The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, August 11, 2005, unanimously adopted what has commonly been referred to as the 'hamlet and village ordinance' to the Clackamas County Code. "We are breaking new ground with this nationally recognized project," said Commission Chair Martha Schrader.
  Ordinance 06-2005, which adds Chapter 2.10, Community Connections, to the County Code, empowers interested unincorporated communities to petition to form hamlets or villages. These two governance options give citizens an increased level of local expression, control and self-governance in decisions that affect their lives.
  "Providing citizens a better way to connect with the County is a long-standing objective of Complete Communities and Completing Connections" said Clackamas County Commissioner Bill Kennemer, who thanked the communities and hundreds of citizens who actively worked on the process over the past five years.
  The definitions of the new governance options as they read in the ordinance are:
  Hamlet: Unincorporated areas that are organized forums for citizens to express issues of concern, prioritize activities and coordinate community-based activities, as may be approved by the Board of County Commissioners. Hamlet affairs are financed primarily through voluntary contributions and fundraising activities.
  Village: Unincorporated areas that are organized forums for citizens to express issues of concern, prioritize activities and coordinate community-based activities, as may be approved by the Board of County Commissioners. After approval by its citizens and the Board of County Commissioners, village affairs may be financed through a range of means such as special assessments or fees as allowed by state law.
  In 2002, at the third Clackamas County Community Congress, the overwhelming majority of the several hundred attendees recommended that the Board of County Commissioners explore the concepts of hamlets and villages as possible governance models for unincorporated areas. The Board agreed, understanding the desire of many county residents for ways to increase their involvement in decisions that affect their lives. "We wanted to do something different in Clackamas County,"