Ask questions to get answers

I notice letters and opinion pieces lately urging islanders not to consider changes to our county charter during the upcoming review.

I remember one of the main selling points of moving to a charter government was so that we could consider and vote on changes to it every five or 10 years.

I can think of several important questions to be asked of the review committee that we will soon elect:

The switch to charter government promised to be revenue neutral. What happened with that?

Did expanding the council from three to six members result in better decisions? Or any cost savings?

The switch to a super majority requirement has allowed minority votes to now determine county policy. Did we really want to give up majority rule?

I don’t know the answers to these, or several other questions that come to mind, but I hope island voters will pay close attention to this Charter Review Committee election in November and put new people on that committee who will ask tough questions and give our local government all the attention it deserves.

Lee Sturdivant

Friday Harbor