Finally, a valid and politically realistic effort to improve Indiana’s dysfunctional county government structure is headed to the Indiana General Assembly.

Credit goes to a relative newcomer, second-term State Rep. Phil GiaQuinta. He wants to act on conclusions that many government participants and observers have reached:

•Having a three-member county commission responsible for administering much of the county’s business is just as ridiculous as having three mayors of a city or three CEOs of a corporation.

•Allowing commissioners to be both the executive and legislative branches of county government eliminates the separation of powers that serves city, state and federal government well.

•Citizens face a nearly impossible task in holding anyone accountable for the successes and failures of county government, particularly considering that voters elect not only the commissioners but also the seven-member county council. Relatively few Hoosiers can explain the difference between the county council and the county commissioners.

A key proposal in the 2007 Kernan-Shepard report on reforming local government was replacing the three county commissioners with a single county executive and giving the county council the legislative power to make laws as well as appropriate money.

Unfortunately, that proposal went nowhere, partly because it would have also given that executive the power to appoint a number of officials who are now elected and partly because the current system works better in smaller counties, where commissioners are part time.

So GiaQuinta proposes that the commissioners in only Allen County be replaced with a single elected executive, and that the Allen County Council have power to pass laws. The commissioners would not appoint sheriffs, auditors, treasurers and others, a move that would require changing the state constitution. Allen County would serve, essentially, as a pilot – an example for other counties to judge.

County Commissioner Nelson Peters – a former county councilman – supports the measure. Commissioners Linda Bloom (definitely of the political old school) and Bill Brown oppose it. Both believe the matter should go before voters in a referendum, but that ignores the fact that the state legislature establishes local government structure. No one asked Allen County voters whether they wanted a three-member county commission or a seven-member county council; the legislature created them.

Opponents like Brown don’t want to see too much power in the hands of a single executive. Yet mayors have more power than a county executive would have, and voters know clearly whom to hold responsible in city government.

With the county commissioners having legislative authority, just two people can determine laws that govern citizens. Surely, residents would be better represented with the county council making laws and a county executive administering them.

GiaQuinta’s proposal, House Bill 1223, has bipartisan support, with fellow Democrat Win Moses and Republican state Reps. Randy Borror and Matt Bell all joining as co-sponsors. With few major issues on the legislative agenda this year, it should receive serious consideration in the General Assembly.