Chapter §22.4 Procedural Requirements for Meetings

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§22.4 PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MEETINGS

Procedural requirement for conducting meetings under the OPMA are discussed below.

(1) Regular meetings

The Act requires agencies to identify the time and place they will hold their regular meetings, which are "recurring meetings held in accordance with a periodic schedule declared by statute or rule." RCW 42.30.075. State agencies must publish their schedules in the Washington State Register, while local agencies, such as cities and counties, must adopt the schedule "by ordinance, resolution, bylaws, or by whatever other rule is required for the conduct of business by that body" RCW 42.30.070. Regular meetings that fall on a holiday are to be held on the next business day. See id.

Public agencies are required to make the agendas of regular meetings of their governing bodies available online at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Laws of 2014, ch. 61, §2 (codified in RCW 42.30.077). This requirement does not apply if an agency does not have a website or if it employs fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees. However, this requirement does not mean that an agency cannot modify the agenda after it is posted online. A failure to comply with this requirement with respect to a meeting will not invalidate an otherwise legal action taken at the meeting.

(2) Special meetings

The Act imposes certain notice requirements for a special meeting, which is a meeting other than a scheduled regular meeting and which may be called by a majority of the members of a governing body or by its presiding officer. See RCW 42.30.080. The Act requires that written notice—24 hours in advance of a special meeting—be given in person or by mail, fax, or e-mail to each member of the governing body. Id. In addition, the same notice must be given by any of those means to those newspapers of general circulation and local radio and television stations that have on file with the agency a written request for notice of special meetings. Id. A member of the governing body may waive the required notice by filing with the clerk or secretary of the governing body a written waiver or by simply appearing at the special meeting. Id.; In re Recall of Estey, 104 Wn.2d 597, 604, 707 P.2d 1338 (1985). The failure to provide notice to a member of the governing body can be asserted only by the person who should have received the notice, not by any person affected by action taken at the meeting. See Kirk v. Pierce Cnty. Fire Prot....