[quote style=”2″]Voters Reject Making Muni Judge an Appointed Position[/quote]
Hermiston voters approved an update to the city charter on Tuesday, but rejected a measure that would have made the municipal judge position an appointed one.
A total of 1,243 votes (72.14 percent) were cast in favor of updating the city charter with 480 votes against it. Voters rejected a companion measure that would have taken selecting the municipal court judge out of the hands of voters and, instead, made it an appointed position. That measure failed by 941 votes to 823 votes.
The council worked throughout much of 2014 to come up with an updated city charter, which serves as the blueprint for how the city government operates. The biggest change to the city charter was extending the term of the mayor from four years to two years.
Earlier this year, the council debated the issue of whether to make the judge position an appointed one, with several councilors favoring the change.
Councilor John Kirwan said Hermiston is one of only five Oregon cities that elects municipal court judges and that making it an appointed position would get Hermiston more in line with other cities.
Councilor Doug Smith said having judges appointed allows for more thorough evaluations of candidates. Often, he said, the public votes for names they recognize, but may not be familiar enough with their background and qualifications.
Hermiston’s city charter had not been amended in nearly 50 years. Over that time, some components have become outdated, either because of various court rulings, legislative action, or simply changes in best practices.
