Committee offers education about review process

MOSES LAKE — Proponents of the home rule charter process officially junked their moniker, "Voters for Council-Manager Form of Grant County Government."

While dropping their name into the dust bin of political history, the committee abandoned some of their key goals, too.

They originally sought to enlarge the county's legislative body from a three-member board of commissioners to an elected council of five-to-seven members. That council would've appointed a manager to handle day-to-day business for the county.

The committee favored having the manager hire the county's department supervisors, ending a tradition of electing the assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, sheriff and treasurer.

Now they're known as the Grant County Citizen Review Committee. They want people voting "yes" to the home rule charter process, listed on general election ballots as Proposition No.1. If voters approve the proposition, a board of 21 elected freeholders could prepare a home rule charter for the county. That charter would go before voters for final approval.

Fourteen members of the committee met Thursday with the editorial board of the Columbia Basin Herald, at Big Bend Community College.

The committee told the paper voters shouldn't be "afraid" to have county government examined.

An independent citizen review is healthy, said committee spokesman P.J. De Benedetti, a Moses Lake freeholder candidate and Moses Lake School District administrator.

"It's a great process, and nothing to be afraid of at all," said Brian Dano, the committee's de facto attorney. Dano, of Moses Lake, is also a freeholder candidate. The committee's No. 1 goal, he said, remains informing voters what the process entails and dispelling myths.

Several committee members emphasized the government remains unchanged in 100 years, while the county's population and economy are rapidly changing. A review could prepare Grant County for those changes, they told the paper.

Committee member Brian Meiners, the plant manager of Basic American Foods in Moses Lake, said the county is changing from its agriculture-based roots.

Meiners, a Moses Lake freeholder candidate, is President of the Grant County Economic Development Council. He said the county is becoming more economically diverse.

"The timing seems to be excellent for this review," said committee member John Molitor, a freeholder candidate from Soap Lake.

Don Long, a committee member and freeholder candidate, plans to review the government objectively, if elected.

"I'm not in favor of change, just for that sake of change," said Long, of Ephrata. "But just because the county isn't falling on its face, doesn't mean it can't improve."

The committee's biggest hurdle is helping voters overcome fear of possible changes, said committee member Brenda Teals, a former BBCC instructor.

"The tendency is to vote 'no,'" said Teals, also a Moses Lake freeholder candidate. "Change is always frightening … it's human."

This summer, the committee collected approximately 2,000 petition signatures, the minimum number required to have Proposition No. 1 go before voters.

Petition spokesman Ralph Kincaid, a Moses Lake real estate agent, said he's now focused on education. He said it's the key to voter approval.

To educate voters, the Grant County commissioners scheduled four public forums to discuss and answer questions about the upcoming freeholder election.