Council unanimously adopts emergency public-safety budget changes and appoints emergency communications director

The Spokane City Council voted unanimously on multiple emergency budget measures to support public safety operations, and confirmed key appointments to help implement those changes.

The council adopted a resolution authorizing taxable limited tax general obligation bonds of up to $6,000,000 to finance emergency-communications capital needs and related interfund loans to create a runway for equipment purchases and system implementation. Council members emphasized compressed equipment lead times and agreed an emergency declaration was necessary to meet vendor timelines. "These funds are to order the equipment that's needed to set that up," Council President Wilkerson said when explaining the emergency justification. (Council President Wilkerson)

Other emergency ordinances passed unanimously, including adding 10 firefighter positions to offset high academy washout rates (C36843), providing behavioral-health co-response services with Spokane County (C36844), and replacing communications equipment in the fire training facility (C36845). A separate ordinance to amend the mid-biennial budget to finance capital needs for the public safety answering point (C36840) also passed by unanimous vote.

The council confirmed Jacob Miller as director of management and budget and Stephen Williams as director of emergency communications for the Spokane United 1-911 network. Council members praised Williams’ timely leadership and noted he had worked in the hiring and negotiation processes leading up to the appointment.

All votes on these emergency budget ordinances and appointments were recorded as unanimous (7–0). These measures are intended to create operational capacity for a city-run emergency communications system and to expand behavioral-health and fire-response capabilities.