A Quiet Start to 2025

Commissioners Kathy Lafortune and John Bohman kicked off the new year with one last meeting before the new commissioners are sworn in! We take a look at both the county and the city in this first report for 2025!

Read the full transcript of the video below:

How’s it going y’all? Aiden Anderson here with the Moscow Minutes. We’ve had the first couple meetings of the new year this week, and safe to say, things are off to a pretty quiet start. Let’s get into it!

The city council meeting on Monday was a particularly short one. Earlier in the day, the council had gathered to discuss the organization of the council itself. Each city councilor acts as a liaison to a number of different city commissions, boards, and organizations. At the beginning of each year, the council meets to divy up afresh these roles and responsibilities, allowing different council members to have a variety of roles throughout their time with the city.

At the regular meeting, city council president Gina Taruscio presented on the new list of these roles and responsibilities, including announcing a new council president and vice president. Going into 2025, the Moscow City Council president will be Julia Parker, and the Vice President will be Drew Davis.

The council dealt with only one other item at this meeting. Alisa Anderson and Evan Timar of city staff presented briefly on a WaterSMART small scale water efficiency grant application. The city previously applied for this grant last July to help pay for new and upgraded water metering systems throughout the city — but their application was not accepted. They’ve since made some changes and are looking to reapply for the same grant in the amount of $100,000.

Alisa said that the city should be finding out sometime in May whether the city will get the grant funding or not, which is apparently a pretty quick turnaround time for this sort of thing. The council approved the grant application unanimously, and the meeting concluded so quickly that even the councilors were surprised.

The County Commissioners also met this week, holding a regular set of meetings with the heads of county departments to receive updates and consider items for future meetings. I should note that the new commissioners who were elected last November have not been sworn-in yet, and will likely be sworn in next week.

The commissioners dealt with a number of items, including some rezones, a new liquor license application, and a whole slate of liquor license renewals. A highlight from the meeting came at the end in the form of a joint resolution for the Palouse Knowledge Corridor, or OnePalouse. The members of this economic development organization have voted to dissolve the organization because Washington State University, a major contributor to their operations, has stopped funding their executive director position.

There remains a portion of funds that OnePalouse raised in the bank that is now being distributed back to those who helped support them. Commissioner Lamar commented that something like $7,000 is coming back to the county. The work that OnePalouse did is being handed over to an organization in Spokane who will use their website and other infrastructure as ongoing resources for people. The resolution, in short order, was approved unanimously by the commissioners.

That’s what I got for y’all this week. With it being a new year, and new year’s resolutions still hot off the press, I’d encourage you to look and see if you can resolve to be a more civically engaged citizen this year. Maybe you attend more meetings, or join a city commission. Maybe it’s as simple as writing emails and sending questions to your local representatives. In any case, opportunities abound, and I for one recommend you take them. As always, we’ll have the relevant links posted with this video, and if you have any questions, please reach out. I’m Aiden Anderson with the Moscow Minutes. See you next time!