This is Floyd Wynne with The View from Here

Let’s talk about the Klamath County Charter proposal that will be on the November ballot.

The Herald and News has printed a great deal both pro and con on the measure, and let me add my personal observation as a former County Commissioner.

When I was appointed a Commissioner in 1976 to fill a spot in the County government, I found there were 33 separate departments. Each department pretty much ran itself and our contact with them was at a monthly meeting. That infrequent contact made it difficult for the Commissioners to answer questions by the public on some issues.

Some months later I suggested that we divide the 33 departments up into three lists. Each Commissioner would have charge of their 33 departments for a three month period and then they would switch, so that in a year’s time each Commissioner would have personal contact with all departments. We adopted that principal and named Larry Rank as our Administrator. He was available to any department and each morning we had a public hearing in which all problems were discussed and in most cases resolved.

Having Rank as a pseudo county administrator gave the Commissioners more time to concentrate on various problems. We had the land use problem, a problem within the mental health department and a number of others.

The process worked very well then…..I don’t know how it runs now.

I always felt that places like Chiloquin, Chemult and Crescent Lake in the northern part of the county received little attention as did some of the southern areas such as Merrill, Malin, Bonanza and others. Most of the Commissioners we elect come from the Klamath Falls Community.

Admittedly the Commissioners are not so openly available to the general public as it was in our day when we held daily public sessions, and that may be one of the problems with today’s system.

We tried at times to reach these areas…..even had a trailer in Chemult for a time, and we faced the problem that the county was not adequately covered with fire protection, and we began a program of encouraging fire departments and securing fire equipment from San Francisco that had been repaired.

I cite these instances because with Larry Rank as a virtual County Administrator we were able to be aware of and work on other county problems.

Personally, I will support and vote for the County Charter change come November.

This if Floyd Wynne and that's the View from Here.

Text Box:
This is Floyd Wynne with The View from Here.

Let’s talk about the Klamath County Charter proposal that will be on the November ballot.

The Herald and News has printed a great deal both pro and con on the measure, and let me add my personal observation as a former County Commissioner.

When I was appointed a Commissioner in 1976 to fill a spot in the County government, I found there were 33 separate departments. Each department pretty much ran itself and our contact with them was at a monthly meeting. That infrequent contact made it difficult for the Commissioners to answer questions by the public on some issues.

Some months later I suggested that we divide the 33 departments up into three lists. Each Commissioner would have charge of their 33 departments for a three month period and then they would switch, so that in a year’s time each Commissioner would have personal contact with all departments. We adopted that principal and named Larry Rank as our Administrator. He was available to any department and each morning we had a public hearing in which all problems were discussed and in most cases resolved.
Having Rank as a pseudo county administrator gave the Commissioners more time to concentrate on various problems. We had the land use problem, a problem within the mental health department and a number of others.

The process worked very well then…..I don’t know how it runs now.

I always felt that places like Chiloquin, Chemult and Crescent Lake in the northern part of the county received little attention as did some of the southern areas such as Merrill, Malin, Bonanza and others. Most of the Commissioners we elect come from the Klamath Falls Community.

Admittedly the Commissioners are not so openly available to the general public as it was in our day when we held daily public sessions, and that may be one of the problems with today’s system.

We tried at times to reach these areas…..even had a trailer in Chemult for a time, and we faced the problem that the county was not adequately covered with fire protection, and we began a program of encouraging fire departments and securing fire equipment from San Francisco that had been repaired.
I cite these instances because with Larry Rank as a virtual County Administrator we were able to be aware of and work on other county problems.

Personally, I will support and vote for the County Charter change come November.

This if Floyd Wynne and that's the View from Here.