Note: Some of the information on this archival Web page may no longer be current.
Focus - January 1998
INQUIRY OF THE WEEK
Under certain limited circumstances MRSC can request an Attorney General Opinion on behalf of city officials. This week's "Inquiry of the Week":
[Previous inquiries of the week]
CONGRATULATIONS . . . YOU WON!
The campaigning and the elections are all over and ... you won. Congratulations! Now you're ready to get down to work. Ron Bartels, MRSC Public Policy and Management Consultant, shares a few tips and insights for newly elected mayors, councilmembers and commissioners.
REFERENDUM 47 LEVY INCREASE
We have had calls from cities, counties, and financial advisors, wanting to know the percentage increase in the regular property tax levy that cities and counties took under Referendum 47, not counting new construction or any change in the state-assessed utility value. If your city or county used the model resolution (ordinance) you got from the assessor to implement Section 209 of Referendum 47, the percentage amount you put in that resolution is what we want. If you do not know this amount, please pass the word along to someone in your city or county who does. Note, we do not want information on any change in your tax rate. You can e-mail this information to kdevlin@mrsc.org. If it is not obvious from your e-mail address, please include your name.
As we receive this information, we will put it in Referendum 47 - Cities or Referendum 47 - Counties.
AMENDMENTS TO SEPA REGULATIONS
In November, the Department of Ecology extensively amended its SEPA regulations contained in chapter 197-11 WAC. The amendments integrate Growth Management Act requirements with those of SEPA and alter certain SEPA procedures to conform to 1995 regulatory reform legislation (chapter 347, Laws of 1995). As a result of these amendments, local governments are required to amend their local SEPA procedures to be consistent with the amended regulations within 180 days of the effective date of the amendments. The amendments were effective on November 10, 1997. The Department of Ecology's home page contains the revised SEPA rules and provides "Interim Guidance" regarding the regulatory changes, as well as an updated, draft model SEPA ordinance.
WEB SIGHTINGS
If you are looking for information on strategic planning, performance measurement, and re-inventing government you might want to visit these Web sites:
- Links
to World Wide Web Sites for Strategic and Business Planning - compiled
by City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. This site has an extensive set
of links to local government strategic planning documents.
-
The Alliance for Redesigning Government - a program of the National Academy
of Public Administration. This site includes information on reinventing democracy,
outcomes and performance measurement, quality management, and community-based
strategies.
- Performance
Measurement Resources - a compilation of references and links by the National
Center for Public Productivity, Rutgers University.
- Innovations in American Government - John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. The Innovations Program identifies and celebrates outstanding examples of creative problem-solving in the public sector.
DID YOU KNOW?
In November voters in the city of Raymond (pop. 2,960), Pacific County, voted to change the city's form of government from the commission form to the mayor-council form. When Raymond officially makes the change there will be only two other cities in Washington operating under the commission form of government - Shelton (pop. 7,705), in Mason County and Wenatchee (pop. 24,690), in Chelan County. For the record, of the other 274 cities and towns in Washington, 48 operate under the council-manager form of government while 226 operate under the mayor-council form. Now you know!
GET MRSC WEB SITE UPDATES BY E-MAIL
You can get a monthly e-mail notifying you of selected updates to MRSC's Web site by subscribing to the mrscweb mailing list (listserv). Simply type: subscribe mrscweb your name in the body of the message, and press "send" (leave the subject line blank). You may have your name removed from the list at any time by following the directions in the welcome message you will receive after subscribing.
Unlike most listservs, mrscweb is not a discussion list to which all subscribers may post messages, but a free subscription to a monthly notice updating you on major changes and additions to the MRSC Web site. If you have questions about this listserv, please contact Terri Sanders, MRSC Information Services Technician, at kdevlin@mrsc.org.
FEEDBACK
Take a look at what people are saying about our Web site and at the number of visitors we have had. Thanks to all of you who have been kind enough to sign our guestbook! We appreciate the feedback and rely on your opinions to guide us in making improvements to this site. If you haven't had a chance to sign our guestbook yet, please take a minute to say hello and tell us what you think of our Web site.