Spokane board settles open meetings case with Center for Justice.
The Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency announced today that its board of directors has 
approved a settlement with the Center for Justice regarding alleged Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) violations in 2006. At the time, the agency–then known as the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority (SCAPCA)–was in the process of selecting and hiring a new director. Under terms of the settlement, the agency has agreed to pay the Center $2,500 and $22,500 to the Allied Law Group (based in Olympia and Seattle) which represented the Center in the action. Under terms of the settlement SRCAA also agrees to include board training on compliance with the state’s open meetings act.
The Center filed its complaint against the agency in March of 2008, alleging that SCAPCA had committed multiple OPMA violations in the process of replacing its outspoken and nationally-acclaimed former director Eric Skelton. Skelton quit in 2005, complaining that he’d “simply had it” with the agency’s board that, in his view, had become hostile to air pollution regulation. Skelton was replaced by William Dameworth, the agency’s current director.
