Councilmember Eric Johnson and I attended the Association of Washington Cities Elected Officials Essentials training this weekend in Lynnwood. The AWC folks managed to pack a lot of information into a bit less than two days, and I met some other interesting electeds, learned about other cities’ practices, and brought home a lot of good reading material. If you’re interested in reviewing some of it, here are a few links:

• Steve DiJulio’s Knowing the Legal Territory Presentation

• MRSC’s Newly Elected City Officials Information

• WA Department of Commerce’s Short Course on Local Planning

The event reminded me of the importance of continuing education in any field. Planning Commission Chair Laurie Gere’s comments at the last Planning Commission meeting were similarly on point: instead of a hearing examiner, let’s spend some time educating and training our Planning Commission. Although recently-retired Commissioner Clay Leming had a long background in land use, I don’t think any of our current commissioners do. The field of land use law is complicated, and we ought to give these dedicated volunteers all the training they need.