Expanded Commission Revisited Harris, Mccaslin Hope Voters Will Want Five People On County Board

A year after Spokane city residents voted to change their form of government, county voters will get the chance to reshape theirs.

County Commissioners Phil Harris and Kate McCaslin said Tuesday they would support putting a measure on the November ballot asking voters whether they want to expand the county board from three to five members.

Commissioner John Roskelley said he would vote for such a ballot measure if proponents showed there is support for the idea by mounting a successful petition drive.

“I think they need to show the support is there before we do this,” said Roskelley, who argued that expanding the commission is a bad idea.

Harris and McCaslin agreed to wait for petitions to come in but warned Roskelley they would vote to put a measure on the ballot regardless.

Harris and McCaslin say a larger commission would give residents better representation and ease commissioners’ work load. Roskelley says putting the measure on the ballot would be too costly, and that he also opposes expanding government.

The election would come exactly a year after city residents voted to eliminate the current council-manager form of government in favor of a strong mayor form, radically changing the city’s political landscape.

Shortly after that election, members of the Spokane Home Builders Association said they would push for commission expansion during this year’s campaign season.

In its May newsletter, the association began soliciting funds for its political action committee, which is campaigning for a five-member commission, among other things.

Harris and McCaslin both said Tuesday they have heard other people discussing the idea as well, and Harris said he was approached by a signature-gatherer recently.

Neither commissioner was sure who is leading the effort.

Expanding the board to five members is not a new idea. Voters rejected the proposition in 1991, and four years ago a Valley business group unsuccessfully lobbied commissioners to allow citizens to vote on the idea.

Harris said Tuesday it’s time to reconsider.

Adding two more commissioners will give residents more representation in county government. It would also ease the work load on current commissioners, allowing them to do a better job, Harris said.

He noted that the three-member board was adopted many decades ago when only 60,000 people lived in Spokane County. The population today is closer to 415,000. “We’ve come a long way folks,” he said.

Roskelley wasn’t swayed by that argument.

“I think this is going to cost the county taxpayers a lot more money than any benefit they’re going to receive,” he said.

In 1991, the estimated cost of adding two new commissioners with secretaries and offices to house them was $260,000 for the first year. Putting a measure on the ballot could cost upward of $150,000.

There are other problems with the proposal, Roskelley said.

“I don’t believe bigger government is better,” he said. “That’s proven right across the river. The city has seven people on their council. You think that’s working better than what we have here?”

The Spokane City Council has struggled with a number of issues recently, including revenue shortfalls and the dispute over the River Park Square parking garage.

But Harris noted that City Council members work part-time while seats on the commission are full-time jobs.

“It’s a whole different world,” Harris said.

A specific proposal for how commissioners would be elected in a fiveperson council has not been brought forward.

The three commissioners represent specific districts but are elected at-large by all county residents.