For people who like to get to the nitty gritty of things, your time is here.
The Charter Board is digging into the details of what our proposed government could look like under home rule; with guidance from Vic Tervala, a lawyer known in Maryland for advising municipalities on home rule processes. They are using the Cecil County charter as a markup
model and applying the information they got from their tour of Frederick County to find out public views of what Charter should look like.
Public comment in the past six months has reportedly coalesced around the idea of having elected councilpeople representing districts within the County. In my experience, people want to see more policymakers familiar with parts of Frederick County that don’t get much attention in the current structure. It would be a good idea to add two at-large Council reps is a way to balance out the potential parochialism of the five geographically or election district-based Council members.
Most people, though, are interested in the job description of the County Exec and how that person will be elected and how her or his office would be structured once in. Stay tuned; the next meeting is tonight, Nov 15 at 7 p.m., on the third floor of Winchester Hall.
2 comments:
I went to the Charter Board meeting last night and found it very interesting as they all have been. I have been to 3, I think, in person and have watched most of the rest. I have been to probably 3 of the outreach meetings.
I believe the BoCC was wise to hire Mr. Victor Trevala to guide the process and he was there last night. The Charter Board is using the Cecil County Charter as a guide and Mr. Trevala helped write that one so he is very well versed in its structure. All the Counties Charters can be download from the Frederick County web site.
The Charter Board is taking the Cecil Charter a paragraph at a time and analyzing and parsing all the words and applying it the Frederick Charter.
I feel comfortable with the thought processes of all the Charter Board members. They all have focused on writing a document that serves the people. I have seen no sign of any attempt to try and insert any politics or policy into the Charter, only focusing on as pure a governing document as possible that serves all the people.
The Charter Board does want to hear the public input and their email address is on the County web site.
http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/index.aspx?NID=4490
Take care,
Rolan
My comments to date.
Take care,
Rolan
Rolan, I agree. People who were uncomfortable with the ones selected should observe on TV or go to some of the meetings. I think they're doing a good job because first and foremost they realize to get a charter passed it has to be one that reflects what people in Frederick County will vote for.
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