Veteran versus rookie: Spokane Valley Mayor Ben Wick hopes to fend off bar owner Brandon Fenton

Ben Wick and Brandon Fenton grew up in the same town.

They graduated from the same high school that same year and decided to stay in Spokane Valley as adults. Both describe themselves as conservative.

But the list of similarities between former classmates – who never knew each other well during their visit to East Valley High School – isn’t too long.

Wick, the Mayor of Spokane Valley, has been involved in Spokane Valley politics for nearly 20 years since the city was founded in 2003. As a college student, he ran for the first city council and tried to get into the city council until 2012. when he finally won a seat.

In 4-3 city council resolutions, Wick sometimes votes with a majority alongside council members Brandi Peetz, Tim Hattenburg and Linda Thompson.

Fenton has no political experience and said that until the beginning of the pandemic, it never crossed his mind to run for office. The self-proclaimed Trump Republican said state and federal COVID-19 restrictions spurred him to run for city council. Fenton’s bar, the Black Diamond, was fined $ 500 for ignoring Governor Jay Inslee’s order to stay home during the pandemic.

“We at the local level, the city council and district officials and the mayors – all – should push back and fight the government,” said Fenton.

If elected, Fenton said he would like to see the city attorney look into legal details that could enable the city to fight back against Inslee’s mask and vaccine mandates.

“I’m sure we can do something to trip him up and make him pull out,” said Fenton.

In addition to fighting the state and federal government, Fenton said he would focus on fighting homelessness, public safety and reducing spending if there is an election.

Wick said that if he is re-elected, he will have a particular focus on public safety, transportation infrastructure, managing growth and fiscal responsibility.

Based on the results of the August primaries, the reigning Wick is a big favorite to win. He got 60% of the vote, compared to 30% for Fenton. That was by far the most dominant leadership of a city council candidate in the primary.

Two candidates, Christopher Ingraham and Mark McManus, each received 5% of the vote in the primary election. Ingraham never actively campaigned. McManus got out and then endorsed Fenton.

Here’s a look at where Wick and Fenton stand on some of the city’s major issues.

Streets

For the past several years, Spokane Valley has funded road maintenance with funds raised through a telephone tax.

The phone tax brings in less revenue each year, forcing the city to find other payment options for preventive maintenance and other projects.

Fenton said the city should avoid paying new taxes for road maintenance and just add road maintenance costs to the general budget. His main focus is less on where the money should come from and more on reducing road spending overall. He said many of the city’s recent road projects are unnecessary.

Wick is also not advocating a new tax, but he disagreed with Fenton on the value of the city’s road projects. It is much cheaper to prevent a road from deteriorating than to build it from scratch, he said. At the same time, Wick noted that the city should always look for ways to maintain roads more cheaply.

At the moment, Wick said he has no plan on how the city can pay for roads in the future. Instead, he said he was curious to see what ideas the city’s recently formed Streets Sustainability Committee has.

Prosecution

Spokane Valley is a contract city. That means the city operates to a skeleton of full-time workers, paying other private or government agencies to do a variety of jobs that the city lacks the staff.

For law enforcement, the Spokane Valley contracts with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. At various times in the city’s history, city guides have proposed splitting off from the sheriff’s office and creating a separate police department. The question could come up again as the sheriff’s office, like law enforcement agencies across the country, is struggling to fill vacancies.

Wick and Fenton are both against the Valley establishing its own police department.

“We have a great relationship with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office,” said Wick.

Wick said the contract with the sheriff’s office could always be tweaked and improved, but splitting off the county and creating a separate police department won’t help resolve staffing shortages.

Fenton said he wants a full investigation into why the sheriff’s office is struggling to post and fill all vacancies.

“We have to find out what’s going on,” said Fenton. “Something is wrong and the city council should look into it.”

Parks and trails

In recent years, the Spokane Valley City Council has made a handful of purchases to expand the city’s parks and walking trails.

Two acquisitions are outstanding: The purchase of 2.1 million. Both pieces of land are to become new parks.

Wick is a strong proponent of purchases. He said that if the city hadn’t bought the property on Flora Road, someone else would have.

“We will never again have the opportunity to develop 40 acres along the river,” said Wick. “Especially none that just got into the river.”

Fenton said he did not vote to buy any of the future park properties. Homes could have been built on these lots, which would have helped alleviate the city’s housing shortage, he said.

Spokane Valley shouldn’t spend millions on parks when it has a bigger need, Fenton said.

“The belt needs to be tightened a little,” he said.

homelessness

Many in Spokane Valley say homelessness seems to have increased in recent years, pointing to the housing shortage as the main culprit.

The city still lacks a shelter. If you are looking for a bed, you have to go to one of the Spokane Shelter, which the Spokane Valley supports financially.

Wick and Fenton both say there should be no shelter in the Spokane Valley city limits.

Earlier this year, the city council hired Arielle Anderson as the coordinator for housing and homeless issues. Anderson helps the city develop plans to address housing and homelessness problems, and also interacts directly with the homeless. For example, Anderson could help people find a place to live in a homeless camp or help someone without ID obtain the necessary documents to get employed.

Wick said hiring Anderson was a big step in the right direction for the city.

“I’m a strong believer that we need to expand our reach to try and connect people to services,” said Wick.

Fenton said he thinks the city shouldn’t have hired Anderson and called the decision “irresponsible”.

“I think the money can be better spent elsewhere,” he said, explaining that he would prefer to send all of the city’s money to charities like the Union Gospel Mission for combating homelessness.

Wick tries to fend off the controversial bar owner’s challenge

Four candidates will appear on the main vote for the No. 1 position of Spokane Valley City Council in August, but only two appear to be actively campaigning. | Continue reading “