patterson, City Clerk INVOCATION: Pastor Matt Pegram with Valley Real Life Church gave the 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 Depuo) Mayor Hattenburg, to approve the agenda. Vote by acclamation: in favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. SPECIAL GUESTS/PRESENTATIONS: Partners INW, You Rock Recognition Award Mayor Haley thanked Dr. Coblentz and the staff at Partners INW for their dedication to our community and for continually giving back to the citizens of Spokane Valley. Partners INW have helped to connect our community with much needed resources the city is looking forward to their continued support of our citizens. PROCLAMATIONS: GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: After Mayor Haley explained the process, she invited public comments. Robert Cropper, Spokane Valley; Sue Delucchi, Spokane Valley; Linda Klesch, Spokane Valley; Ben Lund, Spokane Valley; Al Shrock, Spokane Valley provided comments. ACTION ITEMS: 1. Ordinance 25-018: First Read School Speed Camera (SSC) Program — Jerremy Clark, Gloria Mantz Council Meeting Minutes: 11-18-2025 Page 1 of 4 Approved,by Council: 01-13-2026 After City Clerk Patterson read the Ordinance title, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, seconded to advance Ordinance 25-018 to a second reading. Ms. Mantz and Mr. Clark presented a PowerPoint presentation that included information on what a speed safety camera (SSC) is, the implementation process of SSC, highlights from other jurisdictions, the pilot evaluation information, citation and revenue estimates, and the program implementation if approved. Mr. Clark spoke about the definition of a speed safety camera, what images are acceptable for a citation, the citation revenues, the citation costs, the hours of operation for cameras and what the citation revenues would look like if run 24 hours a day. Mayor Haley invited public comments. Kendra Rojas, Spokane Valley; Ben Lund, Spokane Valley; Manny Rojas, Spokane Valley; Al Shrock, Spokane Valley; Mike Kelly, Spokane Valley provided comments. Council discussed the violations, collecting data and feedback from the public, the possibility of additional locations of the cameras, options for posting speed trailers or signs as opposed to the cameras, and options for hiring an additional staff person. Vote by acclamation: in favor: Mayor Haley, Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, Councilrnembers Higgins, Padden, Yaeger and Merkel. Opposed.• Councilmember Wick. Motion carried. 2. Ordinance 25-016: Second Read Property Tax Ordinance — Chelsie Walls After City Clerk Patterson read the Ordinance title, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, seconded to approve Ordinance 25-016 levying regular property taxes for 2026 Ms. Walls gave a brief background and noted that the I % allowed by law is NOT included and provided additional details on the revenue collected. As there were no further questions or comments Mayor Haley called for the vote. Vote by acclamation: in favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. 3. Motion Consideration: TPA Opportunity Fund Authorization — Lesli Brassfield It was moved by Deputy Mayor Hattenburg, seconded to authorize that $170, 000 of 2026 TPA revenue be placed into an Opportunity Fund to distribute to destination venues and events based on presented criteria that will be approved by City Council and adopted in the SVMC; and grant the Spokane Valley TPA Hotel Commission administrative authority to review Opportunity Fund applications and award finding. Ms. Brassfield gave a brief background on the opportunity fund and that the motion was missed at a previous meeting. Mayor Haley invited public comments; no comments were offered. Vote by acclamation: in favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. NON -ACTION ITEMS: Mayor Haley called for a recess at 7:18pm for 10 minutes and that the meeting would resume at 7:28pm. Deputy Mayor Hattenburg left the meeting during the recess. 4. Admin Report: EWU Economic Trends Update — Teri Stripes Ms. Stripes gave a brief introduction and then Dr. Jones and Dr. Cullen provided a PowerPoint presentation regarding our Economic Trends update. The overview included information on age demographics, prime working age, graphs on the labor market, a summary of aggregate employment measures, graphs showing key sectors of employment, a summary of the sector performance, and housing to include residential building permits with single family, multi -family. They continued to provide information on average valuation, graphs on housing for the median homebuyer, the first-time homebuyer, the median renters, and the low-income renters and provided a summary of housing construction and affordability. Mr. Jones also presented the retail sales determinant, city taxable retail sales activity, the median household incomes, a look ahead at Washington economy and overall summary observations. Council discussed various topics during the presentation and thanked the presenters for the information. 5. Admin Report: Parks and Recreation Season Review Presentation — Kendall May Ms. May provided a PowerPoint presentation that included a Parks & Rec season recap. Ms. May gave details on recreation, aquatics and parks programs. The recreation programs included a variety of park movies, summer camp program, the park & meals program, the Halloween events, Parks & Rec month, the Senior Center and upcoming rec events. The aquatic programs included an overview of the pools, their locations and the programs offered at the pools. Ms. May also reviewed the pool stats, the sponsors for the free swim days and the swim lesson scholarships and the paws in the pool event at the end of the pool season. The Parks & Trails overview included the number of park shelter reservations, the contracted partners, trail updates, Council Meeting Minutes: 11-18-2025 Page 2 of 4 Approved by Council: 01-13-2026 Greenacres Park update, and a PROS plan update. Council noted that it is always a pleasure to hear about the outcome of the Parks & Rec season. 6. Admin Report: LTAC Recommendations - Sarah Farr Ms. Farr gave a detailed background on the LTAC recommendations, information on the attachments in the package, and an overview of the funds that LTAC recommended. She further detailed where the funding comes from and how LTAC made their recommendations. Council discussed the entities that LTAC provided recommendations on and spoke about The Course being one of the funded applicants for the operations and maintenance as was The HUB for events & tourism activities. Ms. Farr also stated that at the end of the LTAC meeting the LTAC board unanimously approved a motion to hold another special meeting this year to consider applications related to the Innovia Foundation Ice Sports Facility Proposal that has been discussed by Council on multiple occasions and that she would return at a future council meeting to discuss the outcome of that special meeting. 7. Admin Report: Balfour Park Update — John Bottelli Mr. Bottelli gave details on the projects going on at Balfour Park and photos of the park. Mr. Bottelli also gave an update on the park expansion project, the project history, the completed phases, the current funding and the future elements of the park that would include the spray park and the playground. Council questioned the timing on some of the park elements and Mr. Bottelli provided additional details on the grant information. It was moved by Councilmember Yaeger, seconded and approved to extend the council meeting to 9:20 p.m. INFORMATION ONLY: GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: Mayor Haley stated that the general public comment rules still apply and called for public comments; no comments were provided. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Yaeger spoke about shopping at the local markets and Costco. Councilmember Padden noted that many businesses are finding the Valley as a good place to be located that that we have free parking. She also gave a shout out to The Course and is looking forward to the next season and noted that the total financial impact is estimated to be $1OM next year. Councilmember Higgins spoke about the increased city funding to our police contract and noted that by the end of 2026 they will have increased the force by 20% and we currently approve the support of the police, with challenging times ahead and the police costs rising by $15mill over the last few years and the indirect costs in the contract with the police. We can't afford 11 % increase each year. Councilmember Wick provided updates on the AWC as the Chair of AWC Large Advisory Committee, he noted that they had a meeting last week and had a conversation about electric bikes, e-motos which are more powerful than an electronic bicycle. He also noted that he had a meeting last week for FMSIB and they spoke about project cost increases on the west side of the state and that they are seeing that a lot throughout the state. Councilmember Merkel spoke about the loss of a student at University High School. He also spoke about the use of e-motos on our trails and the need to educate the public about the differences in the electronic "bikes and e-moto" uses on the trails. He also spoke about the upcoming Comprehensive Plan and how we continue to develop the city moving forward. MAYOR'S COMMENTS Mayor Haley stated that she went to the new Five Below store and was very happy to have them located in the Valley. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS City Manager Hohman spoke about the Pines/BNSF Grade Separation Project and shared some of the updated photos of the project. The City Manager also spoke about Ridgemont Estates/Timberlane Terrace project and provided clarification that the project is within the County and noted that the drainage pond that was refenced in the general public comment period is in the city. He noted that when the current phase was introduced, staff Council Meeting Minutes: 11-18-2025 Page 3 of 4 Approved by Council: 01-13-2026 at the city recommended not approving it until remediation efforts were put into place. Mr. Hohman provided additional details on the project. EXECUTIVE SESSION: It was moved by Councilmember Higgins, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn at 9:15p.m. A EIT: Pam Haley, May r Marci V tterson, City Clerk Council Meeting Minutes: 11-18-2025 Page 4 of 4 Approved by Council: 01-13-2026 PUBLIC COMMENT SIGN -IN SHEET SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, November 18, 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 PLEASE PRINT TOPIC YOU WILL SPEAK ABOUT YOUR CITY OF RESIDENCE G Please dote that once information is entered on this form, it becomes a public record subject to public disclosure. Al Shrock, Spokane Valley WA City Council Meeting, 11/18/2025 Mayor Haley, you mentioned at the last meeting that we should be looking at the positives of our city. Of course we don't wish to bury our head in the sand and not address the challenges, but there is a distinction between listening to insignificant voices pushing the negative to create dissension as opposed to suggesting constructive solutions to those challenges. Deb & I want to say congratulations to Council -members Ben Wick and Laura Padden, and to Mayor Haley for keeping your seats on November 5. Before the election, I was wondering what the plans for our city were. Not ours, but God's plan. Would He allow us to fall into an evil leadership whose stated intention was to destroy us? The answer was given at the voting poles. I believe the overwhelming victory of you, our leaders, is a challenge to you to maintain the high standard that you have set for yourselves. A standard that keeps you guided by what is true, honorable, and free from corruption. We, the citizens of the majority vote, want to say thank you for where you have taken us in your last term and look forward to what's in store in the future for Spokane Valley. We encourage each of you to fiercely uphold your oath of office, stay true to your honest convictions, and continue to lead our city with sound judgment and a pure heart. Congratulations again to all of you incumbents and to Mike Kelly, our newly elected council -member come January 1, 2026. Romans 8:31 says "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Godspeed to you all. City Council 11/18/2025 Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Council, Leadership and neighbors. Last week, our community was treated to something pretty special — the Northern Lights. If you were lucky enough to catch them during the cloud breaks, or if you drove out a little to get a clear view, you know what I mean. It was one of those rare moments that reminds us to step back, look up, and appreciate where we live. And that image — people looking forward together — made me think of the work happening right here in our city. Because just a few days before that, we had another important event: the Economic Planning Committee's open house. I attended, and I wanted to share a few thoughts for anyone who couldn't make it. I personally know several members of that planning team — one of them I've known for over 37 years. His family attended our first church when we moved here. These are people rooted in this community, and I can say with full confidence: we are in very good hands. They're thoughtful, steady, and committed to doing the work quietly and consistently. And honestly, the results show. Spokane Valley continues to be one of the most desirable places to live in Washington. Balanced budgets. No city debt. Strong reserves. Solid infrastructure. These things do not happen by accident. They come from years of long-term planning, discipline, and a commitment to keeping this city strong. We're not perfect — no city is. There are challenges ahead. But our leadership team, and the volunteers behind these plans, have helped keep our taxes among the lowest in the state while maintaining a stable, well - run community. With all that said, I do want to make one request — not to the Council specifically, but to the broader conversation around us: It would help all of us if the misinformation machine could pause for a moment, acknowledge what has worked for the last 13 years, and join the rest of us in focusing on the challenges ahead instead of tearing down the people who have kept this city strong. The open house was full of neighbors asking good questions, offering ideas, and genuinely caring about the Valley's future. And that's the Spokane Valley I know. That's the Valley worth protecting. Thank you for your time, and thank you to everyone who continues to show up and work for the good of this community.