Taxpayers and residents are getting better ways to track what Snohomish County government is doing.
For those who want it, the County Council is moving toward offering online access to proposed ordinances, voting records and meeting minutes.
There are no plans for Snohomish County to go all C-SPAN with cable TV cameras. However a small step in that direction might bring audio recordings of council meetings online later this year.
The services are among a handful of voter-approved changes meant to remake Snohomish County government.
In all, voters agreed in 2006 to five changes to the county charter, which controls how county government operates.
Making the council activities more transparent was the most popular change with voters, winning 89.5 percent support and 170,000 votes.
After the election, people were given more chances to voice concerns to the County Council at public meetings, County Council chairman Dave Gossett said.
This summer, the County Council also is planning to hire a spokesperson to update the council’s Web site and send out press releases. Eighty people applied for the job, which pays between $66,000 and $113,000.
“The council needs to do a better job of communicating with the public and making sure data is timely and up to date,” Gossett said.
The public information officer will make it easier to get to information that has always been available, council chief of staff Marcia Isenberg said.
The council also is in the process of creating a new independent salary review commission, another change approved by voters.
The panel will meet next year and have say over raises for more than $1 million in salaries of the county government’s top elected officials.
Voters also agreed to move county performance auditor Kymber Waltmunson under the County Council’s authority instead of the county auditor.
“We still want a performance audit agency that’s quite independent, and will continue to have a committee that advises them,” Gossett said.
Voters also said the county could adopt two-year budgets. The County Council adopted rules saying the soonest that would happen is 2009.
Otherwise, adopting a two-year budget starting in 2008 wouldn’t match with election schedules for the county executive and county council, Gossett said.
The fifth change to the charter was a technical amendment to better align local and state election rules.
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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