YAKIMA, Wash. — In San Juan County, the commissioners weren't working together and there were concerns about favoritism.

In Whatcom County, there was unhappiness over perceptions of a too-costly new jail and duplication of services.

The issues became springboards for change.

Both counties traded in their longstanding county commissioner setup for a different form of government, referred to as a home rule charter, which allows greater flexibility in organizing a county government and more local control.

Whether Yakima County follows that same path will be determined next month when voters decide if they too want change.

The issue is Proposition 1: Do county voters want a proposed charter written and who should prepare it? If the answer is yes, the drafters, known as freeholders, will submit a proposed charter at a subsequent election.

A total of 41 people are vying for the 15 freeholder positions. Voters in each of the county's three commission districts will select five freeholders from their district.

Should the proposal gain voter approval, the freeholders face a big task of writing a proposed charter.

State law doesn't spell out what method freeholders should use to reach agreement on charter language, such as by consensus or majority vote.

If they are unable to reach an agreement before their terms end in December 2013, the charter effort would fail, said Terry Austin, the county's chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney.

The word freeholder comes from the state Constitution and initially meant a property owner. The name has since been defined in court decisions to apply to voters.

Supporters say change is indeed needed. For them, the geographically large and demographically diverse county requires broader representation and more chance for public input on county decisions.

Opponents, including current county Commissioner Mike Leita, say the existing system -- created at statehood -- is efficient and responsive to the concerns of residents.

The local political parties are split -- the county Democratic Party supports home rule. Republicans oppose it.

Home rule is, as the name suggests, a chance to establish ground rules for how county government operates.

Steve Lundin, who retired as chief counsel for the state House of Representatives following a 30-year career and the author of a book on local government, said home rule allows counties to essentially write their own constitutions.

"It is the ability of the people to frame their county government that suits the local needs. It's the constitution for a county," he said.

Only six counties -- all in Western Washington -- have adopted charters. They are King, Whatcom, Clallam, Snohomish, Pierce and San Juan.

Ten other counties have tried and failed. Only Whatcom and Clallam were able to adopt a charter on the first try, according to the state Municipal Research and Services Center, a nonprofit group that provides support to local governments.

The issue has come up twice before in Yakima County within the last 15 years. Neither effort got traction. This year, however, a local group, Central Washington Progress, gathered 9,700 valid voter signatures to place the issue on the ballot. The group is affiliated with the Win/Win Network, a Seattle-based operation that's organized and supported by community groups, labor unions and environmental groups. The network paid some petition signature gatherers and provided other support to Central Washington Progress, which works to increase participation in local government.

Win/Win has given the most money to effort, including funding for initial signature gathering. Of the $58,114 raised so far, about $51,063, mostly from in-kind contributions, from Win/Win, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

But support comes from other quarters as well.

Bernie Sims, a former Yakima City Council member, said this time is different.

He argues the county is too big to continue with three county commissioners, a format established at the time of statehood more than a century ago.

"There is so much under-representation going on. There is a whole group of people who want to contribute but have never been able to get into the process," said Sims, chair of Voters For Home Rule For Yakima County. "They have been eliminated by the way the system works."

Sims added his group believes the issues are such that county voters deserve a chance to decide whether to change the form of government.

Sims' group has raised slightly more than $12,000, including $5,000 from Yakima attorney Blaine Tamaki and another $5,000 from the Win/Win Network. Another $1,185 came from the group Yakima Taxpayers for Accountable Government, which fought against the strong mayor ballot measure in Yakima. Some freeholder candidates have given small amounts of cash.

On the other side of the issue is a group calling itself Right Path. Leita and Sunnyside Mayor Jim Restucci are on the committee, which is chaired by State Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches.

Ross said he got involved because he believes county government is performing well.

"The smaller the form of government, the more effect you can have on it," he said. "It's easy to obtain change when you have three commissioners. When you are talking about boards in excess of eight to nine people, it's harder to affect change."

Leita said the current commissioners have an open door policy and will talk to county residents when they have concerns. He added voters can choose a commissioner every two years with the way commission terms expire.

He pointed out commissioners have created citizen boards to advise them on issues involving the new jail, bolstering agriculture, locating gravel mining operations and improving the county's quality of life.

"I'm mystified that the proponents of Proposition 1 have never communicated with us the problems that would drive us to this significant change," he said. "You change government when it has substantially failed or caused the community harm."

Right Path has not reported any contributions or expenditures.

In counties where charters now exist, the primary changes involve creating separate legislative and executive branches. Typically, but not always, a larger number of county council positions have been created to replace the three commissioners. Council members represent smaller geographic districts.

The council sets policy, adopts the county budget, levies taxes, and approves ordinances.

Freeholders writing the charter can retain the three commissioner system if they choose. Clallam County went that route.

But all six counties have turned day-to-day management over to a professional administrator, known as a county executive or county administrator. County executives are responsible for supervising appointed department heads, enforcing ordinances and preparing annual budgets. The position is similar to a chief executive officer who operates a company under the guidance of a board of directors, in this case, the county council.

Richard Fralick, a physicist and original freeholder in San Juan County, said having professional management is a benefit.

"There is a lot of money involved and the law on what you have to do is so complicated that you need someone who is professionally trained," said Fralick, a county council member. "I don't know how you deliver services without having a professional responsible for doing that."

The proposed charter also can outline whether the other county elected positions, such as sheriff, auditor or treasurer should be partisan or nonpartisan and whether they should be elected or appointed.

The state Constitution requires, however, the prosecutor and judges be elected.

Opponents say appointed officials in key positions insulates them from facing voters at the ballot box and makes them harder to replace.

Perhaps the most important change in the home rule form of government is the ability for residents to petition the council through initiative or referendum. Some cities, including Yakima, have that authority now. Counties that have the commission form do not.

Fralick said the opportunity to petition the county is another element that provides local flexibility.

"If you want to give citizens access to your government and want them to be able to say yes or no on issues, you should have that capability," said Fralick. "You can only do that with a charter."

With an initiative, citizens petition the county council to enact an ordinance by a public vote by the public. With referendums, citizens petition to have voters amend or remove an existing ordinance.

These provisions deal solely with local issues; state laws aren't permissible topics for referendum.

In San Juan County, for example, a referendum to overturn a council ban on private fireworks went to the voters. Voters sided with the council and the ban remains in effect.

Charter drafters also can require local performance audits of county government offices. Joe Elenbaas,<FEFF> a Whatcom County farmer, former banker and original freeholder, said Whatcom County has that authority, but hasn't often used it.

Home rule also offers the possibility of creating an ethics commission to look over the shoulders of publiicials.

Freeholders also could propose term limits.

But Elenbaas cautions that freeholders need to keep in mind what they propose in a charter still must attract a majority vote to be approved.

"I think the biggest underlying thing is the ability to create regulations specific to your area as long as they aren't in opposition to state law," he said. "That's a pretty big thing."

None of those elements were contemplated when the state Constitution formalized the commissioner form of government, a format that had preceded the state.

But that changed in 1948 when a state constitutional amendment provided the opportunity for home rule.

Lundin said the change grew out of the rapid changes that occurred in the aftermath of World War II, when soldiers came home to start families, build homes and start businesses. Population in some counties was growing rapidly and pushing out into rural areas, creating issues for counties that needed more flexibility to deal with them.

"The most creative ferment of government thinking in the state was just after World War II. Home rule is a progeny of that," he said. "There was a desire to break away from the (commissioner form); how to provide government on a logical, quasi-regional basis, and how to provide a uniform set of authorities and services for people."

One issue in the campaign is that a charter form of government would be more costly than the current commission form because of a potentially larger county council and a paid executive.

Whatcom County dealt with that issue by making council members part-time and setting their salaries at a level that would not exceed that of the council executive. Whatcom council members receive $20,000 per year.

But the switch from the commissioner form to the charter form has been difficult, representatives of charter counties say.

For one thing, county commissioners then in office opposed the change. That was the issue in both San Juan County and Whatcom County.

Pete Rose, appointed county administrator in San Juan County in 2006, said he favors the charter system, based on his experience with city government under a strong mayor system and the charter.

But he added the proof of the pudding is in the caliber of people elected and hired to run the operation.

"If it is properly resourced, (a charter form) will actually move the county further faster than you can in any other way," he said. "It comes down to the people. You are only as good as the people you elect to be county commissioners or a council, and they are only as good as the administration."

* Dave Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.

About the election

* Whether a proposed Yakima County charter should be drafted isn't the only charter-related question before county voters on Nov. 8.

Even if a voter decides to oppose having a charter drafted, he or she is advised to complete the ballot and choose freeholders in their commissioner district.

That's because should Proposition 1 -- the charter question -- pass, voters would want to select the five freeholders from their district whom they believe will best represent their interests.

* If Yakima County voters agree to have freeholders prepare a proposed county charter for Yakima County, the group of 15 people elected will have until Dec. 31, 2013, to complete the document.

County voters would vote on the proposed charter at a subsequent election.