Spokane Valley City Council Special Meeting – February 19, 2026: Federal Lobbyist Update and Legislative Agenda Discussion
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Spokane Valley City Council Special Meeting – February 19, 2026
The Spokane Valley City Council held a special meeting on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 3:30 PM at City Hall. The meeting focused on an update from the city's federal lobbyists, Cardinal Infrastructure, regarding ongoing infrastructure projects, federal funding, and planning for an upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. Council members also discussed legislative priorities and received an update on federal activities. The meeting concluded with an executive session for potential litigation.
Discussion Items
- Cardinal Infrastructure Introduction: Sherry Little (Managing Partner) and Mike from Cardinal Infrastructure introduced themselves. Little noted that Cardinal has served the city for eight years, helping secure federal earmarks and discretionary grants for projects like the Pines Grade Separation and Sullivan Trent. City staff praised Cardinal's assistance in navigating federal agencies and congressional delegation.
- Update on Federal Government Activity: Little and Mike provided an update on several federal issues:
- Pines Grade Separation Project: Construction is underway, but one agreement for $5.6 million with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is not yet finalized. The FRA's lack of experience administering such grants has caused delays. City staff noted that the project broke ground in November 2025.
- Sullivan Trent Project: The city submitted a BUILD grant application for the final funding chunk. Already received $14.6 million in federal funds (FY22, FY23, FY25). The project was ranked first among 13 regional projects by the Spokane Regional Transportation Commission, with a $4 million state ask.
- HUD Continuum of Care: Proposed changes by the Trump administration were challenged in court, and a judge blocked them. A recent appropriations bill required funds to go to existing grantees, so Spokane County should receive FY26 funding. Future years remain uncertain.
- COPS Program: The city received a $1.25 million grant for 10 law enforcement positions (partially funded) and a subsequent smaller grant. A meeting with the Department of Justice is planned for the DC trip.
- Sanctuary City Issue: Councilmember noted the city passed a resolution declaring it is not a sanctuary city. Little advised that this stance is meaningful to the White House and congressional Republicans. Councilmember referenced that Spokane is considering policies allowing private property owners to not rent to ICE and restricting ICE access to public parks, which Spokane Valley has not done.
- Federal Legislative Agenda Discussion: Council members raised additional priorities:
- Hydropower and Snake River Dams: Council members expressed strong support for protecting hydropower and opposed efforts to throttle or remove dams on the Snake River, citing impacts on energy, agriculture, and barge transportation.
- Forest Management: Council members emphasized the need for better federal forest management to reduce wildfire risk, especially on BLM land near the city. They noted that the current administration is supportive of this approach.
- Small Business Loans: Support for simplifying the federal small business loan process to help the city maintain its reputation as business-friendly.
- Fairchild Air Force Base: Councilmember Wick highlighted the importance of protecting the base from encroachment, particularly wind turbines that interfere with flight operations.
- Broadband: The city joined a regional broadband authority to help with a BEAD grant proposal. Washington state is one of a few states that have not yet received final approval for its BEAD grant, partly due to shifting from fiber to technology-agnostic prioritization.
- State Tax on Precious Metals: Councilmember raised concern about a new Washington state tax on sales of gold and silver bullion, arguing it is unconstitutional and driving business to Idaho. Lobbyists were not familiar with the issue.
- Washington DC Trip Discussion: The trip is scheduled for March 24-27, 2026 (fly in on 24th, meetings on 25th and 26th, depart 27th). Planned meetings include: congressional delegation (Senators Cantwell and Murray, Congressman Baumgartner), Department of Transportation (focus on FRA for Pines project), Department of Justice (COPS grants), HUD (Continuum of Care, CDBG), and the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The lobbyists will prepare talking points.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken on the legislative agenda or new priorities. The council reaffirmed its existing legislative agenda as the guide for the DC trip.
- Executive Session: The council voted unanimously to adjourn into executive session for approximately one hour to discuss potential litigation (RCW 42.30.110(1)(i)). The session lasted from about 4:30 PM to 5:56 PM, after which the council adjourned the meeting.
- Next Steps: The lobbyists will use council feedback to prepare for the March DC trip. Council members were encouraged to provide additional guidance. The city will continue working on finalizing the Pines agreement with FRA and monitor federal funding developments.
Meeting Transcript
Recording in progress. Last night at midnight. I had to take a three leg trip. And it was every flight was delayed and it was yeah. Anyway. Great. Uh thank you. Well, we'll call this uh Spokane Valley City Council special meeting to order on this Thursday, February nineteenth, twenty twenty-six. Um so I would like to if you would stand and follow with the pledge of allegiance. Uh just as well. And city clerk, can you call the roll? Thank you. Mayor Patton? Here. Deputy Mayor Hattenberg? Sure. Councilmember Yeager? Here. Councilmember Kelly. Present. Councilmember Haley. Councilmember Wick? Here. Councilmember Merkel? Here. Thank you. Okay, we're at the approval of the agenda. Move to approve the agenda. Second. All in favor? Okay. Opposed. Agenda is approved. So we are very excited to have our federal lobbyists here from DC. It's uh makes it a very special meeting. And I think it's especially nice to be here in Spokane Valley and have an opportunity for all the council members to kind of get, you know, a personal interaction with you because um not everybody can go to DC, so we're very happy that you uh made the trek out here into the hinterland uh to visit with us. Um so it's gonna be uh fairly informal. But uh we thought we'd start with you introducing yourselves and then talking about what's going on in on the federal level and how our agenda items are going or not going or so if we can start with uh introduction. So for those of you that I've not had the opportunity to spend time with, I'm Sherry Little. I'm managing partner at Cardinal Infrastructure in Washington, DC. And I looked up earlier today in anticipation of seeing y'all we have been together. Cardinal's been serving the city of Spokane Valley for eight years. So we're pretty familiar with your um priorities in Washington, DC, and we've had the benefit of having y'all come and visit us in DC and getting in front of your congressional delegation as well as some of the projects that have been of import at USDOT as well as at HUD and at Department of Justice. So Mike and I are are here and asked John if we could spend some time with y'all today because we had a visit where we were already with Pam and Tim at um Spokane Transit. They've been a client of ours for gosh, I don't know. Probably since 2010 or so. So we have an attachment and a lot of affinity for this particular area. And Mike actually has family here. So he got to visit with his family. So we reached out to John in anticipation of this workshop that was scheduled at STA to see if we could spend some time with you, talk a little bit about the upcoming trip to DC, which for those of you that aren't able to join us on this upcoming trip.
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