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Tonight
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CASCADE LOCKS — The residents of Cascade Locks voted to continue and slightly increase an existing levy for Emergency Medical Services (EMS), but said no to a revised City Charter, measure 14-81, in the Nov. 5 election.
Jordon Bennett
The charter had been reviewed by the Charter Committee earlier this year, over a period of four months. Following the committee’s review, City Administrator Jordon Bennett and the city council reviewed the suggested revisions. After a vetting by City Attorney Ruben Cleaveland, the majority of the council voted to send the charter to voters for approval, with only Councilor Butch Miller voting against it at the July 8 meeting, citing section 36, which, according to Miller, removes the word “charges” and is “just another way of putting fees onto the voters without their approval.”
The new charter would allow council to enact new fees, but still require voter approval for any new taxes. Miller agreed that, “the majority of voters did not trust council to make wise decisions with their money. They watched council play word semantics to pass a new garbage recycling roll cart system, adding additional cost to their garbage bill without referring it to voters.”
Pete Happy, City council president
City Council President Pete Happy admitted the failure was a bit of a surprise, but acknowledged that “the opposition’s campaign was notably effective.” He attributes the failure to several things, including dissatisfaction with the review process, fear of increased cost of living in the city, and confusion about the measure’s language.
A robust social media campaign in opposition also cited the selection of the review committee members as a concern. Happy agreed that “trust is a real issue for many residents.”
Happy and Councilor Bernard Seeger canvassed more than 400 homes in the city in the weeks leading up to the election in an effort to inform voters. Moving forward, newly elected councilors Tiffany Pruit, Marianne Bump, and Seeger, along with incoming Mayor Brenda Wood, will have a new opportunity to review the existing charter.
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