Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Government Transparency Open Meetings topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident raises open‑meetings and records concerns; cites RCW penalties and missing online records
Summary
A resident urged the county to follow state open‑meetings and public‑records laws, citing RCW provisions and possible penalties; he also said ordinances, meeting minutes and an interactive budget tool have not been kept current online.
A resident told Thurston County commissioners the county should strictly comply with Washington’s open‑meetings and public‑records laws and warned of possible civil penalties for violations.
John Pettit identified himself as a resident of the Rich Road/Tashoots River Ranch area and advised commissioners to “start reading the RCWs again” on open public meetings. Pettit cited RCW provisions in his remarks and said county practice of treating every meeting as a “regular meeting” has implications for when the public must be offered an opportunity to comment. He quoted statutory language on final action and warned the board that each member who attends a meeting where action is taken in violation of the chapter “shall be subject to personal liability in the form of civil penalty” (he cited amounts of $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for subsequent violations).
Pettit also said the county’s online posting of ordinances and meeting minutes is out of date — he said the most recent ordinance posted was dated Oct. 15 (year not specified) and that some meeting minutes have not been posted since August of last year. He further said the county’s interactive budget system had not been updated since June of the prior year.
Commissioners did not take immediate action at Tuesday’s meeting in response to Pettit’s comments; Pettit said he would leave printed materials with the clerk for board review.
