Protest against closed meeting earns accolades for Monroe woman

Published 11:18 pm Sunday, October 26, 2008

MONROE — Debra Kolrud knows she ruffles feathers sometimes with her constant queries and willingness to question authority.

The Monroe School Board member just didn’t realize anyone from outside school district boundaries would ever notice, much less appreciate it.

Kolrud was recognized recently by a statewide open government group for protesting a district proposal last July that she said would circumvent open public meetings laws. The suggestion from Superintendent Ken Hoover was to have private discussions with no more than two board members at a time meeting with an attorney to discuss the history of how impact fees are imposed on developers.

By meeting in small groups, the five school board members would be briefed on the history of the controversial issue, but there would not have been a quorum requiring a meeting open to the public.

After Kolrud objected, the discussion was held in an open meeting.

Kolrud, a longtime school district watchdog who was elected in 2007, will be honored by the Washington Coalition for Open Government for her efforts to make the school board more transparent.

Hoover said he understands why the open government coalition would have concerns and why it decided to recognize her.

“I think it’s an appropriate thing for them to do,” he said.

“We have learned something important from all of this,” he added.

“It totally surprised me,” Kolrud said of the award. “I didn’t even know I was being considered.”

The nonpartisan board periodically gives out “key awards” for single good acts that defend or promote open government, said Toby Nixon, president of the coalition.

“The school board was having what we call serial meetings in order to try to avoid the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act,” Nixon said. “She spoke up and objected to this practice and stopped it from happening.”

“Once somebody raised a concern, we said, ‘You know what? You are right,’” Hoover said.

School district spokeswoman Rosemary O’Neil said the July meeting proposal was initiated in an attempt to ensure all board members received the same information “about Monroe’s tumultuous history with this topic of mitigation fees.” That history included earlier litigation that could have had more than $1 million impact on the district, she said.

“Varying summer schedules with a variety of people also played a role in the proposal,” O’Neil said.

Kolrud said she won’t hesitate to raise any concerns in the future if she believes the district is wrongfully restricting public access.

“I’m just a big open government advocate and I believe we are elected to represent the people and they can hold us accountable when they have all the information we do,” she said.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.