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DRAFT Meeting Summary
Meeting 21– January 8, 2004
Members:
Richard Bonewits
Richard Derham
Mark Endresen
Dave Gering
Steve Goldblatt
Arun Jhaveri
Sharon Maeda
Jim Montgomery
Bill Ptacek
Kathleen Royer
Steve Williamson
Consulting
Team:
Berk
& Associates, 206-324-8760
Bonnie Berk, President
Marty Wine, Senior Associate
Cherienne Tibbetts, Associate
Council
Staff:
Scott White, Council Staff, 296-0324
The Commission on Governance meeting was called to order at 2:08 p.m., 44th Floor, Wells Fargo Building, 999 - 3rd Avenue, Seattle, Washington by Co-Chair Steve Goldblatt.
Commission members present: Richard Derham, Mark Endresen, Dave Gering, Steve Goldblatt, Arun Jhaveri, Sharon Maeda, Jim Montgomery, Bill Ptacek, Kathleen Royer
Absent: Richard Bonewits, Steve Williamson
Audience Members: Charlie Bush, City Manager’s Office, City of Bellevue; Rose Feliciano, Regional Affairs Coordinator, City of Seattle; Miriam Helgeland, League of Women Voters; Anthony Hemstad, Suburban Cities Association, City of Maple Valley; Dave Regnier, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office; Keith Ervin, Seattle Times; Patrick Vanzo, King County Department of Community and Human Services.
1. Approval of December 22 Meeting Summary
Jim Montgomery moved, and Arun Jhaveri seconded the approval of the December 22 meeting summary. The motion was unanimously approved.
2. International City/County Management Association
Marty Wine introduced Terry Schutten, County Executive of Sacramento County. Terry passed out handouts provided by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and an organizational chart of Sacramento County. Terry discussed his background with Lehigh County in Pennsylvania, Ramsey County in Minnesota and finally Sacramento County in California where he is the County Executive (an appointed county manager commission). Terry compared his experience in different counties over time:
| Lehigh County PA
$250,000 budget 2,500 employees |
County Administrator for 8 years | 9 Council members, partisan 5 elected at large, 4 by district Charter County County manager serves at will of Executive |
| Elected positions included sheriff, district attorney, register of wills, recorder, auditor and treasurer Responsibilities are much like Director of Administration which parallels King County's head of Executive Services Outstanding setup for a council and broad representation. | ||
| Ramsey County MN (includes St. Paul) |
County Manager for 13 years |
7 Councilmembers, non-partisan Charter County, Council manager form Manager serves at will of Council |
| $.5 billion budget
5,000 employees 550,000 population Elected positions include the sheriff and district attorney Responsibilities are broader than in Lehigh County under the Board of Commissioners | ||
| Sacramento County | County Executive | 5 member, non-partisan, elected by district Charter County, Council manager form 4 out of 5 can remove County Executive $2.3 billion budget |
| 1.3 million population
Elected positions include sheriff, district attorney and assessor Provides services for 550,000 in unincorporated areas | ||
Q: What are the pros and cons of having a smaller versus larger Council?
A: Although this Board is small, the workload is significant and much of each member's time is spent in Committee. Each board member has five staff members.
Q:
The argument is made that in a county executive form of government
the line departments are not as responsive to requests from council
members as in the county manager form of government. What are your
thoughts regarding this?
A: The difference is whether one works for the executive or council.
In Sacramento County, we are very responsive to Board members’
requests for information. They are a true policy board and do not
get involved in the day-to-day operations. It is our job to recommend
policies and it is their job to approve or disapprove these policies.
Q: Do you and the staff provide for their support activities and how does that relationship work?
A: The Board and the County Executive are responsible for three items: set staff
complement for elected officials; all facilities, and budget. We have binding
arbitration for deputy sheriff's union, however the charter says if the binding
arbitration significantly impacts the budget, the Board of supervisors or the
sheriff may put that binding arbitration on the public ballot. With the last
binding arbitration, deputies gave 3% of their salary for each year of service
and could retire at the age of 50. This was a significant enhancement. The
arbitrators also added that the county would pay for all benefit contributions.
Currently the county pays 50% and the employee pays 50% so that was literally a
100% increase. I recommended to the board that they put it on the ballot and
the Board approved the ballot measure.
Q: What percentage of employees of the county are represented and how many collective bargaining units does the county have?
A: The county has 17 collective bargaining units. There are 3,000 unrepresented and 10,000 represented employees. The County does not have similar "Metro" duties for wastewater and bus service as King County.
Q: Is the board of supervisors part-time or full-time?
A: They are full-time.
Q: What type of performance measurements do you have in order to make sure that you report back to the Board of supervisors to achieve certain strategic goals?
I have an annual review with the board. There is a form with approximately 30 questions about my performance which they complete. I then review it with each Board member individually. There is a meeting with all the board members and myself to share individual opinions. Then their responsibility is to keep me on or let me go.
Q: In Bellevue, the city manager meets with council early in the year and throughout the year to get a sense of what the top priorities are for the City. Then than feedback comes to departments to set priorities and develop the budget. Please contrast this situation with an elected executive form of government.
A: I think that the appearance of the elected executive form is that many activities are significantly more political due to type of government. This requires the executive branch to get the council to go along with executive branch policies.
Q: Regarding budget choices, California is facing a dire budget situation. How is this handled in the county manager form of government?
A: Sacramento County cut $77 million from the budget last year. Our local funds come from primarily one source, approximately $430 million and the remaining budget is intergovernmental transfers. Sacramento is taking $40 million in cuts this year which is a significant reduction. There are five priorities set: prevention, programs in general government, quality of life, social safety, and public safety. The largest cut will be in public safety.
Q: Who approves information technology projects?
A: Development would be staff driven but the Board would approve the overall contract.
Q: Please comment on the 9-member council with district and at-large elections.
A: I think it works well because the 5 who are elected at large have the whole county perspective on decisions of budget and programs, and the 4 elected by district have individual neighborhoods and communities in mind. When decisions are made you can literally see the difference in thinking processes due to where these individuals came from and how they were elected.
Q: Please comment on the 9-member council with district and at-large elections.
A: I think it works well because the 5 who are elected at large have the whole county perspective on decisions of budget and programs, and the 4 elected by district have individual neighborhoods and communities in mind. When decisions are made you can literally see the difference in thinking processes due to where these individuals came from and how they were elected.
Q: Please comment on the 9-member council with district and at-large elections.
A: I think it works well because the 5 who are elected at large have the whole county perspective on decisions of budget and programs, and the 4 elected by district have individual neighborhoods and communities in mind. When decisions are made you can literally see the difference in thinking processes due to where these individuals came from and how they were elected.
Q: Who provides jail services in Sacramento County?
A: The sheriff.
Q: Do you prefer partisan or nonpartisan council?
A: Nonpartisan because it depoliticizes the process.
Q: What is your preferred council size?
A: Three is too small, five is wonderful council size, seven is more difficult and nine is even more difficult.
Q: How much time does the council spend in chambers?
A: Two and a half days each week are spent in chambers.
Q: What are your thoughts about elected versus appointed positions?
A: The district attorney (prosecuting attorney) should be elected. The auditor should be appointed; it is such a technical job.
Q: How many judges do you have?
A: We have 30+ judges but you need to be aware that the State of California is responsible, including funding, for the courts at every level; superior, municipal and district.
Q: What the term for Board of supervisors?
A: It is a four-year term with no term limits.
Q: We have discussed whether in times of fiscal crisis there are "circuit breakers," to hold the line on staff and salary increases. Does your County choose to lay staff off or cut raises?
A: Lay staff off.
Terry's overall view of form of government includes:
County managers are facilitators who need to provide leadership to implement initiatives.
3. Phase 4 Governance Discussion
Bonnie reviewed the questions asked by the ordinance and suggested by the Commission's problem statement and suggested that to start discussions, the Commission should consider how to build a case for changing what exists now. Why does governance matter? The Phase 4 question is: "how would a change in political structure address the County's problems?"
Q: Brainstorm: What is the difference between governance and political structure? Also: how to citizens of the County want to be governed?
Discussion and brainstorming: Political structure is a quarter of governance. All of the four questions in the Ordinance make up the question of governance. The Commission's Phase 4 work is about the political structure aspects of governance. Emphasis should be on quality of life and needs to be a holistic approach. Making sure citizens perceive they are involved Discussion and brainstorming: Political structure is a quarter of governance. All of the four questions in the Ordinance make up the question of governance. The Commission's Phase 4 work is about the political structure aspects of governance. Emphasis should be on quality of life and needs to be a holistic approach. Making sure citizens perceive they are involved
in doing the right thing. The Commission can't start over with a blank slate - be mindful of King County's situation because there are some things that cannot be changed. Citizens don't trust King County - service provision is missing the mark and the citizens are not happy. King County admits that there are not enough resources. King County should focus on the result but are not able to offer ways to get there. This situation is getting worse, not better. We should deal with the presented problem which is structure.
Q: Is it important that the County be an organization or an entity that gets things done?
Discussion: There are problems that need to be addressed and credibility and perception should be important. It is important to understand what we are dealing with and think about how County government can best position itself to deal with the environment it finds itself in. It is important that the community is part of the government and the decision making process. The reason that tax-limiting initiatives are successful is that there is a disconnect between what services people perceive they get and what tax dollars actually produce. The Commission should cycle back to Phase 1 - what services should be provided - prior to the end of the Governance meetings. The Commission could recommend that the Council adopt core services of government and go through the process of prioritizing what's important. In addition to the ICMA/professional manager position, the Commission should hear from an elected executive in a partisan environment. The group further discussed division of responsibilities on the Council with full committee considering issues versus committee structure.
Marty Wine presented the Phase 4 questions including what exists now in King County (see "Refining Phase 4 Policy Framework"). She pointed out that under the King County Charter there is clear separation of powers between three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Judicial Branch interprets laws; legislative Branch sets broad policy/oversight function; and executive Branch interprets policy to enforce laws/manage operations.
Marty then presented from a handout titled "Basic Forms of County Government Structure."
Miriam Helgeland, observer from League of Women Voters, suggested that one of the drawbacks of partisan offices is that some candidates run unopposed from the primary to general election.
4. Upcoming Meetings and Next Steps