FORKS — The Clallam County Charter Review Commission heard pro-and-con arguments this week for appointing a community development director rather than electing one.
The commission met in Forks on Monday for the first of three public hearings this month. Other hearings will be June 15 in Sequim and June 29 in Port Angeles.
Clallam is the only county in the nation to elect a community development director. The Department of Community Development, or DCD, is responsible for comprehensive planning, zoning and processing of development and building permits.
Whether the DCD director should be appointed or not is one of several issues the Charter Review Commission will tackle.
“We need professionalism,” said Sylvia Hancock of Sequim, who campaigned for current DCD Director Mary Ellen Winborn last year.
“We need not to have time wasted by political campaigns. We need for there to be integrity in the [DCD] office. And the county commissioners, who oversee an appointed person in that position, provide the political oversight to that process.”
Clallam is one of seven counties in the state to operate under a home-rule charter. The commission will incorporate citizen input in developing potential charter amendments for voters to consider in the Nov. 3 election.
Upcoming hearings
The hearing in Sequim will begin at 6:30 p.m. June 15 at the Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.
The hearing in Port Angeles will begin at 6:30 p.m. June 29 in Room 160 of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St.
Those who cannot attend a hearing in person can submit comments through the charter review’s Web page or fill out a questionnaire at www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZDH2QGK.
Hancock said an elected DCD director creates a conflict of interest — or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.
“I was reported in the paper as someone who contributed the absolute maximum to the campaign of Mary Ellen Winborn,” Hancock said.
“What if I file for a change to my property? . . . I might want to build a berm to protect my house. If that [permit] is approved, will people say: ‘Hmm, yeah, no wonder hers was approved?’”
‘Political payback’
Bob Forde of Sequim said appointments are “political payback in one form or another.”
He supported his argument to keep the DCD director elected with Article 1, Section 1 of the state constitution, which “makes it very clear that all political power is inherent in the people and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed to protect and maintain individual rights.”
“For the people to vote in a democratic election for a position of that magnitude, I think it’s critical to the free exercise of a democracy to protect and maintain individual rights,” Forde said.
“The idea that there’s a cost and an effort and a sweat to run a political campaign — if we’re going to do that, why don’t we just appoint everybody? Appoint the county commissioners, appoint the fire chief, appoint everybody. That’s not a valid reason to eliminate the elected process in that level of responsibility.”
Charter Review Commissioner Don Corson asked Forde if the county engineer should be elected, too.
“Following your logic, should that position also be elected?” Corson asked.
“I don’t think it’s necessary at the moment,” Forde began, “but if it were . . .”
“Following your logic, should it be?” Corson persisted.
“I’m not talking about the county engineer,” Forde said.
“What other department do you want to interject in here to divert the conversation? I’m talking about the director of community development. That’s the issue, not the county engineer.”
Ed Bowen of Clallam Bay also backed keeping the community development director elected.
Have a say
“I want that to be an elected person because I believe I am the one that should have a say in who that person is, not an appointed position,” Bowen said.
“I have too many people, too many staff people, that interject their opinion into the equation. They think they know what’s best.
“Well, the only way I’m going to agree to allow them to interject their opinion is if I vote for them or if I have the chance to vote for them, not an appointed position.”
“If they’re appointed, they don’t deserve an opinion,” Bowen added.
“There’s nothing in the constitution that says any employee of the government is entitled to an opinion.”
Bowen said the county charter should support the “human environment.”
“If you don’t understand what human environment is, that’s the citizen and how we survive and how we sustain ourselves and how we live,” he said.
“I’m the human environment. You don’t have to Google to find out what I am, the human environment.”
Preceding each of the public hearings will be a Clallam County League of Women Voters information session on the county charter.
Information sessions
League-sponsored presentations, “Our County Charter in Context,” are scheduled for 5 p.m. June 15 in Sequim and 4:30 p.m. June 29 in Port Angeles.
The Charter Review Commission website can be accessed on the county website, www.clallam.net.
Click on the “Boards, Committees and Groups” link to navigate to the charter review home page.
Stephanie Noblin of Port Angeles (email: sn@larrynoblin.com) videotapes the Charter Review Commission meetings.
Her 29-minute YouTube video of Monday’s public hearing in Forks can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-youtubecharterforks.
Other commission meeting videos can be viewed at her YouTube website. Noblin files as “Justice Restoration.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
