Ive lived in the sleepy little town of Medical Lake, WA for almost 18 years, about 15 minutes from downtown Spokane, WA. Its usually pretty quiet and we actually LOST (rather than gained) a McDonalds Express several years back. We have one gas station, one grocery store, and a little over 4,000 people as I understand it. If I want most anything, the Spokane metropolis has something like 400 - 500 thousand people and is just a hoot & holler away. My interactions with city government have usually been pleasant. However, Ive found that when I ask specific and direct questions, I either get the run-around, inaccurate information, or belligerence. This morning (April 2nd) I called and asked if it was possible to get a copy of the municipal code. I was told that Its huge. I asked how big? I was informed it is approximately the size of 3 Spokane phone directories, (which would make a tome of at least 6 inches in thickness, according to my ruler.) But, (fortunately,) I can peruse it during business hours, and have copies at the cost of 15¢ per page. Oh, rapture. I have no clue what I want, other than to know what rules & ordinances apply to me & my neighbors. Im sure some of them are nothing more than hack-job cut & paste pieces from the Spokane County or RCW laws... but I dont know that. Medical Lake touts on its home page ( medical-lake.org/citgov/ ) that Medical Lake’s City Council is committed to an open and responsive government. Of course, if I want printed or photocopied pages of the code, I think a reasonable charge is fair. But if I simply want to peruse it at leisure on my home computer after Ive downloaded it... I dont think thats irrational. Whether its in MS Word or Adobe .pdf format... I should be able to easily get a copy. This should not be secret squirrel shit. Guess who is going to go to city council meetings as soon as is practical? Stay tuned.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:20:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015