03/14/2006: "Guest Editorial"

Councilmen Put In 60+ Hrs a Week
By Alan Lichter

In an Opinion Piece last week, Greg Hertel suggests a salary for incoming Council Members. (Hertel Editorial) Based on what he assumes are the working hours for the Council, he suggests remuneration of $12,000 per year – this, for the highest-ranking elected policy-makers in County Government!

Unfortunately, Mr. Hertel's formula is sadly uninformed by any knowledge of what a Councilman actually does, about the wide scope of county issues and citizen concerns that must be addressed by Council Members, about the sheer amount of time and energy a committed Council Member expends.

Perhaps Mr. Hertel will note my schedule, as a limited example, for Monday, March 13th:
• 9 a.m. – an appointment on the Interisland ferry to Friday Harbor with a couple concerned about their home and guest house. The appointment may have to be rescheduled in favor of a 9 a.m. emergency meeting with the Prosecuting Attorney concerning a court-case settlement.
• 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. – take part in an important area-wide Marine Resources Conference at the Friday Harbor Marine Labs.
• 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. – back at the Courthouse for the regular Monday staff meeting/workshop session to prepare for our all-day public Tuesday session.
• 4 – 5 p.m. – participate in a screening committee meeting with the PA, our Administrator, and Human Resources Manager to evaluate applicants for our Hearing Examiner position.
• Somewhere during the day, check telephone messages, connect with office staff re in-house issues and questions.
• 5:15 p.m. – ferry back to home on Orcas – a quick dinner, then a couple of hours for emails and some preparations for the next days' public session.

Other days are filled with citizen and area meetings, normal legislative and policy matters, telephone calls, staying current with numerous county issues, contacts with several organizations and committees, Council liaison assignments, emails (about 50 each day), contacts with state legislators, and on and on.

I can assure Mr. Hertel that current Council Members generally average 60+ hours each week. Sometime after our permanent Administrative Officer is functioning efficiently, it may be possible to reduce those hours to straightforward, full-time work, maybe 40 hours each week. But that will depend upon how effective Home Rule really is, and how efficiently a six-member Council functions. County Council Members will have smaller districts to represent, but their County-Wide responsibilities will remain constant. A 40-hour work week for Council Members may or may not be possible; we'll see.

Right now, people in County Government are working long and hard to effect an efficient transition to Charter Government, and it would be helpful to have interested citizens like Mr. Hertel inform themselves about what's happening "on the ground" before they promote scenarios that have little connection with reality.

Alan Lichter, Council Chair and Member
San Juan County