Freeholders Complete Lesson In Civics, Civility Despite Wide Range Of Opinions, All 25 Freeholders Stuck Out 30-Month Process Of Reinventing County Government

Choose 25 strangers with diverse backgrounds and widely divergent opinions.

Tell them to meet at least once a week to hash out issues of great importance to a region.

Ignore the group until it falters or makes an unpopular decision. Then

criticize it, ridicule it and call its members “freeloaders” even though they earn no pay.

Is it any wonder there was not a tear in the room when Spokane County freeholders held their final meeting Thursday?

“Somehow we didn’t kill each other,” said freeholder Karen Ann Baker. “There were times we felt like throwing daggers.”

“Gee, I’m going to miss you guys,” said freeholder Bill Anderson, rolling his eyes.

Elected in November 1992 to study local government and suggest changes, freeholders this week will present their proposed charter to county commissioners.

The 50-page charter, which would consolidate Spokane city and county governments, must be approved by voters.

Commissioners say they’ll put it on the November ballot.

Many officials, including a few freeholders among the mostly optimistic group, say the odds are against the charter passing at the polls.

Consolidated governments often are proposed, but have been approved in only 28 of 3,000 counties nationwide. None of those counties are in Washington.

As pleased as they were that their work was done, most freeholders said Thursday they’re glad they went through the process, even if the charter doesn’t pass.

In 2 years, they interviewed more than 100 government workers, taxpayers, politicians and government experts.

They read government documents and dry books, and scoured charters from other communities.

Several freeholders have compared the process to earning advanced degrees in civics. For most, it was a first foray into government.

“It’s been a wonderful experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” said Shirley Archer.

“I hope that my grandchildren and their children will recall that part of their family played a part in the making of Spokane,” said Clyde Haase.

Even if the charter passes, the freeholders never accurately can be called founding fathers. More than half of them are women.

That’s just the beginning of the diversity.

They came from all areas of the county and from a range of incomes. One is black and one is Hispanic. Some own small or large businesses, and others are government workers, politicians and homemakers.

Mike Senske listens to Rush Limbaugh. Kathy Reid is a Democratic Party leader.

The group hoped to make decisions by consensus, but ended up deciding issues by majority vote.

The splintering continued at the last meeting, when six freeholders decided to offer a minority report to commissioners, asking that voters be given other options along with consolidation.

Given the diversity, freeholder and former Spokane City Councilman Bob Dellwo said he was surprised the group got along as well as it did.

More amazing, he said, was that “we didn’t lose a single (freeholder). I predicted we’d lose at least a half-dozen.”

Lost, no. But several freeholders have all but dropped out.

Among those with the worst attendance were Ryan Murphy, who has graduated from college since he was elected; Betty Nunnery, the only freeholder to miss a March vote when group split 12-12 on whether to change directions; Anderson, whose career as a firefighter keeps him from many meetings; and Lisa Kilian, who blanches at the cost of hiring baby sitters each time she attends a meeting.

Kilian has been skeptical of the freeholders process, claiming early in 1993 that the group was being manipulated by the business group and other groups.

In the closest thing the freeholders had to a scandal, she was investigated for election fraud, but was not charged. Investigators claimed she did not live in the district where she was elected, a charge Kilian disputes.

It was a rare meeting when the audience reached double digits, although freeholders pleaded for input and sometimes moved their meetings out of the downtown area to draw more participants.

Thursday’s meeting was typical. Ninety-six chairs faced the freeholders as they voted to disband. Four were occupied.

On a table in the back of the room was a sheet cake decorated with a happy face, brought by members of the League of Women voters.

“Thanks for all your hard work,” the cake read.