Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 3077
CHENEY - Fire Department officials are pursuing another engine upgrade, but this time are looking to the federal government for funding assistance. At the Feb. 9 meeting, City Council gave approval to Fire Chief Tom Jenkins to pursue a Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Year 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant to apply for $210,000 to purchase a new Type 5 wildland fire engine. The grant would provide for the engine, training and equipment out fitting of the vehicle, and require Cheney to assist with a 5% - $10,500 - ma...
CHENEY – School board members got a bit of good news at their Feb. 10 meeting in the form of graduation rates that exceeded high water marks for the past five years. Data and Assessment Director Carol Lewis told the board that overall graduation rates for students in the district hit 91.5% in 2020 - the highest since the 87.5% in 2017. Lewis said this was in spite of the state allowing districts to grant waivers for graduation credits to students struggling with required c...
MEDICAL LAKE -- The City Council voted unanimously at its Feb. 16 meeting to decline an offer by national retail firm Dollar General to purchase city property at the intersection of West Brooks Road, State Route 902 and North Lefevre Street. Dollar General originally approached the city offering to purchase the property, site of the former Ball and Dodd Funeral Home and used for a variety of purposes by the community, in early January, offering $200,000 for the land. The city originally purchased the property in 2002 for... Full story
CHENEY – City officials are in the process of updating the 10-year parks and recreation comprehensive plan — and they want to know what residents think and would like to see in the way or recreational opportunities and amenities. To that end, the city has posted a 2021 Parks Survey – Questionnaire online they are asking residents to complete. The five-page survey, which takes about 5-10 minutes to fill out, asks users for demographic information, parks and/or recreation progr...
WEST PLAINS — Cheney and Medical Lake school districts’ Educational Programs and Operations levies were passing with comfortable majorities on Tuesday night — but not quite as comfortable as similar levies three years ago. According to Feb. 9 special election results from the Spokane County Elections Department, Cheney Public Schools’ Proposition 1 EP&O levy was passing with a 55.21 % yes vote, while Proposition 2, a Capital Facilities Levy, was receiving 57.68 % of the vote. In Medical Lake, Proposition 1 was ahead by a 56...
WEST PLAINS — Cheney and Medical Lake school districts’ Educational Programs and Operations levies were passing with comfortable majorities on Tuesday night – but not quite as comfortable as similar levies three years ago. According to Feb. 9 special election results from the Spokane County Elections Department, Cheney Public Schools’ Proposition 1 EP&O levy was passing with a 55.21 % yes vote, while Proposition 2, a Capital Facilities Levy, was receiving 57.68 % of the vote. In Medical Lake, Proposition 1 was ahead by a 56... Full story
CHENEY – A sweep of regional rival Idaho not only extended the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team's winning streak to five games but – with a little help – propelled the Eagles into first place in the Big Sky Conference. Balanced scoring and a 13-5 second-half run helped push the Eagles past the host Vandals on Thursday, Feb. 5, 89-75 while hot second-half EWU shooting led to a rout of the visitors, 90-64, on Saturday. Coupled with a Weber state sweep of fo...
CHENEY — The Planning Commission is advancing two ordinances, one dealing with residential occupancy and one with water conservation measures including landscaping limitations, to the City Council for consideration at upcoming meetings. Both ordinances were subjects of several meetings and public hearings held in 2019 and 2020, but tabled after COVID-19 pandemic health and safety protocols limited public governmental meetings. Occupancy has generated the most repeat complaints from Cheney residents. These stem mostly from the...
MEDICAL LAKE – Four candidates vying for a vacant seat on the dais introduced themselves and described what they expected to bring to council to current members at the Feb. 2 meeting. Health Wilbur, Howard Griffith, Chrystal Ortega and Chad Pritchard are hoping to be selected during to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation last November of Jessica Roberts. Roberts had just been re-elected to the position, and gave her resignation at the meeting on election night because she was moving outside of the city limits. H...
CHENEY – Eastern Washington University's volleyball team missed a golden opportunity to knock off the defending Big Sky Conference champions Northern Colorado Monday evening, Feb. 1, falling in a five-set thriller that featured 28 ties and 13 lead changes. Despite two sets being decided by extra points, the Eagles came up short against the Bears, 25-23, 13-25, 25-21, 25-27 and 14-16. "I'm so proud of them," Eagles head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud said. "We were so close and that...
CHENEY – City Council took a pair of steps last Tuesday night (Jan. 26) they hope will ensure transparency with city records and negotiations. The first was the approval of the two-year labor contract with the Cheney Police Guild. The agreement, which provides a 2% cost of living adjustment in both years along with changes to some of the document’s language, was originally presented to the council for approval at the Jan. 12 meeting. At that meeting, Councilman Paul Schmidt asked the contract be tabled and returned for con...
CHENEY - A couple of decisive scoring runs and a career day led the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team to a Big Sky Conference sweep of visiting Sacramento State in back-to-back games Sunday and Monday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. After a slow start likely resulting from a lack of practice the previous week, the Eagles used an 18-1 run - including a streak of 14 straight points - to stake a 37-22 lead at intermission and held on for a 68-60 win over the Hornets on...
CHENEY — In writing a book about preparation for war, former Cheney High School English teacher Darrelyn McDermott drew on her experiences. In selecting a title summing up those preparations, she drew on a more celebrated writer — William Shakespeare. With the latter, specifically Act 5, Scene 2 of his classic “Hamlet.” In it, Hamlet’s friend Horatio is attempting to persuade the Danish prince from engaging in a duel, fearing he will be killed, but Hamlet knows he is destin...
CHENEY – An aging connection’s failure led to a power outage early Sunday morning, leaving a number of customers without heat. According to Light Director Steve Marx, around midnight on Saturday, Jan. 30, a “hot tap” failed and burned through a main power line and tripped feeder No. 6 at the city’s main substation on Cheney-Plaza Road. A hot tap is a connection to a main power line which over time can fail due to the elements, wind and vibrations that can loosen the connection. “This creates small gaps at the connection...
CHENEY—School district officials and board members are bracing themselves for what the new year could bring in the form of legislation and funding adjustments — adjustments that could negatively impact operations. In presenting the financial update, Finance Director Jamie Weingart noted there wasn’t a huge change in the district’s fund balance at the end of 2020. The operating fund balance dipped slightly, dropping from $5,860,779 in November to $5,854,744 in December. Budget projections show it continuing to decline through...
CHENEY — The City Council approved several portions of an expansive remodel of the Finance Department space at City Hall as part of their busy Jan. 26 meeting. The council originally approved the beginning of the work at their Nov. 10 meeting, which included a $64,630 labor and materials bid from Big Timber Contractors, LLC. The city was also to provide about $34,000 of materials for the project, including an upgrade of the foyer’s HVAC system, roll-down fire-proof teller doors for the three new teller stations built where th...
CHENEY - "Why now?" It's the question Cheney Public Schools Superintendent Rob Roettger said he gets the most from people when asked about the upcoming Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) and Capital Facilities levies. Especially this "now" - with so many people feeling the negative economic impacts from measures designed to attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, impacts that range from reduced hours to loss of jobs and businesses. Given many families a...
The west entrance to Eastern Washington University's new Interdisciplinary Science Center (ISC) rises towards completion. The project connects to the older Science Building via three second-floor skywalks, and will house a number of laboratories....
MEDICAL LAKE — City Council members have put off further discussion on the possible sale of the former Ball and Dodd Funeral Home property until after an appraisal of the parcel has been conducted. To that end, City Administrator Doug Ross told the council at their Jan. 19 meeting that he has completed the process of hiring Valbridge Property Advisors to conduct an appraisal of the 43,475-square-foot property located at 111 W. Brooks Road. The city has been approached by national retailer Dollar General Stores with an offer t...
CHENEY — Not long ago, putting in a body camera system for Police Department officers seemed to be cost prohibitive. After a presentation at the Jan. 12 City Council meeting, that might not necessarily be the case anymore. An estimate from Axon, a Scottsdale, Ariz. company that develops technology and weapons for military, law enforcement and civilians, shown to council by Police Chief John Hensley indicated initial costs for a system to outfit 14 officers with body cameras could run about $86,220 over five years. The estimat...
CHENEY — The city’s land holdings are slated to soon increase by just over 228 acres. That’s amount of acreage the City Council approved spending $360,710 to acquire at its first meeting in 2021 last Tuesday. The total acreage purchased from the Dare family includes seven separate parcels located in the vicinity of the city’s Utility Building/Recycling Center on Anderson Road, with several straddling Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail lines. Five of those parcels — totaling 209.49 acres — border the UP trac...
CHENEY — School district re-opening plans for in-person instruction continued this week with a phased return of third-grade students beginning on Tuesday. Third-grade students from families electing to return to in-person instruction were to return in two different groups on different days, with students in Group A in class Jan. 19 and Jan. 21 and students in Group B back Jan. 20 and Jan. 22. Both groups will combine as all third-grade students return to in-person instruction Jan. 25. Also that day, fourth and fifth-grade s...
CHENEY — Sidelined by COVID-19 for most of 2020, the city’s Planning Commission reviewed an aggressive schedule of items for the coming year at its first meeting in 2021, Jan. 11. Senior planner Brett Lucas outlined three areas proposed for deliberations by the commission over the coming months, with an emphasis on zoning code text amendments. The other two were economic development and a time-honored sore spot among Cheney residents — parking, especially the blocks adjacent to the Eastern Washington University campus. Like...
WEST PLAINS - National Weather Service forecasters warned last week that a strong cold front scheduled to pass through Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho beginning late Tuesday night and through Wednesday could bring strong winds, heavy rain and snow in the mountains - with winds potentially gusting into the 40 – 55 miles per hour range. They were a bit off as winds well exceeding those forecasted knocked down power lines, poles and trees leading to power disruptions to tho...
CHENEY — Deferment was the order of busines last Tuesday as the City Council elected to postpone decisions on three of seven agenda items — including a new contract with the Police Guild for 2021 – 2022. The two-year contract includes 2% cost of living adjustments in monthly salaries for 2021 and 2022 over the previous year’s amount. Other than that, City Administrator Mark Schuller said the contract included cleaning up language requiring employees to join guilds, unions or pay dues based on a recent court decision along w...
