Guest Opinion: A Rationale for Charter Review Proposals

 By Richard Ward

Description of Charter Amendments to be on the ballot in November:

1. The first amendment will reduce the County Council from six members to three members, each from one of three districts but elected county-wide. Each voter will vote for all three Council positions.

2. The second amendment will replace the County Administrator with a County Manager accountable to the elected County Council.

3. The third amendment will require that all meetings among members of the County Council be public.

Rationale

For amendment 1: The present charter requires that County Council members be elected only by districts. Council members are therefore accountable to only one-sixth of the electorate. This has fostered disunity in a county already fragmented by geography. Making Council candidates campaign county-wide, as they did before 2006, will give each voter more power, unify the county, and make council members attend to the needs of the county as a whole.

For amendment 2: The present charter gives all executive authority to an unelected administrator. This has resulted in virtual autonomy for the county administration and created conflict with the Council. Amendment 2 replaces the administrator with a manager accountable to the elected Council.

For amendment 3: Because the Council has six members, under state law committees of three can meet in private, as they are not a majority. But they have the power to design legislation without public scrutiny and to block legislation they do not like when the Council meets. Recently the Council was persuaded to make committees of three meet publicly. However, committees of two can still meet privately, and the Council could in the future reverse their policy. Amendment 3 would prevent both from happening.

For more information, see the official findings of the Charter Review Commission and read the Commission’s minutes. Both can be found at sanjuanco.com under “Charter Review Commission.”

Richard Ward lives on Lopez Island. He is an elected member of the Charter Review Commission.