4-act tragi-comedy County board suffers slings and arrows
Commissioner Dwight Ellis
From our weekly issue dated February 20, 2008
Josephine County commissioners met Tuesday morning, Feb. 12 in their board room in the courthouse in Grants Pass for what promised to be, based on the agenda, a routine meeting.
However, it was anything but mundane. Commissioner Dwight Ellis was absent due to illness.
Fireworks were ignited in connection with a trip to Washington, D.C. that was booked by Commissioner Jim Raffenburg to attend a legislative meeting of the National Association of Counties (NACO). It will be held March 1 through 5.
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Raffenburg felt that his attendance is important to allow him to lobby on behalf of the O&C Safety Net funding and to work against the Colorado contingent. It is lobbying NACO to limit or prohibit logging on federal land, Raffenburg said.
Although the vote was 2-1 against the trip, Raffenburg stated Tuesday morning, Feb. 19 on KAJO Radio that he is going to the conference. He added that it is important enough to the county that he will pay for it himself.
Commissioner Dave Toler took issue with the trip on two counts. First he noted that none of the agenda items involved O&C funding and, second, that Raffenburg planned to spend $3,000 on the trip during a time of fiscal problems with the county.
Toler noted that Raffenburg had not discussed the trip with the board as in the past, a critical omission in Toler’s opinion. Raffenburg said that Chief Financial Officer Rosemary Padgett told him he was authorized to book the trip. Toler countered that Padgett told him that only the board itself could authorize the trip and that authorization had not been requested.
This discussion continued for several minutes, growing more heated until it was suggested that Padgett be called into the meeting to clarify the situation.
There were several minutes of silence while Padgett was summoned to the meeting. When she arrived, both commissioners began questioning her. Her answers were somewhat confusing, but she seemed to be saying that a commissioner can use his county credit card -- with a $5,000 limit -- to do anything, but that the board could deny the expenditure after the fact.
Commissioner Jim Raffenburg
The discussion became more confrontational with Padgett being put in the middle of the dispute, each commissioner repeatedly interrupting the other until Toler accused Raffenburg of “pulling a Raffenburg,” referring to the interruptions. Raffenburg responded by saying, “No, I’m pulling a Toler.”
Toler’s response was that he felt it was actually “a Raffenburg.” This exchange was captured for all by TV cameras, and video cameras operated by the Daily Courier.
Due to Ellis’ absence no resolution to the dispute could be achieved as any vote on the matter would have resulted in a 1-1 tie. Also, according to other media present, they were there to cover other issues and had no idea of the impending dispute.
The meeting was then adjourned, as Raffenburg said that even though there was other business on the agenda, he could see no point in continuing the meeting. A spectator commented there seemed to be no point in starting the meeting.
Wednesday Feb. 13
The board of county commissioners met in Anne Basker Auditorium Wednesday morning, Feb. 13, for its regularly scheduled weekly business meeting. Again, the agenda indicated a routine meeting -- but again the indications were in error.
Raffenburg requested that two consent calendar items be removed from the consent section to be voted on individually in a roll call vote. Commission Chairman Dave Toler turned to Ellis to ask his opinion, at which time Raffenburg raised the issue that a commissioner can insist on such an action without board consensus.
Commissioner Dave Toler
The two items then were removed from the consent calendar.
The items concerned acceptance of two grants from the state. One was a $45,100 grant to county Public Health Services to help with the complaint-driven enforcement of the Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act. The act prohibits smoking in most work places to deal with second-hand smoke problems. The second item was acceptance of a $60,402 state grant to aid in ensuring that community water systems are providing clean water to their customers.
Raffenburg opposed both items because he feels that the tax dollars used for the programs could be better used by taxpayers. He also said that the Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act that applies only to public places was “another example of the nanny state” where, he indicated, the government intrudes into private homes.
Public Health Director Belle Shepherd reiterated that these issues involved only public concerns.
“If an individual wants to drink e-coli from contaminated well, we won’t stop them,” she said. She went on to say that she was only concerned with water systems that serve multiple homes.
Not convinced, Raffenburg voted against accepting the money, but was overruled by his fellow commissioners.
The board also accepted a proposed resolution brought by a private citizen that essentially would overturn Measure 49 in Josephine County. It was passed into state law during the last statewide election and amends the previously passed Measure 37.
Raffenburg and Ellis praised the resolution. They noted that 80 percent of the county voted against the measure, and they promised to forward the document to county legal counsel Steve Rich for an opinion.
Ellis stated after the meeting that in his opinion the resolution would be illegal and a direct violation of state law. But it was more important, he noted, that the county opposed the measure. One spectator noted that by that logic, Oregon would have spent the last four years being governed by President Kerry.
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Thursday, Feb. 14
After a private meeting with Copeland Sand & Gravel executives in his courthouse office, Ellis agreed to reverse his vote requiring a conditional-use permit for the Little Elm Ranch mining operation on Rockydale Road in Illinois Valley.
The board of commissioners voted earlier this month to belatedly require the conditional-use permit in light of documentation wherein, according to the commissioners, Copeland admits that the operation is principally a mine. Because Raffenburg was absent during the vote, it was passed 2-0, but with Ellis’ reversal, the permit requirement would no longer be in effect, allowing Copeland to continue mining at the site.
Ellis gave no reason for his reversal, but Toler said that during a similar private meeting he had with Copeland executives, they stated that there were no other sites where aggregate could be mined. He continued that when the company tried to list a Holland Loop site as a significant aggregate resource site, the first step in a conditional-use permit for mining, they were “shot down.”
In fact, the planning commission had recommended that the county commissioners deny the request. They have yet to vote on the matter.
The reason the planning board recommended denial is because Copeland is not asking that the entire tax lot be listed as an aggregate site. Rather, only a small part of the tax lot that would conform to the state standards for an aggregate site would be involved. The final determination rests with the county commissioners.
Friday, Feb. 15
The first item voted on by the county commissioners in their board room was to deny a pay raise for certain county employees. The raise would have brought the pay scale to 15 percent below what is considered the industry norm and was brought to the board by the Human Resources and Public Works departments.
During discussion it was noted by Public Works Director Rob Brandeis that the turnover rate for county employees has reached 20 percent annually. This has resulted in additional costs to the county of some $100,000 expended during training periods for new employees.
The pay raises would have cost the county general fund less than $10,000 annually, with the balance of the costs being taken from department budgets. Brandeis admitted that this would not be a long-term fix, but said, “If you have a grease fire in your kitchen, you don’t ignore it because there is a flood approaching.”
He also pointed out that because he is losing his most-experienced workers, a job such as chip-sealing roads, budgeted at some $300,000, is costing more than $400,000. He said that in 2000 a Road Worker 4 position opened, and 10 of 10 Road Worker 3 employees applied for the promotion. This year only one of the 10 workers applied.
Brandeis said that the raise in pay, approximately $1 per hour, was offset by the increased demand and supervisory nature of the level 4 position. He added that few of the level 3 workers would ever apply for the promotion at the current pay level.
Citing the need for fiscal restraint Ellis and Raffenburg voted to deny the request. Toler voted in favor.
The board then moved on to Raffenburg’s request for a $3,000 expenditure for a lobbying trip to the U.S. capital. Raffenburg again stated the necessity for the trip to oppose environmental concerns from the Colorado counties and to lobby for the extension of O&C Safety Net funding.
Toler pointed out that previous trips had been approved by the board prior to reservations being made. He also questioned the need for seven nights in a hotel at $200 a night for a four-day conference.
Ellis asked that Raffenburg convince him that the trip is in fact necessary; and after Raffenburg restated his case, Ellis requested a vote.
At this point Toler and Raffenburg began arguing again, causing many of the spectators to begin admonishing the board with calls of, “Children, children.” They were imitating a parent dealing with bickering 5-year-olds. This act initially had a somewhat calming effect, but the two commissioners soon resumed their argument.
A vote was finally called for, but only after one spectator stood and said, “This is just embarrassing,” and left the room. The commissioners then voted 2-1 to deny Raffenburg’s trip expenditures. The county will be required to cover the cancellation fees for the reservations made by Raffenburg.
