PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners will tackle two recommendations from the Charter Review Commission today.
The elected charter review panel has asked commissioners to form advisory committees to study forest board trust lands and salary discrepancies for non-union county employees.
The charter review voted 10-4 last month to suggest a study of the possibility of re-conveying the management of county trust lands from the state Department of Natural Resources back to the county.
It has also asked commissioners to set up a committee to recommend salaries for elected officials, department heads and their chief deputies.
“It’s up to you as to whether or not you want to do it,” commission Chairwoman Norma Turner told commissioners last Monday.
Board Chairman Jim McEntire said the recommendations had not yet been discussed.
Discussion today
County Commissioners said they would address the recommendations at their work session today at 9 a.m. in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223. E. Fourth. St., Port Angeles.
“We need to spend some time ourselves understanding the recommendations fully and figuring out how we’re going to proceed,” McEntire said.
He asked Turner to invite members of the charter review to explain the recommendations at the work session.
“That would be awfully useful information to us, I think,” he said.
The Charter Review Commission has come up with eight proposed charter amendments for voters to consider in the Nov. 3 election.
Its members last Monday fine-tuned language for the eight proposals and explanatory statements that will appear on the 2015 ballot.
During that meeting, the commission voted 7-6 to allow subcommittee chairs to send pro and con statements directly to the county auditor with no direct oversight from the full commission.
Turner and others dissenters said they were uncomfortable with that approach.
“All I’d ask is, as a courtesy, if those chairs would send that out to the rest of the commission at the same time it goes to the auditor so we won’t be surprised with what we read in the voter pamphlet,” Turner said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
