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I respectfully must disagree with Commissioner Dave Dotterrer’s assessment on the structure of our county’s Board of Commissioners.

Presently, our county commissioners are the ONLY local positions that remain partisan. All of our city Mayors, city council members, school board members and board members of all off our special districts are nonpartisan. Our Sheriff, County Clerk and county Assessor are also nonpartisan.

We do not officially know the political affiliation of any of them, although it is likely that a majority of office holders in Ashland will be Democrat and a majority of office holders in Central Point will be Republican.

In a nonpartisan environment, moderate Republicans can serve in Democratic strongholds and moderate Democrats can serve in Republican stronghold.

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Partisan positions are more appropriate for state wide positions, such as the state legislature, where politicians vote on issues that clearly divide members of the major parties, such as abortion and gun rights.

Alan DeBoer, a Republican, served admirably as a Mayor in Ashland. I was able to serve on both the nonpartisan Central Point City Council and the Central Point District #6 School Board, even though I have always been a registered Democrat.

Both Al Bates and Sue Kupillas served as board members in the equally Republican Eagle Point School district.

Partisan positions are more appropriate for state wide positions, such as the state legislature, where politicians vote on issues that clearly divide members of the major parties, such as abortion and gun rights.

Our commissioners have three basic roles: Setting county policy; acting in a “quasi judicial role” on land use issues; and acting as intermediaries between the public who elected them and the county bureaucracy.

For most voters, the third responsibility is the most important.

All of our school districts, city councils and special districts have more than three members. There is a good reason for that. Having more than three members gives greater diversity of thought within an organization that can better represent the diversity within the community.

Access to our elected officials is important. Unlike our state and federal legislators, who have staff to handle citizen complaints, our commissioners interact with citizens in their offices, or at group meetings with specific constituencies, such as the Chamber of Commerce.

When time is limited, commissioners tend to meet almost exclusively with groups that have supported them in their campaigns. Increasing commissioner numbers and diversity should improve access for all, including groups of individuals who have not been represented well in the past.

The legislative function of our commissioners is constricted by Public Meeting laws which prevent a “quorum” from discussing any item that may later come before them in a vote. With only three commissioners, a quorum is any two of them.

In larger organizations, a free and open dialog between individuals early in the deliberative process allows both the emergence of new and innovative ideas and the thoughtful squelching of ideas that might later be harmful. The process is not so much the “backroom deals” denigrated by Mr. Dotterrer, but the natural development of policy that thoroughly ways the pros and cons of an issue.

In a three-member board, that can not happen. All one on one discussions must have legal written notice, and be held in open session with the public invited.

Information between commissioners does occur, but indirectly, via the Administrator or by Special Interest lobbyists, who visit each commissioner individually and sometimes reveal the leanings of the other commissioners.

The last time that we had a “reset” of the structure of county government was a half-century ago when we became a Home Rule county. Times have changed, our population has changed, and the needs of our citizens have changed.

Our county government is due for a change also.