News and Insights
PHASE 3 UPDATES – Vaccination Status, Masking and OPMA Attendance
May 24, 2021 June 30th Reopening Date On May 13, 2021 Governor Inslee announced the statewide reopening date of June 30, 2021 and that all counties in Washington would move to Phase 3 of his Healthy WA: Roadmap to Recovery plan effective May 18 until June 30. Reopening [...]
Knowing the Waters – Public Works, Ordinary Maintenance and Maintenance
By Frank Chmelik, Seth Woolson and Peter Ruffatto Seth Woolson is a principal in our firm and works on public work construction issues for port districts. Peter Ruffatto was the Bellingham city attorney before joining our firm this month. This month’s topic is the rules surrounding public works, ordinary maintenance [...]
Knowing the Waters
By Frank Chmelik of Chmelik Sitkin & Davis P.S. – March 2021 Port districts, like all Washington local and municipal governments, are required to redistrict their commission districts once every ten years using the decennial census data provided by the federal government. For most port districts (county-wide port [...]
PHASE 3 UPDATE – Expanded Occupancy for In-Person Public Meetings Likely
Governor Inslee announced that on March 22, 2021 the entire state will advance to Phase 3 of his Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery plan. The state’s recovery plan will revert to a county-by-county evaluation analysis and metrics will be reviewed by the state every three weeks. Governor Inslee’s March [...]
The Transition to In-Person Meetings under Washington’s Phase 2
Governor Inslee has advanced most of the State’s regions into Phase 2 under the Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery plan. What does this mean for public agencies and how does this affect Open Public Meetings Act (“OPMA”) requirements? The latest Proclamation regarding the OPMA is Proclamation 20-28.15, which extended [...]
Knowing the Waters – Public Records Requests
By Frank Chmelik and Allison Beard - February 2021 We have recently seen an increase in public record requests. One aspect of public record requests that need particular attention occurs when a list of individuals, companies or employees is requested. The Public Records Act, at RCW 42.56.070(8), prohibits governments from [...]
Knowing the Waters – In-Person Meetings During COVID-19
By Frank Chmelik of Chmelik Sitkin & Davis, P.S. - December 2020 Last month, we discussed some long-term changes that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the way that business is conducted at ports which will likely continue into the future. Since the November column, we have received several inquiries [...]
Knowing the Waters – Adapting to Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Frank Chmelik of Chmelik Sitkin & Davis, P.S. - November 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has brought some real changes to the way that business is conducted. Ports, like many other businesses and governments, have adapted and innovated. What will be interesting to see is what adaptions and innovations survive [...]
Knowing the Waters – Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements
By Frank Chmelik of Chmelik Sitkin & Davis, P.S. - October 2020 Over the years, one can see trends in the law. I think this happens when lawyers read the proposed agreements from other lawyers and think “well that is a good idea”. Like a rising tide, the new idea [...]
Knowing the Waters – Homelessness, Port Property, and COVID-19 Proclamations
By Frank Chmelik of Chmelik Sitkin & Davis, P.S. - September 2020 This month’s column discusses homelessness, camping on port property and in port parks, car camping on port streets, liveaboard boaters and the COVID-19 pandemic. The common thread here is people living on port district property without permission and [...]
Governor Inslee’s Proclamation 20-28.14: The Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act
On December 8, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-28.14 (the “December 8th Proclamation”), extending the requirement to conduct virtual meetings through January 19, 2021. The most recent Proclamation applies in all counties, regardless of what phase the county is in, unlike the last Proclamation. Summary In short, the extension continues [...]