HomeMy WebLinkAbout072122 PUBLIC COMMENT_ Failure to provide for public comment________________________________
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Commissioners,
During the “workshop” discussion about the draft OPMA Guidelines, there was no opportunity for public comment despite the fact that the July 18 agenda had advertised “Additional Public
Comment” for that item.
The BoCC then went on to take Final Action on two items that had not appeared on the published agenda and which had not been added to the agenda at the start of the meeting. No public
comment was allowed for either item.
These Final Actions (motion, second, vote) were taken despite your counsel’s advice – which had just been stated several times and emphasized during the discussion about the OPMA Guidelines
– that public comment is now mandatory for items on which Final Action is to be taken.
The decision by the chair to prohibit comments could not have been more ironic given the subject matter.
Tom Thiersch
Member, Washington Coalition for Open Government <https://www.washcog.org/>
==== [RCW 42.30.010 Open Public Meetings Act <https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.30&full=true> ] ==== ==== [RCW 42.56.030 Public Records Act <https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?ci
te=42.56&full=true> ] ====
"The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what
is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed and informing the people's public servants of their views so that they
may maintain control over the instruments that they have created."
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