Greg Wessel in last week’s Beachcomber suggested that complying with the state’s Public Records Act can be easy. Just be organized, he advised. Establish a records retention plan. And don’t say anything embarrassing in an e-mail.
Sure, easy enough — assuming you’ve known all along that you were subject to this excellent but demanding law. The fact is, however, the volunteer-driven Vashon-Maury Island Community Council (VMICC) has been operating since 1933 under the belief and assumption that it was not subject to this law. VMICC boards have complied with the spirit of it readily — holding all of our meetings openly and giving out documents to anyone who asks. But that’s not the same as having to respond to a request to deliver up every scrap of paper and every e-mail over the past two years pertaining to a broad range of issues.
The VMICC has no paid staff. We have no office. We have no place to keep records. Is this a problem? Sure. But we do the best with what we have. We try to make sure that all minutes are current at the Vashon Library (although the efficiency of that depends on who is the secretary and how thorough a job that person does). We are all volunteers who want to serve our community. In fact, that’s why I joined the board a couple of years ago. And I’d certainly rather work on a project than search my disorganized office for papers I may or may not have.
Tom Bangasser’s latest request for documents asks for all correspondence and documents between VMICC, King County and other Unincorporated Area Councils relating to UAC governance, formation and VMICC requirements going back two years. He also wants all correspondence relating to a 2005 letter about the Public Records Act. The same request was also sent to King County. In the Beachcomber’s article about Tom two weeks ago, he is quoted as saying his latest request is to see if anyone acted inappropriately when the county rezoned the K2 building and that he is not harassing the council’s board. This does feel like harassment to me. King County certainly has everything that could be obtained by way of this latest request and will give all of the documents and other items to Tom. Why ask us to duplicate the search? Tom has already sued us, the VMICC, King County, the library system and K2 Corp. in a joint lawsuit that was dismissed. I say enough is enough
In late 2008, Tom asked the board for all papers relating to the K2 rezone. The same request was sent to Water District 19, Vashon Island Sewer District, the county’s Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) and the county executive. While the VMICC board at the time felt we did not have to comply with the Public Records Act, we decided to respond to his request anyway. This involved well over 100 hours of effort devoted to finding and organizing papers for him. Melodie Woods and Joe Ulatoski did the bulk of this work. We have probably given more than 300 pages to Tom on this subject. He has all the papers we have on the K2 issue. There are no more documents.
I agree with the importance of the Public Records Act. However, I respectfully disagree with the opinion of the county’s prosecuting attorney that the VMICC falls under this act. I also do not think it is fair to ask volunteers of a non-profit corporation who have been working under one set of ideas for 77 years to suddenly be held to the same standards of governmental entities with paid staff, office space and filing cabinets. We now find out we’re expected to have kept perfectly organized records, as far back as 1996, the year the council became a UAC.
Even county officials aren’t sure about how the VMICC board should comply with the law. When two of them met with us —including the staffer who oversees public disclosure requests — both acknowledged that this is new territory.
What I regret most is how this opinion and the actions of one person have fractured an organization I and so many others have worked so hard for and believe in. I only hope that we take this opportunity to make the council stronger and that in the process of figuring all of this out we garner more community support and involvement.
— Hilary Emmer, a citizen activist, was appointed to the VMICC board in February 2008. After the council’s meeting Monday night, she’s now the only board member.
