There are no good reasons to remain one of the 3 Oregon cities that elect its recorder; there are plenty of reasons to vote for change
By Brian Almquist and Dave Kanner
The time for a charter change to make the Ashland city recorder an appointed rather than an elected position is long overdue. Ashland voters should approve Measure 15-227 on the May ballot. It’s a charter amendment to make the city recorder an appointed position.
Ashland is one of only three cities in Oregon that elects its city recorder. The other two have populations of 50 and 2,000. The elected position dates back to the earliest days of the city. When Ashland first adopted its charter in 1908, the positions of municipal judge (then called the “police judge”) and city recorder were combined in a single position. However, the city fathers (emphasis on fathers) felt that it was not appropriate for women to serve as the police judge but it was okay for women to serve as the recorder, so the city split the two positions and continued each as an elected office. Hence, the elected recorder position has its roots in sexism!
Reasons to vote yes
Fast forward to 2024. The mayor and City Council have referred a measure to the ballot to make the city recorder an appointed position. Here are the reasons to vote yes:
- The city recorder is a secretarial/recordkeeping position, requiring applicable skills. It is not a policymaking position.
- There are currently no minimum qualifications for the position. Making it appointive allows the city to create qualifications and recruit for qualified candidates. An elected recorder need not have secretarial skills or even a command of the English language.
- The city recorder is an administrative position that performs secretarial and recordkeeping functions. Administrative positions such as this should be filled based on the knowledge, skills and abilities of the candidates who apply, not on the basis of who can garner the most votes in an election.
- An appointed recorder would allow the city to draw from a larger pool of qualified applicants. Right now, the pool is limited to registered voters in the city of Ashland.
- The city recorder is currently 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 problem of an unsupervised elected recorder was highlighted in a recent report in Ashland.news that found Ashland faces lost revenue and legal ramifications from a backlog of uncompleted tasks by a former elected city recorder.
But ‘we’ve always done it this way’
Opponents of this measure, if there are any, have had two basic arguments: 1. We’ve always done it this way and it hasn’t been a problem, and 2. An appointed city recorder would make city government less transparent.
However, “we’ve always done it this way,” is the worst possible reason for continuing to do something, especially for doing something the wrong way. Did you know that not a single woman voted in favor of Ashland’s initial charter in 1908? In fact, not a single woman voted, because they weren’t allowed to vote! And there were no doubt plenty of Ashlanders at the time reasoning, “So what? We’ve always done it this way and it hasn’t been a problem!”
Thank goodness more reasonable and forward-thinking minds prevailed in that debate. History is rife with examples of wrongs that were perpetuated because “we’ve always done it this way.” Electing the recorder is simply wrong. It’s time to correct it.
Simply a functionary
As for transparency, there isn’t a shred of evidence that cities with appointed recorders are less transparent than Ashland. What’s more, it’s the council’s job, not the recorder’s, to ensure that city government is transparent. The recorder is simply a functionary who helps the council (and the staff) in that regard. The recorder is not an auditor and has no involvement in the operations of city departments. Audits of the city are, as required by state law, conducted by qualified professionals, not by city recorders.
The time has come. Please vote yes on Measure 15-227 to make the city recorder an appointed position.
Brian Almquist was Ashland’s city administrator from 1970 to 1998. Dave Kanner was Ashland’s city administrator from 2012 to 2016.
