Nothing is set in stone yet, members of the government study commission cautioned their breakfast companions this morning at a Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry forum.

But strong hints to how the board will function and the policies its majority favors became clear soon after the commissioners took their seats.

Most obviously, this board is a divided group.

The three members of the 11-member board who voted against drafting a home rule charter last month weren't there at the Eden Resort this morning.

Even in their absence, it was obvious that their talking points — home rule is a liberal idea, home rule means higher taxes — will continue to be the first question posed by citizens in the next 9-11 months, as the group crafts a new charter.

It is also clear that the rift between the majority and minority is political, in part — opposition members Greg Sahd, Jim Huber and Jim Bednar were the only Republicans on the commission endorsed by the county Republican Party.

The Democratic Party and the chamber have supported the home rule process.

"It appears to me that the Republican Party is dead set against the home rule charter because it would diminish their power," commented chamber member Art Mann, a Republican who lost his bid for the home rule panel last year.

The eight majority commissioners asked the audience to help them put pressure on the Republican Party to get involved in drafting a new county charter to put before voters.

Other certainties emerged as well. The majority of the study commission supports increasing the number of county commissioners.

"Three is not enough," commission chair Carol Phillips said.

"There aren't enough voices at the table to make good decisions," echoed panel member John Smucker.

To find the desired balance, study commissioners said they will look to other home rule counties for guidance.

Besides Philadelphia, a unique entity as a city and county in one, there are six home rule counties in Pennsylvania — Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Northampton and Allegheny. Like Philadelphia, Allegheny, which is home to Pittsburgh, is less a model for Lancaster County than the others.

Clinton County voters will decide the fate of their proposed home rule charter in November.

The number of commissioners, or council members, who run those counties ranges from three, as in Lackawanna, to nine in Northampton and Lehigh counties.

Looking at borough councils across Lancaster County, "we know that a five-member board works better," study commissioner Sam Mecum said.

The board indicated a preference for possibly staggering the terms of elected officials, so that citizens may vote more than once every four years to change the make-up of their government.

In Lehigh and Northampton counties, a group of four county-wide commissioners and another set of five members chosen by district, are elected two years apart to serve four-year terms.

Similarly, groups of two and three county-wide commissioners alternate election every two years in Delaware County.

The home rule group this morning emphasized the importance of preserving minority representation on the commissioners board.

In Clinton County's proposed charter and the one that governs in Lackawanna, the election process guarantees minority representation by limiting the number of candidates nominated by each party, as is currently the method in Lancaster County.

Mecum said that Lancaster's Democratic chairman, Bruce Beardsley, has been vocal about securing a minority presence in the new government.

Eliminating or combining some row office positions is another likely provision of the new charter proposal.

"Frankly, we don't believe that most folks know what (row officers) do in the county courthouse," Mecum said this morning.

He has previously singled out the position and title of a prothonotary as an obscure concept to the majority of the electorate.

When Lackawanna County switched to home rule, it combined the offices that oversee criminal and civil records into one elected position, and kept the rest of the row offices intact.

Northampton, on the other hand, currently appoints leaders to all such spots except for the controller and the district attorney, whose elections are mandated by the state.

All home rule counties allow for some type of citizen initiative and referendum, which is not the case in traditional structures such as the current one in Lancaster. Typically, home rule charters require the support of a small percentage of total registered voters to place an issue on the ballot.

The decision to appoint or elect a county executive is split between the existing home rule counties. The Delaware charter, for example, requires that commissioners appoint a county head but caps the number of years that person serves.

Those counties that opted to elect their chief executives — Erie, Lehigh and Northampton — give the position veto power over legislation passed by their councils.

The Lancaster County home rule study commissioners have until May to come up with a charter. The voters will then have to approve or disapprove it in a county-wide election in November 2008, at the earliest.

If the charter fails at the polls, another such effort would have to wait at least five years.

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