SOAP LAKE - The Soap Lake City Council adopted a policy allowing council members or the city attorney to take part by phone during meetings when necessary.

"I know you have council members who are sometimes out of the area and they may want to participate on a particular agenda item. This will allow them to do that telephonically," said city attorney Katherine Kenison; adding the new rules also let the attorney call in when necessary for purposes of an executive session.

"This has already been vetted by the powers that be at the state level and they don't find there are any prohibitions for any council that wishes to pursue this kind of option," Kenison assured council members last week.

Councilwoman Kandis Lair was one of several members who wanted to make sure the policy isn't abused.

"If it's an emergency situation I understand that but I don't think it should be something that's just on the books and three or four people call in and say we're going to do this by conference," she said.

Kenison pointed out her draft policy limited the number of times a council member can use the process to two per year, and dictated only two council members can phone in to any given meeting.

City Clerk Karen Dillon noted the city's phone system does not have a conference option, and said adding the feature could cost as much as $65 a month.

"I think this should be limited to one (council member) at a time," said Councilwoman Joanne Rushton. "We should make this a rare exception and not the rule."

Aside from John Cline, who was absent, council members unanimously approved a motion to limit call-ins to one council member at a time a maximum of two times per year.