Proposed Amendment: Fair Voting by District

The following charter amendment was proposed by Delaine Clizbe, Whatcom County, district 1, at the January 26 Charter Review Commission Meeting.

I would like the Commission to consider amending Section 2.13 of the Charter concerning how our County Council is elected.

I think this amendment is needed because it offers individual districts the opportunity to elect the representative who will advocate for the specific needs of their district, as well as, the County.

We are the only County with a Council/Executive structure to elect our Council Council by a county wide vote. King, Pierce, and Snohomish elect their Council Council by district. The City of Seattle also recently voted to elect their City Council by district instead of city wide. So it seems the trend is going in the direction of elected representatives representing smaller more manageable areas.

Here is the wording from the other 3 counties that have the same County Council/Executive structure that we do.

King County: The metropolitan county council shall consist of nine members. The county shall be divided into nine districts, and one council member shall be nominated and elected by the voters of each district.

Pierce County: The County shall be divided into seven districts, and one Council Member shall be nominated and elected by the voters of each district

Snohomish County: The county council shall consist of five members nominated and elected from districts.

My suggestion is to change the wording of section 2.13 as follows:

The qualified voters of the entire county each district shall vote upon each the council member position in their district at the November general election. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes for each position shall be elected.

Going along with that suggested change, I would like the Commission to consider amending Section 8.20.

Charter amendments may be proposed by the Commission, the County Council or by the public. However, the County Council may not propose an amendment that alters or negates an amendment proposed by the Commission or the public and approved by the voters. Any proposed Charter amendment ...

This change is needed to ensure that the County Council does not override changes that the citizens of Whatcom County have asked for.