March 31, 2009

Home rule plan tours county
Plan includes changes in county court

By SAM CRAIG
of The Chronicle

     Residents are getting a chance to take a look under the hood of what may be the future Wasco County government and learn about the massive overhaul that’s in the works.
     The Wasco County Home Rule Charter Committee has been taking its show on the road. The committee is getting out of the county courthouse and holding town hall meetings in communities across Wasco County to explain the proposed changes to the county government that residents will soon be voting on. On March 26 the town hall meeting at Tygh Valley’s community center, presided over by committee chairman, Keith Mobley, brought the charter out of committee and into the hands of residents.
     The Home Rule Charter, a proposed alternative to Wasco County’s current, state-approved system of government, would make some big changes and the committee wants you to know about them before putting pencil to ballot.
     At the town hall meeting, the public had a chance to ask questions of the committee that weren’t answered by the committee’s PowerPoint slideshow. “A Home Rule Charter for Wasco County?,” laid out the planned changes in more accessible wording than the lengthy legalese of the charter itself.
     Currently, Wasco County’s government is made up of ten elected officials. If the Home Rule Charter is approved, four of those positions — assessor, treasurer, clerk and surveyor — would be appointed.
     Wasco County’s governing body, the County Court, consists of a county judge, Dan Ericksen at present, compensated as a full-time position and two county commissioners, Sherry Holliday and Bill Lennox, each compensated as half-time positions. With the new charter, those positions would be replaced by five commissioners paid stipends.
     Four of the county commissioners would be elected by residents from four specific zones. The fifth would be elected by the public at large and serve as chairman of the board of commissioners. The chairman would preside over meetings and have the ability to control future meeting business. All elected positions would be non-partisan.
     The board of commissioners would also appoint a salaried county administrator. The county administrator will head up the administrative branch of the government, and be responsible for property administration, as well as for the employment and termination of all Wasco County workers.
     The committee sees many attractive opportunities they believe will help them succeed with the charter.
     The first benefit they see is that the new government won’t make a hugely significant dent in taxpayers’ wallets. The current system of government costs the county $326,000 in payroll and benefits for the county court, executive assistant and secretary each year. For the board of commissioners, they estimate the cost for payroll and benefits at $340,310 a year, $18,000 going to the chairman, $58,000 being split between the four commissioners, $109,310 for the executive assistant and secretary and $155,000 for the county administrator. The total difference would be $14,310.
     When it was mentioned at the Tygh Valley meeting that there would be no significant increase to taxpayers, an attendee of the meeting asked, what was meant by “significant.”
     “No one can tell you if it’s going to cost more or if it’s going to cost less,” Mobley answered. “Of course we hope it will cost less, but that all depends on who the commissioners are.”
     One of the most significant benefits the Home Rule Charter Committee sees is that it will give a stronger voice to southern Wasco County. South county residents say they often feel left out of the decision-making process in county government.
     With the Home Rule Charter, the county is cut into four zones of influence, based on population. The west zone goes from the western outskirts of The Dalles to Mosier, the east zone takes half of The Dalles from The Dalles Dam to about Kelly Rd., the central zone that goes from about Kelly Rd. to the west end of town and the south zone, that covers everything that isn’t in the area between The Dalles and Mosier.      Having at least one zone exclusively for them, south county residents won’t have to rely on luck to have someone representing them.
     While southern Wasco County residents may be happy to have a Maupin resident currently on the county court, they know she won’t be on the county commission forever.
     “When Sherry [Holliday] retires,” said Doris Flint, a member of the committee, “there’s no guarantee you’re going to get somebody from down here up there.”