A task force appointed by the Lewis County commissioners to review the current structure of county government was scheduled to hold its first meeting on this morning.
The five-person board will have six weeks to evaluate the county’s current governmental structure and determine if there are benefits to different forms of government, such as the inclusion of a county manager.
The task force was created after a group of Lewis County citizens met to discuss the possibility of reorganizing the county’s commission-style government into a council. All but seven of Washington’s 39 counties have three-member commissions.
Commissioner Edna Fund said they wanted to have a “widespread view of the county” so the five members represent different geographical areas.
“We brainstormed on the individuals,” Fund said. “There had been a previous group that had looked into this and started that so we thought we would invite one of those folks into that, and that’s Larry McGee.”
Along with McGee, other task force members include Tony Briggs, Lee Grose, Anil Puri and Lonnie Willey. Steve Walton, the county’s central services director, will act as the board liaison.
The committee will meet for six weeks and will then provide a recommendation to the commissioners.
Fund said the recommendations could take various forms.
“We want them to really take a look at what are other counties doing, what are best practices out there and what can we learn, and advance ourselves beyond some of those best practices,” Fund said.
