Town Hall Meeting on Proposed Charter Amendments 

Please join the King County Council for a special Town Hall Meeting on proposed amendments to King County's Charter:

Charter Review

Monday, June 16, 2008
6:00 p.m. - Public Reception
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. - Program

Federal Way Community Center
876 S. 333rd Street, Federal Way

The King County Charter is the foundation of our county government. It serves a role for King County similar to the role the U.S. Constitution serves for the United States. The Charter provides that once every ten years, a citizen commission must review the Charter, decide whether any amendments are needed, and submit any proposed amendments to the Council for consideration. The Council then reviews the proposals and decides whether to place them on the ballot for voter approval.

Please join the Council on Monday, June 16 for a presentation and discussion on the major amendments proposed by the Charter Review Commission. Among the substantive proposals are, in alphabetical order:

• Anti-Discrimination: Prohibit discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression in county employment and contracting.

• Budget Timeline: Provide the County Council with an additional 20 days to review the Executive's proposed budget, providing a total of 65 days for review.

• Charter Amendment by Citizen Initiative: Clarify the process by which citizens may amend the charter through initiative, and increase the signature threshold to 20 percent.

• Commission Procedures: Clarify the Commission appointment and confirmation process, and require the County Council to review all charter review commission recommendations and decide at an open public meeting how to proceed on each recommendation.

• Elections Deadlines: Authorize the county to establish deadlines by ordinance for submitting local ballot measures to the Elections Division.

• Elected Officials and Collective Bargaining: Require the Executive to provide for increased involvement of separately elected county officials, including the Sheriff, in collective bargaining.

• Open Space Protection: Establish additional protection for over 100,000 acres of open space properties in which the county owns an interest.

• Qualifications: Permit the council to establish additional qualifications for separately elected officials who head charter-based departments.

• Regional Committees: Reduce the number of County Councilmembers on regional committees, establish a vice-chair position to be filled by a non-Council member; and increase the authority of committees to initiate legislation and, in the case of the Regional Policy Committee, to adopt its own work program, including new subject matter which involves regional policies or plans.

• Unincorporated Areas Representation: Designate a high-level position within the Office of the Executive to represent the interests of rural and urban unincorporated area residents, and amend the Charter Preamble to reflect the county’s commitment to unincorporated areas.

Presenters will take questions from the audience and the Council will take open public testimony on any issue at the end of the program.

More about Town Halls

The County Council is a regional government committed to engaging King County residents in their local communities. Throughout the year, the Council holds local Town Hall Meetings on issues of public importance. Community members have the opportunity to meet Councilmembers, be briefed by local and regional experts, and provide public testimony.

Each Town Hall is a special meeting of the Council's Committee-of-the-Whole (COW), the only standing committee on which all nine members serve. COW considers legislation and policy issues of interest to the entire council.

Since 2007, more than 2,700 people have met with Councilmembers at Town Halls held in Shoreline, Burien, Kent, West Seattle, Renton, Redmond, on the Seattle Waterfront, Maple Valley, Sammamish and Seattle's Central Area.

Questions? Please email CouncilTownHall@kingcounty.gov or call 206-296-0335.