Commissioners keep resolution tabled to allow vote on size

Commissioners voted 22-1 Monday night to send a resolution to the state legislature in opposition to proposed changes to the Sunshine law. But commissioners failed to bring back a tabled resolution to add a non-binding referendum to the November ballot to allow citizens to make it known whether they would like the size of the County Commission reduced from 24 to 12 members.

The resolution, originally presented by Commissioner Roy Pierce, was tabled at the February meeting. Pierce brought it up again at Monday?s meeting in a last-ditch effort to get it on the ballot. It would have taken a two-thirds majority, or 16 votes, to bring it off the table, but the vote was ultimately 12-11 against.

George Smartt, who has been vocal in his support of changes in the way the commission is elected, said he is disappointed the commissioners didn?t want to find out how the public feels about the issue.

?I feel like the people of Warren County deserve an opportunity to express their opinion,? Smartt said. ?All it would be is a non-binding opinion. The people who have talked to me, the vast majority of them, seem to be in favor of changing the commission in some form, whether it?s reducing the number to 12 in the seats, or staggering the terms.

?Unfortunately, I have several colleagues and good friends on the commission who don?t see it that way. It looks like the people will be denied the opportunity to vote, this November at least.?

Commissioner Bill Zechman says he also feels the citizens have been gagged by the failure to bring the resolution off the table.

?I am dismayed the County Commission has chosen to refuse to hear the voice of the people who elected them,? Zechman said. ?If they feel the people were smart enough to choose them as their county commissioners, certainly they would be smart enough to make a decision as to the structure of government.?

Zechman says the commission won?t be able to put the non-binding referendum on the ballot, or vote on an actual reduction of the commission size, for another four years now since it is too late to get it in the legislative session this year, and you can?t cut commissioners during an elected term.