 |
Around 70 people gathered at the Valley Library last week to hear the latest on an effort to put the disincorporation of Spokane Valley on the ballot.
By the end of the meeting on Sept. 3, one campaign had wrapped up while another was developing some momentum of its own.
With the announcement that a petition drive was around 7,000 signatures short, organizers officially derailed the most recent endeavor to place the question of cityhood before Spokane Valley voters, marking the third such failed attempt since the city incorporated in 2003.
Citizens for Disincorporation registered with the state Public Disclosure Commission on Feb. 24 and began gathering signatures shortly thereafter. The group needed to collect signatures from at least 50 percent of the city’s registered voters – or around 24,000 – in order to place the issue on the ballot. According to the Spokane County Elections Office, each signature must be obtained within six months from the start of the drive.
Organizers say the final signature total came close to 17,000.
“This is a sad occasion,” said Sally Jackson, a longtime Spokane Valley resident who has served as leader of each disincorporation attempt. “But we haven’t lost – we’re not going to let them off the hook.”
Jackson applauded the efforts of those who donated time to the cause and encouraged those in the room to pledge their support to a cadre of five candidates in attendance at the Aug. 27 meeting.
“We’re going to support the candidates who are running and who are going to change things,” she said.
The quintet, running under the banner of Citizens for Positive Change, includes Tom Towey, Brenda Grassel, Dean Grafos, current City Council Member Gary Schimmels and state Sen. Bob McCaslin.
Towey and Schimmels will run unopposed in November. Grassel will face off against former Spokane Valley Mayor and current City Council Member Diana Wilhite, while McCaslin will challenge mayor Rich Munson. Grafos joins Edward Pace, Ed Foote and council appointee Ian Robertson in the race for a council seat vacated when Steve Taylor accepted the job as city administrator in Connell.
Grafos, an outspoken critic of the city who has provided financial backing for the disincorporation movement, appealed to attendees to stand behind each of the five candidates.
“We all need your support,” he said. “We can do something in a positive manner for this city.”
Towey thanked Jackson for helping him when he ran a write-in campaign against Taylor back in 2007, but did emphasize that “changing the city from within” was a better approach than disincorporation. When asked by a member of the audience if he would support a council vote to put disincorporation on the ballot when he became part of the city’s governing board, Towey said he would only consider it “if the city went bankrupt.”
“Right now, I think the five of us can change this,” Towey said. “If the five that we represent get in, it will change the voting dynamics of the City Council.”
Schimmels, who has served on the City Council since 2003, said he “didn’t see the city going bankrupt.”
“We’re trying our best,” he said.
McCaslin, who has served on the state Senate since 1980, was a last-minute addition to the list of candidates on June 5, filing right before the deadline.
“I told Sally if you don’t have anyone, I’ll run,” McCaslin said.
While he declined to sign the disincorporation petition, McCaslin said he does have concerns about the current state of Spokane Valley government.
“What the disincorporation folks took on was an impossible task,” McCaslin said. “I didn’t side with any group, but I do think we need to change the direction of this city.”
Grassel also made it clear that she supported Spokane Valley continuing as a city, but joined with the other four candidates in the hopes of bringing a new approach to municipal government.
Jackson proposed that the remaining funds in the disincorporation account – around $1,100 – go toward a full-page print ad in support of Towey, Grafos, Schimmels, Grassel and McCaslin.
As far as the plethora of red and white disincorporation signs – many of which remain in front of homes and businesses – several attendees at the meeting said they would store them in their homes. A Citizens for Positive Change potluck, featuring each of the five candidates, is set for Saturday, Sept. 19, at Plantes Ferry Park, with a time to be announced.
City Council Member Bill Gothmann said news of the discontinued campaign “shows that the majority of Spokane Valley citizens are in favor of maintaining the city,” but did acknowledge that those involved in the effort “called notice to the issue of communication.”
“This is an excellent chance for the City Council to develop effective ways of communicating with the electorate,” Gothmann said. “We’re trying our darndest to do that.”
As for the candidates who comprise the Positive Change group, Gothmann called their affiliation with the disincorporation movement “a logical contradiction.”
Munson agreed, saying “positive change does not mean disincorporation.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a candidates’ forum at the CenterPlace Regional Events Center starting at 7 p.m. Chamber CEO Eldonna Shaw said she hoped the election season would help shift attention away from “the negativity of the disincorporation campaign.”
“I think people are tired of the dissension,” Shaw said. “Why not work within the system? People are going to get a chance to see where these candidates are coming from and what their views are.”
|
|
By
Craig Howard
