General local government

The AWC annual conference in June featured two sessions on open government and one on citizen communications. Among the topics covered in these sessions were issues elected officials should consider when deciding to use personal email accounts.

During the conference sessions lively discussion centered on a recent City of Shoreline case that involved "Metadata" as a subject of disclosure. In O’Neill v. City of Shoreline, 145 Wn. App. 913 (2008) the Court held that Metadata is part of electronic public records and must be produced when requested. The case involved a series of requests all aimed at obtaining one particular email that had been sent to an official’s personal email account. After receiving a hard copy of the email, the requester then specifically demanded an electronic version including metadata.

What is metadata?

Metadata is automatically-generated information, embedded in an electronic document that shows the document’s history, tracking and/or management. It can be viewed with standard software. Metadata can reveal who opened a document, which server it came from, and whether it was altered. At the time this case arose, state retention guidelines allowed an agency to print out a copy of an electronic document and destroy the original, electronic version. The guidelines have since been amended to require the agency to retain the electronic version.

Key points to consider on Metadata:

• It is data about data embedded in a document or email.
• It contains information about document title and author, comments, revision number, last print date, creation date, last save time, total editing time, prior versions and track changes.
• It also supplies the file name, size, location and path.
• It is a public record.
• If government business is discussed, it could apply to personal email accounts and blogs.

2009-11 Local Records Grant Program

The Washington Secretary of State, State Archives Division recently announced availability of grants under the Local Government Records Grant Program to assist local governments to meet their responsibilities for preserving and improving access to public records. The program focuses on getting records digitized and made accessible through the Digital Archives, and also includes funding for purchase of archive storage boxes and to aid in the protection of records. The grant program budget is $200,000, with a maximum of $10,000 being awarded to a single recipient. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis, applications open August 1, 2009 and close on September 10, 2009. For more information go to www.secstate.wa.gov/archives/lrgp2009-11.aspx.

2010 U.S. Census

In preparation for the 2010 U.S. Census, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) annually to collect information about selected legally defined geographic areas. The BAS is used to update information about the legal boundaries and names of all governmental units in the United States. The Census Bureau uses the boundary information collected in the BAS to tabulate data for various censuses and surveys.

The 2009 BAS materials were mailed in December 2008 and January 2009 to cities, counties and others. AWC has been notified, by the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, Redistricting Project that maps produced by the U.S. Census show significant inaccuracies and distortions when compared with lines provided by county and municipal governments. AWC will be contacting member cities (city clerk’s office) with information about the process to correct boundary discrepancies.

Utility lien authority

During the 2009 legislative session, several bills were introduced that would have limited cities from collecting delinquent utility charges from property owners when the tenant contracts for service directly with the utility. This essentially would have eliminated the authority for cities to use the lien process to collect on delinquent utility charges. Cities vigorously opposed the bills and each bill died.

This interim, AWC staff and others met with the Washington Multi-Family Housing Association (WMFHA) to discuss ongoing issues between property owners and municipalities regarding delinquent utility charges. The WMFHA would like to propose legislation next session that would clarify in statute that cities can only collect from property owners four months of unpaid utility bills, whether or not the city uses the lien authority as the collection tool (to be modeled after RCW 35.21.290).

AWC would like to hear comments about how this proposal would affect city collection processes. In addition, AWC will be surveying a handful of cities over the next month to identify best practices for utility collections. For further information, contact Victoria Lincoln victorial@awcnet.org.

Legislative task force on the underground economy

During the 2009 legislative session SHB 1555 passed which addressed recommendations of the joint legislative task force on the underground economy in the construction industry. This bill, which became effective on July 26, states that a city "may verify" that a contractor is registered with L&I prior to issuing a business license. For cities that participate in the Master License System, the Department of Licensing must conduct this verification.

This bill also extended the duration of the task force to December 15, 2009 and created a position on the task force for cities. Thank you to Gary McLean, City of Puyallup City Manager, for serving on this committee on behalf of cities.

Over the interim, AWC will be asked to present on how cities are voluntarily verifying that a contractor is registered with L&I prior to issuing a business license. If your city has made any changes as a result of this bill please contact Victoria Lincoln at (360) 753-4137 or victorial@awcnet.org.

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