Clark County Councilor David Madore has cleared another hurdle in his effort to overturn a recently passed ordinance that changes how the county publicizes sensitive contracts.
Cathie Garber, Clark County elections supervisor, told The Columbian that her staff has validated 230 signatures for Madore’s effort to refer the ordinance to a public vote. Under the county’s Home Rule Charter, an ordinance can be temporarily suspended 10 days after it’s passed if a petition with at least 100 valid signatures is filed with the county auditor. Now Madore, who lost his re-election bid, has until March 22 to gather 19,351 valid signatures, Garber said. If he’s successful, the ordinance will be referred to the voters for an up-or-down vote.
The ordinance, passed with a 3-2 vote earlier this month, directs the county manager to no longer publicize contracts related to human resources investigations.
Madore was joined by Councilor Tom Mielke in opposing the ordinance. Both councilors have clashed with the rest of the council and County Manager Mark McCauley for not properly publicizing contracts. When it was passed, Madore argued that it would hurt transparency and was a politically motivated move by the rest of the council and county staff.
