Why are voters being asked to make a personnel decision, to hire someone who may or may not be remotely qualified for a management post that most of us would never have heard of except for the clutter of campaign signs that we look past to see if we can turn left?

Why are Utah voters expected to know who to choose as county clerk, treasurer, auditor, recorder, assessor or, for pity's sake, surveyor?

These relics of 19th century government - the offices, not the people - are supposed to do things that do need to be done, such as overseeing tax assessments and collections, property ownership records and transfers. But now that most Utahns live in booming metropolitan areas, rather than one-horse county seats, the practice of choosing managerial functionaries at the ballot box is obsolete.

In many counties, each of these executive offices has attracted one candidate each - often the incumbent. When there is a rivalry, one of those very elected officials, the county clerk, oversees the process that decides who gets the job.

In Salt Lake County, more of the executive campaigns are contested, sometimes by up to four candidates. But, having already shifted to a mayor-council form of government, Salt Lake County also has the least reason to separately elect all these other department heads.

Office managers should be hired by the elected mayor on the basis of professional qualifications, answerable to the mayor, who is, in turn, answerable to the voters. A dud or a crook could be fired, rather than hang on for the next election. Or the one after that.

With the added check of the council's oversight and budgetary control, county government could merge executive offices and end the dilution of accountability that now exists. Maintaining the independence of the district attorney and sheriff, while also risking partisan bickering, would mean another outside power to check any hanky-panky elsewhere in county government.

County government structures in Utah have been altered before. They can be altered again. In most locales, a serious ballot-shortening exercise would be in order.