Dorchester County is approaching a change that hasn’t happened in 20 years. It’s considering revisions of the county charter and the rules of the road for the county’s government.
It may sound tedious, but it’s not without controversy. The previous county council’s scuttled the Charter Review Commission at appointed grinding to a halt efforts to bring charter changes to voters in referendum in 2022.
The changes recommended by a newly appointed charter review commission include term limits, lifting the residency requirement for the county manager and the finance director, and a prohibition on county council members telling county employees what to do.
“There was a lot of problems with the last council,” said William Layton, who chaired the Charter Review Commission. “But I think it’s not just the last council where we’ve seen this be an issue, not because anybody wants to do anything wrong, but just they’re trying to get their stuff done. They’re trying to give direction and we need to make sure it all goes through the county manager.”
And this time commission members say the county council is standing behind them, a sharp departure from the previous council.
“They’re not even on the same planet, and I shouldn’t be that sarcastic, but I mean it’s huge. Yeah, it’s huge, said Alan Nelson who also worked on the revisions. “The charter hasn’t been changed since it was originally adopted and it’s 20 some years ago and certainly times have changed and we don’t do things the same way we did 20 years ago. So things like there is one recommendation in there, one requirement in the charter that there has to be administrative review of county government every four years. One of the things that was talked about was when do you do that and want to make sure it’s done. The previous council didn’t even do it, but there needs to be, it’s kind of like, I call it the state of the county type of a message. What we suggested is that be done at the end of no later than end of the first year, a new council takes place.”
What has already stirred up discussion online is the commissioner’s recommendation to remove the longstanding requirement that the county manager and finance director live in Dorchester County. To members of the review board, the proposal is simply a recognition of the reality that in a county of just 33,000 residents, the talent pool is limited.
“When you mandate that they have to live in the county, it limits you,” said commission member Susan Dukes. “I don’t think people understand the diversity that you need to hold the position, especially finance director and county manager because you have to be able to be so diverse with the regulations from the local, the state, the federal. You have to understand so many different things, so many different regulations and so many different areas that you have to be able to work with and comprehend and be able to bring into the county and be able to carry. I’ve been in local government for over 30 years and I couldn’t do it.”
Layton, who chaired the Charter Review Commission, said the right candidate for these jobs might be nearby but not in Dorchester.
“Not everybody certainly lives in Dorchester County or wants to move to Dorchester County right away,” Layton said. “We want to be able to pull from a group that involves more or includes more people. Again, going back to if the point is to live close to Cambridge, to be available, could live in Trappe and be closer to Cambridge than you are living down in South Dorchester or North Dorchester. There are people that are close that are nearby that don’t necessarily live in the county, and we wanted to give the council a chance to look at that population.”
Dorchester County has not had an official, full-fledged county manager since 2020, when Keith Atkins resigned after council interference with his management. Since then, the county has appointed acting or interim managers. Jeff Powell, a Salisbury resident, has been interim county manager over a year despite the current charter that requires a county manager to be a resident.
The Charter review members say Powell was not a consideration.
“From my part, and I’m sure a lot of the other accounting council members do know. I honestly don’t even know where Jeff Powell lives,” Layton said. “I’m not trying to get him grandfathered in there or anything like that. All I am looking at is how do we get the best person into this position and expand that net a little bit.”
Commission member Allen Nelson said it’s only reasonable, given Dorchester’s experience.
“We all know, I mean anybody who’s paid any attention knows that we’ve struggled,” Nelson said. “The county has struggled to get county managers. For me as having been somebody that has worked in this county most of my life and been responsible for hiring people and bringing ’em into the county, I know that while I would love them to live in the county, it just doesn’t always work out that way. What difference does it make? You want the best person for the job.”
Another proposed revision would require transparency by the county council, including streaming meetings on the internet. More controversial is a new proposed term limit for county commissioners of three, four-year terms. Nelson said many people agree with that limit.
“I’m hearing the other argument is that, well, the voters will decide if you need term limits or not. Well, no, they won’t and especially in a place like Dorchester County,” Nelson said. “We’re a small town, we’re a small area. Everybody knows everybody or thinks they do. You’ve got somebody that is very popular, very well known in the community, and they may be doing a good job, but there may be somebody else that has an interest to come in and maybe take a little bit different spin on it or do a little bit different. I know this for a fact. They’ll choose not to run because they don’t want to run against the popular person or maybe a friend of theirs. They just don’t want to have that battle.”
All of the eight recommended charter changes will be subject of a special session for public comment held March 19th at the county council meeting. It’s still up to the county commissioners to decide which if any of the revisions to put before the voters this fall in a ballot referendum. Only those charter changes approved by a majority of voters will become law.
“I’m really happy to see them getting public comments on everything that we recommended and I really hope the public will come out and comment on that,” Layton said. “Hopefully in favor of it – in the sense that none of this will put it into law. It still has to go to a referendum and I’d love to see these all go out and get the public’s vote yes or no and for things the public doesn’t want. Okay, then we don’t. It’s a democracy and the majority chooses, but at least it goes out and the citizens of Dorchester County get to choose.”
To read the proposed charter changes, visit the county government website. Any and all Dorchester residents are invited to offer and listen to public comments. Tuesday, March 19th, 6:00 PM at the county Council Chambers room 110 at the county’s office building at 501 Court Lane in Cambridge.
By WHCP News Director Jim Brady
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