County charter review process looks possible
Top administrator among potential changes
Proposed changes to Josephine County’s charter caused much consternation among the board of commissioners last week.
During the board’s Wednesday, June 27 meeting at Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass, Ron Lee of the U.S. Observer read a statement from his publisher, Ed Snook.
Snook accused Commissioner Dwight Ellis of conspiring with council counsel Steve Rich and retired insurance agent Harry Mackin to change the charter during the commissioners’ Friday, June 29 general discussion.
Ellis decried Lee and Snook’s efforts as “yellow journalism,” and said he had no recent contact with Mackin.
“I haven’t talked to Harry Mackin in months,” Ellis said.
Ellis went on to state that 30 percent of the charter is outdated, and has caused liability issues for the county. He denied trying to make an end-run around public processes.
“It’s been years and years since our charter has been reviewed,” Ellis said. “That’s my only motivation.”
Board Chairman Jim Raffenburg confirmed that the charter review process was on the agenda for the June 29 meeting, and said that he was “not in favor” of such action.
Tensions flared during a heated exchange between Raffenburg and Ellis, who began shouting and interrupting each other.
“I can’t sit here and let you say those things,” Ellis said angrily.
Raffenburg stated that Ellis scheduled the charter review for the agenda, and had been involved, with Mackin, in a 2003 effort to change the charter. That proposal was soundly rejected by voters.
Ellis described his past involvement as “water under the bridge” before storming out of the auditorium in a huff. Neither Raffenburg nor Commissioner Dave Toler commented on the abrupt departure.
The accusations centered on plans to establish a county administrator position to oversee the county’s managerial functions. Raffenburg reminded the audience that such a plan was part of Toler’s campaign platform.
After that meeting, Raffenburg said that a county administrator could be appointed, and therefore, less accountable to the public.
“We may be approaching a tipping point,” Raffenburg said. “This could dramatically change the landscape of how the county is governed.”
Raffenburg added that he would prefer at least one public hearing on the matter before any changes were implemented.
On Friday, the commissioners met, as scheduled, in a conference room at the Josephine County Courthouse in Grants Pass.
Ellis stated that any changes to the county charter would have to be voted on by citizens, and that such alterations were necessary.
“This has been sitting in my ‘To do’ pile for over a year now,” Ellis said.
The charter has not been changed since 1996, Ellis said, reiterating that he thought it was outdated. Toler expressed his thoughts on the matter.
“I think there’s been some misunderstanding about this issue,” Toler said, adding that the board could change the management structure without adjusting the charter.
Toler said that there are parts of the existing charter that the county doesn’t follow, but Raffenburg said that any changes should originate from the public.
“The charter is the peoples’ document,” Raffenburg said. “It doesn’t belong to the government.”
He added that he has asked Rich “several times” to update the charter in an annotated version.
“The issue, really, is clarity to the public,” Raffenburg said. “We have the ability to clean those things up.”
Raffenburg suggested that the county hire a paralegal to annotate the charter if the county’s legal office is too busy.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, Hugo resident and land-use activist Holger Sommer said that the use of annotations would be a “good approach.” That revised document could be the basis for a new charter, Sommer said.
Other members of the public also expressed support for the annotation.
The commissioners agreed to direct the county’s legal department to annotate the charter. That action is anticipated for Thursday, July 5, as part of the board’s weekly meeting with the legal department.
