County sets charter review recommendation presentations
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Citizens interested in the Charter Review Commission’s recommended changes to county operations and procedures can hear from commissioners at a series of presentations in the coming weeks, including three in Sequim.
Commissioner Mark Ozias will present recommendations from the Charter Review Commission at a town hall meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, May 17, at the James Center band shell, 500 N. Blake Ave.
Ozias will also be speaking at the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce meeting at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 27, on Zoom; find more details to vertually attend at sequimchamber.com.
Ozias will also talk about the charter review recommendations on the airwaves at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 13, on KSQM 91,5 FM and at ksqmfm.com.
Commissioners Randy Johnson (District 2, Port Angeles) and Bill Peach (District 3, West End) will also host community presentations in April and May.
The Charter Review Commission is recommending five changes to the county charter, including:
• the Clallam County Board of Commissioners increase their monitoring of the Department of Natural Resource’s management of its trust lands by hiring a forester;
• the commissioners pass a resolution calling on the state legislature to pass legislation, which would enable the county and other jurisdictions in the state to adopt ranked-choice voting for local elections if they so choose;
• the commissioners and Department of Community Development (DCD) agree to commission a third party review of county ordinances and solicit a report on proposed changes to ordinances and operating procedures to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the DCD;
• the commissioners take “active leadership to reclaim and renew their primary leadership role in engaging a group of public and private organizations and businesses to creatively increase affordable housing availability, apply forward thinking ideas proven to be successful in communities that have reduced the experience of homelessness effectively, and report progress back to the community every six months”; and,
• the commissioners ensure any franchise associated with new radio frequency devices or systems operating in the micro or millimeter wave frequency range is in compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act.
All recommendations are available on the county website at clallam.net/bocc/homerulecharter.html.
Public comments are encouraged.
Submit written comments to the county clerk at agores@co.clallam.wa.us or to: Board of Commissioners, 223 E. Fourth St., Ste. 4, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
