(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council will vote Thursday on whether to continue contracting with Spokane County to provide animal control and emergency dispatch services amid an ongoing rift.
The two parties and quasi-governmental agencies, Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services and Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, are no strangers to the spotlight. Feuds over voting power and funding have played out publicly this past year, with a renewal deadline set ahead of 2026.
While Spokane has signaled plans to stand up its own dispatch center, city officials have acknowledged that they may need to continue using some SREC resources during this transition. Spokane floated the idea of establishing its own animal control services, but ongoing budget challenges stand in the way.
“There’s some updates in this [interlocal agreement] that’s a little bit different from the previous ILA,” Adam McDaniel, one of Mayor Lisa Brown’s advisors, told the council on Monday. “The city requested language, and the county agreed to publish their euthanasia policy – We got that included in there.”
Monday’s agenda had a vote scheduled on ILAs for SCRAPS and SREC, but the council decided to hold a special meeting on Thursday instead. SCRAPS has faced criticism over its euthanasia policies for years. Still, the county rejected the council’s request last summer to participate in selecting a new director.
Spokane County Spokesman Pat Bell told The Center Square on Tuesday that Ronnie Schlabs, a former animal welfare superintendent for the city of Oklahoma City, will take over as director early next year.
Now, a new agreement is on the table, with another potentially offering some services from SREC. This Monday’s agenda included the draft SCRAPS ILA, but council staff said the SREC ILA wasn’t ready yet.
SREC executives told The Center Square earlier this year that the city would have to stand up its own service by January as the regional model transitions to a new software. However, SREC delayed that implementation last month to late 2026 for various reasons, providing the city more time to prepare.
The SREC Governing Board had a closed-door executive session after discussing the city on Dec. 4.
Communications Manager Kelly Conley told The Center Square there is another meeting this Thursday.
“As soon as I have something to share,” Conley told The Center Square on Monday, “I’ll send it along.”
It’s unclear what services the city will continue paying SREC for during its transition to an independent dispatch center. Reporting by The Center Square shows the switch may cost $100 million over the first five years. However, the SCRAPS ILA did outline some changes from the old agreement expiring Dec. 31.
The most significant change is to euthanasia and oversight. Under the draft ILA, SCRAPS must agree to take steps to avoid euthanasia due to a lack of capacity. If it does put down an animal due to capacity, SCRAPS must provide the city with three days’ notice so Spokane can take ownership of the animal.
If Spokane disagrees with SCRAPS’ euthanasia policy, it can mediate with the county or terminate the ILA with notice ahead of the 2030 expiration date. The new director also must provide the council with a monthly performance report under the draft ILA, rather than an annual presentation like currently.
Costs would be based on levels of service rather than a predetermined figure included in the old ILA.
“No euthanasia will be performed without the express approval of the SCRAPS Director,” according to the draft ILA.
