Madore balks at proposal that would limit county manager’s powers

Clark County commissioners voted Tuesday to go ahead with a public hearing next week on a proposal to establish certain departments by ordinance, but Commissioner David Madore expressed strong reservations about the idea, and Commissioner Jeanne Stewart said she wanted to publicly discuss the proposal in advance of the hearing.

That commissioners’ discussion will be at the weekly board time, 2:30 p.m. today at the Public Service Center.

The public hearing is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St.

The ordinance, which former Commissioner Ed Barnes said last week was an attempt to save Don Benton’s job as director of the department of environmental services, was proposed by Chairman Tom Mielke.

Nan Henricksen, a former Camas mayor who led a group of freeholders in writing a county charter approved by voters in November, said last week the ordinance directly conflicts with the charter.

The charter, which takes effect Jan. 1, gives executive authority over departments to County Manager Mark McCauley, the current county administrator.

Madore said Tuesday it’s debatable whether commissioners have the authority to define the organizational chart for the county and said he hasn’t heard any compelling reasons why existing departments should be locked in by ordinance. He’d rather let the county manager have the flexibility of possible integration.

“Mark McCauley has proved himself to be a very good decision-maker,” Madore said.

Madore said he wants to acknowledge the intent of the voters to transfer executive powers to the county manager.

Mielke defended his proposal by saying the county has been successful in its current structure and it doesn’t seem fair that the only department established by ordinance is the budget office.

“It seems only right that you’d recognize the other offices, also,” Mielke said.

But Mielke’s proposed ordinance only lists 12 of 15 departments under the board’s purview: public works, community planning, environmental services, public health, community development, community services, general services, human resources, medical examiner, public information and outreach, application services and infrastructure services.

The budget office was established by ordinance because it used to be under the authority of the county auditor, a separate elected official, McCauley explained after the meeting. Commissioners, however, approve the county budget, so it made sense the budget office should be under their authority.

At a Nov 4. meeting, while he was still in office, Barnes said dissolving the department of environmental services and eliminating three positions — the director, finance manager and administrative assistant — would save the county $713,225 in the next two years in employee costs, a figure confirmed with the county budget office.

Barnes suggested the environmental services staff could be reassigned to the community development and public works departments, which handled most of the responsibilities before the county created the new department in 2009. Public works could take solid waste, clean water, conservation and legacy lands, vegetation management and environmental permitting for county capital projects. Community development could take forestry, biology and private environmental permitting, he suggested.

Stewart replaced Barnes on the board, as Barnes was only filling the rest of Steve Stuart’s term.

Stewart said Tuesday she’d like to discuss the purpose of the ordinance.

After the meeting, McCauley said he hasn’t specifically discussed eliminating the department of environmental services, but he said he has thought about combining departments.

For example, the county never replaced Director of Public Health John Wiesman after he was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to serve as Secretary of Health. Instead, public health officer Dr. Alan Melnick was given additional responsibilities. McCauley said he’s considering merging the public health and community services departments.