Washington County CJCC adopts strategic plan after debate over chair vs. co‑chairs

The Washington County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council approved a final strategic plan prepared by consultant JMI at its meeting, then spent the bulk of the session debating whether to retain the current chair/vice‑chair governance model or shift to co‑chairs.

The chair introduced the JMI report and said members had an earlier opportunity to submit edits; after a motion to accept the plan the council voted to approve it. “Congratulations. We have our strategic plan,” the chair said after the voice vote.

Why it matters: The governance question touches how leadership workload and external optics will be managed as the CJCC moves from consultant support toward internal coordination. Proponents of co‑chairs said shared responsibility would reduce the burden on a single official and better represent interdisciplinary leadership. Opponents warned that co‑chairs can dilute decision making and require intense coordination.

Members voiced both perspectives. S7 said the co‑chair approach “lessen[s] the load” and allows leaders to “bounce things off each other.” S6 cautioned that a co‑chair model “seems like a dilution of leadership.” The chair said she had “no horse in this race” and encouraged members to bring forward candidates if they wanted to test a co‑chair model later.

What happened: No bylaw amendment was proposed or adopted at this meeting. The chair said a formal motion would be required to change the governance structure and that the issue can be revisited in the future. The CJCC instead moved on to the next agenda items after approving the strategic plan.

Next steps: The strategic plan will guide the CJCC’s priorities going forward; any governance change would require a bylaws amendment per the CJCC rules and a two‑thirds vote of the membership.