Because of its potential to undo a decade of work in Kitsap County to protect our environment, Washington Conservation Voters, through a request of Kitsap Conservation Voters (its local chapter) has recommended a No vote on the charter.

The many serious problems with the charter include:

1. District elections will ensure that none of the elected representatives to the new County Council will represent the will of the majority of voters in the county nor need to have the good of the county as a whole at heart. This element will ensure that Kitsap County will face the kind of bickering and antagonism that has plagued the Bremerton City Council, where district elections occur.

2. Council members will run non-partisan. Voters would not have any way to know for sure where candidates stood on issues. Voters need to know who are the Independents, the Republicans, the Democrats, the Greens, and the Libertarians. Those parties have important differences, which are critical for voters to know.

3. The cost of the charter will create bigger, more expensive government. Moving the elections to odd years will cost considerably more money for more frequent elections. Kitsap County has estimated that the total cost for the first year is $849,000 including redistricting. The Charter stipulates that after one year, a Salary Compensation Board will consider the salaries of the council members to adjust them to be consistent with the work load and job market. Council members' salaries will undoubtedly be increased in one year, making county government even more costly.

I urge you to vote against the Kitsap County charter proposal. We need a new charter, but this one creates more problems that it was supposed to fix.

Beth Wilson
Olalla, WA.