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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Home
rule for
Klamath
County
?
It
offers for a better form of government
By
BILL KENNEDY
And BILL BROWN
Guest writers
 |
 |
| Bill Kennedy | Bill Brown |
A
Nov. 13 editorial in the Herald and News implied that there is a
“stealth” movement intentionally hidden from the public to influence
an election process regarding a change in the form of
The
effort to establish a charter form of county government is deliberate
and thoughtful. Very soon there will be a charter and a ballot title for
public review. We strongly suggest that the H&N publish the complete
charter for those who read the newspaper in order to ensure an election
process that is free from manipulation.
The
same editorial asked, “What are the problems with the current county
government? What needs to be eliminated? What needs to be added?”
A
wide bipartisan array of Klamath citizens have participated in several
focus groups to discuss just what is working, and what is not working,
in our county government. Their purpose is not to be divisive or find
fault. Rather, their purpose is to move forward towards providing
solutions for the voters of
Other questions being addressed include:
Is the current system working for us?
Would we like closer control of our finances?
Do our county commissioners listen to the citizens
when they show up en masse to protest items that profoundly affect them
and the future of the county’s financial stability?
Is there an opportunity to actually get more
accountability, greater clarity and less waste in our government?
Would five commissioners elected from districts within
the county better represent the entire county?
Are citizens satisfied with how their hard-earned tax
dollars are being spent?
Should citizens have more direct input into how taxes
and fees are levied?
Do the county’s citizens need
a different system?
Some of the solutions that the focus groups have addressed include:
Creating a commission structure that enhances full commission
collaboration.
Increasing representation throughout the county.
Creating transparent financial reporting.
Increasing the clear involvement of the voters in
taxation and fees.
Creating accountability and reducing waste by elected
officials.
A board of five commissioners, such as those boards
successfully utilized in other counties, creates a commission that is
productive and respectful instead of two commissioners against one.
The representative voter districts encourage broad
commission involvement from throughout
A professional administrator, working in conjunction
with commissioner liaison rotation of departments, creates closer
financial oversight and evaluations of personnel.
This will help prevent such debacles as Klamath Lake
Employment Institute’s previous direction in which the county may be
responsible for repaying between $400,000 and $2.1 million in misspent
funds. Another fiasco was the County Veterans Service Office invasion of
privacy. Voters need to understand that these examples are serious
enough to involve ongoing Department of Justice investigations.
The mixing of county and state funds to the Klamath
County Economic Development Association is another area where voter
confidence has been eroded. That lack of accountability, as well as the
tens of thousands of dollars of self-administered bonuses paid to the
KCEDA administrators would be unlikely under a
There are several reasons why this progressive group
of
The proposed charter is a work in progress.
It would be premature and irresponsible to release the
draft charter for publication.
The current draft of the charter is undergoing a legal
review.
It is important that the charter be produced without
partisan political influence.
The interest and efforts of thoughtful individuals is
focused on providing an alternative government that gives us broader
representation, better communication, strategic planning and transparent
financial reporting. This new direction will not automatically solve all
issues before our community; it will give voters an opportunity to
change the way our county does business.
We can focus on blame and jump to fear or we can offer
all the voters in
Bill Kennedy, a
local rancher, is one of the leaders in an effort to install a home rule
charter in
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Source: http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Daily/Skins/heraldandnews/