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Group can collect signatures
Home rule supporters need to collect 1,421 names by
Feb. 20
Proponents of a proposed home rule charter can now collect signatures to place the issue on the May ballot.
The charter would increase the number of county commissioners from three to five, hire a county administrator and make all county elections nonpartisan. C om m i s sioner s a l s o would be elected by district instead of at-large.
The group needs to collect 1,421 signatures of active, registered voters by Feb. 20 to place it on the ballot.
The charter was filed with the county clerk in mid-December after a group of 20 to 30 county residents worked on it in private for several months.
The executive committee of the Klamath County Republican Central Committee voted shortly after Christmas to recommend the central committee oppose the charter because it makes all county-elected positions nonpartisan and was developed behind closed doors.
After hearing presentations by those both for and against the charter, the central committee voted 35-10 to oppose it. Committee officials said afterward that many voted against the charter because of the nonpartisan elections issue.
But proponents said they weren’t discouraged and instead criticized the committee’s preference for partisan politics.
“ T h e y s h o u l d b e more concerned about the quality of the person instead of the party they’re in,” said charter spokesma n Wa lt Badorek.
Positive response
Charter group member Bill Kennedy said he’s had a tremendous positive response from the community since, and that several individuals came up to him after the meeting to encourage him to put the charter on the ballot.
“ The good news is that they don’t represent all of us Republicans,” Kennedy said.
Badorek said he didn’t think the negative vote of the central committee would affect the charter’s chances.