PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners have scheduled a series of virtual and in-person town hall meetings to publicly vet recommendations for proposed changes to the county’s home-rule charter.
The nine meetings will be held in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks from April 27 through May 26.
They will be hosted by Commissioner Mark Ozias of Sequim-area District 1, Randy Johnson of Port Angeles-area District 2 and Bill Peach of Forks-area District 3.
The 2020 Clallam County Charter Review Commission forwarded five recommendations for changes or revisions to county operations and procedures not proposed for ballot measures.
They include recommendations for the addition of a county forester, housing initiatives, ranked-choice voting and 5G requirements.
Commissioners are conducting a series of public hearings on those four recommendations and have begun discussing a fifth recommendation for a third-party review of the Department of Community Development.
The recommendations and schedule for the public hearings are available on the county’s website, www.clallam.net.
The town hall meetings are an additional step to engage the public and encourage public comments on the proposed changes and revisions to the county charter, according to a Wednesday announcement.
Here are the dates and times of the town hall meetings as announced:
District 1
• 11:45 a.m. April 27 — Ozias will speak at the Sequim Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
For information on the meeting, click on the Sequim chamber’s website, www.sequim chamber.com.
• 4 p.m. May 13 — Ozias will speak on the KSQM radio show.
The broadcast can be heard on 91.5 FM or at www.ksqmfm.com.
• 5 p.m. May 17 — Ozias will host an in-person town hall meeting at James Center bandshell, 500 N. Blake Ave., Sequim.
District 2
• 11 a.m. April 28 — Johnson will address the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce. For information on the meeting, click on the chamber website, www.portangeles.org.
• 1 p.m. May 13 — Johnson will speak on the KONP Todd Ortloff show. The broadcast can be heard on 1450 AM or www.myclallamcounty.com.
• 5 p.m. May 24 — Johnson will host an in-person town hall in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
District 3
• 5 p.m. May 3 — Peach will host an in-person town hall at Peninsula College’s Forks/West End location at 481 S. Forks Ave.
• Noon May 5 — Peach will address the Forks Chamber of Commerce. The meeting will be at Blakeslee’s Bar and Grill, 1222 S. Forks, Ave.
• 7:30 a.m. May 26 — Peach will speak at the West End Business meeting. The meeting will be at First Congregational Church, 280 Spartan Ave. in Forks.
The 15-member Charter Review Commission was elected in 2019 to propose changes to the county’s home-rule charter.
Clallam County voters approved three of six proposed charter amendments in the 2020 general election.
Approved were charter amendments to make the Prosecuting Attorney a non-partisan position, a housekeeping measure to clarify Article IV, Section 4.10 and an amendment to change the system of electing county commissioners to a system in which they will be nominated by their district and elected by the voters countywide.
Voters last November rejected measures to change frequency of Charter Review elections from five years to eight years, change the office of the director of Community Development from elected to appointed, and lower the number of signatures required to file an initiative petition for repeal of the Clallam County Charter from 35 percent to 20 percent of the number of voters who voted for the office of governor in the last statewide election.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
