PORT ANGELES – Clallam County Charter Review Commissioners hitched up their britches Monday and carried three more proposed changes a step farther on the road to the Nov. 6 election.
They already had agreed to forward two other issues to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols for review:
Meeting Monday night, they voted to send three more issues to Nichols:
Still awaiting Nichols’ advice is the question of limiting terms for county elected officials.
He will tell them July 16 if the limits are constitutional.
A proposal is pending that voters must ratify new taxes.
Another idea – to increase the number of county commissioners, choose them only within their districts and elect the county administrator – appears to have died.
The 15 charter commissioners – five from each county district – were chosen last November to review the charter, the county’s constitution.
Forwarding the five issues to Nichols doesn’t guarantee they will appear in the election that will end Nov. 6.
He will rule only on their legality and how they must be worded.
If Nichols approves the substance and form of the measures, the charter commissioners will vote whether to place them on the ballot.
Although Nichols’ approval won’t amount to a certainty, it will heighten the probability that voters will decide the issues.
The proposals in brief: