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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Commissioners Not Sold On People’s Plan Citizens Group Wants Its Blueprint To Alter County Structure On Ballot As Is

A fight appears to be brewing between a citizens group and the Kootenai County Commissioners over whether voters should have a say in changing the way the county is run.

“We were told unequivocally that they would accept our recommendation and let the voters decide,” said Mike Anderson, chairman of the Commission on Optional Forms of County Government. “I think the commissioners are positioning themselves for a lot of criticism by second guessing the efforts of nine (people) who worked on this for nine months.

“We have a simple message: let the voters decide.”

But County Commission Chairman Dick Compton made it clear Friday that the recommendation to expand the number of county commissioners and change the way major county officers come to power won’t get automatic approval.

“We’re going to give it serious consideration,” Compton said. “I’m not prepared to guarantee at this time as it is written it will go forward.”

The County Commission has 30 days to accept the recommendation and put it on the November 1998 ballot. Compton hinted earlier in the week that the commissioners may change the proposal before forwarding it to the ballot.

If it goes to the ballot at all. Commissioner Ron Rankin, who has portrayed himself as a populist most of his political career, doesn’t think the voters have any need to have a say. The county political structure works just fine, he says.

The study group is suggesting that Kootenai County have five commissioners instead of three and that the job be truly part-time. Those five commissioners would hire a county manager.

In conjunction with the manager, they would hire and fire the county coroner, sheriff, clerk, assessor, prosecuting attorney and treasurer. Those positions are now selected by the voters.

Having five commissioners offers several advantages, said Anderson, a retired telecommunications executive. It allows broader geographic representation.

It also allows candidates from a broader demographic background to serve since, at part-time status, commissioners will be able to keep their day jobs, Anderson said.

Hiring professionals to do the financial, law enforcement and other work makes more sense. “All of these people should be professional-technical people who aren’t running the department because of how good a campaign they ran or how much money the have,” Anderson said.

Now “the most popular candidate wins and then hires a chief deputy who knows the job.”

Rankin argues that the proposed system takes power from the hands of the voters. If the sheriff or the prosecutor are corrupt, he said, there’s no recall election to remove them under the new format.

But it’s already virtually impossible to remove an elected official from office with the recall process, Anderson counters. Change the system and poor public officials can be fired.

Keep it in place and voters will continue to have the incredibly high and complex hurdles of a recall election.

The Idaho Association of Counties confirms that while the threat of recall elections is rampant, actually deposing an allegedly unworthy official is rare.

Latah County voters managed to place all three commissioners on a recall ballot in 1994 but only succeeded in removing one from office.

“You have to get as many voting for the recall as voted for the office originally and then the majority have to vote for the recall,” said Dan Chadwick, executive director of the association.

In Latah County, they majority of voters cast ballots for the recall but two of the three commissioners survived because not enough voters turned out overall, he said.

In any case, there appears to be change afoot across the state. At least a half-dozen counties expect to have formal proposals this year.

Ada County voters narrowly rejected a measure last November that would have expanded the county commission to five members and led to a hired county manager. That proposal did not change the election of the other officials.

, DataTimes