Five Mile Prairie Council Ok’d By City

The Spokane City Council on Monday gave a formal nod to Five Mile Prairie’s neighborhood council.

It’s the sixth neighborhood to form a council - and the first to include both county and city residents as members.

“Five Mile celebrated several firsts,” said Molly Myers, the city’s director of neighborhood services.

The neighborhood perched high on a prairie in north Spokane drafted, amended and adopted its by-laws during one April meeting. “That was a first,” Myers told the council.

When a man at that April meeting asked his neighbors where he belonged - since his house was in the county and his mailbox was in the city - they gave him a welcoming answer, Myers said.

“They said, ‘You belong in the Five Mile neighborhood,”’ Myers said.

Neighborhood councils are part of a push by Mayor Jack Geraghty and the council to give residents greater say in city government. The neighborhood councils are designed for two-way communication, with the council feeding information about its decisions to the neighborhoods and residents feeding their concerns back to the council.

Rich Fink, Five Mile’s council chairman, said the council already had 126 members, a diverse mix of farmers, old-time residents and newcomers.

The city ordinance that created neighborhood councils says that only city members can vote. But Five Mile residents are committed to taking action by consensus, not formal votes, Myers said.

“We’ve formed a very organized voice,” Fink said. “We’re really excited about the possibilities of everyone being involved in Five Mile Prairie.”

, DataTimes