PROSSER, Wash. -- Wheeling three file boxes on a squeaky handcart, Kay Staples today turned in 20,433 signatures backing the relocation of the Benton County seat from this small town to Kennewick.

Kay Staples is a former Benton County Superior Court clerk and wife of Fred Staples, a retired Superior Court judge, who has been trying to move the county seat for 25 years. Fred Staples is in Arizona visiting family for the winter.

Proponents of moving the county seat argue that most county employees already work in and around Kennewick, a situation they call financially wasteful and potentially illegal. They aim to place a ballot measure before voters in the November 2010 general election.

Kay Staples turned the petitions into the county commissioners at their regular Monday morning meeting.

During the meeting, commissioners asked county Auditor Bobbie Gagner to verify the signatures. That process could take five weeks, she estimated.

However, because the election is planned for next November, state law won’t allow the signatures to be certified until May 1, said Ryan Brown, a county attorney representing the commissioners.

Meanwhile, the commissioners plan to start an economic study of the impacts of such a move, both on Prosser and Kennewick, as required by state law.

-- Ross Courtney