Meeting Access
Attendance options
You can attend all meetings in person or remotely:
In person
- Meetings are held at Station 210, 1304 Dale Ave, Benton City, WA.
Remote via Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft team meeting ID and link are available upon request. Emial the District Secretary requesting virtual/remote access to meeting.
- To participate in the public comment portion of the meeting, email District Secretary or call 509-588-3212. Providing comment 24 hours prior to the meeting allows us time to forward the comment to the board and appropriate staff. You may also participate by joining the Microsoft Team meeting and commenting during the designated comment period of the meeting.
Contact: District Secretay, DistrictAdmin@bcfpd2.org, (509) 588-3212.
Open Public Meetings
Effective June 1, 2022, meetings subject to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) are no longer required to be held remotely. The default is that meetings will again be held at a physical location.
Telephonic or video access to public meetings is no longer required once the proclamation expires, though it is encouraged by ESHB 1329. However, if the agency allows verbal public comment during a regular meeting, ESHB 1329 requires the agency — “when feasible” — to provide an option for verbal public comment to be submitted by telephonic or videoconferencing means during the meeting to:
...any individual who will have difficulty attending a meeting of the governing body of a public agency by reason of disability, limited mobility, or for any other reason that makes physical attendance at a meeting difficult...
The statute does not define what is or is not “feasible,” so agencies will need to review their meeting spaces and technology set-up in order to justify a decision to not allow remote commenting.
https://mrsc.org/stay-informed/mrsc-insight/may-2022/opma-pra-emergency-proclamation-expire-june-1