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While one may reasonably question whether or not the new form of county government under which Clark County will be operating after 2010 is going to be good for us, the method of getting to that form of government is — to put it generously — Kafkaesque.

Having said that, please remember that it was not our current elected officials who foisted this process on us. We did it to ourselves. And while some 60 percent of Clark County voters chose to go to the commissioner form of county government, it is not too hard to speculate that many of those voters did not fully understand exactly what they were voting for.

During one of the recent forums held to try to explain the voting process that will select county commissioners, it quickly became apparent that a good many voters are going to be disenfranchised by the process.

The county is divided into three districts, and each district will be represented by one commissioner. Under state law, not only can voters within each district vote for their own commissioner, they can also vote for a commissioner from each of the other two districts.

Except for the following. Since Districts 2 and 3 only have Democrats who have filed for the position, the commissioner from those two districts will be determined in the primary election, unless an independent or write-in candidate files after the primary election.

And voters in District 1 will not be able to vote for their commissioner in the primary because there is only one Democrat and one Republican candidate, so they will have to wait until the fall election to see who wins office.

And, in the fall, voters in Districts 2 and 3 may be in a position to vote only for the candidates in District 1! Oh, and by the way, if you’re a registered independent, you can’t vote for any of the candidates until November. You understand it now, right?

Now, here’s an additional kicker! With three commissioners and one judge-executive, it is possible that some important issues will result in a voting tie. And if that happens, the issue will fail to pass, except in the case of appointments of staff or officers, in which case the judge-executive may make the appointment after 15 days.

In Kentucky, only 15 of the 120 counties have the commissioner form of government, but they constitute over 50 percent of the state’s population.

Nearby, Montgomery County operates under this form.

When this change was being touted to the public, it was suggested that substantial cost savings would accrue by the change.

An examination of county funding seems to suggest that during a four-year period under the commissioner form, the county would realize a savings of $270,000. While this is not an insubstantial sum, does $65,000 a year really seem worthwhile for the turmoil of this change?

And that is only if the commissioners do not choose to enhance their salaries or benefits during that period.

This experiment may work, and everyone may get comfortable with it. But it is also possible that the Clark County electorate has been sold a bill of goods.

For those who already believe that traveling this path will lead to disaster – or something less extreme — they will have to busy themselves with securing signatures on petitions to revert to our previous form of local government, and they must complete this task before Aug. 1, 2010 in order to have it on the ballot and to change back in 2014.

Judging by the responses and questions and comments of those attending at least one of the forums about this change, it is safe to say that there is a good deal of skepticism about how beneficial the change will be, but we are all in for an interesting ride while finding out.

Contact Chuck Witt at chuck740@bellsouth.net.

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