Important Tips for Writing Your Agency’s Procurement Policies

January 29, 2015 by John W. Carpita, PE
Category: Purchasing and Bidding

Adherence to an agency-wide procurement policy/procedure manual is critical to combat irregularities in purchasing and bidding and maintain public trust. If your agency doesn’t yet have a procurement manual, or if you’re looking to give yours a refresher, I’ve put together a few tips in checklist form to help you get started.

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What if We Accidentally Overpaid an Employee?

January 28, 2015 by Paul Sullivan
Category: Compensation

Consider this hypothetical scenario: when I was just starting out as a city employee, I was joined in my office by the city accountant. She informed me that I had been overpaid. (What?! How can that be? If anything, I must have been underpaid!) Sadly, it was true. Due to a mathematical error, my paycheck for the first three months of the year was for an amount greater than it should have been. My first thought likely was “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t the accountant’s first thought; I was expected to repay the amount I was overpaid. Here's why that's the case and how the overpayment should be repaid.

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Not to Be Too Alarmist, but, Being a Realist …

January 27, 2015 by Council Commission Advisor
Category: Revenue and Taxation , Council-Commission Advisor

Aside from locally derived tax revenues, cities and counties with slow-to-no economic growth coupled with higher-than-state-average unemployment, can expect scant additional financial help from the State and Federal budgets.

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New Records Retention Guidance for Sensitive Authentication Data

January 22, 2015 by Flannary Collins
Category: Public Records Act

The Secretary of State’s Local Government Common Records Retention Schedule (CORE) has a brand new category concerning the destruction of “Sensitive Authentication Data” obtained during fin...

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New NACo Tool Shows Post-Recession Recoveries Are Most Pronounced around Tri-Cities, Seattle

January 21, 2015 by Josh Mahar
Category:

Remember late last year when we tipped you off to the National Association of Counties (NACo) powerful County Explorer tool? Well, this month NACo released its first report showcasing the new resource. Called the Economic Tracker, the report compares how counties have recovered from the 2008 economic downturn by lo...

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Top Picks from MRSC’s News Scan

January 20, 2015 by Byron Katsuyama
Category:

Each week I scan the Web for interesting and useful news, blog posts, articles, and reports from a variety of local government related sources and post them to the “In Focus” section of MRSC’s homepage. Here are the top picks from my most recent “In Focus” scans:

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Hiring the Right Person for Your Job

January 16, 2015 by Marci Wright
Category: Selection and Recruitment

For most managers, the most important decisions you make are hiring decisions. Unfortunately many managers make a common mistake in their approach to hiring that results in making a poor choice.

Hiring for a vacant position is a rare opportunity to make positive change in an organization by adding great new employee. Getting the right individual in the right job is a critical building block for any thriving organization.

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May a City Council Meet Outside the Corporate Limits of the City?

January 14, 2015 by Pat Mason
Category: Council Meetings and Hearings

The statutes that apply to cities and towns do not limit where the city or town council can meet, although, except for the statutes that apply to first class cities, they do contain a limitation on what types of action may be taken at a meeting being held outside the corporate limits.

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Planning Consultant Carol Tobin Retires

January 13, 2015 by Carol Tobin
Category:

This is the end of an era for planning consultants at MRSC. At the end of January, I am following Sue Enger into retirement. This is a bittersweet time for me, as I have truly enjoyed working with local governments in Washington and with the fine, dedicated staff at MRSC for more than 20 years.

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Recreational and Medical Marijuana in Washington State – Looking Back at 2014 and Ahead to 2015

January 7, 2015 by Jim Doherty
Category: Recreational and Medical Marijuana

Last year, 2014, will be remembered as the year that the recreational marijuana industry in Washington State started operations. Recreational marijuana is now being grown and processed at various licensed locations throughout the State of Washington, and it is available in licensed retail stores in many cities and counties. The transition has been gradual – many cities and some counties are still on the sidelines, and some have opted out entirely. See our map for a comprehensive picture, with links to the current local government zoning ordinances or other documents for details. The national trend is toward more expansive availability, as is evidenced by two more states (Oregon and Alaska) joining Washington and Colorado in the shift to a regulated marijuana market.

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Levan’s Lens on the Public Records Act – 2014

December 23, 2014 by Joe Levan
Category: Public Records Act

The end of the year provides an opportunity to look back over Public Records Act (PRA) legislative and case law developments from 2014. Here are some key points that I think are noteworthy for Washington local governments.

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Looking Back and On to the Next Chapter – Sue Enger Retires

December 18, 2014 by Sue Enger
Category:

In this month’s Planning Advisor column, Joe Tovar heralded the advent of GMA at 25.  Really?  It’s been almost 25 years?  That should not have been a revelation to me since I arrived on the MRSC scene the year after the Growth Management Act (GMA) was adopted in 1990.  In fact, I was hired to write s...

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GMA at 25: Looking Back, Looking Forward

December 12, 2014 by Planning Advisor
Category: Planning Advisor

The year 2015 will be the 25th anniversary of the adoption of Washington State's Growth Management Act (GMA). GMA may be the most important and least understood of state laws from the perspective of today's state, county and city elected officials. Few of them were in office in the 1980's, and therefore understandably lack first-hand knowledge of the serious problems that prompted the 1990 legislature to pass the Act. A 2013 survey of city elected officials revealed that almost none of them had ever received training on the what, why, and how of land use policy-making, much less the GMA.

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Top Picks from MRSC’s News Scan

December 11, 2014 by Byron Katsuyama
Category:

Each week I  scan the Web for interesting and useful news, blog posts, articles, and reports from a variety of local government related sources and post them to the “In Focus” section of MRSC’s homepage. Here are the top picks from my most recent ...

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May a County Legislative Body Meet Outside its County to Hold a Joint Meeting with the Legislative Body of Another County?

December 10, 2014 by Pat Mason
Category: Open Public Meetings Act , Council Meetings and Hearings

Sometimes situations and issues arise affecting more than one county such that it would be helpful for the legislative bodies of those counties to meet jointly. Such meetings, if conducted in person, would of course require one of the county legislative bodies to meet outside its county. A recent opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General, Read more | 0 comments

Heads Up – Budget Amendments

December 4, 2014 by Toni Nelson
Category:

Now that cities, towns, and counties are wrapping up their budgets for the coming year, it’s time to turn our attention back to the current budget and the last month or so of activity.  I say “or so” because of the open period that is used by the majority of you.

You ask, what is the “open period”?

For cities and towns, the open period refe...

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Police Body Cameras: Privacy Implications and Other Considerations

December 3, 2014 by Flannary Collins
Category: Law Enforcement Services

There’s been quite a bit of buzz recently around the issue of police body cameras – cameras attached to a police officer’s uniform or cap that record conversations and actions of people within the camera’s purview.  In addition to the national focus on police body ...

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Easy and Effective Common Sense Risk Management

December 2, 2014 by Lynn Nordby
Category: Management

Managing risk for your agency doesn’t always require sophisticated or expensive systems or extra staff resources. Sometimes a few simple, low cost, common sense procedures can be implemented that protect your organization from liability.
 

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