Time to Switch to County Charter
Judy Rosener’s column (“There’s No Urgent Need to Reshape the Rules of Governance,” Jan. 22) refers to a 1970 Orange County Chamber of Commerce Task Force, which I chaired, that studied the desirability of adopting a charter form of government for Orange County.
Although the task force concluded at the time that a charter form of government was not beneficial enough to go through the considerable effort to adopt it, I believe such a task force today would come to a different conclusion. I personally feel that a strong county chief executive officer is badly needed, combined with a lessening of the supervisors’ “district prerogative.”
One of the “political” considerations of the 1970 task force was the probable unwillingness of the electorate to give up the right to vote for certain elected county officials. It is probable that since Dec. 6, that is no longer a valid conclusion.
Judy is right when she says a charter will not make officials more competent, reasonable, ethical or innovative. However, today’s large county bureaucracy requires a structure that allows people with those characteristics to provide the oversight to prevent another debacle.
JIM BEAM
Former mayor of Orange
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