It’s hardly a hot-button issue, but as a Pierce County Arts Commissioner, I would certainly appreciate it if those reading this were to vote “NO” on Proposed Charter Amendment No. 1 – Appointment and Confirmation of Members of Boards and Commissions.

In a nutshell, this amendment would make it more difficult for members of the community to be assigned to county boards and commissions following a vacancy.  It would do this specifically by applying stricter language to the term “residency” – therefore requiring that board members be replaced from specific districts, rather than from the general population of the county as a whole.

I would argue that this is a bad idea because I feel that this will make it harder for boards and commissions to find qualified individuals to donate their time and service by filling these vacancies when in fact they occur.  This is an issue that at least we on the Arts Commission already struggle with, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we don’t need it to get worse.

This amendment would also limit service on these boards to older, upper income homeowners who can more easily afford the stability these residency requirements may require.  Believing that boards and commissions work best when a diverse perspective of individuals is represented, I would argue that requirements that limit who can or can’t serve are counter-productive to our greater purpose.

Thanks for your time, and for your vote.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 12:49 am and is filed under Local News, Tacoma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.