||| FROM SHARON ABREU, ET AL. |||
We, the Undersigned, are writing to ask about two things: 1) the update to the Home Rule Charter implementing the amendments successfully passed by voters in 2021; and 2) the status of the eight Recommendations that were sent to you with the final Proposed Charter Amendments in December, 2021.
Regarding the Recommendations, Prosecuting Attorney Gaylord advised that the Recommendations would be reviewed by you within six months, that is, between June and July 2022. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, the Recommendations have not been discussed by you in a public meeting.
As to the three amendments that were passed by voters in November 2021, it appears the Home Rule Charter on the County website does not reflect these changes. These important updates to the Charter should have been made immediately or at least no later than December 31, 2021. Is there a reason why the Home Rule Charter, SJC’s constitution, is not located on the home page of the County website? It takes some digging to find it.
Even more importantly, the San Juan County government will need to create policies and/or ordinances to actually implement the three new amendments to the Home Rule Charter. To our knowledge, citizens are waiting for County Council to provide time for public discussion and action on the amendments. It would serve the Council well to inform the public as to its actions on the voter approved changes to the Charter. We would also respectfully request that the County website reflect these voter-approved changes and the actions the Council is taking to implement them.
Given the recent decision by Superior Court Judge Skinner, we believe the citizens of San Juan County are interested in the full work product of the Charter Review Commission. Many of the ideas in the eight Recommendations were proposed by voters to the CRC. As such, we urge you to place the eight Recommendations on your agenda as soon as possible. Openness and transparency in local government are crucial to operating a good and just government.
We would appreciate it if you would let us know when we can expect this discussion to occur. Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Sharon Abreu
David Anderson
Janet Brownell
David Dehlendorf
Patty Garcia
Liz Lafferty
Robert O’Connell
Olivia Roseberry
Kevin Ranker
Maureen See
Cc: Mike Thomas, County Manager
Randy Gaylord, Prosecuting Attorney
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I read the beginning words of the Charter at the Prune Alley ribbon cutting and they definitely were the beautiful words voted into the Charter in November 2021. I got them off the County website where they are published along with the rest of the most recent revision of the Code in the usual spot. The amendments are definitely there.
@CouncilMember Wolf:
Thank you for clarifying the county website is up to date. I believe the main point being raised by this letter however is that the citizens of San Juan County voted to implement three important Amendments to the County Charter (our local Constitution) nearly a year ago and since that time, your constituents can find no public record of the Council Council or the County Manger taking the necessary actions to meet the lawful obligations to implement those Amendments which include a powerful nondiscrimination policy. If there is a mistake and public discussions took place and actions were taken, please point us to those minutes and accept our apologies.
The County Home Rule Charter can easily be found by going to the County webpage (sanjuanco.com) and following either of these two paths. One, scroll down to the Citizen Help Center, select Find, and select County Code. Two, select “How do I…” in the upper right corner. Click on “County Code” under Find. The Home Rule Charter is the first item listed.
The charter articles display after clicking on the “+” sign. Article 9, section 31, paragraph (3),says, “If a proposed amendment is approved by a majority of the voters voting on the issues, it shall be effective ten (10) days after the results of the election are certified, unless a later date is specified in the petition or ordinance proposing the amendment.” It does not appear that either the County Council or Manager needs to take any action to update the charter itself.
The three amendments that were approved in 2021 are the new preamble, term limits (section 5.20), and non-discrimination (section 10.60.) All appear in the charter as they appeared on the November ballot. The preamble requires no action. Section 5.20 requires no action beyond the elections office simply not allowing candidates to run if that would be a violation of term limits. Section 10.60 requires that the County behave in accordance with this section of the charter. If the County behavior is consistent with this section then there isn’t much to discuss. There is one current RFP and it has a non-discrimination section.