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Each weekday, Cary Driskell drives from his home in Spokane Valley to his office on Sprague Avenue near Bowdish Road.
Along with the usual array of flowering trees and landscaped yards, Driskell passes a growing number of red campaign signs that call for the disincorporation of the state’s seventh largest city.
It is the third such movement organized by a group called the Citizens for Disincorporation since Spokane Valley officially made the shift from an unincorporated section of Spokane County to municipal status in 2003. The vote passed in May 2002 with just over 51 percent of voters (10,272 to 9,611) approving incorporation. Four previous ballot measures had failed going back to 1990.
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The Spokane Valley Business Association is now distributing yard signs in support of the city of Spokane Valley. The free placards represent a response to the latest disincorporation campaign which seeks to place the question of cityhood on an upcoming ballot.
Photo by: Submitted |
Driskell, the assistant city attorney since the beginning, said the latest drive has been the source of a few conversations at City Hall.
“I don’t think it changes the mood at work, but it does cause a little bit of uncertainty,” Driskell said. “Overall, I’d say our staff doesn’t appear to be too worried about it.”
Driskell said the topic of disincorporation rarely comes up when people interview for jobs with the city – a change from the level of concern raised during the first two lobbying efforts.
“Applicants would ask ‘What’s going on with this disincorporation movement? Is it going to affect my job?’” Driskell said. “We really haven’t heard that this time.”
Citizens for Disincorporation registered with the state Public Disclosure Commission on Feb. 24. The group must gather signatures from at least 50 percent of registered voters living within Spokane Valley who voted in the last election in order to place the city issue on a ballot. The signatures – over 24,000 in total – must be received within a six-month span from the start of the drive.
It is uncertain if enough signatures will be gathered in time for the November general election. Applications must be received by Aug. 11 to be included on the ballot, according to Mike McLaughlin of the Spokane County Elections Office. Running a special election would cost the group between $80,000 to $100,000.
Disincorporation organizer Sally Jackson said she has been encouraged by the amount of interest in the latest disincorporation effort.
“A lot of people are involved in this,” she said. “People keep telling me they’re amazed at the number of signs that are going up.”
As for the current number of collected signatures, Jackson said, “That’s not my job.”
Repeated messages from the Valley News Herald to the main Citizens for Disincorporation number and local developer Dean Grafos, who has supported the petition drive through a group called Friends of Spokane Valley, went unreturned.
The group’s Web site – www.disincorporatenow.com – describes how “approximately one-eighth of the Valley’s citizens actually voted for the extra layer of government.” The Web site contends that Spokane Valley residents “are receiving the same (Spokane) County services we always had, but we are now paying higher administrative costs through the city.” The incorporation movement, city opponents say, was “heavily funded by special interest and developer dollars to the tune of $190,000.”
Citizens for Disincorporation will hold its next meeting at the Spokane Valley Library on Monday, July 27, at 7 p.m.
The last Washington city to disincorporate was the small town of Elberton in Whitman County 44 years ago. The Spokane County Boundary Review Board would need to approve the grounds for disincorporation – in areas such as financial solvency and adequate urban services – before the issue goes to ballot.
The city’s Web site – www.spokanevalley.org – provides an overview of the municipal budget in a section called “City Finance 101” which features information about the allocation of property taxes, spending for capital projects and city staffing. The Web site also includes a description of the history, processes and effects of disincorporation.
Spokane Valley Mayor Richard Munson said he has been disappointed that many opponents of the city have not been willing “to work within the system for the change they feel is necessary.” He pointed out that Jackson has yet to attend a single City Council meeting.
“Why not take the time to objectively find out what’s going on in the Valley?” Munson said. “If you refuse to come to a meeting, why are you so sure things are going wrong?”
An original member of the City Council, Munson said the latest campaign against municipal government has left him feeling “disheartened.”
“I’ve dedicated six and a half years of my life to make this city successful,” he said.
Local businessman Max Johnston, a resident of the area for the last 30 years, decided to attend a meeting of the Citizens for Disincorporation about three months ago. After the meeting, he visited the city’s Web site to compare some of the information that had been presented.
“I did some reading and found out the city is financially responsible and certainly not in debt,” Johnston said.
Johnston concluded that “the city serves a valuable purpose” through improved police protection, better roads, increased representation and “keeping tax money at home.” He decided he would spend his own money to print bumper stickers that pledged support for incorporation.
“I think these disincorporation signs create a negative atmosphere,” Johnston said. “I’m glad we have a city.”
Now the Spokane Valley Business Association is distributing yard signs that closely resemble the bumper stickers. Dick Behm of SVBA said the campaign is not about creating contention with the disincorporation movement but simply “to acknowledge what the city has accomplished.”
“We have better parks and roads and code enforcement,” Behm said. “These signs are about showing support for our city.”
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By
Craig Howard
