School Board Sought Legal Advice on Secret Vote

"Two days after the Tacoma School Board voted in closed session on Superintendent Charlie Milligan’s review in March, district officials sought outside legal advice, recently released documents show. Milligan and members of the board – who now are negotiating his departure – spent a total of 3.7 hours in conversation with Valerie Hughes of the Perkins Coie law firm in Seattle on March 20 and 21, an invoice shows. The bill for her services: $1,369."

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/97962.html

Yet another example of information coming to light via the Public Records Act.

A new law involves the disclosure of agency legal invoices like the Tacoma School District's. House Bill 1897 , which passed in the 2007 legislative session, clarifies that the law always required the disclosure of most portions of an agency's legal invoice. The new goes into effect on July 22, 2007.