By Pat Grubb
On July 1, 2014, all public elected officials in Washington state were required by the 2014 Open Government Trainings Act to take basic open government training covering public records, records retention and open public meetings. The act was enacted by the state legislature with bipartisan support at the request of the state attorney general. A 2012 state auditors office report noted more than 250 open public government issues among local governments.
Failure to abide with the open public government laws has led to some hefty monetary penalties against state and local agencies in recent years. In a sense, the act can be considered a form of risk management and was intended to improve trust in government while preventing costly lawsuits against local governments.
Recently, the All Point Bulletin emailed local government agencies asking them to produce records that demonstrate that their respective elected officials had complied with the act and the dates and method of compliance.
Here are the results:
Point Roberts Park and Recreation District commissioners
Official Date of compliance
Mark Robbins March 2015
Steven Falk March 2015
Linda Hughes Not trained
Mary Edgley Not trained
Doug Shier Not trained
Point Roberts Water District commissioners
Official Date of compliance
Scott Hackleman July 2014
Madeleine Anderson April 2015
Bill Meursing No information provided
Point Roberts Hospital District commissioners
Official Date of compliance
Robin Nault December 2014
Dick Williams November 2014
Kandace Harper April 2015 (appointed commissioner 4/27/2015; trained 4/30/2015)
Point Roberts Fire District commissioners
Official Date of compliance
Bill Meursing No information provided
Stan Riffle No information provided
Jeff Wilmot No information provided
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here