Volume 118, Number 10

Tribune
Hoover wrote. Im sorry if I implied that the reason for talking to our attorney was because of potential litigation, Hoover wrote in a July 10 e-mail to Kolrud. At this point, this is primarily a politically sensitive issue. Kolrud objected and cited state law which spells out what matters can and cannot be discussed in private. Since almost all issues the board discuss and or [sic] deliberate can be viewed as politically sensitive issue we do not have the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know, Kolrud wrote back to Hoover on July 10. ...This does not support the spirit or the intent of the Open Public Meeting(s) Act to conduct three separate meetings to avoid a board quorum. We are purposely keeping our discussion away from the public, which I can not be apart of. School impact fees tend to be politically sensitive because developers dont like paying them. In an interview with the Tribune, MacIntyre defended the initial idea of meeting with the lawyer in private, describing it as a meeting with ones legal counsel instead of a public meeting. After Kolruds protest, the board opened the meeting to the public Aug. 11. At the meeting, the attorney, via speakerphone, advised against proposing a reduction of impact fee discounts until spring 2009. The board went along with this advice, not wanting to rock the boat.

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Monroe School Board member seeks more open policies

By JESSICA SPARKS and the district projects to receive $3,139 for each single family home MICHAEL WHITNEY and $1,383 for each multifamily, An outspoken Monroe School two-bedroom unit. Board members effort to shine Kolrud is alarmed by this trend. light on district issues has for the She knew she likely didnt have the most part backfired, she admits, votes to support a resolution, but but small victories have been wanted to get the discussion going on whether developers pay their made. Board member Debra Kolrud, a fair share. staunch advocate of open govern- She certainly has a right to conment, has been challenging board tinue pushing for what she wants, policies since joining the board in board president Tom MacIntyre said. January. The Monroe School Board, per The district agreed to have a disprotocol, doesnt like surprises and cussion but wanted an attorney to only allows the board president brief members in private. to communicate positions of the Kolrud believes the school administration tried to avoid a public board on controversial issues. The protocol policy doesnt define discussion on the matter when it gave serious consideration to holdcontroversial issues. But a series of events leading up ing three separate meetings with to a discussion on school impact the attorney in order to avoid creatfees, which are charged to devel- ing a board quorum, which would opers to mitigate costs associated have had to be open to the public. with growth, prompted Kolrud to In e-mails obtained by the Trispeak out against what she says bune between Superintendent Ken is an example of the districts un- Hoover and board members, Kolrud protested the decision to have friendly public process. Kolrud wanted the board to dis- the discussions in private. cuss a resolution supporting a Hoover, in consultation with reduction or elimination of the board president MacIntyre, set up discount rate given to developers. private briefings with consulting School impact fees are used by the attorney, Grace Yuan. Yuan had repdistrict to build new buildings as- resented all school districts in the sociated with growth. Currently, county related to impact fees. developers are given a 50 percent I am proposing times at 4PM, 5PM and 6PM with no more than discount on those fees. In 2005-06, the district received two board members present at a $3,909 for each single family de- time, Hoover wrote July 8 to all five tached house built in the districts board members. county boundaries. For each multi- The reason cited was that the family, two-bedroom unit, the dis- discussion on school impact fees trict received $3,494. In 2008-09, was a politically sensitive issue, Three board members were against continuing this conversation. In a statement to the Tribune, Hoover said the district was concerned about the legal consequences associated with lowering the agreed upon discount rate. The (private) meeting proposal was initiated in an attempt to respond to a school board members request while trying to ensure all board members received the same information about Monroes tumultuous history with this topic including past litigation that could have had a more than $1 million financial impact, Hoover wrote. Varying summer schedules with a variety of people also played a role in the original meeting proposal. This is not the first time Kolrud has challenged district policy. She tried to get the board to update its public records policy to align with state law. That is temporarily on hold while the district continues to research the matter. She also requested the removal of a statement that she says is unfriendly and may discourage citizens from speaking to the board. New language proposed, though, appears to further limit the boards interaction with the public. The proposed draft limits the number of citizens wishing to speak to the board if they hold the same position. And reminds citizens that the board president may interrupt, warn, or terminate public comment if it interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting.