San Diego County residents will vote on a package of proposed changes to the county charter this fall, including a provision that would allow members of the Board of Supervisors to serve up to three four- year terms, rather than the current limit of two.
Supervisors Paloma Aguirre, Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe voted Wednesday to put the measure on the November ballot, while their colleagues Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond were opposed.
The package will not contain term limits for the sheriff, district attorney and other county elected officials, who currently have none, based on an amendment from Montgomery Steppe.
Further, there will be no change to the requirement that supervisors must live in the district they represent, officials said.
According to Lawson-Remer's office, the approved charter reform package will still need a second reading as part of county procedure.
Anderson put forward a counter proposal eliminating a provision allowing the board to confirm and remove senior staff hired by the county's chief executive, make oversight independent and protect against political machinations in the selection of contracts.
His proposal would have also eliminated the proposed expansion of term limits for supervisors. The board rejected Anderson's counter-proposal by a 3-2 vote, with he and Desmond voting yes. Desmond made a motion for both proposals to go on the November ballot, but that also failed 3-2.
Lawson-Remer said previously that Anderson's proposed amendments "keep the title of reform, but hollow out many of the parts that would actually make government answer to the public."
"People across San Diego County spent a year helping build a reform package that would finally bring stronger oversight, transparency, checks and balances, and accountability into county government, but the minute accountability started applying equally across county government, carve-outs started appearing for some of the most powerful offices," she added.
Both items were held over from Tuesday, as board Chair Lawson-Remer was absent after giving birth to a girl. Participating via teleconference, Lawson-Remer said she believes voters "are smart (and) know what accountability looks like."
"Our job today is to give them something real," she added.
Lawson-Remer proposed charter reforms in April, including an independent ethics commission, independent budget analyst, independent program auditor (all of which would report to the supervisors) and consistent term limits across all county elected offices.
Supervisors voted after hearing from the public and debating both proposals.
Assessor Jordan Marks said charters and laws "should never be written by those in power to benefit themselves. When unchecked authority is created today, that same authority can belong to somebody (who) is untrustworthy tomorrow," he added.
"To me, this is pretty much a farce," Desmond said, describing Lawson-Remer's proposal as "one of the most deceitful and self-serving efforts I've seen in my time in public office."
Anderson, who wanted to postpone any decision to give officials more time to review the proposed reforms, said it was important to protect the chief administrative officer's ability to hire or fire administrative leadership.
"Filling potholes shouldn't be political," he added. "Our job on the board is to set the bar, and staff's job is to achieve the bar."
Anderson left Tuesday's board meeting early after a scheduled discussion of the two competing charter-reform proposals was delayed, a move he said denied numerous people who showed up a chance to have their voices heard on the issue.
The intention of the reforms, proponents said, is to "strengthen accountability, transparency, stability, checks and balances, independent oversight and effective government."
The proposed changes would be required to be added in a "revenue- neutral" way, meaning no new spending or reduced services.
Former San Diego City Manager Jack McGrory said the county's governance structure "has not kept pace with its size and complexity."
Desmond recently said he supports an ethics commission, program auditor and an independent budget analyst, but described a possible three-term limit for supervisors as "the worst form of politics and self-serving politicians."
County Sheriff Kelly Martinez supported Anderson's revise, saying it "strikes the right balance: It respects the authority already established in the state constitution for independently elected officials including the sheriff, district attorney and assessor-recorder-county clerk, while ensuring that political considerations do not overstep into county operations and good governance."
Martinez was joined by District Attorney Summer Stephan and Marks in endorsing Anderson's plan.
Lawson-Remer said the original reform proposal was intended to be a long-term effort to "build a stronger and more accountable county government for future generations," not to protect or attack whichever politicians happen to hold office today.
Wendy Gelernter, a leader of Take Action San Diego, said recently that "the public can draw its own conclusions about why powerful insiders are working so hard to keep voters out of this conversation."
Aguirre said Wednesday that the charter reform initiative moves the county in the right direction, and noted that voters will ultimately decide what happens.
"This board is not making that final decision today, " Aguirre added.
