On September 6 Lincoln County adopted a historic resolution requiring collective bargaining talks with its public employees to be conducted transparently. Who will be next to adopt this important open government reform? Perhaps it will be the City of Kennewick. Kennewick Councilman John Trumbo told me he is:

"proposing a resolution to have collective bargaining negotiations with city employees done in a public setting instead of behind closed doors. This would be similar to what the Lincoln County commissioners did this week with their resolution requiring open sessions for labor negotiations."

As reported by 610 KONA AM radio: 

"Just one city staff member is involved in negotiating union contracts for the city’s employees. Those negotiations are all done behind closed doors, with city council given authority to approve the plan as part of the city budget.

Councilman John Trumbo says about 70-percent of the city’s budget is related to employee salaries and benefits, and would like to see Kennewick, Pasco, and Benton County embrace a resolution similar to one adopted by Lincoln County officials this week. The resolution requires union pay negotiations be done in public forums, so that the process is transparent for taxpayers.

'The person doing the negotiating is not an elected official, it’s a city employee,' Trumbo says. 'That employee benefits by the pay going up, because they’re in a managerial position. As the pay for other workers increases, their pay will increase, because they can’t make less money than the people they manage.'

Trumbo says the city’s 350 employees make an average annual salary of more than $70,000– well above the average for Kennewick residents. He says he would like to see city officials support having labor negotiations done in the open so the public can be aware of what’s going on."

If Councilman Trumbo is successful with his transparency proposal, not only will the Tri-Cities be known for 300 days of sunshine, but also for shining the light for taxpayers on these important budget compensation talks. 

Additional Information
Lincoln County adopts collective bargaining transparency
State employee unions rally for [redacted] pay raises
SB 5329 to require that public employee collective bargaining sessions be open meetings