by MEREDITH M. GRIFFITH

Sounder contributor

County residents will decide how much to shake up the current county council structure in this November’s election with a vote on three propositions devised by the Charter Review Commission.

“Decisions are twice as hard to make with six compared with three [council members]. This has been costly,” said Commission Chairman Gordon Peterson in a public presentation facilitated by the Eagle Forum on July 26.

The propositions would cut the council from six part-time members to three full-time members; replace the executive county administrator position with a county manager; and mandate that all county council meetings are open to the public.

Approved by majority vote by the 21-member commission, the propositions were developed through a series of meetings that included testimony from county officials, former freeholders, and others with a goal to facilitate a more effective governance structure. The propositions do not overturn Home Rule, adopted in 2005.

Proposition One

The CRC said having a six-member council has resulted in deadlocked votes, wasted time, and overall cost increases due to a greater load on county support staff and higher overhead, saying three is a more efficient number for decision-making.

Each Council Member is currently elected by voters in his or her own district; under Proposition One, all three would be elected by voters county-wide. While the three Council Members would still come from and represent three main geographical districts, candidates could be more likely to campaign – and address voter concerns – county-wide. The commission says this will provide for greater voter representation.

Of 39 Washington state counties, 34 operate with councils of three.

Peterson said a three-member leadership body has “140 years of success in San Juan County.”

Proposition Two

The commission states that the current county administrator, appointed by the council, is too powerful and unaccountable to the people of San Juan County.

“We don’t elect that guy [the county administrator]; he’s very powerful; he’s working with staff to come up with legislation,” said Peterson. “The cake is being baked behind the scenes.”

While the charter prohibits the council from interfering with the administrator’s job, the council holds hire/fire authority, creating what the commission concluded is a murky authority structure lacking in direct accountability to voters.

“What the freeholders tried to do [in the 2005 charter] was mandate that the county hire an administrator … and have the executive and legislative powers separate; but what we heard is that it wasn’t really working,” Moana Kutsche, commission member, told the Sounder. “People felt that the administrator wasn’t very responsive to the needs of people in the county.”

Proposition Three places executive and administrative powers not held by other elected officials firmly with the council, removing the county administrator as a separate executive power and replacing the position with a county manager directly accountable to the council, “recombining both executive and legislative powers under people who are directly accountable to the voters,” Kutsche said.

Proposition Three

At present, it is legal for up to three county council members to meet privately as a council sub-commitee. The commission said this prevents transparency.

“Three can’t pass anything but they can block everything actually producing a ‘no’ vote,” reads the commission’s frequently asked questions. “In our opinion everything should be out in the open.”

Proposition Three would amend the county charter to state that all meetings of the county council and its committees be open to the public except when an executive, or closed, session is allowed by law.

“All the people’s business will be in open meetings,” said Peterson.

Each proposition stands alone, and can pass or fail depending on voter approval.

The event was the first in a series of upcoming informational meetings the CRC plans to conduct on Orcas, with events concentrated after the August primary.

“Whatever the outcome … if people are more aware of how the government works, it’s a huge win,” Kutsche said.