FARMINGTON — Davis County Commissioner Bob Stevenson thinks county leaders ought to look into the idea of shifting from the three-commissioner form of government.

As is, with three officials — the commissioners — no single person sits atop the chain of command, which he sees as an aberration from the norm. In the three-commission form of government, typical in most Utah counties and the format used in Weber County, commissioners handle legislative and executive functions.

“There’s no one in charge. You have three people,” Stevenson said. In most organizations, by contrast — businesses, religious groups, cities — “there’s a go-to person,” he said Friday.

County commissioners discussed the issue at Stevenson’s request at a work session on Thursday. But they took no action, and whether it goes anywhere remains to be seen. In fact, with the other two commissioners, Randy Elliott and Lorene Kamalu, opposed to the idea, it could be dead already.

“I have no interest in changing the form of government,” Elliott said.

He’s not even interested in studying the idea. “The three-member commission has been working great for Davis County,” he said.

Likewise, Kamalu, who’s pondered the idea ever since launching her campaign for a seat on the commission in 2018, sees nothing wrong with the current commission form of government. Davis County requires the second-lowest amount of revenue in taxes and fees based on citizen income in Utah, she noted, citing Utah Taxpayers Association data.

According to a report released last December by the group, Davis County residents paid $15.57 in taxes and fees per $1,000 of income, behind only Washington County, where the figure was $12. Elliott noted the same report.

“We’re a very efficient county,” he said.

Besides lacking a single leader atop the power structure, Stevenson also cited the fact that commissioners hold both executive and legislative powers in his call for looking into changing the county government format. In other government formats, legislative and executive powers are divided, between the legislature and governor at the state level, for instance.

“There’s no other government that does that,” Stevenson said. He’s “always been a believer in the separation of powers in government.”

Utah law allows for other forms of government, five- or seven-member commissions, an executive-council format with an elected county mayor or executive holding executive powers and a council holding legislative powers, and more.

Stevenson didn’t reveal a preference for a specific alternative to the three-commission form of government, saying only that he’s trying to be “very open-minded” in considering the possibility of change. The skepticism of the other two commissioners may be the death of the issue, but Stevenson said if the debate does gain steam, the issue should be put to a vote of the public so voters have final say.

“I’m a firm believer if we were to do this, we’d put it on the ballot,” he said.

Such change has been discussed in Weber County and was the focus of a 2019 ballot question. Voters, though, overwhelmingly rejected the idea of shifting from the three-commission government format.

Meanwhile, the notion of another proposed change, dividing the Davis County Clerk/Auditor’s office, does have the backing of the three commissioners. The issue came up at a special meeting on Thursday, but officials took no action and it’s on the agenda of the commissioners’ regular meeting next Tuesday.

The proposal stems from Davis County’s growing population and the increasingly heavy workload in the office. Per the plan, the office would be split into the Davis County Clerk’s Office and the Davis County Auditor’s office, each headed by a separate elected official.

The clerk functions of the clerk/auditor’s office include election oversight while the auditor functions focus on managing and overseeing county spending and budgeting. Currently, Curtis Koch serves as the clerk/auditor in Davis County and he says he favors the plan to split the office.

If commissioners approve the change, the auditor’s and clerk’s positions would be on the ballot in elections this year.

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