Maybe people just have better things to do

The final forum on the home rule charter process will be 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5 in the commons of Union High School, 6201 N.W. Friberg-Strunk St. in Camas.

If the five previous forums are any indication, plenty of seats will be available. When county commissioners agreed to go through the charter process for a fourth time, administrator Bill Barron and economic development manager Kelly Sills agreed to teach a series of free classes for people interested in running for freeholder.

On Tuesday, charter supporter Jeanne Schaefer came to the commissioners’ meeting to say the county has not done enough to let the public know about the classes.

“People can’t attend a meeting if they don’t know about it,” said Schaefer, who said she has gone to four of the five meetings.

“The classes have been well presented,” she said, just not well attended.

(Nobody suggested the idea that people might just not be interested in getting involved in a process that has been rejected by voters three times.)

Schaefer said commissioners should have sent a letter to every registered voter in the county to alert them of the classes, something Commissioner Steve Stuart said would have cost more than $60,000. Stuart explained that there are more than 200,000 registered voters in the county; Schaefer said she thought the number was closer to 100,000.

Carolyn Crain spoke after Schaefer. She said she went to one of the classes but does not understand the benefits of being a charter county.

“I’m an extremely intelligent person,” Crain said. “I’m not bragging. I am.”

One person who does know the charter process is former Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris. But don’t expect to see her filing for a freeholder position in June in the hopes of being elected to draft a county charter.

After Stuart posted the time, date and location of the next class on his Facebook page, Morris commented: “Oh no. You’re not going through that again are you? Yikes!”

Two people “liked” her comment. Which is just a few people short of the number of attendees at one of the classes.