Calhoun County Council: Change in government discussions continue

Council voted 3-1 last week to give second reading to an ordinance that would place a referendum before the voters in November.

Voters will be asked if they want to keep the present, council form of government with five council members or adopt a council-administrator form of government and continue with five council members.

The current council form of government means Calhoun County Council is both the legislative body and the executive body that runs the day-to-day operations of the county.

The council-administrator form of government has the council as a legislative body that addresses ordinances and county policies. An employed, professional administrator would handle day-to-day functions of the county.

Council Vice Chair Ken Westbury says he has wanted to change the county’s government form for the past six years. He says the change would not impact how council works with citizens.

“I want to assure my constituents that when I ask for this, it is not going to cost them any additional funds, other than the cost of running a referendum, once that is done,” Westbury said. “We are not looking at something that is going to add on taxes or anything like that. We are looking at how our county is administered.”

Westbury said he has heard concerns that council is giving up power.

“Power implies that we have a certain amount of knowledge,” Westbury said. “Because we are part-time, we cannot have that level of knowledge in all of these administrative, small decisions in my opinion. We are giving up some of the administrative powers, but along those same lines we are changing a level of accountability, shifting it from us as lay people sitting up here … to the administrator as well.”

“We still maintain the power to hire and, more importantly, to fire the administrator if we are not getting what we are looking for,” Westbury continued. “We are not really giving up our power to pass ordinances, to pass the budget, to approve or disapprove the budget.”

Westbury said the council-administrator form of government is more effective and efficient.

“An efficient government is one where people can walk through those two doors across the hall and get a timely answer to their questions,” Westbury said.

The public will not be told that they have to wait until council meets again to get an answer.

Westbury said industries looking at Calhoun County want answers quickly on whether they can spend $50 million for a project. This answer can be gotten from the administrator.

The company would still need to come to council for any changes in tax structures, Westbury said.

Day-to-day operations can be handled by an administrator and not council, as long as the money is budgeted by council for the operations.

“I have not been satisfied with the fact that I am on a council where we don’t have an administrator who is as accountable as I feel like he should be for his decisions,” Westbury said.

Councilman John Nelson, who opposed second reading, said the county has done a good job at recruiting industry in a timely fashion under its present form of government.

“God put our eyes in the front our heads so we would look into the future,” Westbury said. “He did not put them in the back of our head.

“We’ve got to look at the growth and the changes that are coming to our community that need immediate attention as opposed to the way it was back in the day when we were totally agrarian. Things did not move as fast back then. I am looking for something that will make us more effective in our jobs.”

While Calhoun County on paper has operated under a council form of government by ordinance, officials say it has largely functioned as a council-administrator form of government for years.

A change in government would legally formalize the county’s council-administrator form of government under state statute. It would spell out more specifically council’s responsibilities and duties and the administrator’s duties and responsibilities.

Council Chairman James Haigler said the bottom line is that the matter will come before the voters to decide.

“It is not like we are throwing something down someone’s throat,” Haigler said.

He recommended a public hearing on the matter before it gets final reading.

“I want to hear what they have to say,” he said.