Landlord/Tenant Issues for Water and Sewer Utilities

April 22, 2019 by Oskar Rey
Category: Utilities - Billing and Collection

In this blog post, Legal Consultant Oskar Rey provides an overview of utility billing in the landlord/tenant context per Washington State regulations.  

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Finding ‘Missing Middle’ Housing, Part 2

April 18, 2019 by Leonard Bauer
Category: Housing

The second of a 2-part series looking at the City of ​Olympia’s 2-year experience to encourage the growth of missing middle housing. Part 2 covers lessons learned. 

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The Open Public Meetings Act Pop Quiz

April 15, 2019 by Flannary Collins
Category: Open Public Meetings Act

This pop quiz will help boost your Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) knowledge and remind you about potential OPMA pitfalls.

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How to Talk to the Public When the Heat is On

April 11, 2019 by Tracy Burrows
Category: Management

Don't wait until a crisis hits your agency to develop a plan for managing communication with the public. This blog post provides an overview of how to plan ahead—before crisis puts you in the spotlight. 

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Holding Two Public Offices: The Doctrine of Incompatible Offices

April 4, 2019 by Paul Sullivan
Category: Incompatible Offices

This blog post looks at the doctrine of incompatible offices, which prohibits an individual from simultaneously holding two offices that are considered “incompatible” with one another.  

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Running for Office? Thinking About It . . .

April 3, 2019 by Linda Gallagher
Category: Administrative and Elected Officials

Whether you would be a first-time candidate or are already an elected official, the decision to run for election or reelection involves many factors. This blog post covers the basics. 

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Risk Management Strategies

April 1, 2019 by Roger Neal
Category: Management

This blog examines three strategies you can use to manage risks: risk prevention/control, risk reduction, and risk avoidance/ transfer. 

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Finding ‘Missing Middle’ Housing, Part 1

March 28, 2019 by Leonard Bauer
Category: Housing

This 2-part series looks at the City of ​Olympia’s 2-year experience to encourage the growth of missing middle housing. Part 1 examines the formal processes the city undertook, including the creation of a 16-member workgroup to study the issue.

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Roundtable Public Hearings

March 25, 2019 by Bob Jean
Category: Legislative Body

This blog post provides an overview of the Roundtable Public Hearing process, a tool local governments can use to move the public hearing process from a divisive “win/lose” result to a much preferable “consensus/compromise” result. 

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Financial Management: The “Big Picture,” Part 2

March 20, 2019 by Mike Bailey
Category: Financial Management

In Part 2 of this 2-part series, Finance Consultant Mike Bailey looks at tools that can help a local government monitor its fiscal progress or setbacks.

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Financial Management: The “Big Picture,” Part 1

March 18, 2019 by Mike Bailey
Category: Financial Management

This 2-part series will look at how all staff can contribute to the big-picture fiscal health of an agency, from establishing an agency-wide blueprint to finding the right tools to monitor fiscal progress or setbacks.

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Lessons Learned from Snowmaggedon

March 14, 2019 by Jill Dvorkin
Category: Personnel Policies , Emergency Management

This blog post will address a few of the frequently asked questions MRSC received during “Snowmageddon” this past February.

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2020 Census: Ensuring a Complete Count

March 14, 2019 by Lisa McLean
Category: Economic, Population and Historical Tax Data

The 2020 Census begins in mid-March 2020, and this blog post provides both an overview of the process and what your local government can do to facilitate the effort.

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Introducing the PRA & Records Management Technology Guide!

March 7, 2019 by Oskar Rey
Category: Public Records Act

MRSC has partnered with the SAO Center for Government Innovation to provide local governments with information and resources for managing electronic public records, and we are proud to introduce the PRA & Management Technology Guide.

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Now Is the Time to Look at Opportunity Zones

March 6, 2019 by Sam Alcorn
Category: Strategies and Programs

This post describes Opportunity Zones, how the zones work, what municipalities are doing to attract investment, and how to make sure investment is in the community’s best interest.

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Past Due Payments and Use of Collection Agencies

March 4, 2019 by Oskar Rey
Category: Accounting , Utilities - Billing and Collection

This blog post provides an overview of the requirements for use of a collection agency and will address some frequently asked questions that arise when doing so. 

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The Annual Financial Report for 2018 (Part 2)

February 27, 2019 by Toni Nelson
Category: Financial Reporting

This 2-part series highlights changes to the annual update to accounting and reporting requirements (BARS Alerts & Overview of Significant Changes). This post focuses on changes to Notes to Financials and in the Supplemental Schedules.

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​The Annual Financial Report for 2018 (Part 1)

February 25, 2019 by Toni Nelson
Category: Financial Reporting

In this 2-part series, Financial Consultant Toni Nelson will be highlighting changes to the annual update to accounting and reporting requirements (BARS Alerts & Overview of Significant Changes) from the State Auditor's Office. Part 1 focuses on changes to the Chart of Accounts. 

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Conflict of Interest and the Spouse

February 22, 2019 by Paul Sullivan
Category: Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

Contractual situations involving spouses of local government officials can present complications that are not immediately apparent. This blog post delves into the issue. 

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New City and County Revenue Guides Published!

February 19, 2019 by Toni Nelson
Category: Revenues

For many years, city and county officials have relied on MRSC’s Revenue Guides to better understand their various revenue options. In partnership with the State Auditor’s Office, we’ve completely rewritten and republished these important documents.

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