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Posts for Bob Meinig

2016 Legislature Adds to the Monetary Penalty for an OPMA Violation

May 11, 2016  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Open Public Meetings Act

A violation of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) can result in a number of consequences, one of which is a monetary penalty for each member of a governing body who attends a meeting knowing that it is being held in violation of the OPMA. To deter OPMA violations, the Legislature increased the existing $100 civil penalty, effective June 9, 2016, to $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for each successive violation.

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Supreme Court Lets Stand King County Metro Bus Ad Rejection

March 11, 2016  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Court Decisions and AGO Opinions

In 2016, the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, AFDI v. King County, refusing to enjoin King County Metro’s 2013 rejection of an ad, titled “Faces of Global Terrorism,” for display on its buses. This action by the Court will likely be significant for local governments as they consider the extent to which they can enact and enforce similar restrictions.

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Municipalities Now Responsible for Addressing View-Obstructing Roadside Vegetation

February 4, 2016  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Streets and Sidewalks

In a short, unanimous opinion issued last week, the Washington Supreme Court concluded that a municipality – a city or county – can be held liable for hazardous conditions on its roads created by naturally occurring roadside vegetation.

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State Supreme Court Says Advisory Committees Are Not Subject to the OPMA

October 6, 2015  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Boards and Commissions ,  Open Public Meetings Act

The Washington State Supreme Court last week, in Citizens Alliance v. San Juan County, finally confronted head-on the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) issue of when a committee of a governing body “acts on behalf of” the governing body so as to have to comply with the OPMA.

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Utility Latecomer Agreements – Legislature Gives Municipalities an Alternative

July 8, 2015  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Public Works Finance

The 2015 Legislature enacted legislation (SSB 5795) providing municipalities (defined for this purpose as cities, towns, counties, and drainage districts) the authority to initiate an assessment reimbursement area to finance all the costs of a water or sewer improvement and to become the sole beneficiary of the reimbursements.

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New Legislation Subjects City Assumption of Water-Sewer District to Possible Referendum

June 16, 2015  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Water-Sewer Districts

Under chapter 35.13A RCW, a city council may, by resolution or ordinance, assume jurisdiction of (basically, take over) all or part of a water-sewer district, with the extent of that assumption of jurisdiction based on how much of the area or assessed value of the district lies within the city.

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State Supreme Court Says Cities Can Ban Collective Gardens, but the Legislature is Replacing Them with Medical Marijuana Cooperatives

May 21, 2015  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Cannabis Regulation

Cannabis Action Coalition v. City of Kent upheld the constitutionality of the city of Kent’s ordinance banning collective gardens as a valid exercise of the city’s zoning authority. But new legislation is replacing collective gardens with medical marijuana "cooperatives."

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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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What are “Land Use Control Ordinances” for Purposes of Subdivision Application Vesting?

February 11, 2015  by  Bob Meinig
Category:  Subdivisions and Planned Developments ,  Vested Rights

What are "land use control ordinances" in the context of vesting for subdivision and short subdivision applications? The phrase is not defined by statute, but court decisions provide some insight.

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