Recap of Open Meetings Act Forum

A judge, two city council representatives and citizens from Puyallup, Lakewood, DuPont, University Place, Gig Harbor, Lacey, Edgewood and Graham were in attendance at the March 18 forum on the State Open Meetings Act sponsored by the Leage of Women Voters. The event was held at The News Tribune. The speakers were Tim Ford, Assistant Attorney General for Government Accountability and Open Government Ombudsman; Peter Callaghan columnist for The News Tribune; Heidi Wachter, the City Attorney for Lakewood; and Scott Johnson from the Washington Coalition for Open Government and the ACLU.

There are only nine reasons why a council, commission or board may meet out of the public eye and “expediency and ability to speak frankly” are not on the list. These reasons and anything else you want to know are on the Attorney General’s web site at www.atg.wa.gov.

Other key information was that public comment is not required by this law but by the individual statutes for each council, commission or board. Minutes are required but the depth of the minutes is not clarified. A 24-hour notice is also required.

The panel agreed that the recent meeting of a local council in Washington DC was ill advised because it was out of the jurisdiction and could easily be see as a violation of the Act. The first move toward open meetings should be for them to be televised and citizens should continue to push for this.

Citizens who are concerned about whether their group is violating the Act should first review the rules on the web site above, then get the bylaws or other statutes regarding the group they are concerned about. Once armed with the facts, voice your concern to the body in question, then contact the AGs ombudsman, Tim Ford, then sue. The Washington Coalition for Open Government can help you with the latter.

(Recap provided by the League of Women Voters)