Funding status for JoCo shocks guests
Portland mayor educated on county’s bleak financial situation at O&C meet
From our weekly issue dated September 24, 2008
Among those in attendance were (left) Rep. Ron Maurer (R-Grants Pass) and Portland Mayor Tom Potter. (Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News)
Portland Mayor Tom Potter visited Grants Pass on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 18 to meet with local leaders to discuss the financial crisis facing many Oregon counties.
Grants Pass Mayor Len Holzinger hosted the round table discussion on the loss of O&C funding, which was held in the Grants Pass branch of Josephine County Library, closed for the past 18 months. The setting, complete with cobwebs and 18-month-old periodicals in the foyer racks, served as a grim reminder of services eliminated during budget cuts.
The 18 people in attendance included Josephine County Board of Commissioners Chairman Dave Toler; Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point), Rep. Ron Maurer (R-Grants Pass); Sheriff Gil Gilbertson; “Link” & Jennifer Philippi, of Rough & Ready Lumber Co.; Jon Jordan, executive director of the Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce; Evergreen Federal Bank President Brady Adams, and SPARC Enterprises representatives.
Toler began by presenting an overall picture of the situation facing the county, including the many steps taken to reduce the budget and make more departments self-supporting. He also described the public safety issues before every Josephine County voter, facing two sheriff’s office public safety ballot items in the Nov. 4 election.
Approximately a quarter of county residents also will vote on establishing a county fire district.
Gilbertson spoke about how the reduction in county discretionary spending to little more than $3 million by July 1, 2009 will affect his office, which currently cannot provide 24-hour coverage. Barring passage of proposed law enforcement tax districts, patrol will be reduced to just the sheriff and one other deputy, and the jail would be closed.
Potter, perhaps unsure that he’d heard correctly, asked for clarification of the sheriff’s predicament:
Potter: “So, do you operate 24/7?”
Gilbertson: “No.”
Potter: “So … what happens when crime occurs on the off-hours?”
Gilbertson: “They call me at home and I go.”
Potter: (Incredulous) “Just you? For the entire county?”
Gilbertson: “Yes, sir. Just me.”
After about an hour, Potter expressed his astonishment with the situation.
“This is just stunning to listen to,” he said. “I think about the problems in Portland, and just in the last hour I realize how they pale by comparison. I mean, we have prostitutes on 82nd Avenue, but at least we have a way to respond to them.
“I think you people have held things together by a shoestring – it’s amazing. It’s amazing,” he said, “that we still have public servants who are still willing to take up the challenge.
“It’s amazing that the community has not got up in arms about this,” he stated.
Potter promised to redouble his efforts to encourage the Oregon congressional delegation to work for reinstatement of timber payments to counties. He even promised to write to the governor, but cautioned that even the influence of the mayor of Oregon’s largest city has limits.
“I wish I had as much influence as you might think the Portland mayor has,” he said. “I think the dynamics in D.C. are of such a scale that Portland, and Oregon, are ignored.
“This isn’t just an important issue, this is a make-or-break issue for many counties in Oregon,” Potter said.
Acknowledging that the funding crisis of counties like Josephine could engulf the entire state, Potter said it’s important that the people of Portland be educated.
He concluded: “We consider ourselves one state; we mutually rely on one another. If any county in Oregon thinks they are exempt from this, they have another think coming.”
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