||| FROM KEVIN RANKER |||
Dear County Council Members,
I am writing you in my former capacity as Chair of the San Juan County Charter Review Commission (2021), and on behalf of the majority of commissioners who voted last year to approve the four proposed amendments to the San Juan County Charter that were to be placed on the ballot in the November 2022 election.
As you are aware, the Charter Review Commission heard from thousands of islanders regarding these important Amendments. From Ranked Choice Voting to ensuring citizens have their own advocate within County government, the proposed ballot measures are critical, and our citizens want to vote on them. If you take no action, you could by default block our citizens their democratic right to vote on these important issues.
Could you please confirm that that the four proposed amendments which were presented to the County Council as finalized legal resolutions, with findings, on November 15, 2021 will be officially transmitted to the office of the San Juan County Auditor by 5 pm today in time for the deadline for these ballot propositions to appear in the voters pamphlet.
Listed below are the four proposed amendments and I have provided the link to the full language of the proposed amendments that is on the San Juan County website.
- Establishing a New Position of Public Advocate for the Purpose of Helping Citizens Navigate the San Juan County Systems
- Amending language in the County Charter to provide clarification regarding budget provisions for the Charter Review Commission (CRC), staff support requirements, and further resolution regarding the term length, procedures and duties of the CRC, and the role of the Prosecuting Attorney
- Amending the current voting rules to include Ranked Choice Voting
- Amending Signature Requirements Concerning Initiatives and Referendum
https://www.sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/24877/CRC-2022-Propositions?bidId=
I understand that the next deadline regarding these ballot propositions is August 9, 2022 by which time the Prosecuting Attorney’s office must provide the SJC Election’s office the legal title and information on these ballot propositions in order for them to appear in the voter’s pamphlet.
It is the expectation of the members of the CRC that the County Council will direct the County Manager to officially transmit these resolutions to the Auditor / Elections Office today to trigger the drafting of legal titles and information on these ballot propositions by the Prosecuting Attorney’s office by August 9 for final submission to the voter’s pamphlet for the November 2022 elections.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
Did anyone on Council respond to this letter? Are we going to be able to vote on these amendments? We really want answers, Councilors! I’m trying not to feel disgusted but lately, that’s been hard to do. Seems like one blunder after another -how must the folks who gave hundreds of hours feel to learn that all their work amounted to nothing? Please update us that Council did what it was supposed to by 5 today.
I called the Council secretary, who forwarded me over to Elections because Council went back into executive session at around 4:30. I just got a callback from elections at 6 pm, to report that Council made the decision to NOT go forward with them. I am hopping mad, and so should the citizenry be, and the CRC people who worked tirelessly on all of this.
The State deadline of 5 pm has passed. Way to screw over the voters. I don’t care who’s offended. This is not time to just “be nice.” Is what council just did, “nice?” They had NINE MONTHS to move forward to put these 4 Charter amendments on the ballot. Their excuse is that the amendments do not “conform to County standards” – they waited to run out the clock to tell us that?!
No words can express my disgust – I will not accept that we the citizens have zero voice or recourse for this decision. This, IMO, is Council’s worst yet, in a string of bad decisions.
Time to appeal to the State Attorney General – use it or lose it – our voice. We are losing our democratic right to vote and our voice and right to free speech. We have no seat at the table, not that we ever really had one – but this takes the cake. For all their talk about wanting to hurry and finish the Comp Plan, Council sure dragged their feet on this one and made sure to kill it. I am furious.
.Who’s ready to take the next steps on this? Or are we going to give up and say ‘nothing we can do?’
Sadie
Sadly the council decided by unanimous vote not to allow these amendments go forward. This came out of Exec Session.
Executive session?!?!?
What might happen next is being explored. What a disappointing day for the volunteers who served on the Charter Review Commission, for me personally as one of them, for the voters of San Juan County, and for democracy.
Council said the chair of the crc did not conform with the procedural requirements of the San Juan County Charter when he submitted the proposed amendments to council to be placed on the November ballot so they voted not to forward them to the auditor for placement.
Why would Council wait from November 2021 to the very LAST day to inform that they have no intention of moving those amendments forward, without giving the chair and volunteers of the CRC time to make them “conforming?” One can only conclude that they never intended to submit them, that they didn’t want them on the November ballot. You don’t just sit on something for nine months and then pull a stunt like this.
There are serious legal questions that need to be asked regarding the Executive Session that Council engaged in prior to taking this vote.
The Exec. Session was called for legal discussion, but the Attorney General’s guidance for Exec Session justification is VERY narrow in scope. The session must be tied to litigation. Based on the statement of the Chair, it appears that the legal discussion was one that was more substantive in nature, requiring that it be held in an open public forum.
To adjourn from Exec Session, immediately to a vote, with no public discussion and no justification or thought process related to the motion is highly unusual and fails to pass even the most loose interpretation of the OPMA.
The citizens of this County, and specifically the members of the Charter Review Commission should be very concerned. Things are not healthy in your local government.
If the chair of the CRC did not conform to the procedural requirements for submission back on November 2021, then why didn’t the Council report that and give the CRC a chance to fix it?
Write your elected councilors:
cindyw@sanjuanco.com – Orcas
christinem@sanjuanco.com – San Juan
jamies@sanjuanco.com – Lopez
Absolutely inexcusable. This is obstructionist at best, and not the first time thousands of volunteer hours and signatures were thrown under the bus before voters were given an option to exercise their rights. We need to have some accountability over our Council and Attorney General, and we need journalists to cover to be making sure the public understands what is going on in local govt inside and out.
Susan Daly asks the million dollar question: ‘If the chair of the CRC did not conform to the procedural requirements for submission back on November 2021, then why didn’t the Council report that and give the CRC a chance to fix it?’
We’re waiting for a response, County Council.