Move To Expand County Commission Is Revived Valley Business Group Seeks To Add Two More Commissioners; Similar Effort Failed In 1991
Spokane Valley business interests are using an old idea to launch a new attempt at tinkering with county government.
Members of the Spokane Valley Business Association are reviving a proposal - shot down by voters in 1991 - to expand the County Commission from three members to five.
If there’s enough support during a public hearing sometime next month, two county commissioners said they’ll put the issue on the April 23 ballot.
“Representation has always been a matter of contention in the Valley,” said Dick Behm Jr., treasurer of the business association. “We had three county commissioners 100 years ago.
“The population has increased drastically. Three county commissioners can’t possibly keep up with the workload.”
The expanded commission idea surfaced a decade ago with disenfranchised Valley residents led by state Sen. Bob McCaslin.
He finally got a bill through the Legislature in 1991 allowing Spokane County voters to enlarge its commission. Spokane is the state’s largest county without an elected county executive who reports to part-time boards ranging from five to 13 members.
Voters were not impressed, however. They defeated the proposal by almost a 2-1 ratio in November 1991.
Howard Herman, an activist in all three campaigns to incorporate the Valley into its own city, said he opposes a bigger commission.
Right now, he said the Valley has 33 percent representation on the board with Commissioner Steve Hasson.
Because the Valley represents about one-quarter of the county population of 412,000, Herman doubts that the Valley would get a second commissioner if the plan passes. Instead of having to persuade one county commissioner to vote with him, Hasson or whoever represents the Valley would need two votes, Herman said.
He noted there’s a chance that the five commissioners would be elected by 80,000-resident districts rather than at-large by all county residents.
“You just don’t have any sway over people who don’t vote for you,” Herman said.
Expanding the commission would not be cheap.
A ballot initiative alone would cost about $150,000. In 1991, the estimated cost of two new commissioners with secretaries and the offices to house them was $260,000.
Commissioners Hasson and Phil Harris said enlarging the board has merit.
Commissioners now are burdened with too many meetings and don’t have time to meet with constituents, Hasson said. Committee assignments would be divided among five commissioners instead of three, making for more accountability.
Harris said voters might be receptive. “Voters are like the wind,” he said. “You never know which way they’re going to blow.”
Commissioner John Roskelley could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Several citizens who worked for years as freeholders to craft a city-county charter that eventually failed at the polls applaud the five-member commission concept.
“Anything is better than what we have now,” said Clyde Haase. “We’re dealing right now as we had in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Have you driven through the Valley and the North Side lately?”
, DataTimes