OLYMPIA, WA – Voters may evict the sheriff from office in Pierce County, make Snohomish County Council seats nonpartisan and bar residents from serving on the Everett City Council and in the Legislature, even though the Washington state Constitution allows it.
These are among the slew of significant and controversial changes for local governments to be decided Nov. 3 that are receiving far less attention than contests for state Supreme Court seats and statewide initiatives.
The local measures are the handiwork of citizen commissions in the handful of Washington cities and counties governed by a charter. Commissioners, who are elected, have wide latitude to suggest alterations to the manner and structure of the respective local government…