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EPHRATA — The Grant County commission decided not to place a measure on the November ballot that, if approved by voters, would begin a process of exploring new forms of county government Tuesday.

A citizen's group, led by two Moses Lake residents, attorney Brian Dano and real estate agent Ralph Kincaid, will now launch a petition drive to collect roughly 2,500 signatures to qualify the measure for the upcoming ballot.

The group members dubbed themselves the "Voters for Council-Manager Form of Grant County Government." They want to expand the current three seats of the county commission to an elected policy-making council of five to seven members, which they believe will broaden citizen representation. The expanded council would then hire a county executive, who would be responsible for running day-to-day operations and hiring and managing all department supervisors.

The group's proposed council-manager form of government could end the nearly 100-year practice in Grant County of electing an assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, sheriff and treasurer. These elected department heads, Kincaid said, are not responsible to anyone other than the voters in four-year cycles.

The superior and district court judges and prosecutor would still be elected under the group's proposal.

The group is pushing for a "freeholder" election this fall. The elected freeholders — 15 to 25 county residents who are registered voters — would be chosen to review the current form of government for possible changes. If changes were desired by the freeholders, they would have two years to draft a new county government charter, which would then be presented to voters for final approval.

"There's only one way to make any change in county government, no matter how slight," said Kincaid. "If we wanted to do nothing more than change the commissioners from three to five (members), you've got to have a freeholder election."

The group hoped to sidestep a petition process, which they claimed would create an "adversarial atmosphere," but commissioners Richard Stevens and LeRoy Allison chose not to put the measure on the ballot by resolution. Commissioner Deborah Moore, who is not seeking re-election this fall after eight years on the commission, disagreed with her colleagues, saying she preferred to see the group skip the petition process.

A public hearing, which preceded the commission vote, showed a large majority of county residents in attendance wanted the commission to insist the group collect the necessary signatures. Speakers said the petition process would educate voters about the proposal.

Opponents criticized the group for not saying what is specifically wrong with the current form of county government.

"What's broke?" said Alan Lundberg, Soap Lake resident and the city's "Lava Lite" project coordinator. "What is the driving force? Get it out there."

"We'd rather keep this at a higher level, than get into the details," Kincaid said after the hearing. "If somebody wants to know the problems the county's been in, all they have to do is read (the) newspaper for the last 10 years. We don't believe it's the fault of any elected official, it's the system we want to review."

Several former elected county officials spoke in favor of the petition process, including retired county assessor Don McDowall and former county commissioner Glen Chamberlain.

"I'm asking the county commissioners don't short circuit or bypass a very important step," Chamberlain said.

"I want to see a massive education campaign," said Helen Fancher, a Quincy resident and former county commissioner. "I don't think people know what this is all about. The people of Grant County may feel blindsided by this."

Ron Baker, who has announced he's running for commissioner of the Grant County Public Utility District, said the group should follow the petition process.

"We need more time to let the public know what's going on," Baker said.

State law requires the group to collect signatures from at least 10 percent of voters who participated in the last election. The 2,500 signatures will meet that requirement and provide a cushion of about 500 to ensure the measure qualifies.

Kincaid claimed to already have about 700 signatures.

"We're well started and we will bring in the required number of signatures," he said. "Once it's on the ballot, then the freeholders start filing for candidacy, and that's when the education process is going to start."

Kincaid himself would not rule out a candidacy for one of the freeholder positions.

"We're all businessmen or got other jobs," he said. "I've never gotten to that point of thinking 'am I going to be one.'"