Starting on Tuesday, Nov. 23, expect SeaTac City Council members to debate and decide on many staff information requests, Councilman Rick Forschler has warned his colleagues.

Forschler's statement came Nov. 9 after lawmakers passed a resolution requiring council approval for any information request from a city lawmaker that takes over two hours of staff time.

The next council meeting is set for Nov. 23.

"I don't have many (information requests) over eight hours but I have lots over two hours," Forschler declared.

Previous council procedures set eight hours as the cutoff point before council approval was needed.
Councilman Ralph Shape proposed the time be cut to one hour.

"Eight hours strikes me as onerous," Shape said.

He said staff members have recently received an increased amount of requests from council members that are costing the city a lot of staff time and money.

"This is getting out of hand," Shape declared. "We've got to get some cost controls."

Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher countered council members need information before casting votes that could cost millions of dollars. Full-time lawmakers have full-time staff to provide information but part-time lawmakers, such as SeaTac council members, do not, Fisher added.

Councilwoman Pam Fernald, who joined the council in January, said she has averaged two information requests per month but only one took staff more than an hour and a half to process.

Councilman Tony Anderson said shorter information requests could be done over the phone but eight-hour requests are very expensive when counting in staff hourly wages and benefits.

Councilman Rick Forschler said some time restrictions may be okay but one-hour is too restrictive and could lead to information being withheld from "disfavored council members."

That prompted an interruption from Anderson who demanded whether Forschler thought information was currently being withheld from some lawmakers.

Forschler replied that he wasn't saying information was not being provided but it could be possible if the new rules were approved.

Fisher said when he first came on the council, the "well-connected" could get information but he had to submit requests.

"It is a great tool," Fisher added.

Councilwoman Mia Gregerson offered the amendment that was approved upping the cutoff point to two hours.