Charter Review panel ready to work

December 12, 2006

Peninsula News Network

Clallam County, WA - The laborious process of review the Clallam County Home Rule Charter begins Wednesday night, as 15-people gather for the first time to start the assignment they were given by voters.

Last month, the 15-people were elected in the General election to sit as the Charter Review Commission for the next year. Their task is to review the county’s “constitution”… the Charter that was first approved by the voters more than a quarter century ago.

Past Charter reviews have been either fairly boring, or fairly lively affairs, depending upon the makeup and objectives of the individual commissioners.

That’s resulted in dozens of changes over the years. Last time around, the group attempted several revisions, but the most fundamental change was the idea of electing the head of the Department of Community Development.

Ironically, one of the review commissioners this time around will be John Miller, who was just elected DCD Director but had also filed to run for the commission. To the best of our recollection, it’s the first time a sitting county elected official will be on the Charter Commission, raising some interesting procedural questions, especially since the future of the DCD position could be one of the topics for discussion.

In the past, Charter Review panels have usually waited until after the holidays to get started. But this time, the commission decided to go ahead and hold its organizational meeting before Christmas, and that will happen Wednesday night at the courthouse.

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Charter review panel to start work early

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Peninsua News Network

Clallam County’s new Charter Review Commission isn’t going to wait for Santa before getting down to its work of reviewing the county’s “constitution”.

Last month, 15-people were elected by voters to review the Home Rule Charter, which has governed the county’s operations for the past 30-years. Part of the process of being a charter county is the ability to have a citizens’ panel regularly review the document and suggest changes for the voters’ approval.

In the past Charter commissioners have usually waited until after Christmas and the first of the year to get started. But the present panel seems anxious to get underway and will meet for the first time next Wednesday night to accept their oaths of office and start outlining how the review will proceed in the months ahead.

RELATED STORY:

Charter review commission to meet for first time

December 8th, 2006 - 6:43am

KONP News

(Port Angeles) -- The Clallam County Charter Review Commission holds its first meeting next week.

The commission will convene Wednesday night at 6:30 at the county courthouse. Members plan to issue oaths of office and elect officers.

They'll also set the long schedule of meetings that will last well into the first half of next year.

The commission will go through the county's governing document and come up with proposals for changes.

Voters will have a say on those ideas during next fall's general election.

Fifteen people were elected to serve on the commission during the last election.