Pandemic Flu - Continuity of Government (January 31)
Seattle and King County's Pandemic Flu Web page offers information on continuity of government issues that should be addressed by local agencies.

Sunset's Best Places to Live (January 31)
Western suburbs are becoming more like big cities, and because of it, suburban living is growing richer and more sophisticated. More from Sunset Magazine.

Moving from Outputs to Outcomes (January 31)
A new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government, Moving from Outputs to Outcomes: Practical Advice from Governments Around the World, identifies what needs to be done in terms of both small steps and large steps that have had success in reorienting government systems to an outcome approach.

Smart City - Downtown Turnarounds (January 31)
Downtowns are coming back all over the U.S., none more strikingly than Philadelphia's Center City. Paul Levy, the man at the helm of the revitalization, is this week's guest on Smart City.

Can Empowerment Work in Police Organizations? (January 31)
Control-oriented management approaches fail to recognize that police work is, and always has been, highly discretionary. More from The Police Cheif.

Report on Most and Least Affordable Housing in Six Countries (January 31)
The 2nd annual 2006 Edition of the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey (617kb) rates the affordability of the one hundred major urban property markets in six countries.

Housing - The Affordability Index (January 31)
A recent Brookings Institution policy brief describes a new information tool developed by the Urban Markets Initiative to quantify, for the first time, the impact of transportation costs on the affordability of housing choices. More from the Brookings Institution.

All America City Award Application Deadline Approaching (January 31)
Cities and communities interested in applying for the National Civic League's All-America City Award have until March 9 to put their hats in the ring for the prestigious community award. More from the National Civic League.

Indoor Air Quality Grants Available for Northwest Communities (January 31)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) is soliciting initial proposals from organizations to fund indoor air quality projects. More from EPA.

Resisting Municipal Broadband is Futile (January 31)
There are over 400 cities worldwide planning to deploy municipal broadband networks and the number will double in 2006, making community broadband initiatives a very real and significant trend. More from BusinessWire.

Seattle and King County Pandemic Flu Response Plan (January 25)
Seattle and King County's Pandemic Flu Response Plan involves health care providers, emergency service providers, businesses, schools and local governments in a plan to detect, respond and recover from an outbreak.

End Annual Personnel Appraisals? (January 25)
Most organizations--private, public and nonprofit--engage in the annual ritual of performance appraisal. Yet few believe that it accomplishes very much. More from Bob Behn's Public Management Report.

Report on Community Programs that Support Children and Youth (January 25)
A recent report from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) identifies the most important youth issues among local governments and discusses innovative programs that have been designed to address them. More from ICMA.

NLC Poll - Youth Curfews Continue to Show Promise (January 25)
The latest Insta-Poll from the National League of Cities (NLC) shows that city officials continue to implement and enforce youth curfews as an effective strategy for deterring crime and violence among adolescents. More from Nation's Cities Weekly.

New MRSC Initiative and Referendum Guide (January 25)
MRSC's newly revised Initiative and Referendum Guide for Washington Cities and Charter Counties (306kb) provides an overview of initiative and referendum powers as they are exercised in cities and charter counties of the state of Washington.

The Downside of the Upscale Condo Boom (January 25)
Luxury condo booms in major cities from Miami to Los Angeles point to the renewed vitality of downtowns. Yet they also are causing headaches for officials charged with managing growth. More from American City & County.

Information Technology - Spend with Caution (January 25)
As most public sector budgets improve, IT managers should remember the valuable lessons learned about fiscal discipline and management during lean times. More from American City & County.

Reinventing Conservation Easements (January 25)
In recent decades conservation easements—promises to restrict land development—have become enormously popular, but now they are in trouble. More from the Lincoln Land Institute.

DHS Revises First Responder Grant Programs (January 25)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced the availability of funds for FY06 Homeland Security Grant Programs and released new funding guidelines that place a greater emphasis on risk and need in awarding funds. More from NACo's County News.

Rural Transit Services: Where Counties can go for Help (January 25)
Providing access to transportation for those with special needs is a critical issue for counties, and is especially acute for people in sparsely populated rural areas where public transit may not be available. More from NACo's County News.

A Roof to Start With (January 18)
Cities are moving homeless people straight from the street into permanent housing no questions asked. It’s controversial, but it’s showing results. More from Governing.

HHS Grants $100 Million for State and Local Pandemic Preparedness (January 18)
The Federal Health and Human Services Department (HHS) recently announced $100 million in state and local grants to mobilize for an influenza pandemic. More from HHS.

New Ask MRSC E-newsletter (January 18)
Ask MRSC is a free, subscription-based, monthly e-mail newsletter featuring answers to selected questions received by our consultant staff. It's one more way for you to stay informed on current issues affecting city and county government. View a sample issue or go directly to our subscription page and sign up to receive Ask MRSC today. It's free!

Baldrige Award Comes to State and Local Government (January 18)
Beginning in 2006, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program will expand to state and local government with a one year pilot program.

Web Sightings 2005 (January 18)
In case you missed them, here's a look back at 2005's Web Sightings:

• Takings and Property Rights
• Performance Measurement
• Historic Preservation
• Smart Growth
• Parking
• Finding Demographic Information
• Climate Change
• Emergency Management
• Ending Homelessness
• City and County Impact Fees

Stressed Responders (January 18)
Federal disaster money doesn’ t help much unless governments get together on how to use it. More from Governing.

GFOA's Digital Finance Library (January 18)
The Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) digital finance library provides finance professionals with current resources including GFOA research, best practice government finance, links to finance-related data, and links to related organizations.

Gaming the Numbers (January 18)
Many of the statistics policy makers use today are set in concrete but made of quicksand. More from Governing.

The True Costs of Vacant Properties (January 18)
A report from the National Vacant Properties Campaign, Vacant Properties: The True Costs to Communities (1.6mb), summarizes research on the costs vacant and abandoned properties impose upon communities and highlights local programs successfully recapturing the value in these properties.

New Technology for Public Engagement (January 11)
The British are coming, and this time they’re bringing a new communications technology to help local officials with an age-old problem: getting important information to constituents accurately and conveniently. More from Public Management.

Community Development - The Power of Infilltration (January 11)
Cities can encourage multidwelling projects by understanding what makes them succeed, listening to neighborhoods, providing guidance to developers, and eliminating barriers. More from Planning Magazine.

How the Suburbs Made Us Rich (January 11)
Without the Levittowns, our parents and grandparents would have paid rent most of their lives, and the equity that so much of the American Dream depends on would simply not have developed. More from Demographia (208 KB).

IACP's Best Practices Guides for Small Police Departments (January 11)
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Web site offers access to best practices guides for small police departments on budgeting, recruitment and retention, web site development, grant writing and other topics.

Housing - Some Assembly Required (January 11)
A new generation of tech-savvy architects is bringing premium-quality, prefabricated housing to the masses. More from Wired Magazine.

Smart City - Design and Architecture (January 11)
Good design adds value to products, services, experiences and certainly to cities. This week's guests on Smart city talk about urban design and architecture.

Information Technology - Cutting the Cords (January 11)
Wire-bound e-government is slowly evolving into m-government, which provides data for a mobile workforce. More from American City & County.

New Guide for Small Community Water System Security (January 11)
Owners and operators of very small community water systems now have a new guide from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Drinking Water Security for Small Systems Serving 3,300 or Fewer Persons (4,291 KB), to help them in improving drinking water system security through vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans.

Digital Communities Solutions Starter Kit (January 11)
Digital Communities Starter Kits are designed to be complete end-to-end, turnkey solutions to enable municipalities to launch wired and wireless applications simply and easily. More from Government Technology.

Cities and Counties in the News (January)
Here are the latest news clippings from around the state highlighting current events, trends and other news affecting Washington city and county governments:

• Annexation rift deepens (The Columbian, January 30, 2006)
• Survey results show S'side's homeless population tops 100 (Daily Sun News, January 30, 2006)
• Lynnwood convention center does well in first eight months (Everett Herald, January 30, 2006)
• Spokane residents rally against Wal-Mart (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 28, 2006)
• Teams search county to get rough count of homeless (Seattle Times, January 28, 2006)
• Offices to give way to condos in Bellevue (Seattle Times, January 28, 2006)
• Case could get land-use laws back on the ballot (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 27, 2006)
• 3-county panel unveils $7.2 billion road plan (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 27, 2006)
• Developers challenge affordable housing study (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 26, 2006)
• What's next for the parks? (Federal Way Mirror, January 25, 2006)
• Strapped city's council likely to increase fees (Seattle Times, January 25, 2006)
• Fire departments look at consolidation issue (Camas-Washougal Post Record, January 25, 2006)
• Bellevue vote settles fight over tent city (King County Journal, January 24, 2006)
• Survey to count Sunnyside's homeless (Daily Sun News, January 24, 2006)
• 4 waterfront park designs ready to view (Bellingham Herald, January 23, 2006)
• City offers grants for small projects (Bellingham Herald, January 23, 2006)
• Growth swells need for services (Everett Herald, January 22, 2006)
• City may sue for land near sewer plant (Bellingham Herald, January 22, 2006)
• City aims to increase pedestrian visibility (Port Orchard Independent, January 21, 2006)
• Taking a sneak peek at City Hall (Seattle Times, January 21, 2006)
• Municipal campus marches forward (North Kitsap Herald, January 21, 2006)
• Impact fees are figured properly (The Olympian, January 20, 2006)
• Cities’ fire forces may become one (The Olympian, January 18, 2006)
• County set to buy 1,000 wild acres (Tacoma News Tribune, January 17, 2006)
• Downtown art project has potential (Walla Walla Union Bulletin, January 17, 2006)
• Federal Way, Des Moines fire departments merge (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 14, 2006)
• City seeks cut of profits of high-rises for public (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 12, 2006)
• Civilian oversight of Sheriff's Office sought (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 12, 2006)
• County pays federal agency to oust 'problem' coyotes (The Columbian, January 12, 2006)
• Public-safety agencies plan wireless network (Seattle Times, January 11, 2006)
• Placemaking brings neighbors out of the house, and into the community (Seattle Post Intelligencer, January 11, 2006)
• Discipline will be focus of sheriff's committee (King County Journal, January 10, 2006)
• County fleet fills up with biodiesel (Everett Herald, January 9, 2006)
• Panel ready to study county's government (Everett Herald, January 9, 2006)
• Council renews focus on downtown (The Olympian, January 8, 2006)
• Snohomish Oks all-mail vote (Bellingham Herald, January 6, 2006)
• Sheriff’s Department invites residents to community academies (Tacoma News Tribune, January 6, 2006)
• Police chief becomes W. Richland city administrator (January 6, 2006)
• Sims plan aims to revitalize rural areas (Seattle Times, January 6, 2006)
• Creating a heart for a city (Seattle Times, January 5, 2006)
• City seems headed for financial stability (Bellingham Herald, January 5, 2006)
• Everett Events Center's future looks bright (Everett Herald, January 5, 2006)
• Growth board calls for added wetlands protection, passes on shoreline buffers (Anacortes American, January 4, 2006)
• City Council considers restructuring (Bellingham Herald, January 4, 2006)
• Olympia council will be on Web (The Olympian, January 4, 2006)
• Franklin to test new machine for voting (Tri-City Herald, January 3, 2006)
• Parking fees, fines double in city center (Bellingham Herald, January 3, 2006)
• Fire department finds insurance is no assurance of coverage (The Columbian, January 1, 2006)

2006-2007 Directory of Washington City and Town Officials (January 05)
The 2006-2007 Directory of Washington City and Town Officials should be available for distribution in mid-February. Each city and town will receive a copy in the mail. Others may purchase a paper copy or database file by submitting an order form (28 KB) (pre-payment required). You can also purchase online using our credit card order form.

Issues to Watch (January 04)
As legislatures in most states come back into session this month, their members will be spending an unusual amount of time dealing with issues that involve other levels of government. More from Governing.

Risk and Reward in Local Government Management (January 04)
Enterprise risk management seeks to develop an organization that can take advantage of opportunities and can act quickly and effectively to minimize the adverse consequences of unexpected challenges. More from Public Management.

Operation: Operability (January 04)
Hurricane Katrina focuses attention on basic radio communications' ability to survive worst-case scenarios. More from Government Technology Magazine.

New Minimum Wage took Effect Jan. 1 (January 04)
Washington’s minimum wage increased 28 cents to $7.63 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2006. More from the Washington Department of Labor & Industries.

Bellingham Replaces Meters with Parking Pay Stations (January 04)
Beginning in January 2006, hourly parking meters will be replaced with automated pay stations in several areas of downtown Bellingham. More from the city of Bellingham.

Law Enforcement - Overcoming Lateral Transfer Training Issues (January 04)
When a department employs a lateral transferee there are a number of training-related issues to resolve before the transferee is assigned to active street duty. More from The Police Chief.

A Simple Solution (January 04)
Success can depend as much on tweaking the way people use tools as on what those tools are. More from Governing.