Next week Wednesday, May 22 at 6:00 p.m. at the County Fair Park, the County Board's Executive Committee will be holding a meeting related to implementing a County Executive. There will be a presentation, followed by an opportunity for Public Comment. I encourage anyone who is interested to attend this meeting.
I have generally heard positive commentary related to this topic. Many of the neighbors I have talked to like the idea of electing the head of the Executive branch of our County's government, instead of having the County Board appoint that head.
I have heard a few comments that have expressed some pessimism about getting this accomplished, since the issue came up once before. Right now we have a very reform-minded County Board. I would point to a few examples:
- People doubted that we would ever have evening meetings, but we got that done.
- People doubted that we would ever curb the wasteful practice of paying County Board members per diem pay based on the number of meetings they attend. We made significant progress in reducing that practice to only $20 per meeting (Long-term I would like to eliminate per diem pay entire at some point).
- People doubted that the County Board would ever be reduced in size, but that happened in 2015 (just before I first got elected) when the board was reduced from 30 to 26. It also stands a good chance of being reduced again after the 2020 census.
- People doubted that we would ever have a park-system that could sustain itself without taxes, but we are making great progress towards getting that done.
Right now I am leaning towards voting for this when it comes before the full County Board, but I also want to continue hearing from my neighbors in District 3 and throughout the County.
I think that the final vote on this will be close, but I see a significant potential that this will pass, and that in April 2020 we will be electing a County Executive.
