Hiring the Right Person: Screening Your Applicant Pool

April 29, 2015 by Marci Wright
Category: Recruitment and Hiring , Guest Author

You are a busy manager trying to fill a vacant position. You've advertised the job and received applications. How should you screen the applicants?

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A Brief History of the Development and Passage of Clark County's Home Rule Charter

April 29, 2015 by Nan Henriksen and Steve Foster
Category: Forms of Government-County , Guest Author

This post summarizes how Clark County’s citizens developed and passed a home rule charter in the 2014 general election.

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Important New Guidance Issued Regarding Agency Text Messaging

April 24, 2015 by Joe Levan
Category: Public Records Act

In 2015, the Washington State Archives released important Advice Sheets regarding texting, which local government officials and staff should thoroughly review.

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Filling Gaps in your City’s Streetscape

April 23, 2015 by John W. Carpita, PE
Category: Streets and Sidewalks

How can cities or towns orchestrate streetscape retrofits adjacent to undeveloped lots so that the improvements are installed in a manner that is cost-effective and not haphazard?

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Changes to Washington Law Require Timely and Complete Responses to Unemployment Claims

April 17, 2015 by Sarah I. Hale
Category: Termination and Retirement , Guest Author

Washington state law creates a penalty for employers who contribute to unemployment compensation via an experience-based payroll tax and who fail to respond adequately to ESD unemployment benefit inquiries.

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Sick Leave Benefits for Local Government Employees, Part 2: Framework for Issue Assessment

April 10, 2015 by Cabot Dow
Category: Leave Policies , Guest Author

This is part two of a four-part series on the subject of sick leave benefits for local government employees, focusing on identifying issues to think about and questions to discuss regarding paid sick leave benefits.

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Ongoing Public Employer Investigations of Alleged Employee Misconduct: PRA Issues

April 8, 2015 by Bob Meinig
Category: Public Records Act

The Washington State Supreme Court issued an interesting decision last week addressing, primarily, whether the names of public employees that are the subject of ongoing investigations of unidentified, alleged misconduct are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act (PRA).

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Communication, Communication, Communication

April 2, 2015 by Bob Jean
Category: Management , Guest Author

In real estate or economic development discussions we hear it’s all about location, location, location. When it comes to good governance, whether in Council-Manager or Mayor-Council-Administrator forms of local government, it’s all about communication, communication, communication.

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