By MIKE WHEELER
Los Alamos
Let’s see if I’ve got this right:
- We don’t trust the County Council that we elected; we do trust the Utility Board appointed by the council.
- We can recall elected officials but not the utility board. The Council can appoint but not remove Utility Board members.
- Council meetings are televised. Utility Board meetings are not.
Everyone has a boss. Private utility companies are held accountable by state regulatory agencies and boards of directors. Our public utility needs to be accountable to the council. The fundamental issue that charter amendment #2 addresses is accountability of the Utility Board. Once appointed, board members determine utility department policy with very little interaction with council other than the annual budget approval process.
Charter amendment #2 defines a process for resolving differences between the board and council and gives the council authority to remove a board member with a super majority vote of 6 to 1. The autonomy of the Utility Department will be preserved to the extent allowed by state statute. Charter amendment #2 will ensure council and public input to our publicly owned utility.
I believe the current Charter Article V is broken. It is time to fix it. Please vote for charter amendment #2.