Medical Lake commission needs operating rules

Medical Lake planning commissioners left their regular monthly meeting Sept. 24 with some homework to do before they next get together on Oct. 28.

The commission is being required by the city’s insurer to come up with and adopt a set of operating rules and procedures to be used to guide the conduct of its meetings. The Washington Cities Insurance Authority determined after a recent audit of the city that the procedures are needed, not from a financial standpoint but rather from reducing a potential liability for the city.

“We have to have this and this, otherwise we lose our pact with the pool,” City Administrator Doug Ross said.

Founded in 1981, WCIA is a non-profit organization of over 150 municipalities that have joined together to provide self-insurance. Ross said member cities receive better insurance rates through the WCIA’s combined risk pool than they would if they tried to do their own individual insurance, and that it’s likely that past claims have led the organization to require advisory bodies such as the planning commission to have standardized rules and procedures.

Ross provided commissioners each with a copy of recommended rules of procedure provided by the WCIA. These govern everything from types of meetings to orders of business and agenda to public hearing procedures and duties and privileges of citizens.

Ross added that the WCIA does not expect the commission to adopt their proposed rules verbatim. The commission does need some established procedures for how it conducts business, but procedures that are perhaps not as restrictive as what the WCIA outlines.

“They’re (WCIA) really great about letting us tailor things to our needs,” Ross said.

Ross asked the commissioners to review the WCIA’s submittals, and that he will provide a rough draft to commissioners soon that is more suited to Medical Lake’s specific needs. The City Council currently has procedural rules, and Ross said he would like to see the commission consider and perhaps adopt similar rules in order to maintain continuity should commissioners get elected to a council seat in the future.

The task for the commission is to review and discuss rules and then send a recommendation for adoption to the council, whose responsibility it is to put those into place.

The Sept. 24 meeting was also the final meeting for Commissioner Margaret James. James is stepping done because she is moving to Sparks, Nev. due to health reasons.

She has served on the commission since 2011, and has helped run the community food bank for the past eight years.

She told the council that her leaving is “bittersweet,” as she is looking forward to a new location but loves Medical Lake; a town she said has been good to her.

“I’ll miss this place, I really will,” an emotional James said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].