Madore's proposed charter implementation agreement

At what I thought would be the end of today’s special meeting of the Board of Clark County Commissioners, David Madore distributed a one-page “Charter Implementation Process Agreement.”

This was a surprise to everyone, or at least to me and Chris Horne, the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor.

Horne asked if the agreement was on the agenda, which it wasn’t, and so Madore, being all about process and transparency, agreed to postpone the discussion until a Jan. 7 board time meeting.

After voters approved the county charter in November, I didn’t think there would be an “implementation process agreement.” The charter takes effect Jan. 1. Two councilors will be elected in 2015 and take office in 2016. Sure, there might be some ordinances to modify to reflect the charter, but what’s left to discuss?

According to Madore’s proposed agreement, “The council, with input from the county manager, will develop an orderly process to identify and implement the amendments necessary to change all current rules, processes, practices, ordinances, and resolutions to complete the transition by January 1, 2016.”

“The process will be conducted in such a manner as to provide an incremental, well-organized and thoughtful transition with the goal of implementing achievable changes by June 30, 2015. All changes will be agreed upon by the Councilors and the County Manager before each is implemented and codified.”

Help me out here, charter supporters. Tyler Graf was the newsroom’s expert on the charter. (It should be noted that Madore and Commissioners Tom Mielke and Jeanne Stewart all opposed the charter.) I understand the board won’t expand from three to five until January 2016, but did you anticipate the need for “an orderly process” to implement the charter? And who decides which changes are “achievable”? I thought all changes are achievable, because that’s what voters said they wanted.

Here’s the complete agreement: