A second Eugene city auditor proposal could be on May ballot: Supporters urge the council to refer it to voters

In the January 9, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, reporter Christian Hill writes:

A group of residents, including former Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, have written a competing proposal to the city auditor measure, and on Monday night they urged city councilors to refer it to the same May ballot.

Whether there’s enough support among city councilors to send it to the ballot remains unclear, based on their comments after that presentation during their first meeting of the new year.

The city councilors might decide Wednesday whether to have that fuller public discussion. The council’s deadline to refer a competing measure to the May ballot is in mid-February.

The proposal by Citizens for Sensible Oversight is different from the measure that City Accountability qualified for the May 15 ballot, namely by having the City Council appoint an auditor and have him or her advised by a citi­zens committee.

If approved by voters, City Accountability’s Measure 20-283 would establish the position of an elected auditor who would be wholly independent of the City Council.

In either case, the city manager would have no authority over the auditor. …

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