Section 41: Park Board – How Created

A park board is hereby created which shall consist of ten electors of the City of Spokane, who shall be appointed by the council, and one member of the council to be designated by the council. The council shall have power to remove any member for cause and to fill vacancies on the board.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 27

Section 42: Park Board – Term of Office

The term of office of the ten appointed members shall be five years. Members shall be limited to two terms. Less than a half term shall not constitute a term should an individual be appointed to fill the unexpired term of one, who for any reason, does not serve his or her entire five-year term. The term of office of two members shall expire each year on the first Tuesday of February at 12:00 noon.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 28

Section 43: Park Board – Removal From

It shall be the duty of the council to remove from office any member who, after due notice of the meetings of the board, shall be absent therefrom, without leave, for three successive months.

Effective Date: 1910

Section 44: Park Board – Organization

  1. On the second Tuesday of February of each year the board shall elect a president and a vice president from its members, and a secretary, who may, or may not, be a member of the board.
  2. Six members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and six affirmative votes shall be necessary to adopt or carry any measure. The board shall have regular public meetings at least once a month, at their regular place of meeting.
  3. The board shall have the power to make bylaws and rules for the conduct of business.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 29

Section 45: Park Board – Accounts and Reports – Annual Statements

The board shall keep books of account and records of all its transactions. The board, at the end of each month and at the end of each fiscal year, shall furnish to the council a detailed report of receipts and expenditures and a statement of all other business transacted, which shall be maintained by the park department. All records, books, and files of the board shall be open to public inspection.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 30

Section 46: Park Board – Compensation

No member of the board, except the secretary, shall receive any compensation. The compensation of the secretary shall be fixed by the board.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 31

Section 47: Office of Park Board

The office of the park board shall be located in a suitable location as determined by the park board and approved by the mayor.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 32

Section 48: Park Board – Powers

The park board shall have power:

To lay out, establish, purchase, procure, accept, and have the care, management, control, and improvement of all parks and grounds used for park purposes, all boulevards, connecting parks and structures thereon, and all parkways, now or hereafter owned or controlled by the City whether within or without the city limits, and may designate them by name;

To lay out, establish, and improve boulevards and parkways, and to designate as a boulevard or parkway any existing highway or part thereof, but the highway or part thereof so designated shall remain under the control of the council;

To exercise supervision over all shade trees, shrubs, and plants of all kinds on or in the streets and public places of the City and over all resting places, water stations, playgrounds, and parade grounds;

To make rules and regulations for the use of parks and provide for the enforcement of such rules and regulations; To prohibit or determine the place and manner of making excavations, and of placing or maintaining wires, pipes, poles, posts, masts and supports in parks or highways, and to compel the alteration or removal thereof at any time;

To improve and adorn parks and park property and do all things necessary or proper to render the parks or other property of value to the public;

To grant concessions, leases, and privileges under such restrictions and for such compensation as it shall prescribe, the revenue of which shall go into the park fund; provided that, no concession or privilege shall ever be granted for the sale of any intoxicating liquors in any public park, square, play or recreation ground, park drive, parkway or park boulevard of the City; and that no concession, lease, or privilege shall be granted for a period of more than three years unless approved by ordinance. Nor shall either the park board or the city council, after January 1, 1982, have the power to allow the use of any part of Riverfront Park then or thereafter dedicated to park purposes by sale, lease, rent, permit, license, or other assignment for permanent commercial purposes without the prior approval of the City voters given by a majority vote in a regular municipal election. Permanent commercial purposes shall not include commercial activities existing prior to January 1, 1982, nor any activities operated directly by the City of Spokane or the park board for fee, nor any activity not having a fixed location, nor shall it include any activities approved by the park board not to exceed thirty days and renewable for periods not exceeding thirty days.

In no case shall the expenditure of the park board exceed the amount donated or appropriated for park purposes.

Real and personal property may be granted, bequeathed, or devised to the City and accepted by the park board for park purposes or for the establishment or maintenance in parks of museums, zoological or other gardens, collections of natural history, observatories, buildings, fountains, monuments, statues, or other works of art upon the trust and conditions prescribed by the donors thereof; and all such property, together with the income and profits thereof, shall be under the exclusive control of the park board. All property acquired by the park board shall be in the name of the City.

Neither the park board nor the city council shall have the power to sell or exchange any existing park or portion thereof without the prior approval of the electorate given by a majority vote at the next ensuing general municipal election or special municipal election, as the case may be.

Effective Date: November 1987
Ordinance C28870 Section 1

Section 49: Condemnation for Park Purposes

  1. If the board shall be unable to purchase at a satisfactory price any lands or other property for park purposes or be unable to make a satisfactory arrangement as to compensation, the council, upon notice given by the board, shall condemn the same at the expense of the park fund.
  2. Any property desired for park purposes in which any member of the park board or council may be interested shall be acquired by condemnation proceedings. The petition for condemnation shall set forth the interest of such member.

Effective Date: 1910

Section 50: Annual Budget for Support of Parks

The city council shall provide in the park fund each fiscal year sufficient funds in order to maintain the parks, park systems, and related activities, and to provide for the expenses authorized by this article. Such allocation shall be sufficient in amount and shall be a sum that represents no less than eight percentum of the general fund expenditures of the last completed fiscal year. The funds so established may be reduced or otherwise adjusted by the city council only insofar as the total adopted general fund budget is reduced because of the insufficiency of revenues and in direct proportion to the reduction of the general fund budget. The funds so provided shall be used for the support of the parks and recreation department and shall be under the control of the park board.

Effective Date: November 1983
Ordinance C27101 Section 1

Section 51: Disbursement of Park Funds

All taxes levied for park purposes, as provided in this Charter, all moneys realized from the sale of park bonds, all moneys appropriated by the council for park purposes or received by the park board from any other source shall be turned into and kept in a fund designated the park fund and be deemed appropriated and shall be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in this article, and shall be expended upon the order of such officer or officers of the park board as may be selected by it for that purpose by resolution; copies of such resolution, duly certified, shall be filed with the accounting director. Said moneys shall be paid out by the treasurer upon warrants, checks, drafts, notes, or other order of the City of Spokane signed by the authorized city staff.

Effective Date: March 25, 2009
Ordinance C34385 Section 33