On recovering, solutions and open government
Recovering
The sense I‘m getting about the local economy from contacts around the region is that many sectors are recovering. Almost unanimously, the pace of recovery is much slower than they would prefer, but as was stated by Bart Phillips, President and CEO of the Columbia River Economic Development Council (CREDC), at a welcoming reception for Peace Health this week, “This is what a recovery looks like.”
Phillips was referring to the timeline for PeaceHealth’s move to Vancouver, which began in 2009 when the CREDC first began working with them, and will culminate with the move of their corporate offices and “back office” service departments, tentatively set for the 2012-2013 timeframe.
A look at how the local economy is tied to the national and global economy will be the focus of the CREDC Quarterly Luncheon at which Alan Beaulieu, an international economist, returns to share his perspectives on how to prepare for tomorrow’s economic environment. Read more about Alan Beaulieu in today’s edition of the Vancouver Business Journal.
Being a part of the solution
Kudos to the Washington Federation of State Employees on the ratification of their new two-year agreement which calls for a three percent cut in pay and a participation in the cost of health benefits. A similar agreement was recently approved by the Teamsters Local 117, representing the prison workers, SEIU 1199 nurses, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 and a small group of professionals at the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Rather than a work stoppage or school closing reaction of government (see education workers in Wisconsin), these worker organizations approved the contracts – a couple by over 80 percent – with record numbers of members voting, recognizing they can be part of the solution rather than ignoring it and exacerbating the problem.
Open, accessible government
Three separate bills were introduced this session having to do with the publication of legal notices under the umbrella of saving counties money. Currently, Washington law requires both state and local governments to post notices in designated “legal newspapers” in their communities for such things as requests for bids, request for proposals and some meetings. (While the Vancouver Business Journal is a qualified legal newspaper, it is not currently designated by the city of Vancouver or Clark County as the publication for their jurisdiction.)
Fortunately, the representatives recognized that if the bills were passed, they would have provided a very small savings for the counties at a much larger cost to local governments relative to transparency.
State forefathers saw the need to keep the citizenry informed and that newspapers provided the broadest reach and were most easily accessible. That need is even more important today, in a time when the size of government and the specific programs funded by government are routinely questioned and scrutinized.
Certainly technology has changed the media landscape, though newspapers in most communities still provide the largest single audience (and certainly a larger audience than a county government’s website).
A basic tenant of our Republic is that the business of government is open. Publication of notices in local, legal newspapers is a small but still effective way to assure that is accomplished.
