Cambridge Mayor Steve Rideout on Proposed County Charter Amendments

Under the current Charter for Dorchester County, the County Council is required to appoint a Charter Review Commission every ten years to review the Charter and recommend alterations. At the February 7, 2023, meeting, the Council agreed to reconvene the Review Commission before the 2024 election in order to consider eliminating the residency requirement for the county manager and the finance director.

The Review Commission returned with six recommendations besides the two residency questions. One of the eight, proposing term limits for the Council members, was vehemently opposed by Commissioner William Nichols, who has been on the Council since 1994. Two of the proposed amendments were combined into one, and six total were approved for the upcoming general election ballot.

The six questions are:

Question A
Administrative Review
Amendment to specify that the review of administrative structure that is required at least every four years be conducted within the first fiscal year of each County Council term.

Question B
County Budget Preparation and Adoption Dates
Amendment to change the date by which the County Council shall prepare the annual budget from May 1 to May 15 each year, and to change the date by which the Council shall adopt the annual budget from May 31 to June 15 each year.

Question C
County Manager Residency
Amendment to remove the requirement that the County Manager be a resident of Dorchester County.

Question D
County Manager Responsibilities
Amendment to clarify certain responsibilities of the County Manager, including the day-to-day operation of the County government, and establish procedures for certain vacancies.

Question E
Director of Finance Residency
Amendment to remove the requirement that the Director of Finance be a resident of Dorchester County.

Question F
Governmental Transparency
Amendment to ensure transparency of governmental functions, access to open meetings (in person or remotely), and access to public records.

Mayor Steve Rideout on Question A (Administrative Review)

“When the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government was starting, we looked at all of this before the last election,” Rideout said of the group that was formed in 2022. “One of the things was, they hadn’t met the Charter requirement that the Council appoint this board or to do this administrative review every four years or something.”

“And the decision was, well, let’s recommend that it be done at the beginning of the term of the new Council so that they can then do something with it,” he continued. “I mean, having the changes made at the end of the term for the new Council to then implement doesn’t make much sense.”

On Questions C and E (Residency Requirement)

“If you limit that the person has to live in the county, you limit who the best person might be,” said Rideout about the County Manager and Finance Director positions. “For instance, you could have somebody who lives up in Kent County or Caroline County who is terrific, but his or her spouse is a schoolteacher there, or he’s got children that are in their last year of high school and they’re going to be the valedictorian or something. And you’re going to make them move to Dorchester County. That’s going to cut off potentially the best person from being able to come.”

Rideout said there is no real reason to require either official to live in the county. “If you’re going to find the best person and you’re going to trust your elected officials to make the best decision for the citizens in the county, let them make that decision, not restrict them on what they can and can’t do there.”

On Question D (County Manager’s Responsibilities)

“Historically, what was happening was, they had the County Manager form of government, but the County Manager was really more of an administrator,” explained Rideout. “And, as such, the County Council members were making hiring and firing decisions.”

“What this now does is say that the County Manager is in charge of the day-to-day operations, and the County Council, the members, cannot tell employees what to do. That’s the job of the County Manager. Now, they can come to the County Manager and tell the County Manager, ‘Go tell Joe to do this.’ He then gets to say, ‘Yes, I will’ or ‘No, I won’t.'”

“So, it gets the employees out from under this political concern. They’re still at-will employees, but it’s the County Manager that makes that decision.”

Rideout also said that, following a County Manager’s departure, the Council was waiting a year or more to hire a new one and instead gave the job to a staff person. That part-time employee had to run the whole county, and confusion resulted. Audits and administrative reviews were not getting done.

“So, requiring that they get a new County Manager within a period of time is important, allowing for there to be an Assistant County Manager who can be assigned that task rather than a staff person, if they’ll fund that position,” said Rideout. “It’s all about efficiency and effectiveness of government.”

On Question F (Government Transparency)

Before the 2022 election, the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government group took up transparency in the county government as an issue and raised it in the community, even collecting signatures toward getting it on the ballot as a charter amendment proposal.

“And we asked the Council to put the meetings on Town Hall Streams,” Rideout said. “They wouldn’t do it. We asked, I think, at least twice, and then finally they did it under pressure.”

“Now, why do this charter amendment? Well, the next Council could go, ‘Yeah, I liked it the way they did it before.’ So, they could go back to not putting it on Town Hall Streams. This would require that it always be on Town Hall.”

Rideout also mentioned that the charter amendment would include language about documentation. If citizens should ask for particular documents, the County Manager would need to be responsive to that in a timely manner.

Ultimately, it will be up to the voters of Dorchester County to decide how important all of this is to the operation of their government.