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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026, 02-24 Workshop Special MeetingMINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Special Meeting Winter Workshop Tuesday, February 24, 2026 Mayor Padden called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. The meeting was held in person in Council Chambers, and also remotely via Zoom meeting. Attendance: Councilmembers Staff Laura Padden, Mayor John Hohman, City Manager Tim Hattenburg, Deputy Mayor Erik Lamb, Deputy City Manager Pam Haley, Councilmember Gloria Mantz, City Services Administrator Ben Wick, Councilmember Kelly Konkright, City Attorney Jessica Yaeger, Councilmember Robert Blegen, Public Works Director Michael Kelly, Councilmember John Bottelli, Parks & Rec Director Al Merkel, Councilmember John Whitehead, HR Director Mike Basinger, Economic Development Director Dave Ellis, Police Chief Virginia Clough, Legislative Policy Coordinator Dan Domrese, Accounting Manager Morgan Koudelka, Senior Admin. Analyst Sean Walter, Assistant Police Chief Chad Knodel, IT Manager Marci Patterson, City Cleric WELCOME: Mayor Padden welcomed everyone to the meeting and provided a brief overview of the meeting for the day. 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. NON ACTION ITEMS: 1. Introduction — John Hohman, Erik Lamb City Manager Hohman provided an introduction to the winter workshop and a brief overview of the materials that would be discussed during the workshop. 2. City Vision Statement - John Hohman City Manager Hohman spoke about the current city vision and where we see the city going. Council spoke about growth and development within the city. Council spoke about the visions. 3. Update on Prior Council Budget Goals - John Hohman Mr. Hohman noted that it will be presented later in the meeting as discussions continued. 4. Law Enforcement Interlocal Agreement Discussion - Erik Lamb, Morgan Koudelka, Dave Ellis Mr. Lamb opened the conversation with a brief overview of the law enforcement contract and noted that no changes will be made, but simply a deep dive in costs, where our budget currently stands with the contract, and then noted that he would get into the information provided in the PowerPoint presentation. Mr. Lamb detailed the history of the agreement, the addition of the officers in the last couple of years, where the agreement currently stands, further detail into the law enforcement costs, multiple slides showing the cost increases, the five year history in the cost changes, a list of law enforcement costs by unit, the indirect costs, a list of the revenues, spoke about the vehicle replacements each year and costs associated with that. Mr. Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 02-24-2026 Page I of 4 Approved by Council: 04-28-2026 Lamb continued with the presentation with the law enforcement agreement services such as City Police Department Administration (Chief, Assistant Chief, Sergeant) Patrol, Traffic Unit (Enforcement and Investigation), Crime Prevention, Domestic Violence Unit (Investigation and Mitigation), School Resource Officers, K-9, and Spokane Valley Investigative Unit (Property and Drug Crimes Investigations). Mr. Lamb also reviewed the shared service units such as Major Crimes Unit (Investigation of Crimes Against Persons), Special Assault Unit (Sex Crimes Investigation), Spokane County Investigative Unit: (Property and Drug Crimes Investigations; Lieutenant only), Joint Terrorism Task Force, Safe Streets (Drug Task Force and Gang Enforcement), Emergency Operations Team (Marine and Search and Rescue), Public Information Officer, Training Office of Professional Standards (Investigations of complaints against officers and use of force), Air Support Unit, Forensics, Explosive Disposal, Regional Investigative Group 9 (Crime Analysis), Fleet Maintenance, SWAT (Hostage Negotiation), Tac Team (Crowd Control), Reservist and Explorer Units and Administrative Support. Mr. Lamb continued with an overview of the dedicated officers. Mayor Padden called for a recess at 10: 00arru for 10 minutes and that the meeting would resume at 10: Mana. Mr. Lamb and Chief Ellis spoke about the current staffing levels, the patrol platoons, and the current SVPD civilian positions. They continued to review the key terms such as termination, independent contractor, dedicated officers, shared officers, Chief and Assistant Chief that come up throughout the contracts. Mr. Lamb also explained the reporting that is provided, workload indicators, performance measures, capital costs, cost/payment process, records retained, liability, the recent and upcoming issues, and discussion with council on the PowerPoint items presented. Mr. Lamb touched on the upcoming issues that included a helicopter purchase and potential costs for the training center, capital costs, RMS purchase/process, and the Real Time Crime Center future costs. They also discussed the recent settle and adjust issues, FCS review that is ongoing, SREC facility costs and the budget impacts from Spokane leaving (not direct, but paid through Sheriff's Agreement), and a 2025 Sheriff's Office Budget status update. Mayor Padden called for a lunch recess at 12: 00pm for 45 minutes and that the meeting would resume at 12: 45pm. 5. Status Update - Public Safety Contract Costs - Erik Lamb, Morgan Koudelka Mr. Lamb opened the discussion with a PowerPoint presentation that included the SV Public Safety Agreement cost updates. Those included the nine agreements associated with public safety such as: Law Enforcement Services $38,512,539 (previously discussed), Detention Services $2,046,780, District Court $1,599,719, Public Defender $1,117,207, Prosecutor $400,000, Pretrial $210,681, Emergency Management $201,875, SCRAPS $389,516, Probation - no cost to city (exchange for fees), Contingency $200,000 with a total 2026 recurring Public Safety budget: $44,678,317. Mr. Lamb further explained the last time there was a completed reconciliation with each of the agreements. The detention services was last completed in 2023, District Court was also done in 2023, Public Defender was last completed in 2022, Prosecutor Services was completed in 2021, Pretrial completed in 2022, Emergency Management completed in 2022, SCRAPS is current as it is a fixed cost at $45,000 a year, and noted general issues that may have potentially caused the delay in receiving the completed reports. Council discussed the need for more current reconciliations in order to get a more accurate cost for each agreement. 6. Public Safety Coordinator - Erik Lamb Mr. Lamb provided details on the Public Safety Coordinator position and noted that it is not funded for 2026 and that the current public safety agreements are managed primarily by two administrative analysts and the Deputy City Manager and City Manager. While the analysts spend the majority of their time focused on public safety issues, the Deputy City Manager provides assistance and management over public safety in addition to overseeing five other departments and assisting the City Manager with other projects as needed. In recognition of the work required to manage the nine public safety agreements, in 2025, City Council determined to create a public safety coordinator position. Due to constraints on revenues and increasing costs elsewhere within City services, that position was not funded in the 2026 Budget and no public safety coordinator has been hired. Mr. Lamb went on to provide details on what estimated costs for a public safety coordinator position would include such as a vehicle for the employee and salary and benefits. Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 02-24-2026 Page 2 of 4 Approved by Council: 04-28-2026 7 Business License Fees - Gloria Mantz Erik Lamb Mr. Hohman detailed the need for additional staff to coordinate all the public safety contracts and agreements. Mr. Hohman also provided information on how we may fund that staff person. He noted that Ms. Mantz would further explain the business licenses and fees in our city. Ms. Mantz explained the business license fees and noted a comparison with our surrounding communities, the revenue, the public outreach that has taken place, the potential revenue if fees were incrementally raised each year, and the recommendation to raise those costs. The recommendation is to raise the fee from $25 to $60 for 2026, $75 for 2027, and $95 for 2028. 8. City Events - Gloria Mantz Mr. Hohman opened the conversation with an introduction to the opportunity for the city events that may be available within the community. Ms. Mantz presented a PowerPoint presentation that included an overview of the parks and recs events, the one-time events, the annual events, and other potential events. She provided details on the benefits and criteria for the events and a list of the city events. Ms. Mantz also spoke about the celebration of lights events and the costs associated with the event, the staff time for the event and the partners that we had for the event in 2025. She continued the presentation with the Cops and Kids Car Show and detailed the planning that went into the event, the staff time involved, the coordination with the police staff, the cost of the event and the attendance for the first year. Ms. Mantz continued with a review of the Farmers Market event and noted that JAKT will likely not run the event for 2026. She also detailed the costs to coordinate the event and what it would look like if staff were to carry out those duties and take on part of the event. She stated that current staff do not have the capacity to take on the market for 2026 without a sponsor or third party to assist, or a market operator. Ms. Mantz also noted what costs could be for supplies and things necessary to keep the events going each year. Ms. Mantz gave details on the letter of intent that was received from Valleyfest that requested the city take over the event and that Valleyfest 5016 would dissolve and provide their funds to the city and that the city would take over all of the events associated with Valleyfest. She closed with other suggested events that have been brought up to the city but have no finding associated with them. Mr. Hohman asked for clarity on the events that have been reviewed. Mayor Padden asked that the celebration of lights continue and the cops and kids car show event as well. She is hesitant to take on new projects, especially something as large as Valleyfest. Councilmember Kelly noted that he agreed with the mayor. Council also asked about chamber being more involved in these opportunities. Council agreed that it would be too much to take on such a large event and suggested Valleyfest contact Valley Chamber to see if they would become a partner in the event. 9. Council Vision for 2027-2028 Budget Goals - John Hohman Mr. Hohman quickly walked through the budget themes and noted that the themes work better than some specific priorities. Mr. Hohman touched on the themes as listed: A safe and accountable community that maintains public safety and upholds services, enforcement and codes that keep our community safe. A connected and maintained network building and maintaining roads and systems that safely and efficiently move people and goods and protect the environment. A strong and diverse economy generating revenue to fund city services through the many places to live, eat, shop, work, play and access services. An exceptional quality of life creating opportunities for people to connect, have fun and improve their physical and mental health. A strategic and fiscally responsible government managing our city's operations and budget carefully and openly. Mr. Hohman noted that the wording could be crafted differently when presented at a council meeting and with more time dedicated to the themes. 10. Closing Remarks - John Hohman Mr. Hohman provided closing remarks and thanked staff and council and Chief Ellis for staying with us all day. Mr. Hohman noted that these workshops allow for more of a round table discussion and allow us to look deeper at some of the subject matter. The topics gave us a lot to work with, and we will continue to Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 02-24-2026 Page 3 of 4 Approved by Council: 04-28-2026 update with conversations that we have with the county. Staff will build costs and layout more details for the special events hosted by the city. We will report back to Valleyfest and let them know that a third party should take on that event. Deputy Mayor Hattenburg adjourned the workshop at 2:59pm. ATTEST: Laura Padden, Mayor Mardi Patterson, City Clerk Council Meeting Minutes, Study Session: 02-24-2026 Page 4 of 4 Approved by Council: 04-28-2026