Arizona representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would give Cochise County supervisors the opportunity to multiply.
Each of Arizona’s 15 counties is governed by an elected board of supervisors. Cochise County doesn’t have a large population, Rep. Gail Griffin says it’s large in size, and argues five supervisors would be better than the three spots currently allowed on the board.
“Two is a majority and they have to talk in public, so they can’t discuss anything privately. A three member board can’t conduct business outside of the meeting and there might be an instance where they want to discuss something,” Griffin said.
Ultimately, Griffin’s bill would leave it up to the current three supervisors in Cochise County to decide whether or not to ask voters if they want to increase the size of the board.
Eight of Arizona’s counties have five county supervisors, and the other seven have three.
“Arizona became a state in … 1912, but we got air conditioning and people moved here in the '50s. And also in the '50s, we locked the size of a lot of our government institutions,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin said. “The Legislature hasn’t really expanded since the '50s, and as a consequence I represent 10 times more people than a member of Congress did back when the country was founded.”
He voted for the bill, arguing that it will give the residents of Cochise County more representation.
Two of Cochise County’s three supervisors were indicted by a grand jury in November for delaying certification of the county’s 2022 election results.
