San Diego County residents support reforms that increase transparency, strengthen accountability and ensure government works better for the people it serves. But they also expect those reforms to be developed openly, carefully and with the public fully engaged, not rushed through with last-minute rewrites.
That is where the recent charter reform debate came up short.
The original proposal included significant revisions introduced just days before the vote, giving residents little time to review changes that would reshape county government for years to come. In fact, supervisors were given revised copies of the proposal just minutes before we entered the board chamber because changes were still being made.
Specific provisions, including ones that would have allowed sitting supervisors to benefit from extended term limits and others that would have given those same elected officials greater influence over senior civil service appointments, raised legitimate concerns from community members and civic leaders across the political spectrum.
At our board meeting, I requested more time to read and discuss those changes. Given the magnitude of the proposal and the fact that we have until August to submit the measure, this was a reasonable request. After being denied, I was encouraged to write my own. So I did.
The alternative proposal I am introducing preserves the strongest parts of the reform effort while removing what created confusion, concern and unnecessary division. It is grounded in a simple principle: reforms should build public trust, not strain it.
Restoring fairness on term limits
The original proposal made promises it could not keep. It included term limits for offices not governed by the county charter, provisions that sounded appealing to voters but carried no legal weight. Packaging unenforceable pledges alongside real structural changes is not reform. It is a tactic to boost a measure’s popularity while obscuring what it actually does.
My proposal removes those false promises entirely. On term limits, it does one honest thing: it ensures sitting supervisors cannot use the reform process to extend their own time in office.
Protecting civil service independence
County departments manage critical services every day: public safety, public health, behavioral health, infrastructure, roads and more. My colleagues’ original proposal included provisions that would have given elected officials greater direct control over senior department leadership, threatening the professional civil service management structure that keeps these services functioning regardless of which party holds power.
When elected officials rather than professional staff control those appointments, it opens the door to favoritism and political pressure that undermines the merit-based hiring residents deserve. My proposal removes those provisions and restores the firewall between politics and professional administration.
Strengthening oversight that actually works
My revised proposal establishes an independent program auditor as an elected position, answerable directly to the voters rather than to the board or county administration. This is a model already used in counties like Riverside and San Bernardino.
Elected oversight is the strongest form of independence. It ensures the auditor’s loyalty is to the public, not to the officials being audited. This structure improves accountability, efficiency and helps ensure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly.
Keeping contracting clean
The original proposal weakened longstanding safeguards that keep county contracting decisions transparent and merit based. My proposal restores those strong protections.
Residents deserve confidence that public contracts are awarded based on value and the public interest, not relationships or political favors. When elected officials rather than professional staff control purchasing decisions, the door opens to favoritism, single-source contracts and the kind of insider dealing that breeds corruption and costs taxpayers dearly.
The process is the point
Good government does not happen through rushed revisions unveiled at the last minute. It happens when residents have time to review proposals, ask questions and participate meaningfully before decisions are finalized.
This revised measure is being introduced without surprise additions or last-minute rewrites. Community organizations, stakeholders and residents will have the opportunity to fully evaluate the proposal and engage before it moves forward for a vote.
The strongest reforms are not the ones passed the fastest. They are the ones built carefully, explained clearly, and supported because the public trusts both the policy and the process behind it.
This proposal preserves the reforms that earned broad support: stronger transparency measures, enhanced accountability tools and a Charter Reform Implementation Task Force to ensure thoughtful implementation. It simply removes what should never have been included in the first place.
Lasting reform is not about politics. It is about confidence. And that confidence is only possible when the process is as honest as the policy. Sunlight still matters.
Supervisor Joel Anderson has represented District 2 on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors since 2020. The district in East County includes more than 600,000 residents with three cities, parts of the city of San Diego, 39 unincorporated communities, and 10 tribal governments.
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