Without public debate, nor planning or preparation for a significant change in government, Spokane County’s commissioners are asking us whether to add two to the existing three commission seats. It’s not as if there is a groundswell of citizens asking for larger government, or that the reasons to add more commissioners are justifiable.

In fact, not one shred of substantiated need for more commissioners is based on facts or a study. Proponents say the cost is insignificant, that commissioners would improve service if they could just talk about the public’s business in private, and that citizens would be better represented if the commissioners had fewer meetings. These are fairy tales cooked up as sales tools to fool the public. Passing Proposition 1 would be like taking extra kids to Chuck E. Cheese – more noise and less control. Consider the following information before voting:

The cost for two additional commissioners, plus assistants, health benefits, car allowance, travel and other expenses, will be close to $500,000 per year, according to the county budget office. This does not include one-time costs, like offices, furniture, phones and computers. This money comes out of the general fund, which pays for necessities like deputies on the street, prosecutors and maintaining parks. The general fund revenue from property and sales taxes is limited, so every slice taken from the pie is less for departments that need it most. One-half million dollars is not an “insignificant” amount – as mentioned in a recent Spokesman-Review editorial – when the property tax increases are limited to 1 percent per year, and sales tax revenues fluctuate like the weather. If the present commissioners want less work, a salary reduction should cover some of the cost.

With an enlarged commission, the public loses the protection provided by the Open Public Meetings Act, a 1971 state law based on the premise that open government is essential to a free society and that elected officials’ actions and deliberations are to be conducted in the light of day. Five commissioners can decide the public’s business among themselves, like an engagement rumor in a sorority, then hold a superfluous but mandatory public meeting, essentially sidestepping that pesky open meetings act. The OPMA protects us from shady backroom deals, regardless of partisan affiliation, while still specifically allowing elected officials to travel together, associate at gatherings, and engage in non-governmental conversation, despite claims to the contrary concerning a quorum.

Remember, the commission is unlike the Legislature or city or county councils because it can create legislation, hold a public hearing, and pass it into law without the checks and balances – a veto, for example – other elected bodies work under.

Beginning in 1969, and most recently in 2015, seven Washington counties have formed new county governments. Before proceeding down this road, all seven counties elected to create a citizen-driven charter to do it right the first time and preserve critical public oversight of the process. Spokane County’s method is like their search for a chief executive officer: haphazard and commissioner-driven. By creating a charter and allowing citizen oversight, the other counties were able to resolve major issues beforehand, such as commissioner district boundaries and salaries, and make the critical and difficult transition to larger government timely and smoothly. Under Spokane County’s process, commissioners Todd Mielke, Al French and Sally O’Quinn, with help from the county auditor, will divide the county’s population into five new districts. Gerrymandering, anyone?

If it is time to rethink the form and function of Spokane County government, isn’t it time to utilize the most democratic process possible and involve citizens directly in the decision-making? 

And lastly, if you think there’s a good chance of electing a Democrat to one of the new districts to give the commission some much-needed debate, think again. Without going through the charter system, like the other seven counties, Spokane County’s election system for county commissioners remains the same. This means the top two candidates, who are chosen in the primary by voters in their district, move on to the general election. In the November general election, the candidates face a countywide vote. Spokane County leans Republican by 4 to 5 percent. In other words, a candidate can win their district by a landslide, and still face uphill odds of winning in the general. Mark my words, candidates are being recruited for open seats, and partisan precincts are being dealt out like cards to the sitting commissioners as the ballots go to press.