To the editor:
To: Fellow residents of Washington County
One of the most important votes in the history of Washington County is upon us. At the Feb. 12 primary, if you are a registered voter, be as a Democrat, a Republican, a Green, an Independent or Unaffiliated, you can help decide if our county is ready to assume more control over local affairs. We all strongly encouraged you to go the polls and vote "yes" to the question adopting charter home rule.
Many of us have worked for more than a year, giving our best efforts to deliver to the citizens a charter that describes the structure and processes of government to better meet the needs of our county.
For nearly a year, the charter board studied, debated, and drafted our own mini-constitution; a.k.a., the charter.
Many issues such as districts versus at-large, county executive and referendum received considerable in-depth discussion. They were not debated in 30-second sound bites. Admittedly every one of us has parts of the charter with which we disagreed. However, compromise and a sense of give-and-take yielded a document that best meets the needs of Washington County.