Public Periscope
A long-running `emergency’
Just so you know, Spokane County commissioners held two unannounced meetings to discuss the Ecocycle composting fire … On May 14, when some West Plains residents stormed the courthouse demanding action, Commissioners John Roskelley and Kate McCaslin agreed to spend $10,000 fighting the fire. On May 17, McCaslin and Roskelley met with staff to discuss what else the county should do … Did the meetings violate the state’s Open Public Meetings Act, which requires 24-hour notice before elected officials discuss the public’s business? No, say county attorneys, because state law gives an exemption for fires for an unannounced emergency meeting.
One could argue that the Legislature meant fires that are threatening lives or property, not piles of yard debris that were smoldering eight days before the first meeting on the subject. But that’s not spelled out in the law … The only court case on the topic prompted a judge to rule that a teachers strike was not a reason for a school board to hold an unannounced meeting, said a member of the state attorney general’s office.
Where was Phil?
While his colleagues were meeting on Ecocycle and other contentious topics like banishing powerboats from Meadow Lake and banning outdoor tobacco advertising, Commissioner Phil Harris was on the road for the Airport Board, on which he also serves … It was no vacation, Harris said, but a 3,400-mile trip to six airports over 16 days, plus a stop at the American Association of Airport Executives conference in Phoenix. He said he would have voted for the ad ban. Although he’s reviewed testimony on the boat ban, he’s not sure how he’ll vote when the commissioners decide the issue Tuesday.
Community-property shelters
A Spokane judge last week needed to divide bombproof property in a divorce trial between Marlyn Derby and her husband, Dr. Al Derby. Marlyn, an anti-abortion activist who ran three times as a GOP challenger to Rep. Tom Foley, wound up getting the couple’s South Hill home, complete with bomb shelter … But her former husband didn’t leave court unprotected. The judge gave him the remote Idaho home the couple had built during the 1960s. It has a fully stocked survival basement, the doctor testified … During the trial, Al Derby explained they built the Idaho home after researching wind patterns over Eastern Washington and Idaho and picked a spot south of St. Maries, where they’d likely escape any wind-borne nasty stuff if the big one hit Spokane.
For whom the bell tolls
Commissioner Kate McCaslin had just asked participants at Tuesday’s Growth Management Act hearing to turn off their “noisy things” when a cellular phone in the back of the room started ringing. McCaslin laughed along with the rest of the audience … No one laughed when the same phone rang again during testimony.
Don’t expect Avista to be next
A rural utility district in Lane County, Ore., may be the first electric supplier in the nation to support a proposal to breach four Eastern Washington dams. The board of Emerald People’s Utility District, which serves 17,000 customers near Eugene, decided breaching the dams is the best way to restore Snake River salmon … That decision would be a jaw-dropper for most districts, but not for Emerald, which spends 6 percent of its revenue on conservation projects and uses landfill methane to produce some electricity … Still a tough call, said spokesman Bob Mieger: “The decision to bypass the dams will create economic hardship for some interests in the region. But Emerald believes there are reasonable and economic solutions.”
Demos lauded
Spokane Democrats recently picked their man and woman of the year - activists Tim Hattenburg and Mary Anne Stuckart - and gave out their first ever “Bill First Memorial Award.” The new prize is named for the former congressional spokesman and longtime campaigner who died recently. It went to Eileen Thomas, another longtime human rights activist who serves as president of the local NAACP.