Charter Review Commission to Refine Recommendations for Ballot

From the Charter Review Commission Outreach Committee

The next meeting of the San Juan County Charter Review Commission (CRC) is on Saturday April 28th at the San Juan Grange from 8:30am to 2pm (with a break for lunch).  Public input is welcomed and there is time set aside for comments at 9am and again at 12pm (after lunch). The CRC is charged with reviewing the Charter “to determine its adequacy and suitability to the needs of the County.” Proposed changes will be put on the ballot for the public to vote on in November.

This meeting will be a working session in which the CRC will be discussing the findings supporting their recommended Charter amendments, approving the language of the amendments and discussing how the amendments will appear on the ballot.

At the April 14^th meeting on Orcas the CRC heard a presentation from Kevin Ranker, former County Council member, former County Commissioner and current Washington State Senator.  Mr. Ranker expressed his support for Home Rule in San Juan County, noting that the increased flexibility is important.  He also encouraged the CRC to propose structural changes for the long-term, noting that some of the original Charter elements were in response to the conditions and personalities at the time.  He expressed strong support for a return to full-time Council members elected countywide.  In response to a question from a CRC member, Mr. Ranker agreed that the role of the Council representing the County in Olympia is critical.  Mr. Ranker also expressed support for a three-member council, a professional manager with some separation of powers, the initiative and referendum process, and for a return to partisan elections.

It its working session the CRC began the process of finalizing proposed Charter amendments.  Language was approved by majority vote to make the section on Financial Administration consistent with changes to the role of the County Manager as well as changes to clarify the intent of the preamble and the continuation of statutory duties by other elected officials.  The CRC also approved, by majority vote, motions concerning future CRC elections and amendments.  These motions put forward a proposal that the next CRC election take placed in 2020 at least every 10 years after that in even years (so the amendments can be voted on in years without Council member elections), that any CRC member absent from 4 consecutive CRC meetings would be considered to have vacated or resigned the position; that candidates need to have been registered voters in the County for 5-years prior to running (rather than residents), and clarifying language on how Charter amendments are presented on the ballot.

The CRC also considered, but did not adopt, motions to prohibit fees for appeals of enforcement actions before the Hearing Examiner; to authorize the County Council to assign budget preparation to the County Manager; and to prohibit any CRC member from running for County Council for the next 2 terms.

The working model of the CRC includes a three-member full-time commission with legislative and administrative authority, a professional County Manager directly responsible to the elected commission, countywide non-partisan elections and maintains the powers of initiative, referendum and mini-initiative. Findings supporting the working-model are available at the CRC website:  www.sanjuanco.com/committees/charterreview.

The website also contains documents considered in the review and the schedule of meetings.  Members of the public are encouraged to attend the meetings and to contact any member of the Commission to voice their opinions (e-mails sent to crc@sanjuanco.com will be received by all of the CRC members).