Charter amendments would make judge appointed, councilors no longer run for separate seats
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
Two measures on the Nov. 5 ballot ask Ashland voters to make alterations to their city government — Measure 15-233 would make the municipal judge no longer an elected office and Measure 15-232 would change the process of electing city councilors.
The municipal judge as an elected position answers to the people during the window of reelection, which “becomes tricky with accountability,” said Ashland City Manager Sabrina Cotta. An appointed judge would mean filling the position through interviewing candidates, setting expectations and with continual oversight from City Council akin to the way council exercises oversight on the city attorney or city manager, Cotta said.
The judge as an elected office is dictated in its parameters by the city charter, Cotta said. According to the charter, the judge is elected every four years and the only listed qualification is to be a member of the Oregon state bar. The charter also stipulates the judge “shall make a monthly report of the Court’s proceedings in writing to the City Council.”
“He/she shall exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction of all offenses defined and made punishable by ordinances and Charter of the City and all other offenses made punishable by State law over which the City is given concurrent jurisdiction,” according to section 2, article XV of the charter.
The charter also stipulates the salary of the judge as, “initially be the same as for the year 1978-79 and thereafter to be adjusted in the same percentage as the average salary adjustment of the other supervisory employees and department heads of the City of Ashland.”
Council would work with Human Resources to develop a salary for the judge and create expectations of “regular check ins” and other oversight measures. Typical requirements for the position were included in meeting materials during a discussion on the ballot measure at the Aug. 6 City Council business meeting. Additional materials from the Aug. 6 meeting state that in Oregon are 153 municipal courts. Five of those courts have elected judges — Ashland, Cascade Locks, Happy Valley, Hermiston and West Lin.
The judge as an elected officer is free to set the hours of the court. The previous judge held court on Tuesdays.
“The workload ebbs and flows just like any other position, but what can result with that ebb and flow is things like trial dates when only working one day a week,” Cotta.
Measure 15-233 came from city staff doing research on how other municipalities do council elections, Cotta said. Some have ward or district representation corresponding to a geographical area or open seat elections. Numbered seats with no corresponding area is unusual.
“The research has found that an open seat election allows for more civil discourse because you are putting your best forward and your argument for representing the city as a whole versus as up against an opponent,” she said.
Council has four open council seats this election. If this change had been made prior to the election, those four who receive the most votes in one contest would be elected, rather than the highest vote-getter in four separate contests.
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].
