There’s at least one issue on next Tuesday’s ballot for which there have been no radio or TV ads, no fliers in the mailbox.
Jackson County voters are being asked to alter the four-decade-old County Charter, with what officials describe as reforms to save money, streamline government and improve ethical accountability.
Most of the county’s elected officials say they support the changes, and no organized opposition has popped up. Still, County Executive Mike Sanders says it’s not the kind of issue that political donors will line up behind.
“Charter reform doesn’t sound very sexy,” is how Sanders puts it.
That means officials are relying on news coverage, op-ed articles and visits to newspaper editorial board to generate awareness and, they hope, a yes vote.
Officials describe the changes as the most significant since the current charter went into effect in 1972. The major changes:
n Combining the county’s Ethics Commission and its Office of Human Relations & Citizen Complaints.
The Ethics Commission has no permanent staff, and Sanders has said having two organizations is confusing for citzens.
“For that reason, I think the Ethics Commission process has languished,” Sanders told legislators several weeks ago.
He also estimated the savings of combining the two at $200,000 a year.
n Limits on professional services contracts awarded by the executive, which Sanders says were often abused by his predecessor, Katheryn Shields. Currently the executive can issue such contracts without the say of the Legislature, in theory spending unlimited amounts of county money without oversight.
“No politician should have that full a power, and that should end,” says Sanders, who early in his term in office said he’d take on restrictions voluntarily, but he wants those in writing for future county executives.
n Removing the requirement that the executive maintain specific departments and offices – such as an office of health and welfare, which doesn’t exist – and instead outline the functions that need to occur and let the executive organize those as he sees fit. Sanders says that saves the taxpayers money. For many years, the county has not had some of the charter-mandated offices, and Sanders says in theory someone could sue over that, forcing the county to follow the letter of the law – leading to a what he calls a “creation of bureaucracies.” Those functions continue to be carried out, but the government structure to do that needs to be flexible, he said.
In March, Sanders appointed a task force, led by former Kansas City Mayor and former County Legislator Kay Barnes, and gave it free rein to suggest changes. That group walked through the charter line by line, section by section through the spring, held a couple of sparsely hearings to get public comments and read through comments e-mailed by citizens. Sanders’ office provided a couple of people to serve as staff for the task force, and Sanders’ own suggestions were presented – and mostly adopted – but Sanders, Barnes and legislators said insistently and repeatedly that the group operated independently of any elected official.
In May, those changes went before the Legislature, which voted to put the issue on Tuesday’s ballot – with one change. It stripped out a provision to give elected officials – legislators, the executive, the prosecutor and the sheriff – raises. Legislators, for example, are paid $25,920 for their part-time positions, and that would have risen to $28,916. Pay would have been tied to that of local judges – which is set at the state level – freeing legislators from having to vote for their own raises, when they get them, at budget time. No one in county government has had a raise for years, as the revenues , spending and work force have shrunk in the tough economy.
“We do not feel in these hard economic times that we should ask for a pay raise,” said Legislature Chairman Henry Rizzo.
The charter task force did reject of few suggestions that came before it, such as one from Sanders’ office changing the employee-complaint process in a way that would have given management more control. Also, one task force member – former Legislator Bud Hertzog – pushed to save money by cutting the Legislature from nine members to seven, but that idea gained no support from others in the group. Some citizens suggested term limits, but the task force did take that up.
Online
The entire charter – more than 20 pages worth – is not on the ballot. The ballot question is a yes-no question: Whether to repeal the current charter and replace it with the new version.
The whole charter can be seen in a couple of places:
- For a 41-page version of the charter that shows what’s being dropped, what’s being added and being rewritten, go to the Jackson County Election Commission website at www.jcebmo.org/on-the-ballot.
- The county’s regular website has the current charter, the proposed charter and the version with proposed changes in bond, underlined typed for strike-through type. All three can be downloaded at www.jacksongov.org/content/3971/5929/6265.aspx
