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New convention board needs real authority

Published Jan. 5, 2003

Fear of losing state money appears to be the catalyst for creating a regional board to help oversee Kennewick's new convention center.

Satisfying the state shouldn't be the only mission for such a board, which could add a genuinely regional approach to the project - so long as it is not set up as a straw panel without real power.

So far, members of Kennewick's Public FacilitiesDistrict board have made virtually all the decisions for lining up a contractor and a design for the $16.6 million convention center. Now, Pasco and Benton County want to channel some of their recaptured sales tax money into the project. They'll also have to become Kennewick's partners or risk losing state approval.

Lee Kerr, the attorney representing the Kennewick board, seems to be sending the right message.

"This project is truly regional," Kerr told the Kennewick board at a recent meeting. "We want (Pasco and Benton County) to adopt our project as their project."

We hope that's exactly what will happen.

Too much is at stake. Benton County's contribution hasn't been determined, but Pasco wants to contribute $150,000 a year.

And at a meeting last month, Kennewick board members appeared to endorse plans for a panel that would include representatives of Pasco and Benton County. That's a positive move, particularly since the Kennewick PFD board could try to retain as much control as possible. After all, it's been Kennewick's baby.

Too bad the board invited skepticism about its willingness to relinquish control since its members decided to keep secret a draft plan for the regional panel.

The move was silly at best, and questionable under the state's Open Records Act, which requires public agencies such as the Kennewick PFD to make most of their documents available. The law allows for an agency to withhold preliminary notes and memos used to help make policy decisions.

But since the decision on a regional panel will include input from Pasco and Benton County, it's hard to view the draft plan as internal.

Whether some loophole allows the board to keep its plans secret for a while is beside the point. The real issue is that withholding the document provides no advantage, while further undermining public confidence in the Kennewick board's good works.

So far, the board members have taken several tries at limiting public participation. That was abundantly apparent in efforts to close the public out of any meaningful role in the selection of a design and contractor for the center.

What openness there's been has come only at the threat of lawsuit and has been greeted by much grumbling.

Done right, the move to a regional board will help spread the benefits of Kennewick's convention center to the entire Mid-Columbia.

It's also an opportunity to create a plan that makes the taxpayers real partners in a project built with their money.