After the success of our first IRE / NICAR Seattle meetup in October, we’re holding another on Wednesday, Jan. 17, same time, same place: 6-9 pm at Redhook Brewlab on Capitol Hill, 714 E. Pike St. 

Our topic for this winter meetup is public records and the state of Washington’s Sunshine Laws. Joan Mell is our guest speaker and will address the latest challenges to transparency in the state, how the upcoming legislative session could affect those laws, what’s working and what’s not, etc. 

Joan has three decades of litigation and advocacy for transparency and is a board member of Washington Coalition for Open Government (WashCOG). 

Come with your own public records horror stories as well as tips and tricks to share.

You don’t need to be an IRE or NICAR member. Students are welcome, as those under 21 are allowed in the space we’ll be in (they just can’t stand at the bar). 

The event is free, just buy your own food/drinks (check out Kobo and its pizza offerings on the Brewlab site). Reservations are required here on the Kommunity site so we can track how many to expect. All attendees must abide by the IRE code of conduct, which is also linked here on the Kommunity site. When you RSVP in Kommunity, you can add your place of work, slack, social and email info so group members can contact each other. 

Our spring meetup will be Saturday, April 20, for a picnic and walk around Green Lake. 

Looking forward to seeing you Jan. 17.

--- Co-chairs Laura Greanias and Ashley Hiruko