PORT ANGELES — Norma Turner has been elected chairwoman of the newly formed Clallam County Charter Review Commission.
The Port Angeles retiree took the gavel at the beginning of a nearly three-hour meeting Monday night.
The 15-member panel spent the bulk of its second session reviewing bylaws and rules of procedure.
The commission is tasked with reviewing the county’s “constitution” for government and may recommend charter amendments for voters to consider in November.
Members will discuss the process for making amendments at its next meeting Feb. 2.
The commission is elected by Clallam County citizens every eight years.
Turner has served on four past charter reviews.
“I will work my best to make sure that everybody gets heard,” she said.
Turner was nominated by Mike Doherty, a recently retired county commissioner who helped implement the charter form of government in 1976 as the first chairman of the county Board of Freeholders.
Clallam is one of seven counties in the state that operate under a home-rule charter.
Doherty moved to nominate Turner because of her institutional memory on past charter reviews and her political acumen.
“I’ve seen her in League of Women Voter meetings, facilitating meetings, for decades,” Doherty said.
Also nominated for chair was convening member Sue Forde, who drew the most votes in the Nov. 4 election and chaired the first commission meeting Dec. 23.
“She’s polite, she’s prepared and she’s professional, and I think she would be a fine candidate,” said Glenn Wiggins, who nominated Forde.
Turner garnered seven votes to Forde’s five in the vote for chair, with two members abstaining and one member arriving late.
Forde was later elected as first vice chair.
Barbara Christensen was elected second vice chair.
Rod Fleck, Forks city attorney and planner, was elected parliamentarian of the charter review.
The panel comprises five representatives from each of the three commissioner districts.
District 1, the easternmost district in the county, is represented by Forde, Ken Hays, Ronald Bell, Nola Judd and Ted Miller.
Central District 2 is represented by Turner, Wiggins, Maggie Roth, Steven Burke and Selinda Barkhuis.
The westernmost District 3 is represented by Doherty, Christensen, Fleck, Connie Beauvais and Cheryl Williams.
Later in the meeting, members voted against the posting of privately produced videos of charter review meetings onto the county website.
The action was prompted by public speaker Stephanie Noblin, who videotaped the meeting and asked the panel to post YouTube links to her videos onto the Clallam County website.
“I think it’s important for county business to be available to all the citizens in the county,” Noblin said.
Several panelists expressed concerns over the posting of private videos because they would become part of the public record.
“We have no control over it,” said Hays, a Sequim city councilman.
“We don’t know if it’s going to be edited. It creates all kinds of issues. I think if somebody wants to [post videos], fine. But I don’t think we should embrace it.
“I think it’s a can of worms for us.”
County-produced audio recordings of Charter Review Commission and Board of County Commissioners meetings are available by request through the commissioners’ office.
The Charter Review Commission will meet on the first and third Mondays of the month except for holidays at 6:30 p.m.
Regular meetings are held in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Public hearings will be held throughout the year in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks.
Information on the charter review is available on the Clallam County website, www.clallam.net.
Click on “Board of Commissioners” and “Home Rule Charter” to navigate to the charter review home page.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
