Seattle, Washington
From Sunshine Review
Seattle is the most populous city in Washington. It is the county seat of King County. Its population was estimated to be 594,210 by the U.S. Census in 2007, making it the twenty-fourth largest city by population in the United States.
[edit] Open records compliance
In 2008, a report by Washington state Auditor Brian Sonntag was critical of Seattle's government for the way it handled public records requests under the Washington Public Records Act. Sonntag said the city's compliance with requests was "inefficient" and fell short "of the legal requirements of the state's Public Records Act. In only two of 10 cases did the city meet the state's compliance standards." Each department in the city has its own rules for complying with requests, and people who submit requests are required to submit them to specific departments, since there is no central processing office.[1]
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer conducted a survey in 2007 of 270 law-enforcement agencies in the state of Washington; this survey found that the only agencies in the state that were less responsive to public records requests that the Seattle Police Department were "police agencies operated by sovereign Indian tribes not subject to the state's open records law."[1]
The Seattle City Council has an Open Government Committee. The Seattle City Council voted unanimously on April 27, 2009 to implement legislation that will increase transparency. The legislation is planned to take effect by November 1, 2009. [2]
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Historylink.org provides a collection of articles on the history of Seattle and Washington. See especially their history of Seattle and King County.
- Seattle City Council is committed to open government, April 10, 2009
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Seattle Times, "Guest column: Seattle falls short of state open-government standards", March 27, 2009
- ↑ Council approves ordinance to increase 'transparency', Ballard News-Tribune, April 27, 2009
