Charter review panel forms water committee after county commissioners answer questions on DCD, board size and grants

The Clallam County Charter Review Commission on March 24 voted to form a Water and Environmental Stewardship Committee following extended discussion with three county commissioners about public timber management, long-term grant projects and whether the county's Department of Community Development director should be elected or appointed.

The commission said the new committee will research county responsibilities on watersheds, forest management and related long-term projects and report back to the full commission. Commissioners named to the group included Pickett, Richards, Sargento and Holly (appointments announced on the record at the meeting).

Why it matters: Commissioners and the public pressed the charter panel for clarity about where authority and long-term project accountability should sit. Several county commissioners told the panel that public timber harvest and multi-year, multi-jurisdictional grant projects create a financial and policy nexus that often requires sustained county-level oversight across electoral cycles.

During a question-and-answer period, county commissioners gave differing views on whether to expand the county commission from three to five members. One commissioner said a larger commission could foster more idea-sharing and provide smaller geographic districts; another warned about the budgetary cost of adding elected seats. Commissioners also debated whether a five-member board would change who is attracted to the office and whether the job could remain full time.

The panel heard repeated concerns about continuity on long-range projects funded by external grants. Commissioners and staff described cases that can stretch a decade or more, with multiple changes in elected and appointed officials, and said that makes tracking project performance difficult. The commission heard that the county's lodging tax generates nearly $2 million a year and was used as an example of an internal, recurring grant process with oversight and review steps.

On code enforcement and forest management, commissioners and the panel discussed that the charter currently places forest-management duties with the DCD director while the financial consequences can touch the county and junior taxing districts. Several speakers said the charter language on how public timber and trust lands are handled is ambiguous and asked the review commission to clarify whether public timber policy and revenue decisions should be more explicitly under the Board of County Commissioners or kept with an elected DCD director.

The commission said the water committee will study those questions and seek input from relevant stakeholders, including state agencies and tribal governments, and bring recommendations to a future meeting.

Ending: The commission set the committee membership during the meeting and asked the group to return with findings and any recommended charter language. The commission also asked staff to invite the county's DCD leadership back to a future meeting for further discussion.