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Council unanimously adopts ordinance to align public-records code with adopted fee table
Summary
Bremerton lawmakers approved Ordinance No. 5509 to correct references in BMC 1.06 and align city code with the rate-and-fee table adopted last November; public commenters urged more notice and transparency.
The Bremerton City Council on March 5 voted unanimously to adopt Ordinance No. 5509, amending Bremerton Municipal Code Chapter 1.06 regarding public records to make the code language consistent with the rate-and-fee table the council adopted in November 2024.
Kylie Finnell explained the change during general business. Finnell said the 2017 state changes to public-records law gave local governments three fee options; Bremerton chose the option that adopts a statutory fee schedule because the city found it could not reliably calculate “actual cost” for each request. Finnell said the city had previously adopted a waiver for the first 50 pages under its rules and that November’s update adjusted fees to comply with state law. The ordinance before council primarily corrects two typographical references in the code and updates a cross-reference so the code matches the rates and fees table the council previously adopted.
In public comment, Jose Camacho said the process lacked sufficient public notice and legislative history; he urged the council to give the public more time to review fee changes and asked that the council re-do the action with a week of notice to allow meaningful public engagement. Council members acknowledged the concern, described the ordinance as a “housekeeping” correction and said the council had previously discussed rates in a public budget workshop and a study session. Council Member Grablowski read the specific edits aloud to confirm the changes were limited to correcting references and a typographical citation.
Councilors then moved and seconded the ordinance and voted unanimously in roll call: Frey, Coughlin, Grablowski, Goodnow, Mokler, Chamberlain and Council President Junger all voted yes. The council president said the measure was a clerical clean-up to align code with the rate-and-fee table already adopted, and that the item had been moved from the consent agenda to general business to allow public comment.
The ordinance takes effect per standard municipal ordinance procedures; staff said the corrected code now matches the city’s currently published fees.
Why it matters: aligning the code with the previously adopted fee table reduces the risk of internal inconsistency and helps staff apply the city’s public-records charging rules consistently. Members of the public at the meeting said they wanted more advance notice and access to legislative history when fees are changed.
