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Ashland parks measure might not have been needed, but it’s on the ballot By Morgan Rothborne Oct 18, 2022 10:50 AM A A Mail Tribune / file photo] Acting Ashland City Attorney Doug McGeary told Ashland City Council Monday it doesn’t necessarily need voters to pass Measure 15-210 to achieve what the council intended when it referred the measure to the Nov. 8 ballot. The measure asks voters to change the city charter in order to move parks and recreation employees from the oversight of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission to the office of the city manager. McGeary’s review of the city charter, done at City Manager Joe Lessard’s direction, appears to show that Ashland City Council is vested with the power to make this change on its own. “You want it to be the same historically, but it’s not. Whether the citizens intended it or not, when they voted in that change, it changed the relationship,” McGeary said in a City Council study session Monday. McGeary said that when Ashland voters approved the change to a city manager form of government in 2020, they approved a shift in responsibility, meaning all city employees effectively belong to a chain of command stemming from the city manager’s office, including parks employees, he said. Members of the APRC have argued parks employees are under the authority of the elected commissioners, a claim McGeary disputed. Commissioners and some Ashland residents have opposed Measure 15-210 as an unnecessary overreach from Lessard, one that could erode the independence of the APRC and pose a threat to Ashland’s parks system. “Does the City Council really believe that four-day notice to the public, buried in a 38-page staff report, is adequate public airing before making a decision that would undo over 100 years of Ashland park management? And, by the way, management that has resulted in a world-class small city park and recreation system,” Parks Commissioner Rick Landt said. The measure represents a sign of disrespect to commissioners and a dismissal of the voice of the people, he said, though he also characterized ballot language for the measure as unclear. He urged council to move slowly and include parks commissioners in any changes it makes. Councilors agreed it would “undercut” voters to exercise their power now and change the charter before hearing from the voters. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.