When looking at how governments are run in both Washington and Oregon it can look strange that anything gets done at all. Problem is, and I used to do this, criticism is most often levied by them what have no idea. They have no idea what the state constitution requires of local leadership, they have no real idea of what the US constitution is all about. They have no idea what the amount of time required to do the job actually is and they make comments based on what the think they know. In other countries we call this ignorance, in the US A we call it criticism.
I served on the town council, Town of Friday Harbor in Washington state for 8 years and I spent at least 25 hours a week staying up with the job. So if this is a legislative position why would it take so much time. This is because while the council is a legislative position there is more to the job than meets the eye. The council is the legislative body, they make the rules, and they also enable the land use regulations. This takes a public hearing and requires that they function in a quasi judicial manor. So things like traffic flow, water regulating, wet land protection, building codes, road speed limits, tax levies and so on are legislative. While at the same time they require a cretin amount of quasi judicial functionality. More so if the rules are appealed by the public or a business that odes not like the rules.
They also serve in a small capacity as administrators. While the Town has a very capable Administrator in Mr. King Fitch, the council is responsible for paying the bills. Paying bills is both an administrative function and a legislative one all at the same time. The council also receives reports from the different department heads, asks them for additional information from time to time and occasionally requests that they make special presentations. Presentations are an administrative function.
Keeping up with the rules, weather or not they need changed or added to, what other communities do to solve the same sort of issues. Are not quasi judicial, legislative or administrative. They are research things and can consume a lot of time. More so if one’s trying to head the State legislature off at the pass with what will prove to be BAD legislation AKA the GMA.
So when a bunch of idealists decided to get San Juan County to have an administrator strong council kind of government. They went on record as desiring the county government to be more like the town. These are nice intending people, some I even count as friends. However they didn’t do their research very well. How do I know? Because they are now complaining that the current 6 people aren’t behaving like the new charter says that they should.
So who of the freeholders asked any of the past council members what the job really requires? Who inquired of the State just what the County commissioners are actually responsible for? What sort of things did they do?
Obviously what they did was to envision themselves in the position and think “what would I do”. Yet none or few had ever done the j0ob at all and none did it well. The requirement for county-governing bodies to pass legislation is in the constitution and is not abated by a charter. Same thing for things like land use appeals. The county does have an appellate board but if that persons decision is applied to “Caesar” then the county council must step up tp the plate via quasi judicial. Or the county gets sued and it is not the appellate board that gets sued but he council members.
So without having done the job a few got the many to buy into a bad idea in the first place. Trading an open government where all decisions at the top level were done in public for a process where al decisions are now made in private. Then passed off in public as “open” even though the decision has been made out of chambers.
The idea was passed, as being more “user friendly” which will not happen. Multnomah County in Oregon proves that the more council members in place the increasingly nasty and awful legislation gets passed. The idea was passed as being cheaper. That could happen but the council members, there are 6 in San Juan County, need to make 35 thousand a year and not 60 thousand a year. By paying 60 thousand a year to begin with the council will eat up 360,000 bucks a year which is less than the 480,000 bucks previously. However in three years they will take in at least what three did previously and in fore a half million bucks.
It would only be cheaper if they were paid 30 thousand a year. That is a nice good sum and on San Juan Island it is a livable wage. A person working in a grocery store for 20 years lives on that so it is doable. Not classy at the county council state meetings where Armoni suites reign but oh well. If the people of San Juan really wanted the County government to be paid something like the Town members are then 30 grand would be the figure.
Staying current with pending doom from the Feds and the state will take up 20 hours a week. Special requests that the staff cannot answer will take up an additional 5. Meetings with the other heads of departments will take about 10 hours a week if done well. With 5 hours a week in research makes a 40 hour work week.
So how did a bunch of people really think that the job would become cheaper and less intensive? This is what happens when idealism and improper thought processes size one. Problem is the people of San Juan County, like the people of Multnomah County, foot the bill and must live with the ugly consequences of a bad idea.
That’s how I see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment