Petition for Benton County move sent back to Staples

PROSSER — Fred Staples will get his signatures back.

Benton County Commissioners decided Monday to return about 18,500 signatures for a petition to move the county seat.

Staples, a retired Superior Court judge for both Franklin and Benton counties, has long advocated moving the Benton County seat from Prosser to the more populated Tri-Cities. About 80 percent of the county’s work force already is in the Tri-Cities.

Staples has been collecting signatures for the move for three years. He missed the deadline for this year’s election but plans to shoot for 2010.

However, he most likely does not have enough.

State statutes allow county seat relocation measures only in an even-number general election year and require submission at least six months in advance. It also mandates signatures to number one-third of the turnout in the most recent general election.

Using 2007 voter turnout, that would have meant about 14,000. Staples turned in his signatures on Sept. 15 hoping to use that figure.

However, a nonbinding opinion by the state attorney general suggests Staples needs enough signatures to equal one-third of this year’s election, which should be higher since it’s in a presidential election year.

That would mean he needs to gather more.

It also forced the county commissioners to decide what to do with the signatures Staples already had.

“This is one of those situations where you can’t do anything wrong and you can’t do anything right,” Commissioner Leo Bowman said.

Staples said it didn’t matter to him as long as they count toward the 2010 election.

“It’s ridiculous to say you’ve got to start over,” Staples said.

Staples is running for county commissioner this fall against Bowman.

• The Classified Marketplace
• • Announcements
  • Public Notices
  • Legal Notices
  • Merchandise
  • Yard Sales
  • Animals
  • Finance

• Newspaper Ads
  View All