On Monday Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker informed the Jackson County for All leaders that the statutory number of petition signatures had been verified.
The group gathered far more than were necessary to meet the required number.
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| County Clerk Christine Walker |
The charter update group gathered over 11,500 signatures for each of the three initiatives. The number of valid signatures required to be on the ballot is 8,351. Group leaders planned to submit 25% to 30% more signatures than needed to allow for duplicate or illegible signatures. The clerk did a sampling of the ballots, testing over 1,000 from each of the three ballot proposals. The results came in, with 93% to 96% properly signed, meaning each initiative had over 10,500 valid signatures -- 2,000 more than necessary.
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Petitions being prepared for submission |
The county clerk sent Jackson County for All leaders a report on the sampling for each ballot initiative. The first initiative, which will have the ballot title "Jackson County Commissioners to be Non-Partisan" looks like this. The others are similar.
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Caption: Jackson County Commissioners to be Non-Partisan
Question: Should the Jackson County Commissioners switch from partisan to non-partisan starting in the 2026 primary election?
Summary: This measure changes Section 9 of the Charter of Jackson County Oregon regarding the Board of County Commissioner’s. This measure changes the elected Commissioners from a partisan office to a non-partisan office. This means no political affiliation will be shown on the ballot next to the candidate for county commissioner.
Question: Should the number of Commissioners increase to five with no more than three positions open per election?
Summary: This measure changes Section 5 and Section 9 of the Charter of Jackson County Oregon regarding the number of elected officials on the Board of County Commissioners. This measure increases the number of County Commissioners from three (3) to five (5). The measure sets out additional requirements regarding the two additional Commissioner positions who will be elected in the 2026 general election and will serve initial two-year terms. The purpose of the initial two-year term is so that no more than three of the five positions come up for election in the same year. Following the end of the initial two-year term of the two new commissioner positions, the election term will be four years.
15-226
Caption: Codifying Jackson County Commissioners Salaries in the County Charter
Question: Should salaries of Commissioners be decreased to $75,000.00 with future salary changes tied to average wages in Jackson County?
Summary: This measure changes Section 24 of the Charter of Jackson County Oregon to delineate the county commissioners from other elected officials regarding compensation. Section 24 of the Charter would be amended to set the County Commissioners' salaries at $75,000.00 starting January 1, 2027. Any future change in commissioner salary would be annually indexed to the average wage in Jackson County. This will cause as decrease in Commissioner salaries. Currently Commissioners salaries are set annually by the Jackson County Budget Committee. For the fiscal year 2023-2024 the annual salary range is $123,884.80 - $143,416.00.
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| Medford Town Meeting |
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5 comments:
I didn’t think the Republican commissioners would easily surrender their grip on the county, even though the issues they’re supposed to address are non-partisan. Their position as commissioners gives them a platform for promoting partisan culture war issues, such as their opposition to COVID-19 precautions and vaccines. They even passed a pointless resolution against state mandates that contained a number of misleading statements about the pandemic, including one that said Jackson County hospitals were “not overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases.” In fact, they were. We really don’t need that kind of cluelessness.
The current BOC doesn't want to surrender their outlandish paychecks!
How anyone can be against increasing representation is beyond me.
Pete, how is the Budget Committee selected? Hopefully not by the BOC - that would really stink.
I don't know the current method but I think commissioners who are serving a second term should earn more than those serving a first term, as sort of a merit raise.
Thank you for supporting this measure, Peter.
Mc; the current compensation of the Commissioners is set by a panel of 6 people, 3 Commissioners and 3 people appointed by those Commissioners. It's possible the County Administrator, Danny Jordan also sits on that Panel. Peter undoubtedly knows more than I do.
The Town Hall hosted by the Leadership of Jackson County for All was very well attended by people of all political persuasions, although not all got to speak, as the method of selecting speakers was by lottery. Overall, it was quite civil, but in my opinion, those opposed were nearly all speaking in opposition to increasing the number of Commissioners from 3 to 5, and their questions seemed to use the same verbiage, as though they had been coached.
Mc: The Budget Committee is in fact appointed by the BOC, but that doesn’t make them political. One was SOU’s vice president for finance and administration for 20 years. One has served on several non profit boards. One is President/CEO of the credit union. Numbers aren’t political.
https://jacksoncountyor.gov/government/commissions_committees___boards/committees/budget_committee/index.php
Thank you, both, for providing that information.
I do think the BOC shouldn't have any hand in creating their salaries, even if it appoints a minority amount of members.
Jackson County has the highest paid BOC in the state, from what I recall. It surely didn't become that way because of fiduciary responsibility or because the Commissioners were/are doing a good job.
Thanks!
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