Clallam County Charter Review Commission elects chair

Sue Erzen to fill role; other positions also filled

Sue Erzen has been appointed as chair of the Clallam County Charter Review Commission.

The commission picked Erzen over fellow District 1 representative Ted Miller by a 10-5 vote at the first Charter Review Commission meeting on Jan. 9.

Five people from each of the county’s three commissioner districts were elected last November to propose amendments to the Clallam County Charter.

The Charter Review Commission will meet on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month this year to evaluate the “constitution” for county government.

It will incorporate citizen input as it develops proposed charter amendments for voters to consider in the November 2020 election.

Charter Review Commission meetings will be held at 6 p.m. in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles, 223 E. Fourth St.

Erzen, 75, is a retired English teacher from Sequim who served as past president of the League of Women Voters of Clallam County.

She also served on the Citizens Ad Hoc Committee for the Sequim Comprehensive Plan and as vice chair of Sequim Speaks.

In other action last week, Charter Review Commission members appointed District 2 representative Norma Turner as first vice chair and District 3’s Joe Murray as second vice chair.

Andrew May of District 3 was voted parliamentarian of the Charter Review Commission.

Turner, 80, is a retired public health nurse who has served on several past Charter Review Commissions, including the last panel that convened in 2015.

Murray, 71, is owner and principal forester of JMurray Forestry LLC.

May, 60, is owner-operator of Mayflower Horticulture Services and a Peninsula Daily News gardening columnist.

Turner had eight votes to May’s five votes and Therese “Tree” Stokan’s two votes in the appointment of first vice chair.

Murray had 10 votes to May’s four votes and Stokan’s one vote in the contest for second vice chair.

May had 10 votes to Miller’s five votes in the appointment of a parliamentarian.