Petitioners pushing for vote on replacing the city’s elected mayor with a hired manager say they have enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
Signature gatherer Dennis Vogt filed over 1,200 signatures with
the city clerk this week.
Petitioners need almost 1,000 signatures representing 10 percent of
the island’s voters for ballot consideration.
Initially targeting the November ballot, petitioners now prefer a February or November 2009 vote.
“Once the national and state elections are over in November, and
everyone has a chance to recover, we will be able to engage in a
community-wide conversation in preparation for our vote,” said
Vogt. “We will have opportunity to gain some insight on the best
form of government by observing the quality of the city’s
end-of-year 2009 budget process.”
Petitioners, who have been active since March, found that convincing islanders to support the ballot measure was a challenge.
“People didn’t know what was going on,” in city government, said petition supporter Rod Stevens last month, shortly after the decision was made to delay the vote. “They weren’t aware of the problems with government and why it would be in their interest to change government.”
Supporters of a manager-led government say giving the City Council the power to hire the city’s lead administrator will lead to more efficient and effective government.
Backers of a mayor-led government say voters should retain their right to directly decide on the city’s leader.
The signatures will now undergo a validity review by the Kitsap County Auditor’s office.
The core problem is two-fold: Mayor Kordonowy has created a incestuous rat’s nest of conflicts, groups, patronage and hidden agendas and secondly a COBI Council that has failed to enforce their budgetary regulatory duties.
To rid the island of Mayor K but to throw out the Mayor’s office is a mistake. We will have the COBI Council, who has amply proven themselves failed, in charge of a city manager. Oy vey !!
The answer is to hold both the Mayor and Council accountable. Mayor K should be recalled. See YouTube Call to Recall. YouTube call: http://www.YouTube.com Deceit Deception Recall Kordonowy.
We need a fiscally responsible mayor who adheres to open government. Mayor K has failed us and must be held accountable now.
This petition is a waste of time and misdirected. What COBI has experienced is a monumental failure of leadership, at both the council and mayoral level. Changing the form of government will accomplish little. What will effect a meaningful change is if, and when, Bainbridge citizens elect stronger people to office who have a sincere commitment to managing our finances in a fiscally prudent manner, rather than pushing their pet political and ideological projects.