The graphic guiding the Charter Review process is complete. The decisions are outlined in the Ballot Proposition Titles voted upon on June 2.
By Margie Doyle
At the Saturday, June 2 meeting, 19 members of the County Reveiw Commission met to review the titles of the three propositions they recommend be placed on the November ballot.
They voted, 18 in favor and one in opposition, to send the following ballot titles to the County Prosecutor’s office to finalize for the November ballot. Voters will then decide if they approve of the commission’s recommendations, made after five full months of weekly meetings, subcommittees, government research and painstaking word-smithing.
The group, made up of elected representatives from Lopez, Orcas, San Juan and Waldron Islands, approved the following amendments to the County Charter:
Proposition 1
Shall the County Charter be amended to reduce the County Council from six members nominated and elected by district, to three members, each residing in a separte district but nominated and elected county-wide?
Proposition 2
Shall the County Charter be amended to place with the County Council those administrative and executive powers not granted to other elected officials, and to remove references to the County Administrator as the chief administrative officer, and to require that the County Council appoint a County Manager to assist the Council in carrying out its duties?
Proposition 3
Shall the County Charter be amended to state that all meetings of the County Council and all committees thereof be open to the public except when a private (executive) session or closed session is allowed by law?
Commission member Janice Peterson of San Juan Island cast the sole dissenting vote.There were no abstentions.
On June 2, the CRC also voted down a motion by Peterson to finance Charter Review Commission education activity on behalf of, or in opposition to the charter amendments by private — not public — funding.
Members of the group spoke of the fine line between advocacy and education. Bill Watson said “We’re advising a ‘yes’ vote on the proposals we’ve agreed to, and in duty bound to explain the logic, reasons and clarity about our decisions.”
A letter drafted by Commissioners Steve Garrison and Bill Appel to the County Council about the Commission’s work was reviewed, and the body decided by a majority of 13 to decline to send the letter as representative of the CRC.
Commissioners Richard Ward, Moana Kutsche, Barbara Lewis, Larry Hendel, Ralph Guttschmidt and Chair Gordy Peterson will form a sub-committee to suggest ballot language for the Voters Pamphlet. They will craft three statements, one for each proposition.
Before the final vote amending the three propositions, the charter review group discussed the finer points of the propositions, such as whether to specify full-time or part-time in the description of the three council members in Proposition 1. County Prosecutor Randy Gaylord said that the rate of pay was a matter to be decided by the Salary Commission.
Proposition 3, guaranteeing open public meetings of council sub-committees, is meant to apply to “working groups” “task forces” and other ad hoc subcommittees, Gaylord said.
Thank you for covering the CRC, Margie. You’ve spent a lot of time attending our meetings. Anyone with questions about the CRC and the proposed changes to the Charters should feel free to contact any of the Charter Review Commissioners. Two small corrections to your article: in the third paragraph from the end, it’s Barbara Thomas, not Barbara Lewis; and Gordy spells his last name Petersen, not Peterson.
Many thanks for the proposed model for our county government. It has proposed a return to a more viable and affordable pattern for the governing of our small county. The past few years have not been reflective of why most of us have chosen to live in San Juan County.