The Metropolitan King County Council, hoping to make things easy on voters, has placed five proposed amendments to the county charter on the November general election ballot.

The proposals are among 12 that were recommended in May by the King County Charter Review Commission, a citizen group that every 10 years reviews the charter and proposes updates of the charter, which functions as a constitution for county government.

In their decision Monday on what to send to voters, council members said they wanted to avoid overloading the ballot.

The citizens’ commission, which met 55 times over the past year to review existing charter provisions and formulate new ones, had recommended submitting charter changes over the next three general elections.

The proposed charter amendments for this year’s election involve anti-discrimination, council procedures and budget issues. The measures call for:

• Elevating to charter status the existing prohibition against discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression in county employment and contracting – joining such other prohibited grounds as sex, race, religion and age.

• Reducing the number of County Council members on the council’s three regional committees, establishing a vice chairman position to be filled by a non-council member, authorizing the committees to initiate legislation, and authorizing the Regional Policy Committee to adopt its own work program without the full council’s approval.

• Permitting the council to establish additional qualifications for separately elected officials who head charter-based executive branch departments, as is currently permitted for the sheriff.

• Giving the council an additional 20 days to review the county executive’s proposed county budget (for a total of 65 days).

• Establishing an economic forecasting council for county government and an office of economic and financial analysis, as part of the research on which the county’s budget is based.

“The next step is for voters to decide if they want to make these changes,” said Councilwoman Julia Patterson.

The council delayed its decision for one week on another proposal that would increase the percentage of voters whose signatures are needed to launch citizen inititatives and would end the requirement for two votes on citizen-sponsored charter amendments.

Councilman Larry Phillips said voters are getting “an opportunity to shape how (the charter) will serve the citizens for decades into the future.”