Measuring up Local Gov't

C M C M Y K Y K KILLER TO BE FREED RAIN DELAYS Court grants parole for one of the Oregon Five, A5 Cardinals hang on, Yankees postponed, B1 Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012 theworldlink.com I 75¢ Measuring up local gov’t I Supporters of changes to Jaye Bell,representing the home rule charter measure for Coos County,talks county government make about the initiative Wednesday during pitches at measure forums the chamber of commerce weekly lunch meeting.People representing the administrator ordinance for the county BY DANIEL SIMMONS-RITCHIE were there to speak to their measure. The World By Lou Sennick, The World By Jessie Higgins, The World The sparks flew Wednesday in a ver- Junior Christina Clayton laughs after making a mistake reading the bal slugfest over two ballot measures that morning announcements. Clayton is one of a small group of anchors propose changes to Coos County’s gov- Two groups are pushing separate ballot measures to fix the same perceived who host the morning announcements for Steve Walker’s new multi- ernment structure. problem: They think Coos County’s government is running inefficiently. media class.The video announcements are filmed the day before and The first round began in The Mill The two groups are attacking that perceived issue from opposing angles. include short student-produced multimedia clips. Casino-Hotel at noon. Two camps, one Their success or failure could eventually impact your tax statement and in favor of a home rule charter (measure your representation in Coos County politics. 6-143), the other in favor of hiring a county administrator (6-144), sparred Measure 6-143: Adopt a home rule charter MHS goes live over what they deemed risks and uncer- A group of citizens says the county will run better if taxpayers have tainties in their opponent’s measure. more control over Coos County’s elected officials. Measure 6-143 pro- In an opening blow, Jon Barton, an poses that the county adopt a charter, which is like a constitution. The I Multimedia program launches first administrator advocate, accused the group’s 40-page charter creates new rules for the county’s management. charter authors of creating their docu- Among its biggest changes: The board adds two new commissioners, student-produced television show ment in secret. decisions require the support of four of the five commissioners, the “The charter was clearly formed human resources director is elected rather than hired and voters must approve certain contracts and property transactions. BY JESSIE HIGGINS without public input,” Barton said. The World “There was no public meetings,there was no notice of meetings; it was put together Supporters say: Opponents say: COOS BAY — The final bell sounds. Two well-dressed by a handful of people, somewhere.” teenagers immediately position themselves in front of a green By comparison, members of his camp Taxpayers can rein in excessive spending Although intended to curb excess, the rules screen. Other high school students file in to man the cameras. said, two county advisory committees because the county must approve certain will inadvertently require votes on dozens of rou- More head upstairs to handle audio and video transitions. had worked for a year to determine how transactions with voters. For instance, vot- tine items, from elevator maintenance to bulk “Everybody ready?” Steve Walker asks his students. an administrator could improve county ers must approve any county contract buys of vehicles. Alan Petitt, a Coos Bay busi- The teleprompter starts to roll. efficiency. worth over $100,000. Jaye Bell, a charter nessman, says most people probably don’t want “Good morning, Marshfield,”senior Alex Heinrich begins. But the charter supporters, a group author, says that gives voters a voice. “We that level of micromanagement: “Are the voters He and his co-anchor, junior Christina Clayton, take turns called Americans for Responsive, are upholding a representative form of gov- really interested in managing the county?” reading the next day’s morning announcements. When Responsible, Representative ernment,” she said they’re done, other students will edit the video, replace the Government (ARRRG), fired back. green screen with corresponding photographs and add John Shanks, a former U.S. Navy The county will make better decisions by Requiring supermajorities will stifle gover- graphics. Thirty-second video stories, all shot and edited by serviceman, said he didn’t put much requiring greater consensus. Under the nance. Commissioner Cam Parry says it’s already students, are added. stock in the advisory committees’ find- charter, four of five commissioners must difficult getting two commissioners to agree on KMHS radio now does TV. ings. agree on every issue. Ronnie Herne, a char- the same issue, let alone four. The class is new this year. It’s modeled after collegiate “What makes you think that an ter author, says the commissioners are con- multimedia courses, Walker said. Every day the students administrator can do what the commis- sistently voting 2 to 1 (Fred Messerle and shoot and edit a five-minute video broadcast on school news sioners can’t do?” he said. Cam Parry against Bob Main). that is played for the student body. Rob Taylor, a fellow charter support- “This class is about getting out and doing it,”said senior er,said many entities across Oregon with By electing the human resources director, Bill Grile, Springfield’s former city manager, Jarad Tokich.“It’s hands-on learning. That’s what I like about administrators, like schools and cities, the official will be on equal footing with the says an elected human resources director is a this class.” were doing poorly. commissioners. Herne says the director “ludicrous” idea and possibly unprecedented in This week, Tokich is working on a video story about the “This is why we need more represen- needs to be able to negotiate with unions America. Says labor law is a specialized field and high school’s band. tation, not more administration,”he said. “without three people breathing down their requires the most qualified candidate, not the “The band is under appreciated,”he said. Taylor’s group says their measure will neck.” most popular with voters. The director should be During Wednesday’s class, he carried an HD camera provide greater representation by turn- able to make tough decisions without worrying mounted on a tripod into the halls to interview student band ing the human about re-election. leaders. He’s already shot video of the band rehearsing, and resources direc- plans to take more video of the Friday night half-time per- What tor into an elect- Herne says the charter will likely save Those assumptions don’t include the charter’s formance. ed official and money for Coos County. Says it encourages unintended consequences. Parry says the char- Then he’ll edit together two clips. The first will be short, happens if requiring public bulk purchases and preventive mainte- ter’s conditions on grant money mean it could about 30 seconds, to play with the morning news announce- both pass? votes on certain nance, reduces the salary of the human lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. Voting on ments. The second will be longer, a few minutes. Both ver- county contracts resources director and deactivates depart- routine expenditure will slow down the county’s Coos County will sions will go online at kmhsonline.com. and property ment credit cards, among other changes. operation and add cost. Mailing four ballots each face an unusual situa- transactions. year alone will cost $60,000 each. Tokich is one of the first students to work on a multimedia tion that may take video. But those months or years to proposals were Measure 6-144: Hire a county administrator solve, according to sharply criti- Another group, supported by two Coos County commissioners, says SEE LIVE | A10 legal experts The cized that the county needs to centralize its management structure. At present, three World approached in evening by commissioners supervise day-to-day affairs of 23 departments. The sys- August. The general Commissioner tem, like most American counties, was established during settlement. rule is that a charter Cam Parry in a Measure 6-144 proposes that the county hire a “county administrator,”a is a constitution and separate forum would supersede con- position similar to a city manager or a CEO. at the Red Lion By hiring an administrator, the commissioners focus on policy (eg. tradicting ballot Hotel in Coos measures. However, it ordinances) while the administrator focuses on management (eg. setting Bay. isn’t clear what hap- budgets, hiring department directors, ordering equipment). The admin- pens when the char- Parry said the istrator answers to the board of commissioners and the board has the ter is established on human resources power to hire and fire that person. the same ballot as the director is a spe- This measure also would add two new commissioners to the board in contradicting ordi- cialized job that 2015 and the salary of each commissioner would be cut to pay for the nance. “What’s going requires a quali- salary of an administrator. to happen is this is fied candidate. going to be tied up in And, while the court for a long time,” charter’s Supporters say: Opponents say: said Josh Soper, inter- emphasis on im county counsel. public voting Coos County’s founding leadership struc- Bell says administrators are undemocratic. “It may be well ture hasn’t kept pace with the growing com- takes your representative form of government The Associated Press intentioned, it plexity of county management. Alan Pettit, a away from you.” Rob Taylor, a charter supporter, Newsweek magazine, a mainstay of mainstream news coverage for would create havoc.

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