City attorney, state challenge Seattle council's closed budget-cut sessions

Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr said the private, closed-door budget briefings between some city council members and the mayor's staff may violate the state's open-meeting law.

Carr joined the Washington Attorney General's Office and the public-policy group Evergreen Freedom Foundation on Thursday in questioning the sessions, which are ongoing as the city prepares to close a $43 million gap in this year's budget.

"I have my concerns about the spirit of the law as well, and I wish that the council would contact me before doing things like this, but they don't always," Carr said.

A Seattle Times reporter was denied entrance to a budget briefing on Thursday afternoon. Tom Van Bronkhorst, a legislative aide to Councilmember Jean Godden, physically dragged the reporter away from it by the strap of her bag.

The state's Open Public Meetings Act requires that meetings of public governing bodies be open. The law applies to their votes — but also discussions and deliberations leading up to votes.

Councilmember Tim Burgess, who was headed into the meeting with city Finance Director Dwight Dively and other city staff members, said questioning the closed-door meetings was "a red herring."

"I'm in meetings every day that are private discussions," he said. "We brainstorm, we debate, we don't make any final decisions."

He added: "It's efficiency. It's the ability to talk freely and debate issues without being worried about how our comments will be interpreted."

The City Council has a series of public committee meetings coming up to discuss major midyear cuts to the 2009 budget and further cuts for 2010. In preparation, they scheduled meetings of four council members and the mayor's staff to discuss logistical details, according to Godden.

Godden has said the mayor requested the meetings, and the council agreed to include no more than four council members at a time to avoid having a quorum, or a majority of the nine-member board. A meeting of a quorum must be public under the open-meeting law.

"That may comply with the letter of the law, but it sure doesn't meet the spirit of the act," said Tim Ford, the open-government ombudsman at the state Attorney General's Office. "It sure looks like they're trying to avoid the letter of the law, and that's disturbing."

Godden's office said attendees of the meetings will then share the information with other council members, allowing all to weigh in before public hearings. They are careful not to make final decisions at the meetings, Godden said.

Councilmember Tom Rasmussen said the council on Thursday discussed budget cuts to about half of the city's departments. Council members asked questions for clarification but didn't agree to anything, he said. "It's just a briefing," he said. "It's hard to get to each individual council office. It's easier to do it three or four at a time."

Councilmember Nick Licata also attended Thursday's briefing. Licata said he was under the impression the city attorney's office had cleared the meetings. He said no deals were struck Thursday. The council members mostly asked questions.

Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said the council and mayor's staff have had similar meetings for years, including when they made midyear budget cuts in 2002.

Mayor Greg Nickels doesn't need the council's approval to cut the budget, but his practice has been to keep the council in the loop through private briefings, Ceis said.

"It's not unusual that we do this," he said. "In 2002, we similarly met with council members and talked to them about what we were doing, heard their individual opinions about it, and that helped inform the mayor's final action."

Michael Reitz, an attorney for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, said discussions leading up to a vote should be public under the open-meetings act. Council members could be personally liable if they break the law, he said.

"It's not just the vote that has to be public, it's all the debate and discussion around it," he said. "The public deserves to know everything that goes on in the discussion and the debates that are surrounding the budget items ... They're obviously trying to get consensus about some of the more controversial items before they go into a public forum."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com