Several of the citizens who showed up to testify at the Oct. 9 Board of Josephine County Commissioners’ weekly business session accused the board of abuse of power and intentionally taking action without notifying the public. The commissioners insisted that all of their undertakings conform to the rule of law.
Although the individuals were united in their condemnation of the county’s efforts to sell 1,800 acres of timberland in the Williams area, their reasoning for opposition varied.
For example, Beth Petersack spoke from her perspective as a Williams landowner who is worried that timber harvesting will affect her quality of life.
“I’m here today just to voice my opposition to the expedited sale of the county forest lands around Williams,” Petersack said. “The sale and clearcutting of these properties will significantly negatively impact our quality of life for my family and our property values. I know that the people that live in Williams really value the natural beauty of the area and the value that that adds to their properties and I know that they would like the opportunity and time to organize and buy the properties with a conservation buyer.”
Jay Meredith of American Mineral Research, Inc. was opposed to the land auction because he felt the county could be losing out on a revenue stream by not commissioning a mineral exploration on the properties.
“The county’s deciding to sell over $10 million worth of timber property without any public discussion on selling those lands,” Meredith said. “That seems to be a major policy change based on what has traditionally been done in the timber arena.
“We, the Mining Advisory Committee and American Mineral Research, which I represent, have stated many times, do not sell any county forestry property unless you do a mineral assessment. We showed you one property last year where the mineral values are worth 50 times what the timber value is. There are many other county properties that are like that as well. Now, why would you put up over $10 million of county timber properties for sale without even considering doing mineral evaluations as we’ve stated and as your Mining Advisory Committee has recommended back in June of this year?”
Meredith also asserted that he believes the county has budgeted federal money associated with a search and rescue grant in an unlawful way, which could incur penalties upon Josephine County.
“I’m going to feel the professional obligation to report that to the county’s auditors and the county and the federal agency that is involved,” said Meredith. “It’s very serious. You could lose millions of grant awards in the future if you’re found out of compliance in this arena, this very serious concern. So if you value law enforcement justice programs and maximizing the resources available to law enforcement justice and veterans, this really needs to be addressed within the next couple of weeks.”
Commissioner Andreas Blech dispelled Meredith’s accusations when the opportunity came for the board to respond to citizen comments. “I came onto the board here when that was already underway, but I’ve done some research on it and talked to people that are much smarter than I am and it is my understanding that that was handled appropriately.”
Blech made the same assessment of the timber auction matter, remarking, “The county does own lands and we have to sell lands, or we will sell lands, and we will recover the money that we get from those sales and my understanding is that the procedures and processes that we use are all appropriate.”
Board Chair John West had the same point of view, saying, “Anyone may say what they want, but until it’s proven different, I’m going to stick up for our department that they have confirmed to me that they are doing it by the law and doing it correctly.”
West also addressed Williams residents who are concerned by logging in their community: “The county has to look out for the citizens’ best interest on that land… And so the county is looking out for the citizens best interest on that land… If we, the county, had to send everything to the people to vote on every single subject matter, we would never get anything done. And that’s not the way this is designed. There are certain subjects that go to the voters. There’s certain subjects that don’t have to go to the voters.
“At the end of the day, the county commissioners, along with the forester, have come up with a plan that is going to be better for the citizens of Josephine County. It’s going to create more revenue. If it happens, it is going to be in the best interest of all of Josephine County, not just a certain group, wherever they may sit.”
With the election less than a month away, some citizens naturally weighed in on ballot measures and candidates who will appear on the November ballot.
Colleen Martin, who is facing off against Chris Barnett for a seat on the Board of Commissioners, urged voters to reject the sales tax being proposed by Measure 118.
“Measure 118 would implement a massive sales tax on our businesses. This is incredibly important for especially our small businesses in our community. It’s not just a tax on sales, it’s a tax on their gross sales that would make our businesses, local businesses, less competitive and especially to out of state companies.”
One property was annexed into the Josephine Community Library District, a 5.33-acre parcel owned by Andrew Monie and Theresa McInnes.
Mike and Winnie Pelphrey, the couple who sparked controversy last year by petitioning to have their land removed from the library district, spoke against the annexation, both expressing disbelief that anyone would willingly consent to paying taxes in support of the library.
The commissioners also took time to recognize some longtime county employees: Patrick Hartnell from Public Works – 15 years; Raymond Ospovich from Public Works – 15 years; Ruben Hayden from Public Works – 15 years; William Isley from Public Works – 10 years; John Krauss from Facility Services – 10 years; Mark Stevenson from Community Development – 10 years; and Janet Frederickson from Public Health – five years.
West thanked the employees, saying, “It’s great that our employees have been with us this long and continue on and they do a great job.”