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MRSC Insight Blog


Posts for June 2017

June 2017 Land Use Case Law Update Recap

June 29, 2017  by  Jill Dvorkin
Category:  Court Decisions and AGO Opinions ,  Land Use Administration

On June 15, Phil Olbrechts and Jill Dvorkin presented the first of two annual Land Use Case Law Update webinars for 2017. In this blog post, Jill Dvorkin provides a brief recap of the cases covered in the webinar, as well as a summary of another case decided since the webinar.

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Fiscal Feast or Famine: A Survival Guide

June 27, 2017  by  Stan Finkelstein
Category:  Guest Author ,  Budgets and Budgeting ,  Financial Management

What can local governments do to avoid the fiscal cliff? Advisor Stan Finkelstein argues that the best defense is to develop a multiyear forecast of anticipated resources and expenditures.

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Use of Electronic Devices During Council/Commission Meetings

June 23, 2017  by  Jim Doherty
Category:  Open Public Meetings Act ,  Public Records Act

It seems that everybody is always looking at a screen or sending messages these days, sometimes using a smartphone, a notebook computer, or tablet—what’s the big deal? This blog post examines the issues that arise when members of a governing body text, message, or email during a public meeting. 

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Funding Utility Infrastructure

June 14, 2017  by  Courtney Black
Category:  Guest Author ,  Public Works Finance ,  Utilities

The facilities that make up your utility infrastructure won’t last forever. This post looks at how asset management options can help a utility avoid significant funding challenges or impacts to ratepayers during infrastructure replacement.

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The Supreme Court Narrowly Construes the “Minimum-Value” Executive Session Exception to the OPMA

June 12, 2017  by  Ramsey Ramerman
Category:  Guest Author ,  Court Decisions and AGO Opinions ,  Open Public Meetings Act

On June 8, the Washington Supreme Court issued its opinion in Columbia Riverkeepers v. Port of Vancouver, adopting a very narrow interpretation of the executive session “exception” to the OPMA for discussion about the sale or lease of real estate (the “minimum-value exception”). In this blog post, guest author Ramsey Ramerman breaks down the case. 

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Easy Problem Solving Using the 4-step Method

June 7, 2017  by  Jennifer Haury
Category:  Guest Author ,  Management

Is your worksite suffering from 'change fatigue' and your staff, leery of any new improvements? Guest author Jennifer Haury offers a 4-step problem solving method to help you avoid making new changes that ultimately fail to address old, underlying issues. 

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Big Cybersecurity for Small Jurisdictions

June 1, 2017  by  Mike Kaser
Category:  Guest Author ,  Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is complicated. Guest author Mike Kaser suggests that the best place to start is to determine what can be done within the current resources and skill sets of your organization, then decentralize the risk beyond IT. 

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