This morning, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met in emergency session and unanimously declared a State of Emergency in Spokane County. This action was taken because County Engineer Bob Brueggeman reported severe blowing and drifting snow in the southeast portion of the County, crews struggling to keep right-of-ways clear, and numerous power outages, primarily in north Spokane County.
By declaring a State of Emergency, the BOCC now has the authority to hire private contractors to assist in snow removal without going through a time-consuming bid process. An officials State of Emergency also enables the County to obtain supplementary resources from other local governments/jurisdictions, implements the Spokane City/County Emergency Management Plan, as necessary, and directs the Emergency Management Department to coordinate all incident-related assistance to the affected areas.
Since December 17th, Spokane County has been spending $70,000 daily on snow removal efforts.