Changes to the Alachua County Charter will appear on the ballot in March. In the meantime, a review commission is gathering citizen-suggested changes to the charter, which defines the structure, powers and function of the county government.
A commission, compromised of 15 citizens, is appointed by the County Commission every 10 years to propose changes to that charter. Most of the review commission members have been involved in county government, and Buddy Irby, the Clerk of Court, will chair the group.
Any proposal passed by the County Review Commission will appear on the 2010 general election ballot.
Guy York, commission member and a vice president at Santa Fe College, said the commission has only gotten a few proposals so far, but they've interested him.
One proposal claims only Democrats have a choice in electing county commissioners. Because more than 50 percent of Alachua County's registered voters are registered Democrats, whoever wins the closed primary will win the general election, leaving Republicans and independents without a voice, according to the proposal.
Currently all of the Alachua County Commissioners and the Supervisor of Elections are Democrats.
The proposal aims to increase voter participation by making elections for county commissioners nonpartisan. There are already six Florida counties with nonpartisan county commission elections.
The City of Gainesville submitted a proposal to protect its home rule authority. The proposal would require any charter amendments that limit a city government to be passed by a majority of voters not just in the county, but also in the affected city.
Another proposal suggests combining the governments of Alachua County and Gainesville. County Commissioner Rodney Long has already called for fire services to be consolidated, and the idea has been presented to the review commission.
The review commission's meetings are open to the public. The next meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 in the Grace Knight Conference Room, located on the second floor of the Administration Building. Proposals can be submitted at assets2.alachuacounty.us/charterreview.
