Commission elects new officers, announces executive director search and moves to executive session

The Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct elected a new slate of officers during its business session. Terry Ashby Scott, representing the nominating committee, presented a slate consisting of Judge Ruth Rookoff for chair, public member Ramon Alvarez for vice chair and lawyer member Emily Hancock for secretary. The commission moved and seconded the slate and approved it by voice vote; Reiko said the nominees had agreed to serve and that the officers' duties will take effect at the conclusion of the meeting.

Reiko, the commission's executive director, told the commission she plans to retire from her position at the end of the calendar year and that the executive director search committee had identified 16 qualified candidates. Chair Judge Christian Hedin described a rubric used to evaluate applicants and said commissioners would enter executive session to "evaluate the qualifications of applicants for public employment" under the Open Public Meetings Act exception, RCW 42.31.110(1)(g). Hedin and Reiko said no final action would be taken during the initial executive-session discussion.

The commission recessed the public business session to move participants into a breakout room for the executive-session discussions. The case manager confirmed no public comments had been submitted for the remote meeting. When participants briefly returned to the public session, Hedin said no decisions had been made in the breakout and that the commission anticipated reconvening later in the afternoon for additional executive-session discussion.

Motion to approve the slate was moved by Commissioner Bridal and seconded by Commissioner Renee; the vote was taken by voice and the slate was approved.