By Stan Matthews
County Web and Communications Director
The County Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, June 7, to change the number of Charter Review Commissioners from 18 to 21.
As a result of the change, the number of commissioners from District 2, San Juan North, will increase from 3 to 4; from District 3, Friday Harbor, from 2 to 3; and from District 6, Lopez/Shaw, from 3 to 4.
The change came about because of a report from County Auditor Milene Henley. The Auditor observed that although the previous allocation resulted in a proportionate allocation by district population, it resulted in a disproportionate allocation by island population. Allocating 18 commissioners by population by district resulted in 8 CRC members from San Juan Island, 7 from Orcas, and 3 from Lopez/Shaw. Allocating the same number by population by island resulted in 9 members from San Juan, 6 from Orcas, and 3 from Lopez/Shaw.
At 21 CRC members, the allocations by district and by island are equal. The distribution by district is:
District 1, San Juan South 3
District 2, San Juan North 4
District 3, Friday Harbor 3
District 4, Orcas West 4
District 5, Orcas East 3
District 6, Lopez/Shaw 4
By island, the distribution is:
San Juan 10
Orcas 7
Lopez 4
Notably, this is the same distribution used for the Board of Freeholders elected in 2004 to write the Charter.
The change does not affect the positions currently being filed for during candidate filing week. Because CRC members are all elected at large within their district, it means only that rather than the 3 top vote-getters in District 2 (for example) winning, the top 4 vote-getters will win.
For more information about the election of Charter Review Commission members, contact the Elections Office at (360) 378-3357.
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