By a wide margin, voters in Douglas County rejected an attempt to transform their government. As of Tuesday night, the Home Rule Charter measure was failing by 15,000 votes.
The Home Rule charter would have established a county manager form of government. It would also have changed the board of commissioners from 3 paid members to 5 volunteers. Stacey McLaughlin is with the campaign.
“I am extremely disappointed that the people of the community voted against their own best self-interest. And there was a lot of big timber dollars involved in this that was very difficult to overcome.”
McLaughlin says the opponents of measure 10-159 outspent supporters by about 10 to 1. She’s says the Douglas County Sheriff’s opposition to the measure also hurt the campaign. One reason the Home Rule Charter was proposed was because the Board of Commissioner closed the county’s libraries last year citing budget shortfalls. But home rule advocates said the point was to change the overall direction of Douglas County government. McLaughlin says she hopes to try again to make a change. [I’m Rachael McDonald reporting.]
