By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The Yachats City Council tossed out hours of work fine-tuning changes to the city charter Wednesday when it took the advice of its attorney to instead simply use a “model” language from the League of Oregon Cities.
The council will use model charter language on how to operate with a city manager-council form of government and simplify language on a seldom-used municipal court judge.
Yachats changed to a city manager-council form of government three years ago. But that change – the duties of the office and how the manager interacts with the council — was never formalized in the city charter.
Voters must approve any charter changes and the council wants to get the proposal on the May 21 ballot. There is an early March deadline to do that.
The former council started working on the wording changes late last year. The current council, which has three new members, then spent several meetings in January going over the charter line-by-line, not only addressing the city manager’s office but also council procedures and other items.
That document went to city attorney Ross Williamson in January for review. He came back Wednesday with a recommendation the council keep its current charter intact but simply insert the league’s model ordinance language on city managers and municipal courts. The two sections, he said, are used by most Oregon cities and have withstood all kinds of court tests.
“The benefit of using a model charter is that it rarely gets challenged but when it does there’s a lot of background, rulings and case law,” Williamson told the council by phone. “I want it to be a conscious decision on your part to change something.”
Yachats’ current charter was approved by voters in 2005, with small changes OK’d in 2015. Voters narrowly rejected proposed changes in 2012.
Williamson said it is easier to convince voters to approve changes if there is a “targeted approach.” Simply inserting model language on the city manager and municipal judge would do that.
“Voters fear the unknown if the changes are too large or too complicated,” he said, while acknowledging that Yachats has “a very informed electorate …”
The council had also proposed charter changes on how the council operates, fills vacancies and other procedures. In answer to a question, Williamson agreed those sections could simply be moved into the city’s more easily amended city ordinances outlining council rules.
It wasn’t until the end of the Wednesday’s two-hour meeting, however, that new council member James Kerti expressed frustration that the council had spent so much time working on changes “only to find our attorney had big objections.” In addition to time spent on changes during council meetings, Kerti and councilor Leslie Vaaler had worked outside of meetings to incorporate suggested changes from other members in order to help meet deadlines.
The proposed charter changes are supposed to be re-worked and scheduled for a vote at the council’s Feb. 20 meeting in time for the May election.
In other business Wednesday, the council:
— Appointed Craig Berdie, who served four months as an interim council member in 2018, to the Parks and Commons Commission. But the unanimous vote came only after Vaaler asked if he would instead consider joining the Public Works and Street Commission, which has three vacancies. When Berdie declined, Vaaler noted that the seven-member Parks and Commons Commission would have six men and just one woman member.
“Can you commit to encouraging women who come before it to join the commission,” she asked.
“There can be a better balance,” Berdie replied.
- Appointed retired architect Loren Dickinson to the Planning Commission.
- Authorized City Manager Shannon Beaucaire to sign off on a request by the Beach Street Kitchen for a full state liquor license. The operation is going into the space formerly occupied by Heidi’s Restaurant.