Charter Reviewers Consider Returning Administrative Powers to County Legislators

From the San Juan County Charter Review Commission

The next meeting of the San Juan County Charter Review Commission (CRC) is on Saturday March 17^th at the San Juan Grange from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (with a break for lunch).  Public input is welcomed and there is time set aside to hear your comments at 8 a.m., again at 12 p.m. (after lunch).

The CRC is charged with reviewing the Charter “to determine its adequacy and suitability to the needs of the County.”  Changes that they propose will be put on the ballot for the public to vote on in November.

At their March 10^th meeting on Lopez, the CRC heard presentations from County Council member Jamie Stephens, former County Council member and County Commissioner Bob Myhr and from former County Commissioner Rhea Miller.

Mr. Myhr spoke about an inconsistency between the stated purpose of asserting greater citizen control in the charter’s preamble and the actual effect of the charter.  He identified areas of the charter that he felt had merit but needed some adjustment.  These included having a professional administrator, the hearing examiner, the charter’s budgetary process, the Citizens’ Salary Commission, the Charter Review process, and initiative and referendum.

He encouraged the CRC to examine these aspects to see if they can be improved.  For example, he could see some situations in which government could be brought back to the people by having the council hear appeals of some hearing examiner decisions. Mr. Myhr expressed his support for a three-member commission and strong support for countywide elections.  He spoke about the separation of powers set forth in the charter.  In his opinion,  such a separation has never actually been possible under the charter.  He noted that the charter could maintain a separate executive branch if it was made up of the independently elected Assessor, Auditor and Treasurer, and he encouraged the CRC to consider returning the administrative function of the county to the elected council members.

Mr. Myhr spoke in favor of returning to partisan elections, particularly in light of our top-two primary system.  According to Mr. Myhr one of the advantages of being a home rule county is that our council is not required to hold all of its meetings in the county seat and he encouraged the CRC to consider requiring the council to move its meetings around the county.

Ms. Miller spoke from her experience as a County Commissioner elected in countywide elections.  She expressed concern about how the charter has allowed districts to be marginalized, using examples from Lopez including the licensing of the local radio station and the issues of solid waste.  Ms. Miller spoke about how full-time commissioners elected countywide have more clout in Olympia and on state and regional boards.

She encouraged the CRC to take that kind of power back for San Juan County by returning to full-time commissioners that could be held accountable by the people to represent them in Olympia.  Ms. Miller expressed her support for partisan elections, stating that the party preferences provide a powerful vetting tool in countywide elections.  She reminded that CRC that there is nothing more powerful than a community discovering what it cares about.

Mr. Stephens spoke about disconnect between what the charter says the council is responsible for and what the community and their constituents expect them to be capable of.  He noted that while the charter restricts the council to policy matters, their constituents expect each Council member to be responsible for everything that the county does.  He feels that the current role of the Council is both policy and coordination.

Mr. Stephens expressed strong support for countywide elections.  He also expressed support for full-time council positions, saying that part-time positions can be elitist and restrict the positions to those that can afford to be paid part-time for full-time work.  Mr. Stephens noted the importance of a county administrator as part of the institutional memory of the county that allows for smoother transitions after elections.  He talked about the role of subcommittees in allowing the council to work directly with county staff and an expectation that a similar type of collaboration could be created under a council liaison system if the strict separation of powers were relaxed or removed.

During their working session the CRC agreed by majority vote to recommend that the voters remove the separation of power language from the charter and return administrative authority to the County Commission. They agreed in the discussion that this would not remove the role of an administrator, but that it would allow the elected County Council more flexibility in future decisions about the role of an administrator.  The CRC then discussed, but did not adopt, language that would define how the Council members or Commissioners could direct the county staff.

The working model of the CRC includes a three-member full-time commission with legislative and administrative authority, countywide non-partisan elections and maintains the powers of initiative, referendum and mini-initiative.  At upcoming meetings they will address the potential consolidation of departments, whether any currently elected positions should be made appointed, the Citizens Salary Commission, the role of the county administrator and the separation of power between the Administrator and the Council.  Findings supporting the working-model are available at the CRC website (www.sanjuanco.com/committees/charterreview).

The schedule of meetings through March can be found at the CRC website. The March 17^th meeting will be at the San Juan Grange from 8am to 2pm.  You can also find documents relevant to the Charter review process on the CRC website.  The CRC encourages members of the public to attend their 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).