PORT ANGELES — Should the Clallam County director of the Clallam County Department of Community Development, now the only elected DCD director in the nation, be instead appointed?
How many Clallam County commissioners should be elected? How should they be elected?
How often should a Charter Review Commission be elected?
These are among the 10 questions on a survey the Charter Review Commission created to obtain public input during a time when public hearings are not possible as the county observes restrictions on gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The survey is at www.surveymonkey.com/r/GMK8TC9.
It will be available through June 30. Access to the survey is limited to one per email address.
Clallam County is one of seven counties out of 39 counties in the state to have a Home Rule Charter, which allows residents to vote on how the county government is structured. The Charter Review Commission considers possible amendments to the Home Rule Charter. Voters then vote on each amendment in a general election.
Due to the pandemic, the Clallam County Charter Review Commission has temporarily suspended its meetings and cannot hold public hearings.
The survey, which was announced Friday, is an attempt to reach as many Clallam County residents as possible by putting the survey online and asking organizations to forward it to their members and employees, said Sue Erzen, commission chair in a press release.
The survey will inform the Commission discussions when they reconvene.
Written comments also can be sent to the Charter Review Commission at agores@co.clallam.wa.us.
The survey covers both new topics and topics that have been considered in the past, such as the addition of such issues as health or climate concerns to the Charter, the number of signatures required for an initiative to repeal the charter, the application of personnel rules to elected officials and the authority of the the DCD director and the county commissioners in land use issues.
The 2020 Clallam County Charter Review Commission members are, in District 1, Tony Corrado, Sue Erzen, David Lotzgesell, Candace Pratt and Jim Stoffer’ in District 2, Ron Cameron, Mary Doherty, Patti Morris, Nina Richards and Norma Turner; in District 3, Rod Fleck, Brian Hunter, Andrew May, Joseph Murray and Therese Stokan.
