By Marianne Lincoln
On the 5th Floor of the County-City Building Courtroom 533, Monday July 8, at 10 a.m., the Pierce County Council’s Rules and Operations Committee is going to consider an ordinance to move the Elections of County Elective Offices to Odd-Numbered Years. The final hearing is scheduled for July 23.
This proposal brings with it many questions.
1) Will the current office holders be affected by terms 1 years shorter or 1 year longer? Officially they were all elected for 4 years?
2) Will the ordinance only affect the county officials that are elected after this point and initially have a shorter or longer term?
3) If this is an amendment to the charter, why is it being considered by the council rather than waiting for the charter review commission’s term?
4) Money is difficult to raise in the years with Presidential elections, that is when the county positions are also up for election. Are they doing this to help them raise more cash and get more notice during their elections?
5) Is this because this would make it easier for a county official to run for a state or federal election (or vice versa) without having to give up their seat because they would run in a year when the other seat was safe?
If you cannot participate, please send in your comments care of the entire county council. If you only write to your council person, sharing the correspondence with the other members is optional. pccouncil@co.pierce.wa.us
Here is the official announcement:
This is notice of the Rules and Operations Committee and final Council hearings on Proposal No. 2013-42.
An Ordinance of the Pierce County Council Proposing Amendments to Section 4.80 of the Pierce County Charter to Move the Elections of County Elective Offices to Odd-Numbered Years; Requesting the Auditor to Submit This Amendment to the Voters at the November 2013 General Election; and Requesting the Prosecuting Attorney to Draft an Appropriate Ballot Title.
The Final Council hearing on this proposal is set for July 23, 2013, at 3:00 pm. The final Council hearing will be held in Courtroom 2E, 2nd Floor, County-City Building, 930 Tacoma Ave S, in Tacoma.
The Rules and Operations Committee hearing is set for July 8, 2013, at 10:00 am. The committee hearing will be held in Courtroom 533, 5th Floor, County-City Building, 930 Tacoma Ave S, in Tacoma. Use the following link for the weekly Council Meeting Schedule, which includes the Committee hearing agenda, location and time:
Pierce Prairie Post 
Here is the News Tribune story link. They interviewsed the members of the council after the committee meeting. More items were discussed. https://pierceprairiepost.com/2013/07/07/pierce-county-council-to-consider-ordinance-to-change-county-elections-to-odd-years/
Here is the link to the council Rules & Operations July 8, 2013 on video discussing this change: http://online.co.pierce.wa.us/cfapps/council/iview/committeeMeeting.cfm?meeting_dt=7/8/2013%2010:00 AM&committee_cd=r
I like the idea of having county and local elections on odd-numbered years. Even-numbered years are dominated by national and state issues like abortion, gay mariage, gun control, the national budget, foreign affairs, defense spending and that sort of thing. County and city officials, school boards, regional judges, etc. don’t deal with these issues on a regular basis. So the local issues get lost in the shuffle and not enough people turn to the backside of the ballot or the second page.
Some people say that not as many people will vote in an odd-year election. So what? The people that do vote in these elections will be people who understand and have opinions on local issues. Better to have a smaller, more informed electorite than some bozo or bimbo (equal oppotunity insults) who just marks down the boxes next to people whose name he/she recognizes. That’s how we got Dale Washam as County Assessor.
Full disclosure: I am a community activist. I currently serve on the County Planning Commission and have served on a number of boards, commissions and community groups over the past 20 years. But I am 72 years old and have no plans to ever run for any political office. I have lived in pierce County since 1967 (do the math) so I have heard all the debates over the years and participated in many of them.
We already have odd-numbered year elections. The ballot I just filed had only one office on it. Other areas amy have 3-4 offices up for grabs. This is a huge waste of money. Some mayors and city council posts are elected in even years, some in odd years, there is no real pattern. So let us go ahead and deal with the national and state-level offices in even years and local offices and issues on oadd years. It makes sense, won’t cost much and may lead to a better-informed electorate.
Thank you, Richard. Your experience and understanding are better reflected in this comment.