What’s The Difference Between Merger And Consolidation? City-County Issue Brings Plenty Of Questions

Here are some questions and answers about the city-county government consolidation proposal facing voters Tuesday.

Question: Does the charter propose a merger or a consolidation? Are those two terms exactly the same, or are there some differences?

Answer: Campaigners and reporters use both words, which are synonyms. In fact, neither is completely accurate.

While the charter would merge (or consolidate, mix, blend or combine, depending on one’s choice of verb) city and county departments, the government itself would be completely new.

Q: Who would appoint the police chief, treasurer, coroner and other administrative officials? How many of those department heads are protected now by civil service?

A: The elected executive would make political appointments, subject to approval by the city-county council.

Department heads are not protected by civil service. Those who are not elected can be hired or fired at will by the City Council and county commission.

Elected department heads include the auditor, assessor, sheriff, clerk and coroner. They would be replaced by appointed positions.

Q: What happens to courts and judges under consolidation?

A: The charter does not change the judicial system.

Q: The charter directs the county to appoint a corporate counsel for civil matters. Doesn’t state law require the county prosecutor to act as the county’s civil attorney?

A: If the freeholders had written a charter for county government only, they couldn’t have changed the duties of the prosecutor.

State guidelines for writing a citycounty charter gives much wider latitude, said county attorney Jim Emacio. In fact, freeholders could have gone further and made the prosecutor an appointed, rather than elected, position, he said.

Former county Prosecutor Don Brockett suggested the split in power. But Brockett said he’d prefer the civil attorney be elected, rather than appointed, to make the position more accountable to county residents.

Q: Does the charter address current zoning laws or the daytime noise limits? Would city regulations be extended to nearby urban areas?

A: The charter says all ordinances would remain as they are until they’re amended or repealed by the city-county council. So, nothing would change immediately.

If voters approve the charter, officials would have to review every city and county ordinance. The council would have to change those that aren’t appropriate for the new government.

Q: Will all the cities in Spokane County lose their city governments and become part of one big government?

A: The city and county would merge; the 10 small towns would remain independent.

Q: Would Spokane’s name change? Would addresses change?

A: The charter refers to the proposed new government as Spokane City-County. It’s not clear whether that name is mandatory, or if voters or the council could call it something else.

Other consolidated communities use that city-county term or unigov or something similar.

But all of them include the name of the former city and the former county. Normally that creates an unwieldy name like Lexington-Fayette (Ky.) Urban County Government.

Spokane would avoid the problem because its city and county share a name.

Regardless, addresses would not change, according to U.S. Postal Service officials.

, DataTimes