Public Testimony before Gresham City Charter Review Committee

1. Citizen
January 17
Testimony on
City Charter
Recommended 2012
Amendments
Strengthening citizen voice, strengthening mayor’s leadership through
delegation of critical executive powers and strengthening managerial
accountability, government regulations compliance and open and
Empowering
transparent deliberation by City Council through the establishment of an Citizen Voice
elected independent auditor

2. Gresham Citizen Recommendations for Accountability and
Transparency
January 17, 6-9PM, City Hall Oregon Conference Room
Gresham City Charter Review Committee Citizen Engagement Meeting
on Citizen Involvement
Citizen recommendations to Gresham City Charter Review Committee for
changes and modifications to current and future City Charters in preparation for
their recommendations to City Council for placement on ballot in city wide
election for citizen approval. The Charter currently requires a supermajority of
60% for passage
Re-instate the Position of City Auditor as an Elected Independent
Auditor
1) Election of independent city auditor directly accountable to the
citizen community to insure compliance by elected and appointed
officials to City Charter, Federal and State Regulations, City
Ordinances, Administrative Policy, Procedures and Code of Ethics
2) Discourage abuse of State of Oregon’s “Open Meetings Law” by
City Council with clear statement in City Charter forbidding rolling
quorums, private discussion and deliberations, serial emails and
electronic communications where deliberative legislative actions
are taken to influence voting prior to City Council public meeting
in secret deliberation
Re-instate Citizen Voice
1) Re-instate Voting Districts
2) Reinstate Charter 50% plus 1 majority vote requirement and
eliminate “supermajority” 60% vote barrier to citizen voice
RA Strathern – strathe38@aol.com Page 2

3. 3) Authorize Citizen vote for approval of any City Council initiative to
increase city taxes and fee for-service charges when 5% of
registered voters ask for a referendum
4) Authorize City Council to make all citizen appointments to Council
Citizen Standing Commissions, Advisory Committees, and
Temporary Task Forces
5) Authorize the establishment of a citizen competitiveness task
force on fiscal accountability to investigate potential restructuring
of operating systems for increased efficiency, effectiveness, lower
costs (taxes and fees) and citizen satisfaction. The resulting new
cash flow would generate funding outside of current budget
revenue stream to build up rainy day funds and act as a “pipeline
of projects”
Delegating Executive Authority to the Office of Mayor
1) Mayor authorized to function full time exercising executive authority in
planning, organizing, implementing and controlling the city’s economic
development programs by leading and representing the city in recruiting
investment capital for job creation on a sub-regional, regional, state ,
federal and global level
2) Mayor authorized to hire (and remove) an Operations Manager to run
day to day administration of city services, accountable to Mayor as City
CEO.
3) Mayor authorized to hire (and remove) City Department Heads
4) Mayor authorized to establish and submit City Budget to City Council
for approval utilizing Council Citizen Finance Committee’s input and
participation
5) Mayor authorized to exercise veto power on selected Council legislative
actions, with override by supermajority vote
RA Strathern – strathe38@aol.com Page 3

4. RA Strathern – strathe38@aol.com Page 4