This may be of interest only to those who own a dog-eared copy of “Robert’s Rules of Order,” the guidebook on meeting procedures written in 1876 by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Henry Martyn Robert. (Stick with us through this and we promise some Washington state trivia about Robert.)
But a discussion launched last week by Everett City Councilman Paul Roberts should matter to city residents interested in open, transparent and effective government. Roberts — we know of no relation to the brigadier general — is proposing that the city council switch from its current rules, where all matters are discussed before the entire council, to a committee system that would allow for proposed ordinances and other issues to be heard first by a three-member committee of council members prior to being brought before the full council.
Recently the council has been asked to consider ordinances and make decisions that either appeared to surprise them or for which they might have preferred more time.
Last month, the council was asked to consider three ordinances that addressed the city’s problems with homelessness and addiction. Two of the proposals came out of last year’s Everett Streets Initiative, which, while the council was not directly involved in, it had followed. But a third proposed ordinance, which would have barred people from sitting on sidewalks, was not part of that process. The proposal was pulled from council consideration after objections were raised, some from initiative task force members.
Also last month, during discussions regarding the debt service for Xfinity Arena’s public facilities district, the council learned it was on the hook to purchase or loan more than $600,000 for a new scoreboard. Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher said during a meeting that the request took her by surprise, and asked why it wasn’t a line item in the budget.
Roberts, in outlining the problem as he sees it to his colleagues, said the council often is involved late in the process on legislative and policy matters. Absent a committee system, council members are left to research issues on their own and are constrained in what they can discuss amongst themselves without violating terms of the state’s Open Public Meetings Act.
Of the state’s 10 largest cities with mayor-council forms of government, Everett is the only one not using a committee system. Everett, when Roberts was council president, switched from the committee system to the current system in 2010 as part of a package of council procedural changes.
Some council members during Wednesday night’s discussion expressed a willingness to talk further, but appeared wary that the committee system might also present challenges in meeting the provisions of state’s open meetings law. But Seattle, Spokane and others that use the committee system appear to have satisfied those concerns.
There could be fixes to the current committee-of-a-whole system that would satisfy the council’s and public’s need for transparency, input and the necessary time to consider issues, but Roberts’ proposal also deserves consideration by the council. If there was a problem with the committee system prior to Everett’s switch, perhaps it was more an issue of timely public notification than with the committee system, itself.
OK. About Brig. Gen. Robert: Prior to writing his well-known book, Robert, an engineer, oversaw construction of the military fortifications on San Juan Island during the Pig War, the mostly quiet standoff from 1859 to 1874 between the United States and England over the international boundary. Replicas of Robert’s structures can be found at the American Camp at the San Juan Island National Historical Park. We’re adjourned.
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