Damascus election opponents both want local control

Groups disagree on whether measures are necessary

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Feb 26, 2010, Updated Feb 26, 2010 (2 Reader comments)

ADVERTISEMENTS

Ask Damascus and Save Damascus – two groups campaigning for and against four initiatives on the city’s March 9 ballot – could be seen as two different sides of the same coin.

“We’re really not that different in our goals,” said Keith Marshall, Save Damascus spokesman, adding that both groups want to mitigate the influence Metro Regional Government has on the area’s growth. “We’re just on different roads to arriving at those goals. And we think their road leads to nowhere.”

Ask Damascus founder Dan Phegley disagrees.

“Metro has been around approximately 30 years and Ask Damascus has only been around for four years,” Phegley said. “And cities across the state are passing measures modeled after Ask Damascus’ measures. So if that’s nowhere, we’ll take it.”

Phegley in late October filed the four initiative petitions appearing on the March 9 special election ballot.

In brief, the initiatives propose prohibiting light rail in Damascus without a vote, limiting the city’s use of emergency clauses to put ordinances into effect faster, limiting city spending increases to no more than 2.5 percent a year and requiring voter approval for intergovernmental agreements.

Local control

Phegley said the measures would grant Damascus residents more control of the city’s growth and development, which he said is exactly why residents voted to incorporate as a city five years ago.

Metro had brought 12,000 rural acres, most of which were in Damascus, within the urban growth boundary. Nervous Damascus residents feared surrounding cities would annex the area, developing it as they saw fit. Instead, the largely rural community of about 10,000 residents incorporated as a city to have a say in shaping their own future.

But critics say the measures would limit the city’s ability to shape future growth and fund city services.

“Really what this election boils down to is do we want to remain a viable city or do we want to open the door for Metro to begin governing us?” Marshall said.

Because Damascus is within the urban grown boundary, “We cannot keep Metro out,” Marshall said. “Our best hope is that we as a city will be strong enough to mitigate the rules that Metro would like to impose.”

Although Save Damascus is urging no votes on all four measures, the two it is most concerned about are those that propose limiting city spending and requiring voter approval for intergovernmental agreements.

Both would weaken the city’s ability to lead, Marshall said.

Phegley said that depends on how you define city.

“Is a city made up of corporations, the council or the citizens?” he asked.

“Our position is the city is the people who live there,” Phegley said.

Intergovernmental agreements

The 26 intergovernmental agreements Damascus has created since incorporation provide services such as police patrols through the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and permitting and zoning through the county.

If those agreements are voided, residents will need to vote on them either in a general election this November or in a special election. And special elections are expensive, Marshall said.

In the meantime, if the city tried to provide those same services on its own, police service alone would be twice as expensive, Marshall said.

Voiding the agreements also would make the city ineligible for $200,000 in grants Damascus was awarded last year. Those grants paid for about 5 percent of the city’s expenditures.

And there’s an issue of “cumbersomeness.” Holding elections for intergovernmental agreements and emergency clauses is inefficient, he said.

“That’s why we have representative government to begin with,” Marshall said. “So that we as citizens don’t have to be constantly bothered with changes in our system.”

1 | 2 Next Page >>