Next Session Last for Proposed Charter Changes

From the San Juan County Charter Review Commission Outreach Committee

The next meeting of the San Juan County Charter Review Commission (CRC) is on Saturday April 14 at the Orcas Hotel from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (with a break for lunch).  Public input is welcomed and there is time set aside for comments at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:15  p.m. (after lunch). The CRC is charged with reviewing the Charter “to determine its adequacy and suitability to the needs of the County.” Proposed changes will be put on the ballot for the public to vote on in November.

The April 7 meeting of the CRC on Lopez was a working session in which the CRC approved draft language for changes to the Charter and considered additional proposed changes.  The language approved addressed the three districts in which Council members must reside and the election to transition from six to three Council members.

The CRC also agreed, by majority vote, to replace the title of County Administrator with County Manager.  It was argued that this more accurately reflects the role if the proposed changes are adopted.   The CRC also adopted, by majority vote, language that would allow the County Council more flexibility in determining which duties to assign to the County Manager including leaving it to the Auditor to prepare the County budget (which would still require approval from the County Council).

The CRC also considered a number of motions that they did not adopt including: a motion that would change the Oath of Office section to require an oath or affirmation to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Washington and the Charter and ordinances of San Juan County, rather than the current requirement of an oath or affirmation to support these Constitutions, Charter and ordinances; a motion requiring that in the adoption of all ordinances the County consider its impact and make provisions for compensating those unduly burdened; a motion that would allowed future Charter Review Commissions to declare a seat vacant if a Commission member missed four consecutive meetings; a motion to have an elected County Administrator; a motion that would declare the Auditor to be the Chief Financial Officer of the County with responsibility for budget preparation; and a motion that would waive the filing fee for appeals of enforcement actions before the Hearing Examiner and prohibit intervention in such appeals.

A motion to ensure that Charter Amendments proposed by future Charter Review Commissions be voted on in years without County Council elections was sent to committee for editing.

The working model of the CRC includes a three-member full-time commission with legislative and administrative authority, a professional County Manager directly responsible to the elected commission, countywide non-partisan elections and maintains the powers of initiative, referendum and mini-initiative.

The next meeting of the CRC is the last meeting in which motions for changes to the Charter will be considered to ensure that there is time for all proposed changes to be drafted and reviewed before being presented to the public.  Some issues that may be considered at the next meeting include: the setting the salaries of elected officials, the election of future Charter Review Commissioners, the job description of County Council members, and whether to propose changes to the Hearing Examiner system or the initiative and referendum processes.  Findings supporting the working-model are available at the CRC website:  www.sanjuanco.com/committees/charterreview.

The website also contains documents considered in the review and the schedule of meetings.  Members of the public are encouraged to attend the 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).