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1 / We have some thoughts about @spokanehealth's controversial and secretive effort to dismiss its health officer, Dr. Bob Lutz.
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2 / WA state's Open Public Meetings Act allows a governing board -- that includes the @spokanehealth board -- to meet behind closed doors to consider complaints or charges against public employees. Any actual vote to take action must be done in public.
3 / But what if the governing body doesn't have to make the firing decision, leaving the action, instead, to a CEO acting independently of the board? In that case, the board could give feedback to the CEO on her intended action without taking any vote at all.
4 / Naturally, there are caveats. A lot depends on whether only the board can fire the health officer or whether the CEO can do so independently of the board.
5 / Now, for a related subject, WA state's Public Records Act. We know people are filing public records requests in an effort to bring some clarity to a muddled situation, with @spokanehealth being among the chief muddlers.
6 / If some of those records address the agency's reasons for dismissing Lutz, or any complaints against him, or whether the agency fired him, we cannot think of a public records exemption that would block the release of that information. *However* ...
7 / ... an agency might be able to withhold it under a specific exemption, such as attorney client privilege or work product privilege.
8 / As for public officials refusing to answer questions posed by citizens and the press, no law requires them to do so. It is, however, a matter of public trust, and public trust matters a lot under our form of government. It's tough sledding for agencies that don't have it.
9 / The end. Whew! Haven't done one of those in a while.
