"Marion County has become a complicated place," he said.

One complication he is referring to is that there are nearly 400,000 residents and only three commissioners. That is something he would like to see changed.

"One of the problems we currently have is that if two commissioners want to get together to discuss an issue they have to call a public meeting. With five commissioners, two can get together over coffee and discuss the issues," he said.

If only two commissioners meet without the third, that could create a bias within the council. The third commissioner may not get a chance to review all the facts.

Another thing that people would like to see is rather than commissioners representing the county as a whole, each commissioner would have an individual district.

Ron Johnson's idea that five is better than one is met with some skepticism.

Commissioner Pattie Milne said she is not committed one way or the other.

"The idea has its pros and cons," she said.

She agreed that having two additional commissioners may increase the work being done.

However, she said she was skeptical about the idea of a couple of the commissioners being able to meet without the rest of the council.

"If two members were to meet and discuss issues without the rest of the commissioners then the issue may not get fully discussed, leading to a false resolution," she said.

Another problem she mentioned would be getting everyone together at one time.

"We have a difficult time getting three people together, getting five people would be almost impossible," she said.

She did agree that having individual districts might serve to make things easier. However, she mentioned that there is an unwritten rule that already puts this into effect.

"I live in the northern part of the county so I tend to pay closer attention to what goes on here," she said.

Although she couldn't make an estimate, she did mention that the cost of having more commissioners could increase dramatically.

"There would be the cost of commissioners plus additional assistants," she said.

Johnson, however, believes that cost may not necessarily be as big an issue as most people think. According to him, a charter reform would likely reduce some administration costs.

On September 23 at 7 p.m. at the Salem Public Library there will be a public forum to discuss the option of increasing commissioners and making changes to Marion County government.

Both Ron Johnson and Pattie Milne agree that before making any decision, both sides need to be evaluated and getting public feedback will assist in coming to a conclusion.

"This forum is to get opinions and to try to figure out if the same form of government we had 25 years ago still applies today," Ron Johnson said.

Most counties have created a county charter, which declares the rights and responsibilities of the local government.

Marion County has no charter to base how it operates. Instead it operates using state legislature. Marion is the last major county in Oregon not to have one.

"Under a county charter we can possibly begin selecting commissioners by districts instead of countywide; this may encourage more people to get involved," Johnson said.