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fully committed to open and transparent government, and wants to make sure the public <br /> is informed and involved in accordance with the act. <br /> However, compliance with OPMA has a chilling effect on communications among and <br /> between Council members particularly in the absence of council committees. To avoid <br /> the possibility of serial meetings, Council members are effectively prohibited from <br /> communicating with one another except during regularly scheduled meetings. This limits <br /> Council's role in at least two ways. First, as noted, the number of meetings and the <br /> agenda place a limitation on the time dedicated to a given issue and the ability for <br /> Council Members to communicate with each other on that issue outside of a regular <br /> Council meeting. This is particularly critical on matters with significant policy <br /> implications. Second, since major policy issues are also complex, each Council member <br /> must act independently - in a silo - as a committee of one - to gather information, ask <br /> questions and prepare to take action on the matter at hand. <br /> These same constraints do not apply to staff or Administration, or members of the public <br /> who may be advocating or lobbying the Council for a particular outcome. They are all <br /> free to have discussions with individual Council members, assess a vote count and/or <br /> probable outcomes on issues before the Council takes action or even fully understands <br /> or discusses the issues. This places the City Council at a disadvantage and a power <br /> imbalance relative to the Administration whom the Council has a responsibility to <br /> oversee and provide policy and legislative direction. It also places the Council at a <br /> disadvantage when being lobbied by special interests who can "work" the Council by <br /> meeting with individual Council members and effectively conducting a serial meeting. <br /> These potential undesirable outcomes can be significantly reduced by doing the public <br /> business through Council committees. <br /> The limitations on Council's procedures, the imbalance between Council and <br /> Administration on major policy issues, and the OPMA constraints separately and <br /> together create a challenging governance structure for the City of Everett and it's <br /> citizens. Council simply cannot effectively conduct it's role as a legislative, policy, and <br /> oversight body without a separation of powers. Doing business as a legislative body <br /> through a committee structure can address these structural governance issues. The <br /> good news is the remedy is simple: adopt a committee structure like other cities in <br /> Washington State. <br /> What ideas do you have for how you can better serve in your role as a council <br /> member being cognizant of OPMA, council procedures and guidelines governing <br /> elected officials? <br /> 1. Adopt a Council committee structure and procedures for the conduct of public <br /> business (legislative, policy and oversight). Certain principles should drive this process: <br /> Compliance with OPMA and open government, <br /> Develop an independent Council committee structure with a bias toward <br /> collaboration with Administration and public involvement in the legislative process. The <br /> 4 <br />