HomeMy WebLinkAboutPam final Final Chartersummary1
ASHLAND CITY CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE
Summary of Recommendations
July 1, 2005
The Ashland City Charter Review Committee is pleased to forward our recommendations
regarding potential changes to the charter to the City Council.
Our work with the Charter has consumed all of the past year. The attached report reflects
thoughtful input from elected and appointed officials and -- most importantly -- from city
residents; extensive research regarding charter theory and practice; and hours of often-
spirited discussion among committee members. Charter review turned out to be a much
bigger task than most of us originally envisioned, but we hope you will agree that our
Final Report conveys the thorough nature of our investigation.
Our major recommendations include:
1.The City of Ashland should be governed by a partnership between the elected
mayor (the political leader), a city manager (the administrative leader), and the
council (the legislative body). Elected officials are charged with responsibility for
developing policy; the city manager should implement that policy. The
manager’s administrative powers should be expanded to include staff supervision
(hiring, firing, and general accountability).
2.The Ashland mayor should vote on all issues before the council; at the same time,
the mayor’s veto power should be eliminated.
3.The mayor should continue to appoint members of city commissions and
committees, subject to council approval.
4.The current position system for selecting council members should be eliminated
in favor of city-wide, at-large elections in which the top three vote-getters win the
council seats at issue.
5.Charter language that requires voter approval of all increases in council salaries
should be eliminated; salary levels should be established via a city ordinance.
6.The city recorder should continue to be elected by the voters. However, charter
language that dictates compensation should be removed; responsibility for salary
issues would be assigned to the city Budget Committee. In addition, the city
council should appoint a task force or committee to study the position in
additional depth.
1
7.The municipal judge should continue to be elected by the voters. However,
charter language that dictates compensation should be removed; responsibility for
salary issues would be assigned to the city Budget committee. As with the
recorder, the city council should appoint a task force or committee to study issues
associated with the municipal judge position in additional depth.
8.Members of the Parks and Recreation Commission should continue to be elected
by city voters, and the Parks Department should continue to be administered as an
autonomous entity independent of the rest of city government. However, existing
charter language should be streamlined to combine the Parks Commission and the
Recreation Commission. Finally, charter language that dictates the department’s
formula should be removed from the charter; the Parks and Recreation budget will
be determined via the annual city budget process.
9. The Ashland City Band should be retained in the charter; however, funding
language should be removed and budget issues delegated to the city Budget
Committee. The committee recommends that the Band be placed under the
authority of the city Parks and Recreation Department.
10.The city council should convene a citizen-based Charter Review Committee at
least every ten years.
We agreed that our findings in each of these areas would be incorporated into the model
charter template developed by the Oregon League of Cities. The result would be the
only-in-Ashland
new, , city charter.
In addition to these structural revisions, the Charter Review Committee has compiled a
set of suggested changes focused on charter language that is outdated, superfluous, or
better conveyed in a city ordinance.
The attached Final Report describes our findings and in more detail; the hefty Appendix
contains copies of reports and other documents developed during the committee’s
process.
The City of Ashland is blessed with thoughtful and involved citizens, dedicated elected
officials, and capable and energetic staff members. If adopted, we believe that the
recommendations endorsed in this report will result in a new and improved charter that
st
will ably guide the city well into the 21 century. Please contact any one of us if we can
answer questions regarding our findings.
2
Respectfully submitted,
Ashland City Charter Review Committee
Co-chairs
John Enders
Carole Wheeldon
Members
Hal Cloer Keith Massie
Kate Culbertson Don Montgomery
Laurie MacGraw Michael Riedeman
Pam Marsh Roy Bashaw (resigned December 2004)
3