City put both measures on the ballot; one would put city recorder choice in hands of city government instead of city residents
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
Ashland voters will decide whether the city recorder will continue to be elected or instead become an appointed position and whether the chief of police must be the one serving as sergeant at arms, keeping the peace during city council meetings. Ballots must be mailed and postmarked by Tuesday, May 21, or dropped into an official ballot drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Measure 15-227 proposes to amend the Ashland City Charter to remove the elected office of city recorder and allow the city recorder to be appointed, according to the voters pamphlet furnished by Jackson County.
A “yes” vote for the measure amends the charter to allow the city of Ashland to “hire an individual with appropriate training and skill,” as opposed to the electing a recorder, with the only requirements that candidates live in Ashland and be registered to vote. A no vote would maintain the recorder of Ashland as an elected office.
“The notion that an elected recorder makes the city more transparent has no basis in fact. The recorder has no access to or involvement in the operations of city departments, and the recorder is not an auditor,” wrote Brian Almquist, a former Ashland city administrator, in an argument in favor of the measure.
“The current recorder position is unsupervised, and is thus unchecked with regard to working hours, competency, or handling of public records. This measure would provide supervisory oversight for the position,” the letter said.
The argument received signatures in support from the current mayor and all serving city councilors, plus 10 former councilors, including Dennis Slattery and Stefani Seffinger. Former city administrators Greg Scoles, Gino Grimaldi and Dave Kanner also supported the letter.
No arguments in opposition were included in the pamphlet. Previous Ashland recorder Barbara Christensen could not be immediately reached for comment, but has voiced opposition to the measure as previously reported by Ashland.news.
“If citizens decide to do anything with that elected position, they’ll never get it back, Christensen said. “It’s the accountability, that office is the accountability for city government.”
Ballot measure 15-228 asks voters if the Ashland city charter should be amended to allow the chief of police to designate a sergeant-at-arms. The chief of police is required to attend all meetings of city council and perform the duties of sergeant of arms in the current Ashland city charter. The language does not allow any exceptions for the chief such as schedule conflicts or illness.
A yes vote would allow the chief to designate an alternate “uniformed individual” to fulfill council duties in the event the chief cannot.
Reached by email Tuesday, Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara stated he was precluded by law from commenting on a ballot measure.
Ashland’s sole ballot drop box is behind the Ashland Public Library at 410 Siskiyou Blvd. Drivers can access the box by turning into the alley from the Gresham Street (west) end of the alley.
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].
