Mayor’s Priorities

Mayor Dennis Hession is here to work for you. As your Mayor, his is committed to operating under the following principles:

• Our integrity will never be compromised.
• We will pursue excellence in all things we do.
• We will be bold and creative in our programs and in our direction
• With your help, we can -and will - do great things for the citizens of the City of Spokane.

As he goes about the work of the citizens, Mayor Hession is focused on the following three priorities. To:

• Grow Spokane’s Economy & Create Jobs.
• Keep Our Community Healthy & Safe
• Provide Outstanding, Affordable Service to Our Citizens and Secure the City’s Financial Future.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide better service and better value for taxpayer dollars.
For 2007 and beyond, here are few key projects and programs that the Mayor is working on.

Grow Spokane’s Economy & Create Jobs

• By the end of April 2007, the City will launch our on-line permit system so citizens can apply for certain permits on-line and check the status of applications along the way. We’re also working with a group of developers to streamline the permitting process and become the best building services department in the nation.
• We will continue to develop the University District and surrounding area, using smart growth principles. We are seriously considering a recommendation to change the initial phase of the Riverside Avenue alignment to Main Avenue to allow a more neighborhood-like development around this urban campus.
• We will design a solution to a gap in sewer service just south of the railroad near the campus, which will encourage development, and we will distinctly recognize the University District in our Comprehensive Plan.
• We will proceed with a new strategic direction, developed with the help of our business partners, for the Workforce Development Council, a private/public partnership for our region. The goal is to meet the needs of our community in workforce education and training in order to increase job growth and median incomes in our area.
• Transportation will continue to be a priority because of its obvious connection to facilitating growth. We will continue to seek significant funding for the North Spokane Corridor, and we’re working with our partners toward this goal.
• It is Spokane’s time, with its partner, the Downtown Spokane Partnership, to seek funding to partially design and provide public participation opportunities around a downtown Streetcar system that will move people more efficiently throughout and around the city core, as well as be an important amenity for attracting conventions, tourism and visitors to Spokane.
• Thanks to citizens, we will continue to repair and replace our streets according to our 10-year plan, on time and on budget.
• Strategic transportation planning is also important not only for Spokane, but the region, and we will continue to support the objectives of the Inland Pacific Hub study, the funding for which is before state and federal legislators.

Keep our Community Healthy & Safe (Quality of Life)

• The reorganization of the Police Department will be completed in 2007 under Chief Kirkpatrick’s direction. She has impressed us all with her knowledge and skills her few short months here. Anne is smart, she’s driven, and she’s a cop.
• We will create a new citizen review model for the Police Department that is suited for our community and the needs of our citizens.
• Smart growth is smart business for Spokane. The City is growing, and we will do so by focused growth around our Centers & Corridors, with infill targets and options for land-use diversity and mixed-use development, and by providing adequate modes of transportation for all citizens and visitors alike.
• We have signed the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement to help reduce the effects of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions on global warming.
• Working with Council Member Mary Verner, we are developing a quality of life initiative that recognizes the importance of the principles of environmental stewardship and validates the fact that it is also good business.

Customer Service and Financial Stability (Open Government)

• We will stabilize the financial condition of the City. We have already started the process through our strategic budget for 2007. This budget incorporates strategies not only for 2007 but 2008 and beyond and is very conservative in both its revenue estimates and planned expenditures.
• We will implement the recommendations of the Efficiency & Effectiveness Study with a goal of saving $1 million to $2 million in 2007.
• We know the budgets in 2008 and beyond will be challenging and that employee medical benefits are our biggest cost inflator. We will partner with our employees to substantially resolve this problem in 5 years. We are also working creatively with our employees to provide options, such as wellness programs and health savings accounts that will reduce the cost of benefits to our employees and the City.
• We will open up City Hall with on-line access to 20,000 new documents on the City’s web site by the end of the year for easy access for citizens, with the ultimate goal to add on-line access to all public records.
• A new customer service one-stop shopping function will locate on the first floor of City Hall and help direct people by phone, electronically on our web and in person.