11/10/2005: "New Form Of Government, So Now What?"

For awhile life will go on as it has, but changes, they are a'coming. in the second week of January, the first meeting of the new Legislative Body (LB) will convene at 10 A.M.; but don't expect too much to happen that is new and exciding, with one major exception: An Administrator Pro Tempore will be appointed. To whom this task will fall is, at this point, anyone's guess. The second item of business is to begin the search for a "County Administrator qualified to carry out the duties of the office".

The first new members that will lead the county will show up after the November 2006 election, when Districts #2 (SJ North), #3 (Friday Harbor), #5 (Orcas East) and #6 (Lopez/Shaw) are elected. The new members will receive compensation that will be set by a new Citizen Salary Commission.

Citizen Salary Commission.

How about money? The salaries for the current commissioners will stay the same for now, but as the new members come on board, their pay rate will be set by an appointed Citizens Salary Commission.

This will be a new process for the county. The BOCC salaries have been set by the BOCC, but that is about to change. Under the Charter a Commission of ten will decide how much money the new Councilmember's will receive. As per state law: "Six of the ten commission members shall be selected by lot by the county auditor from among those registered voters… The remaining four of the ten commission members must be residents of the county and shall be appointed by the county commissioner or executive with approval of the county legislative authority,… No person may be appointed to more than two terms." There is an interesting note from the legislature that "finds and declares that:… the compensation for state and county elected officials will be fair and certain, while minimizing the dangers of midterm salary increases being used to influence those officers in the performance of their duties." What may come as a surprise to many -including those who set the salaries- is a provision in the law that allows the public to petition by referendum salary increases and decreases, which would stay the Salary Commission's decision until after the referendum has been voted on by the people.

What else?

All of this is going to take some time to get use to, and one of the unforeseen issues may be what effect the Charter will have on some of the existing boards in the county. For example the BOCC is also the County Board of Health, and as of January, a new Board of Health will have to be appointed, and it is expected the new Board will be comprised of medical and health experts -or at least those with appropriate professional experience.