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what's going on in the Charter Commission. And, as well, we've been the only County
<br />• department, Commission, Board, whatever, to be totally on line for sometime, so we've
<br />had total computer access to all of our minutes, agendas, have all been available to the
<br />general public from that standpoint. So we feel comfortable that we've done everything
<br />reasonable to engage the public and encourage them to come forth. Unfortunately,
<br />there's been very little participation by the public, and by the County, the
<br />Administration. We had a good round of meetings with the different departments early
<br />on last Spring. The County Council has been conspicuously absent from this
<br />discussion. We've had little, or no, input. There've been a couple of exceptions to
<br />that, but very little input from the County Council. We've made presentations to them.
<br />We've tried to encourage them to input since that's probably the body that works most
<br />closely with the Commission.
<br />And then one other reminder. While this is probably the most significant tool to make
<br />Charter changes, there are two other processes to make Charter Amendments. The
<br />general public can petition for a Charter change and the Administration via the County
<br />Council can propose a Charter change at any time. That just requires six members of
<br />the Council to vote for a Charter change to be put on the election. In fact, I proposed,
<br />and had, a Charter Amendment on the last election that I proposed when I was on the
<br />County Council. So, that's not all that difficult a process. And it does happen on a
<br />frequent basis, usually more of a housekeeping nature. A department will realize
<br />they're out of compliance with State law, or something that changes there. But, the one
<br />• I proposed was pretty significant, going back to Council four-year terms, so that was on
<br />the last election. Anyway, this isn't the only shot. It's not like every ten years or
<br />nothing. If there's a huge outcry for something then if the County Council members are
<br />responsive to that, or the general public, to some change, then there are vehicles to
<br />propose amendments. And in any case, anything that's proposed goes on to the
<br />following election, as voted on by the general public, which this will be.
<br />Our schedule. We're hoping to have our final votes in the next couple of months, and
<br />get our proposed language. A big part of the amendments is the proposed language
<br />that goes on the ballot, which can be really difficult to say what you want to say. Not
<br />only to say what you want to say, but to be most understandable in terms of the public,
<br />in terms of what they're voting on. And that's been a real controversial issue in the
<br />past. I don't know if so much for the Charter Commission as other, more controversial
<br />things that have been on the ballot, but anyway, that's something that will take a fair
<br />amount of time. So anyway, we hope to have all that wrapped up June or July. And
<br />basically from there to the election, we'll be employing a strategy to publicize, as much
<br />as possible, through printed matter, through different Commission members being
<br />available to talk to the general public in different forums, explaining what the
<br />amendments are.
<br />HOLSCHUH: Could I ask a question? Maybe you just answered it, but once it's
<br />all finished and wrapped up in June or July, there will be opportunity for community
<br />associations to ask for representatives to explain issues?
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