Our Voice: County commissioners should meet face to face

The apparent breakdown in communication between Benton and Franklin county commissioners over their shared operation of the public defender’s office has sent up a flare.

We hope that’s all it is, and not a signal that more joint county services are in jeopardy of splitting apart.

Franklin County commissioners recently decided to break from Benton County and create their own public defender’s office, which serves indigent criminal defendants. The two groups could not agree on new partnership terms, and so now both counties will operate the service on their own.

The most disturbing piece in this disagreement is that the two commissions never met face to face to discuss the issue, even though a Tri-City legislator worked hard last year to get a new law passed that allows them to do so.

In 2014, Franklin County questioned whether joint meetings with Benton County were legal. The issue came before the state attorney general and it was determined that county commissioners must conduct business within their county borders.

But that is no longer the case.

Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, crafted legislation last spring that would allow Benton and Franklin county commissioners to meet. It was approved and took effect in July.

Working through the details of a new contract for the joint public defender’s office would have been the perfect reason for the two groups to take advantage of this new law.

But that didn’t happen. Why it didn’t is hard to know for sure.

Both sides hint it was the other side’s unwillingness to cooperate that led to the impasse and lack of communication.

Shon Small, Benton County Commission chairman, complained that Franklin officials would not meet in person to discuss bicounty operations, and that a lack of communication hindered the process.

Franklin County Commissioner Brad Peck told the Herald, “It takes two to have a functioning relationship.”

Pointing fingers is not going to help much now.

In the future, however, we would like to remind leaders in both counties that one of our Tri-City legislators put in the time and effort so that they could get together legally. It’s an opportunity they should not ignore.

The two counties have a history of sharing responsibility and providing a number of services in the Tri-Cities, including the Metro Drug Task Force, the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Justice Center, Superior Court, human services and the Crisis Response Unit.

Decisions on some of these joint operations are on the horizon, and a cooperative attitude will be critical in figuring out how best to proceed.

Last November, Franklin County commissioners directed their county administrator to work with Benton County to form a group of providers, patients and others involved in the human services office to determine how best to provide mental health services in the region. The group has been meeting regularly, which is encouraging.

We hope this attempt at cooperation takes hold, and that the county commissioners will follow the example. The courts, crime and mental health are issues that affect both sides of the river and require a community approach to be effective.

This latest disagreement regarding the public defender’s office needs to be set aside as an isolated case, and not the start of more division ahead.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Our Voice: County commissioners should meet face to face."