Four experienced candidates are vying to be the sole guaranteed new face on Spokane Valley City Council

Yahoo

a day ago

Jul. 17—Regardless of the outcome of elections, a new face will join the Spokane Valley City Council next year in Position 1.
Spokane Valley has what is known as a council-city manager model of government, with the city council made up of seven nonpartisan members. Unlike in Spokane, where the mayor has real power over the day-to-day operations of city government, Spokane Valley's mayor is a council member who oversees meetings.
Also unlike Spokane, elections for city council positions represent the whole city, not just specific districts. Incumbent Rod Higgins, a former mayor and the longest-serving member of the council, opted not to run for re-election to Position 1 earlier this year.
"I can tell you firsthand, no, I don't think I'm Joe Biden, at least not in that bad of shape yet," Higgins told The Spokesman-Review in May. "But I can feel that I'm losing a step and stuff, and it's time for somebody else to get in there."
In the mix to be that "somebody else" are businessman and former state Senate candidate Mike Kelly; attorney Lisa Miller, who sits on the Spokane County Board of Equalization; mixed martial arts fighter and former firefighter Adam "Smash" Smith; and Kris Pockell, a software engineer who co-owns the Valley hot sauce producer Elixir Sauce Co. The two candidates to receive the most votes in the Aug. 6 primary will advance to the general election, and the winner will take office after the new year.
None of the candidates is a stranger to the political process. Kelly ran for the state Senate seat representing the Valley and surrounding communities last year, but fell short after details of a drug conviction decades ago resurfaced, despite him earning endorsements from outgoing state Sen. Mike Padden and several prominent Republicans. Pockell also ran for the state Legislature in the same district last year, losing handily to incumbent Rep. Suzanne Schmidt. Smith has unsuccessfully run for the Spokane Valley City Council in 2019, 2021 and 2023, and Miller previously served two terms on a neighborhood council for the Valley Village Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles.
On public safety
The Spokane Valley City Council is amidst an ongoing effort to bolster the city's police services, which are provided by the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. The effort is inspired by the findings of an outside consultant tasked with analyzing the Spokane Valley Police Department and the city's law enforcement needs, with the final report calling for an additional two dozen deputies to be added to the force.
The current council has made meeting the recommendations its No. 1 priority, and has approved, funded and filled 10 new positions. The board also placed a 0.1% sales tax measure on the Aug. 5 ballot, citing a need to secure funding for the remaining recommended positions.
Kelly, Pockell, Miller and Smith largely agree that public safety should be the council's priority, and that the citizens of Spokane Valley should be given the power to decide whether they'd be willing to fund additional positions.
Kelly said his concern as the effort moves forward is the bottom line. He said he understands it will be a tough budgeting year for local governments across the state, with many more to come as tax proceeds have stagnated, the state is facing budget cuts and federal assistance is becoming hard to come by. He also understands the concerns of some Valley residents who believe the city should be finding funding elsewhere in the budget.
Kelly said he's interested in examining some of the indirect costs of the city's public safety contracts in the region to see where some money could be saved and efforts streamlined.
"Someone who's more analytical and pays attention to detail, like myself, and who works with numbers, I mean, that's just the kind of thing that I would love to be able to tackle," Kelly said.
Pockell also noted the tight budgeting years forecast to come. He said while there are other options available to the council, the sales tax will be the most impactful and ensure residents can continue to rely on other city services that could be on the chopping block to secure public safety funding if the measure fails.
Pockell's supportive of co-responder programs that pair mental health officials with deputies and hopes the program grows . He views it as a cost-effective way for the city to manage policing resources, saying that the majority of mental health crisis calls are tied to a small percentage of city residents and that a co-responder can free up deputies for other calls when a police presence may not be necessary.
"They have regulars that are constantly showing up so that co-response team will actually reach out to some of those people before it becomes a problem, and say, 'Hey, do you need anything? Are you able to access your medication?' " Pockell said. "All of these things before something happens and they need to respond."
As an attorney, Miller said she has a unique perspective and a vested interest in public safety. She practiced primarily in the civil realm with expertise in administrative law, but also served as an arbitrator with the Securities and Exchange Commission's Finance Industry Regulatory Authority and the National Commodities Futures Trading Association.
Miller said she's encouraged by the bolstering efforts, including remodeling the precinct's building, but believes there should be more funding and training to prepare deputies for the future.
"Cybercrime has changed," Miller said. "It used to be impersonations, identity theft, online fraud. Now it's attacks on operating systems, it's attacks on energy, it's attacks on water. That is going to be causing crime in the streets, and our law enforcement in Spokane Valley needs the tools and the training to deal with the fallout."
Smith spent nine years as a firefighter with Spokane County Fire District 4, two with Spokane County Fire District 10 and is a Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission certified defensive tactics instructor for law enforcement. He said that lived experience will be a resource for the council.
Although he "doesn't want to see any increase in taxes," he said he prefers the sales tax model to a property tax since Valley residents will not bear the sole burden . Visitors from throughout the region will contribute.
"Public safety has got to be the No. 1 priority in a town," Smith said. "There's people who want to live safely, they want their children to grow up in a safe place, and that's not something that we can skimp on."
On housing and economic development
The candidates all have experience owning and operating a business, and have a broad range of ideas on how to help other businesspeople. .
In addition to operating her own administrative hearing officer firm, Miller formerly held leadership roles on the Los Angeles County Small Business Commission, the small firm section for the California State Bar and the small firm section for the Los Angeles region.
Miller is a steadfast advocate for small businesses, she said, and would like to examine how to streamline the process and lighten the administrative burdens of standing one up. She wants to pursue an app that would help visitors and residents alike get to know the shops, restaurants and activities available in Spokane Valley.
Miller is a member of the Spokane Valley Homeless Housing Task Force and recently used her expertise to develop a contracting matrix for the city to follow when examining and awarding related service contracts. Spokane Valley is predominantly a contract city, meaning it does not have as many in-house employees and departments that most others do, so she expects the matrix to be transferable to other city business and result in cost savings for the city and taxpayers.
"This is an example of how I work: I don't talk about buzzwords and I don't use dog whistles, I'm about substance and I'm about work," Miller said. "I saw a need, I saw that we perhaps wanted to go deeper into public contracting options, so instead of saying someone needs to do this, I just did it."
Kelly sits on one of the council's citizen boards, serving on the city's planning commission since March 2024. He said there is a pressure to increase housing density and rely on public transit coming from outside the city's borders that does not match the desires of Spokane Valley residents.
He would like to do his part to ensure the Valley maintains its character, which Kelly described as a "great mix" of industrial, agricultural and residential.
"I see them trying to cajole us into density and to, like I said, rely on public transportation, which aren't necessarily bad things, but I think we need to be in control of what that looks like and also the cost involved," Kelly said. "We have to be able to go at our own pace in order to make sure that that's what we need and what we can afford."
In addition to operating Smash Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which has training centers in Spokane Valley, Deer Park and Airway Heights, Smith also organizes tournaments and matchups through a nonprofit. He believes the Valley is missing out on opportunities to drive more economic activity to local businesses, and would like to bring more community events to the city. Smith pointed to the northeast corner of Valley Mission Park on East Mission Avenue as a possible location for an amphitheater to host festivals, live concerts and more.
As for housing, he said supports streamlining the permitting process and working with the county to rezone areas to encourage more housing construction.
"I think there's smart ways to look at areas where we can change the zoning, multifamily, residential, mixed zonings, so that we can increase housing," Smith said. "In order to get housing prices down, we've got to get, obviously, more houses out there."
Pockell said the city has done a good job at promoting itself as a business-friendly environment and also in managing the growth that's come along with it. He would like to steward the city through the growth still to come, with a focus on increasing affordable housing stock, preventing urban sprawl and helping the relatively young city build an identity.
Pockell is also interested in the city's infrastructure. He'd be interested in taking a leadership role in managing the system, advocating for state or federal funding and identifying projects that will directly improve the quality of life for Valley businesses and residents.
"I really do think it's a special place, and I want to maintain what we have," Pockell said.
On navigating council relations
Despite the flurry of activity encompassing public works improvements, public safety and the rest of city business, dysfunction between sitting members has been the overriding theme of Spokane Valley City Council meetings for more than a 1 1/2 years.
The tension has consistently led back to Councilman Al Merkel since he was sworn into office in January 2024, either in arguments he picks himself or is dragged into by his peers or members of the public who disagree with his approach, ideas and behavior. A pair of workplace investigations conducted by third-party attorneys found he harassed city staff and violated city policy and state law regarding public records. The council moved to sue Merkel over the latter earlier this year, saying he is not complying with state or city standards.
The candidates all expressed confidence in being able to navigate the personalities and disagreements on council, if elected. Smith went as far as to name easing the tension as one of his main motivations for running, and a top priority once on the council. He said his experience working with a broad range of students, leading classes and negotiating with local groups for his events will prove useful in that effort.
"When I looked at the people that were running for the position, and I look at the current city council now, I don't feel like anyone running for this position would help mend the problem that they have currently, which is a big communication problem," Smith said. "They're not cohesive, and that's very detrimental to any form of leadership."
Pockell began attending city council meetings regularly last year, and has met with the current iteration of the council in one-on-one meetings to get up to speed on the city's pressing issues and to begin building relationships early. He said he believes strongly in the value of having different voices in the council, but is an avid believer of civil reciprocity.
"People want to see their leaders working together more than, you know, the fighting," Pockell said. "I'm the type of person that I'm willing and happy to work with everybody, and I think that one of the best parts of our system of government, both at a local level and nationally, is that it incorporates different viewpoints. I think that's really critical to finding the best path forward."
Miller said navigating conflict is right in her wheelhouse as an arbitrator, and that her history of leadership and experience in administrative law could help set the proper tone at Tuesday meetings. She said overseeing a hearing is not unlike running or participating in a council meeting: One must ensure everyone is heard, respectful and doing their homework on the issues.
"If you don't, business does not get done, business does not get accomplished," Miller said. "I have a lot of experience leading processes that are adversarial, and I lead them by being a respectful listener; by being truly unbiased and open-minded; by honestly, sincerely considering all points of view and consuming vast quantities of data and other information."
Kelly said disagreements will happen on the board, but it's important not to "get into petty differences." He noted the tensions go beyond just the council, as some members of the public have been vocal critics in recent years over what they feel is a lack of transparency from the council and administrators regarding city business. He'd like to assuage some of those concerns by establishing a policy of providing a brief overview of agenda items as they come up at the meetings.
"I think some of that comes from the fact that, if you go to a council meeting, and I know this is an experience that I've had, you can sit down and they'll start talking about things, and you can tell that they've already had discussions," Kelly said. " "As the public, you're like, 'OK, what are we talking about? Why are we talking about this? What is our objective? Where does this come from?'"
While the agendas for the meetings include some of that background checks information, Kelly said most folks do not have the time or knowledge to find and peruse the packets.
"It makes it difficult for the for the public to know, and so they fill in the gaps," Kelly said. "And usually, it's in a way that leaves them with a bad taste in their mouth about it."
Solve the daily Crossword