The Chronicle Honored With Key Awards for Coverage of Commissioners

The Washington Coalition for Open Government honored The Chronicle with three Key Awards during a brief presentation on the steps of the Lewis County Courthouse on Tuesday. 

The awards were aimed at acknowledging The Chronicle’s reporting and commentary on the meeting practices of the Lewis County commissioners, who had previously claimed a 2009 resolution allowed them to consider Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. one continuous public meeting without additional notification of gatherings of a quorum.

After The Chronicle’s reporting, the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office eventually created a new policy bringing the commissioners in line with the state Open Public Meetings Act, which requires 24 hours of notice if a quorum — in the case of the commissioners, two of the three members — is planning to hold a meeting. 

Karen Peterson, a coalition board member and former editor of The News Tribune in Tacoma, presented the award. 

She noted the importance of journalism in notifying a community when elected leaders are acting outside the intent and purpose of laws meant to provide transparency in government. 

She presented the awards to reporter Natalie Johnson, columnist and web developer Brittany Voie and The Chronicle newsroom as a whole, adding that the new policy produced by the Prosecutor’s Office is now in some facets even stronger than the Open Public Meetings Act.

“That almost never happens,” she said. 

Johnson discovered the previously unknown 2009 county resolution while reporting on turmoil at the Lewis County 911 Communications Center, where she has documented under-staffing and the lack of confidence of dispatchers for management, among other issues.

The commissioners called a press conference earlier this year after Johnson learned of a plan to place the center under the management of Steve Mansfield, director of the county’s Emergency Services Department. Commissioners Edna Fund, Bobby Jackson and Gary Stamper all attended the press conference after providing 15 minutes of notice to the public via an email to the media. 

Fund initially said it was an emergency meeting, but the Open Public Meetings Act does not allow for such a meeting except in cases of disasters. The commissioners later cited the 2009 resolution, which the Washington Coalition for Open Government said appeared to violate state law. 

Voie filed additional records requests that showed the commissioners were holding additional unannounced meetings. She also reached out to the coalition, which filed its own records requests with the county. 

Chronicle Editor Eric Schwartz noted the changes in county policy have brought immediate benefits to the public, which can now see a schedule of commissioner meetings on the county’s website. 

“Natalie is a tenacious journalist who cares deeply about the public’s right to know what the government is doing and when,” he said. “She took a seemingly innocuous press conference and turned it into important reporting that led to a change in county policy that benefits not only this newspaper, but the public at large.” 

Johnson is the granddaughter of former KOMO journalist Bryan Johnson, who was among the group that helped write the state’s Open Public Meetings Act prior to its passage by the state Legislature in 1971. The law requires elected bodies to notify the public at least 24 hours before a quorum meets. 

Lewis County is currently facing a lawsuit for alleged violations of the Open Public Meetings Act. It was filed by Brian Greene and Brian Cortland after The Chronicle’s reporting on the matter. They allege the commissioners held secret meetings without notice on at least 13 occasions this year. 

In late May, the commissioners rejected a proposed $250,000 settlement for the lawsuit.