Two measures to change County Commission defeated

Warren County commissioners made it clear they prefer things just as they are Monday night by voting down two resolutions which would have introduced dramatic changes to the county’s governing body.

The first resolution, presented by Commissioner George Smartt, would have created A and B seats for each of the 12 districts in the county, thus allowing candidates to declare for either of the two seats. Currently the top two vote-getters in the districts are elected commissioners. Proponents of this idea say having two separate seats would hold commissioners more accountable.

This resolution failed, 13-10, with one of the 24 commissioners, David Vandagriff, absent.

The second, more controversial, resolution would have reduced the number of commissioners from 24 to 12, leaving one commissioner per district. This resolution was introduced by Commissioner Bill Zechman.

Supporters of this idea feel the commission is unwieldy at 24 members and that a streamlined commission would be better able to make decisions in a timely manner, and would also save taxpayers $36,000 in salaries.

This resolution failed, 16-7.

Both ideas have been presented more than once by Zechman and Smartt, so far failing in each attempt. Zechman said he plans to keep trying, if he is re-elected in 2006, and stands behind his concept of a more efficient 12-member commission. However, he realizes he is facing some resistance from his fellow commissioners.

“The County Commission tonight had an opportunity, two opportunities in fact, to reform itself,” Zechman said. “But if an institution feels it does not need reform, then it’s not going to take action. We had, I thought, two excellent resolutions. Mr. Smartt’s resolution, the designated seats, I think is a very satisfactory alternative. I like my proposal even better, but the County Commission decided to continue with the status quo. That seems to have been predetermined before we started the debate.”

Zechman had hoped to gain some supporters, but the number of yes votes remained at 7 as in his last attempt.

“I guess the good news is we have not lost ground,” Zechman said.

In Smartt’s case, there had been an initial motion to table his resolution from Commissioner Wayne Pryor, seconded by Herb Wright, which failed in a vote of 13-10. But though commissioners seemed reluctant to table the resolution, they had no qualms about defeating it, oddly enough, 13-10 in the subsequent vote, a move that gave Smartt mixed feelings.

“Well, I was surprised the motion to table my resolution failed,” Smartt said. “But then I was not shocked we got beat once again. As I have previously stated, I think it is incumbent on us as county commissioners to clean up our own house, and stand individually before the voters of our districts. And evidently there are quite a few people who are either afraid to stand before the voters individually, or they think they have nothing to worry about and can flaunt ethics, if that’s the right word, at the people of Warren County.”

Zechman pointed out in an interview Tuesday it will be quite a while before the resolutions can be effectively introduced again.

“That was the last opportunity for four years to do any reform on the commission,” Zechman said. “That was the last hurrah because the qualifying deadline for the county offices for the primaries is Feb. 16 of next year and we won’t meet until after that date in February.”