By Theo Stanley
It seems Commissioner Cribbins has short memory loss, not the voter. What Ms. Cribbins conveniently forgot to mention is that the BOC also placed a measure on the same ballot as measure 6-144. This measure was written by politicians for politicians, to create an unelected position of “County Administrator” to serve as a scapegoat for the BOC. This measure, 6-144 also failed.
Measure 6-149 was written by citizens and expressly for the citizens of Coos County. It is unlike any other charter in the state. It expresses how they wished to be governed and what is expected of those elected to govern. It also provides “term limits”.
It provides for penalties when elected officials fail to follow the rules. Politicians hate being the governed and having to follow rules of law like regular citizens.
The BOC is receiving guidance from the Hatfield School of Governance, aka Portland Law School, on how to “govern” the citizens of Coos County. We, the taxpayers are paying for this advice. This NGO (non-governmental organization) continues to recommend a County Administrator and “just call it another name like “County Manager.”
Currently the BOC holds “work sessions” were decisions are made and votes taken. Citizens are allowed to observe these work sessions. The problem is in the meeting notice does not provide enough detail of the agenda item to do advance research.
A summary / report of these work sessions are never provided at the BOC meeting or in the minutes. A rubber stamp vote is taken at the official BOC meeting. Currently, no commissioner must state their position on any matter before the commission. The citizens of Coos County are left to wonder just who represents their view.
The reason for five commissioners was decided upon, by a committee of citizens, was put a stop to the normal 2 to 1 vote of the commissioners. If there is an item that affects the entire county and four commissioners cannot agree, then they need readdress the issue to the benefit of all citizens of the county and not just the “special interest”. The county should already have a maintenance department to create and administrate a maintenance plan. Recently there was an article in the newspaper that the county was working with other counties to bulk purchase supplies, no new person needed.
