Dear Commissioners Smith, Barnett, and all elected officials of Josephine County,

JoCo Citizens For Responsible Government (CRG) has a critical and timely recommendation approved by our membership that we hope you will immediately implement as it relates to the appointment of a vacant commissioner position.  This recommendation is a win-win for all parties and follows the spirit of the Josephine County Charter.

Despite false statements contained in Mr. Barnett and Mr. Blech’s “whitepaper” rebuttal to the recall petitions, CRG as an organization had nothing to do with these two recalls.  Our general membership was asked to vote two separate times on whether to take a position on the recall and each time our membership said no.  We strongly object to the statement from the two commissioners that we were involved, and the fact remains that we have not taken a position nor will we take a position if there is a recall election next month.  

CRG is a nonpartisan organization focused on advocacy for good governance for all local government agencies in Josephine County.  Some of our members may have individually participated in the recall advocacy, but members of the local Republican Party central committee participated in recall advocacy, local church members participated in recall advocacy, and many others.  This does not mean that those organizations took a position on the recalls.

In the near future, you will have at least one, and potentially two separate circumstances where two commissioners need to vote to fill a single vacancy on the BCC.  We recommend that, going forward, any time there is a single vacancy to be filled on the BCC, you follow the spirit of the charter and assemble an Advisory Board of all administrative elected officials of the County to review applications, score applications, and make a recommendation to the BCC for the appointment.  The two Commissioners still eventually make the appointment decision, but only after an advisory recommendation is received from the temporary board of elected officials.

As you know, on the resignation or vacancy of one Commissioner, the two Commissioners will only have 30 days to accept Commissioner applications and make the new Commissioner appointment.  The best way to honor both voters and the County Charter would be to have the County’s other elected officials weigh in on the Commissioner appointment process.  All County elected officials, representatives of the people in their respective County governance areas, should rank Commissioner applications and make a recommendation of their top candidate choices for Commissioner.

And our two remaining Commissioners can then make their appointment based on the collective advice of all the County’s elected officials.  This process would be a win-win.  It will honor voters by soliciting the advice of all County elected officials.  It will also say to County department heads who serve at the pleasure of County voters, we honor and respect your opinions.  And finally, it honors the spirit of the County Charter by using a process similar to the one that would be required if there were two vacancies on the BCC.

Thank you in advance for your timely consideration of this recommendation.