“People, we must stand up, fight back and recall them all.”
Victor Zaitsev, resident of Josephine Count
The April 18 weekly business session of the Josephine County Board of Commissioners was short, but not so sweet as their critics again swapped barbs with them over a select few controversial issues.
The meeting, held at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass, began with the board’s longest convocation yet, to the chagrin of those citizens who have been vocal in their belief that their local government should maintain religious neutrality while undertaking the business of the taxpayers.
This morning prayer was led by Pastor Jason of Parkway Christian Center in northeastern Grants Pass, who expressed his appreciation for the board: “Thank you guys for the honor and allowing me to be here. Before I pray, I want to just quickly say what I’m about to do in public, we do in private every day for you guys. Our congregation is at Parkway across the street from Fred Meyer where the big crosses are at. We pray for you guys and we believe that the best days of Josephine County and this community are ahead.”
Meeting frequenter Victor Zaitsev again expressed his opposition to the weekly convocation, as he has done every week since it was introduced in January.
“I must again object to the commissioners forcing their personal religious beliefs and dogma on the public while in the course of their official duties,” said Zaitsev. “As I said last time, ‘In God we trust’ was not added to pay for money in circulation until 1957 and not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954. Neither one by the Founding Fathers, but both were propaganda by the government to attempt to promote the Red Scare and prevent the encroachment of communism into America. In its place and with us today, prayer and its relationship to the Christian Nationalist Movement is blatantly on display in these meetings.”
Before he concluded his remarks, Zaitsev prompted Commissioner Ron Smith to address allegations that he had committed sexual harassment, then parted the podium with the words, “People, we must stand up, fight back and recall them all.”
Smith offered this statement in defense of Zaitsev’s allegations: “The harassment charge was not a sexual harassment charge. She had bowed her head down and began to cry. I took one finger and took a hair out of her eye. That’s what it’s all about.”
Other participants during requests and comments from citizens were more complimentary of the board.
Kathleen Crone of Grants Pass said, “I just want to thank you so much for reinstating prayer in our government agencies. It’s been long, long missed, and there’s many people in this community that agree with it alongside you. And I just want to remind people that when prayer was taken out of government, it went sideways. So I’m just grateful that you are agreeing with many of us in the community to reinstate prayer in the government offices.”
Pete Englehorn added, “I’m really happy to see the prayer brought back before us here.”
Englehorn also weighed in on the sole administrative action on the board’s agenda: a funding request from Friends of Country Living for $2,000 to restore an informational kiosk at the Grave Creek covered bridge.
“I’ve had experience with (Friends of Country Living) and they are very honorable and I would strongly encourage you to grant this $2000 bargain,” Englehorn said. “They are very committed to that territory. In fact, other territories could really learn from them and how they have such a passion for the historical but also the present.”
JoCo Public Works Director Rob Brandes offered before being terminated, glowing praise for the organization, saying, “Friends of Country Living has been an exceptional partner to the county up there. They not only are our eyes and ears up there in that part of the county in terms of, you know, vandalism, graffiti to the bridge itself, litter pickup, those sorts of things. They’ve partnered on a number of items with us in the past. They take a particular interest in this bridge. They really feel like it’s their bridge to a degree.”
Brandes added that the Grave Creek covered bridge is one of only 51 covered bridges in the state of Oregon and due to its proximity yo Interstate 5, may well be the most-viewed of them.
“It’s 105 feet long,” Brandes pointed out. “It was built in 1920. Why I think it’s important to draw attention to it is it does have a weight limit on it and it’s made out of timber. And so we have historically tried to keep real close track of that. It’s rare that you have to put a new bridge roof on a bridge, but we had to do that at one point about 10 years ago; we had to replace a cracked cord on it to the tune of about $300,000… Were this bridge to fully fail at 105 feet long, my guess is the replacement structure would be easily $3 to $4 million. So it’s hard to quantify what this $2,000 ask from Friends of Country Living would do if they get the grant.”
Towards the end of the meeting, the hot topic of the library’s lease being terminated and possible eviction was breached, with local mother Nicole Kiefer expressing her concerns. She noted that she had never spoken at a commissioner meeting before, but felt compelled to testify due to the threat posed to the library.
“I am very concerned about what I’ve heard about the library not having a contract, that their contract was terminated and I would like to know why it was terminated,” said Kiefer. “And a step further, I’d like to know what steps are being taken to fix that because I can’t imagine this town not having a library.”
Board Chair Andreas Blech responded to Kiefer’s concerns with confusing information: “The contract has not been terminated. However, they do have a contract and that is valid until the end of this year. Just like any legal document, it has the opportunity to be renewed by both parties should they choose to do so. And like I said, that ends at the end of this year.”
On Jan. 6, the JoCo Board of Commissioners did, in fact, vote unanimously to terminate the lease despite the fact that it was not set to expire for another year. The fact that the county has so far declined to formally notify the library of eviction proceedings does not negate their vote to terminate the lease prematurely.
Notably, Blech was not a sitting commissioner Jan. 6, as he had not yet been appointed to replace the recalled commissioner John West.
Negotiations between the library district and county for a new lease agreement are ongoing.