Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right. Good morning, everyone. And I will now call to order this Clackmus County Board of Commissioners business meeting on May 14th, 2026. County Administrator, Mr. Schmidt, would you please call the role? Yes, Vice Chair. Thank you. First, our staff support today. Clerk to the board, Andrew Geraki. County Council, Billy Williams. Chair Roberts is attending a statewide housing event today, so is not here. Vice Chair Schrader is chairing the meeting. Roll call. Commissioner West, here. Commissioner Helm, here. Commissioner Savis present. Vice Chair Schrader here. Okay. Um Diana, would you lead us to the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. All righty. So Gary, moving on. Uh, first on the agenda is public testimony and it's limited to three minutes per person and I ask that comments be respectful and courteous. As a reminder, you can email submissions for public communication at bccclackmiss. us and they will be accepted for the public record. I will take in-person testimony first and then we will move on to virtual testimony. So, uh, Andrew, who's up first? Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a reminder that if you are attending the meeting in person, wish to comment during general public communication to please fill a blue card if you not yet done so and deposit in the box that can be found by the center doors. I will call on them in the order that they are received. Please come forward. You'll have three minutes. Remember to introduce yourself first. Shirley Morgan. Shirley Morgan, please come forward. You'll have 3 minutes. Well, good morning, Vice Chair Schrader, commissioners, staff, and county council. Good to see you. Shirley Morgan from Welches, an advocate on behalf of the sheriff's budget. I have reviewed the budget to understand the reasons behind the frequent criticism of the sheriff's office constitute 71% of the overall budget. Since 2006, excuse me, the general fund has been inadequate to meet the demands additional for additional deputies and vehicle maintenance. Our property tax revenues are not allocated in alignment with the intentions of the voters. public safety is high priority, compelling the sheriff's office to seek

levy funds. I discovered that annually 65% of the general fund is designated for what the commission has identified as public safety with the sheriff's office receiving 71%, the DA's 9% and juvenile 8%. In actuality, the sheriff's office receives 46% of the general fund, which is significantly lower than Multma County, who receives 91% and Washington County at 55%. We need to exercise caution when seeking additional funding through five-year levies and concentrate on raising the sheriff's general fund budget from 46% to a minimum of 69% as our property taxes should not serve as a financial resource for all government requirements. This modification would mean that from the forthcoming 2627 general fund budget of 178.7 million, the sheriff's office should receive 69% equating to 123.3 million in contrast to the existing allocation of 46% which amounts to 82.2 million. Should this current levy be approved, it will yield 40.6 6 million a year, nearly half of their designated general fund allocation. I frequently hear that the general fund is providing support to the levy. However, the reality is the levy is in fact supporting the general fund. The matter is particularly significant as levies persist in collecting funds from voters in two ways. Once via property tax collection, again through five-year levies. Our commission must address the misallocation of general fund property tax revenues and guarantee that the sheriff's office receives an adequate

share of the general fund. Question. Administrator Smith, is it accurate to state that the sheriff's office receives only 46% of the general fund and merely 71% of the 65% designate for public safety? That was a question. The board will direct me if I can answer your question. Well, Shirley, why don't we let you finish? That was my finish. That was That was your finish. So, um, colleagues, what do you think? Should we Are you comfortable answering that without numbers in front of you? Are you okay? Are you Yes. All right.

Would you like me to answer, Commissioner? I would I Do we agree that we'd like you to answer? I I I do always worry though. Um um I feel very protective of Martha. I can hardly hear you. I I said I feel very protective of our staff because they work so hard. Um so I really wanted to make sure that our administrator who I have a lot of respect for is is comfortable, you know, answering this. Okay. Okay. Gary, go ahead. Martha, I just Commissioner just call me Martha. It's fine. Sorry. That's okay. I just want to assure that the research that I did is correct. So I'm asking the question to be assured that I'm assessing this correctly. That's the only reason for my question. Okay.

If I can get confirmation from administrator Smith, that will make me happy. Okay. Thank you. And we want you to be happy. And I've known Miss Morgan for 25 years. It's a pleasure to work with you and all the all the work you do for our community is greatly appreciated. the proposed budget I've sent to you and remember you've not se you've seen it but you have you've given me no direction other than my judgment having working for you and following your strategic plan but it is true the proposed budget for the sheriff's office is now down to 46% of the general fund it was about 48 or 49% the current year it is slightly lower that is correct yes and what was the second part of your question please

that was my only question that I had I wanted to assure that what I was bringing forward was accurate because I was shocked by it because they always accused the sheriff of spending 71% of the entire budget and that simply isn't true. They only get 46% of the general fund and I as a property taxpayer like to know that my public safety officers are getting a sufficient amount to fund public safety. It is a high priority and I'm happy to answer any of your questions uh of me and I I'm here supporting those who protect our communities. They have a very big job. Colleagues, any questions?

I don't have any questions. I just say that um respectfully, I think that context is really important. And so what hasn't been discussed is the EL funding. What hasn't been discussed is the city's contract funding. What hasn't been discussed is the levy funding in total. And when I say that, I think it's important to say when people bring me percentages that I always prefer to give full context the dollar amounts. So, uh, the sheriff's budget is actually bigger as proposed than it was last year. So, percentages don't always paint the picture unless you take the percentage with the number.

I take that in context. So that's why I asked the question of Gary. Is the 46% an accurate statement to make that that's all the sheriff's office receives from the general fund budget? You're indicating that it is not correct. Then I know I'm challenging the percentages. What I'm challenging is the context. So um again, if the if the percentage says it's lower but the dollar balance says it's bigger, I care about the bigger. So the elled the contract cities then you would consider that is tacked on to the 46% higher.

Uh well I'll just clarify that the um 46% when it equates to a dollar amount simply for the general fund is larger amount of money than the year before. But my comments about ELE and that in addition to that dollar amount which we haven't discussed, you have the EL revenue, you got the city contract revenue, and you have the levy revenue on top of that number, which we don't know what the number is because we're not talking about that right now, but the percentages don't paint the picture is my concern.

Okay. Well, as a resident, as a citizen, as a property taxpayer, what I hear when I listen to the commissioner meetings is the sheriff's office is always accused of having 70 71% of the general fund budget. So, as I did my research, I uncovered that that wasn't true. So, it's more about me understanding as a taxpayer. Maybe more conversation is needed with the general public about how that all works, but right now it's 46% of the budget with administrator SP. So I I I take your thoughts in just

Yeah. And and the other thing just for just for public discussion is that when I think of public safety, I think of the DA's office and all the other things that are incillary that aren't even incorporated in that. So I don't look at it as simply I mean we would not have a public safety system if we simply arrested people and held them in jail and they were and they were just released and they were not prosecuted. So I think all of those moving pieces are paint the bigger picture. and the context of that is huge. So, our investment in public safety is much larger than the sheriff's budget.

Um, I want to just make comment, Commissioner West, you wanted to state something as well. And then I really appreciate you being here, Shirley, because we've known each other for so many years, too. Um, but I don't want to, you know, when we have our budget meetings, I would invite you to come. I always do. Yes, you come. And then, uh, that would be helpful if you'd make here. So, just one more statement and then we do need to move on to other fun. Thank you. Okay, I'll just be quick. I think that that's a fair um question that you're asking, Shirley, because that is true. I I've heard it this way. Maybe it's overly simplified, but when I look and break down the budget itself, it it looks like it's a different number.

I think some context does matter there, and I think we should that maybe this is great feedback that we need to explain that context better. Um, and so I appreciate the question. It's a good question as we're going into budget cycle. We literally just got our budget binders. I'll be fully transparent in like less than a week. I haven't opened it yet. So, um, but we will and we'll dig into that and that work's about to happen. So, we have a proposed budget now. I'm I'm optimistic around this budget cycle. Here's here's the here's the outcomes of our of our um we all share public safety as a major priority. The whole board does. You do. We share, we've talked privately about how much we care about public safety. We are the safest large county out of any count out of all the big counties with 100,000 or more according to Oregon State Police data. And when you take frontier counties and rural counties throughout the entire state, we're the eighth safest out of all 36. So, we got to work this out and bring some stable funding um to the sheriff's budget. And and I think over the last three years, we've done a lot of work to help um do that. It it it has it has been there has been challenges but I think that this budget cycle is going to be pretty optimistic and a lot of things have been worked out and from what I can see the early projections are they might be better than we thought. So we have more conversations to do but I want to let you know I appreciate that question because I can completely understand why you could come to the conclusion the way you did. Well, and when you see your property taxes be tagged twice, we're already paying and then the levy is half of almost of what the projected uh percentage might be. But as Commissioner Savis indicated, I you're seeing parts that I don't get that opportunity to see. So, I'm very

We do know that this levy unfort I mean it comes up every 5 years. We've had to change how that was the levy was structured because it was never structured correctly. It overpromised and underdelled. And then we I've also seen other outside pressures that have an increased cost. Plus, we also have a courthouse that was built, you know, before I got here. And that's an additional pressure um that we're having to just deal with. I I wasn't here. I inherited that. Um but um the good thing is it is prioritized. We're going to get there. I think we're going to see a a lot of good movement and outcomes in this budget cycle. And I hope the voters do pass the public safety levy because this is actually transparent in a way that is not going to overpromise and underdel like the previous levy did.

Good. Thank you. Appreciate you listening and uh as I said I'm an advocate on behalf of our law enforcement particularly in the rural part of my uh area where I live in Rodent and you always you always have been. Thank you so much for coming today. Who's next? Next John Feifer. John Feifer, please come forward. Introduce yourself. You'll have 3 minutes.

Good morning everyone. Good morning.

My name is John Feifer. I live on Clackmus Road on a corner of Green View and Clackmus Road. I live at about halfway point between Johnson Road and Webster Road. On Thursday, May 7th, we had a fatality in front of my house. A young lady was uh on a motorcycle rider was traveling westbound on another was traveling westbound and another car took a left in front of her. Some claim looked like she was speeding. I have a hard time saying that she was speeding or not. I do know the speed limit on the road is 35, which is actually pretty fast compared to the up there where it's where it's uh 30. Um, over the 33 years that I've lived on that corner, that same house, the traffic there has really picked up. Traffic really gets crazy from 2 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Actually, 7:00 p.m. Especially when the FedEx, UPS, Amazon, and the mailman are all delivering at once. They how they stop the delivery. They park halfway in the road, you know, and cut across and cars are swerving in and out. It's almost impossible anybody to even cross the road. It's just crazy down there. all the traffic and the speed and how much it's picked up in the last 5 years. Actually, I've lived there 33 years and it's really gotten a lot worse. And then throw in a traffic jam on 205. Everybody tries to cut takes the exit there and they try to cut across the Jennings and Webster Road and it just gets crazy there. On Clackmus Road, there are three speed limit signs. One as you come across around the corner from the freeway at the stop sign. There's one right at the stop sign. That's only one going westbound. And then there's two of them going eastbound and one is way down by coming from Webster Road going eastbound but a third the way there's a stop or speed sign and it's in some arbit they had to cut the arborite away. It's kind of hard to see says 35 way up high where you can't you know you're looking here but

it's up here. The next one is when you get to Johnson Road, the stop sign a little ways, there's a speed limit sign that says 35 and there's a corner right there. There's a that says 25 mph. So you get 30, you can't even get to 35 there, but then it says 25 around the corner. Nobody pays attention to that. Then you go around the corner 35, whatever it is. And uh there should be more speed signs. What I'm trying to say here, speed limit signs, you know, and I think also the whole speed limit should be lowered down. Instead of 35, should be at least 25 in my opinion. Cars go through there 50 miles an hour, 80 miles an hour. Just zoom zoom. It's crazy. It's the craziest thing I've ever saw. Especially like there's a going westbound of Clackmus Road, there's a crosswalk. There's only one crosswalk on that road. Well, besides Johnson Road there on the corner, there's only one crosswalk.

Um I will give you a few more moments to wrap up and then I'll Okay. uh direct to Gary of who we can send you to speak to about the traffic issues. Yes. So, um what else would you like to say, sir?

Well, I'd like to see I'd like to have more to sum this up. I'd like to see more speed limit signs. A lower speed limit, 20 miles an hour would be nice, but I don't know if that's practical or not. Um, speed stop signs would not work because then all you hear is cars speeding up and taking off like lawnmower cars, which are annoying. No speed bumps because that's also annoying. You know, that's that's more dangerous thing than anything. But I'd like to see a crosswalk and more speed limit signs of lower speed limit on that road. Save lives. 35 is too fast. Even if you know it, it's crazy. It's dangerous for anybody that lives there. If there's a car accident, those cars going to go through a house.

Yeah. T terrible. So that's why I'm here expressing my my opinion here. And I know I've talked to a gentleman back here who was used to be on a traffic safety commission. He he has directed me in the right direction to go. So but so Gary, how we would get this to DTD and we do have folks working on traffic safety. Do we not? Yes, commissioners. Our transportation and development staff are aware of this. I'm I'm seeing the notes. There are approximately 97 other roads in the county that have similar speed issues. And this is this is on the list. Yeah, we will prioritize this and our staff will work with our traffic safety commission so we know about it, but obviously we want to take action sooner than later.

Two weeks ago, there's another car accident where a guy who tried to up just two blocks from there of a guy duly truck duly wheels on two tires in the back tried to go around somebody and hit another car head on. He ended up on the side and pushed that car and just a bunch of signs. So two terrible accidents in two weeks on that road and that's the speed is just too much. Okay, so all right, thank you for calling that. I feel better invented. Yep. Thank you for Thank you. Thank you for coming and Gary will we will get that. We are working on this right now. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Uh anybody else? Andrew, that's more folks today.

Next. Richard Barielski, please come forward. Thank you for pronouncing it correctly. Thank you commissioners for the opportunity to speak today. About a year ago, I attended a board meeting online and made a simple request to this board. Make local politics boring again. Today, I'm here to help you do that by talking about one of the most boring topics imaginable to most people, statistics. Some background about me. I'm a trained mixed methods researcher and a statistician. In my work for the state government, I co-led a study on youth homelessness in Oregon schools and I created Oregon's first and only comprehensive map of every single homeless shelter statewide. I'm also a Can resident. I'm here today as a private citizen to correct the record on an important subject. Commissioner West often cites a 65% reduction in homelessness since he joined the board. There's just one problem. It isn't true. this that 65% reduction happened before he even joined the board. Between January 2019 and January 2023, the federal point in time count of homeless folks in the county showed a 65% reduction. Commissioner West, you were elected in November 2022 and took office in January 2023. Further, since that time, the point in time count recorded a 39% increase from January 2023 to January 2025. While this is a smaller increase than in nearby counties, it is still an increase. This isn't some obscure data I'm citing. It's a public report published by Clakammus County. I have here a copy of that report today, and I would encourage everyone listening to look it up for yourself. If possible, I'd also like to submit the printed copy I brought to the public record as part of my testimony. Commissioner West, I

appreciate the hard work you have done to bring people together to elevate the need for a strong continuum continuum of care that addresses the role of mental illness and substance abuse and homelessness. But when you repeat false information about something that your own government has published, it erodess public trust and it creates confusion. When two of your colleagues endorse your reelection and tell our community, "We can trust you when you have repeatedly stated something that is not correct." It also makes me wonder if I can trust them. I have a simple request for Commissioner West. Please apologize and correct the record. Whether you were mistaken or knowingly lying, it is better to own up to this mistake, but please stop repeating this f statistic. The public deserves to hear the truth. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Here we go. All right. Do we have um more folks? Yes, Madam Chair. Next, Rick Dodge. Rick Dodge, please come forward, introduce yourself. You have three minutes.

Public safety. I'm glad we're talking about today. And I'm Rick Dodge. I live just a block from John. And a week ago, we lost a young mother and wife to a very dangerous street. I've been almost uh the same length of time in that area in Westwood, that Westwood area. And the whole time I've been there, I use it every day. And the whole time that I've been there, uh I just appalled by the amount of disregard for stop signs and the speed limit. Now the thing that uh what happened last Thursday uh like every accident is preventable. However, it like John had said things are getting worse and I and Paul uh Commissioner Sabis I know you're familiar with Clakmas Road probably. Anyway, I don't know why I brought that up, but I think you may understand what's what I'm confused with here is why nothing's been done. And uh uh I I it's I I appreciate I I I would like to be involved with that process, Gary. Uh with some of our as a neighborhood, we've kind of gathered a little bit. A lot of people can't make it here in the center and so forth. Nevertheless, uh I had an idea that would but I don't want to get out the end of my skis here, but uh uh people need to be reminded that uh you know it's not a drag strip. And uh one thing that I want I just want to throw out there is that uh if you've ever had a ticket come in the mail because of a camera that was sending somewhere, I have. And it's been about 15 years.

Same here. And I never have forgotten where I got that ticket. And matter of fact, I was talking to a couple of people I went to school with. We uh uh they said the same thing. Yeah, it was over here and over there. My uh You've got got some time. It's okay. Can I get some time back? No, I'm just kidding.

It's okay. Um uh but all these issues were in Multma County. Now I don't know if these cameras can be set up in uh but that would be a in Clakammus County. That would be a perfect thing for that uh street that road. And um John is absolutely right. I I they're they're the signage is ridiculous. The speeds are are ridiculous. I feel for him living right on on the the corner of uh where that's at because that it's kind of a no man's land because the two the two speed signs are a half a mile uh uh separate. So um I think that's for real.

Yeah. Thanks. There you go. Wait. Uh so I'm being very lenient today. That's I know. Thank you, Martha. No worries. Uh Yeah. Anyway, that's I lost my train. So, okay then. Thank just as well. Thank you for coming. And just one comment. I'm sorry that there was a fatal fatality, particularly a young mother. That's heartbreaking. Yeah, it's heartbreaking. Anybody else in the queue? Uh, yes, Madam Chair. And I believe I have two people here would like to come up together if you'll allow it. Dave and Annette McNeel,

please come forward. You'll have three minutes. When I was your traffic operations manager, we had a little discrete program that did enforcement on that road. Worked very well. And I'm sorry that we don't have that any longer.

Good morning. Good morning, Martha. Morning,

commissioners. Billy, you're right. Good morning, commissioners, citizens of Clackamus County. Thank you for being here today. I've lived at 15711 Henry Road for 41 years. I'm here today not asking for money. I'm not here uh for you to support a cause. I'm here to thank all of you for doing the very best job that any commission can do in these trying times. The citizens are lucky to have a board of commissioner like you and administrator like Gary and you. Thank you. Uh we are well represented. I was born and raised in Oregon City 72 years ago. I started my public service collect county at 10 years old by making by filling sandbags, making sandwiches, coffee, fruit punch for the people that were responding to the Christmas flood of 1964. Clackams County was just barely recovering from the historic Columbus Days storm on October 12th, 1962. Back then, community meant everything. Volunteering was how Oregon City and Clackmus County could afford many so many things. I'm frightened to think how Clackamus County would respond and recover from two major disasters so closely together today from my perspective and knowledge base very poorly. So much has changed in Clackamus County since the 1964 62 Clums

Day storm. By the end of this month, the destiny of Clackamus County could be set for the next decade. We will know if the sheriff levy has passed or failed. We may know who our commissioners will be for the next two years. We will know what we have for a budget, whether it's good or bad. It is my hope today that all of you uh plus the five citizen members of the budget committee will seriously think about passing a more balanced budget. Over the last four years, the sheriff's office has consumed 71% of the general fund plus the property taxes of two special levies. Because of this, the citizens of Clackhams County go without adequate code enforcement, and that's a biggie. That degrades the quality of life Clackam's countywide. The citizens of Clackhams County must uh go without deputy medical examiners to respond to the deceased people, which ties up law enforcement for as much as eight hours. The citizens of Clackhams County are forced to deal without dog services, which means that dogs are euthanized needlessly. Most of all, Clackhams County is without a doubt seriously under unprepared to respond to or recover from a major disaster, even after all of you have signed the new county operations uh operations plan in March. I know this because I've spent a lifetime in the fire service, transportation, and emergency communications. So, this is the year that budget committee must allocate some money for disaster response and recovery. No more kicking the can down the road. This must become a priority. You must prioritize what the most important is, but fund disaster response and recovery. If not, then get straight with the citizens of the county and tell them in no uncertain terms that there are on their then that they are on their own when the next disaster strike. Tell the elderly retired people in Mol and Brightwood and Oakrove in Oregon City, the cavalry is not coming. Tell them, tell all those people in congregate care that when their food, water, prescriptions, heating, cooling runs out, they too are on their own because

without a significant change in preparation, training mindset in Clackamus County government, the state medical examiner's office is going to be overloaded. We don't want that. Thank you. Thank you for coming today, sir. I'm here to help. Yeah, I don't want any money, but we got to fix it. We got to we're hanging out and you know it. You said that last year at the end of the budget meeting. We're good until we have a disaster. And I appreciate that comment because it's true. Thank you. Thanks for coming today. Anyone virtually online?

Uh Madam Chair, if you mind, this is a final call. If you're attending this meeting in person, have not yet had the opportunity to do so yet, please fill out a blue card and deposit in the box. Seeing none, Madam Chair, I'll now move to those attending virtually. If you're attending this meeting virtually, wish to comment during general public communication, this is your opportunity to please raise your hand and I will call on you in the order that I see. First, I see Laura Vanine. Laura Vanine, I'll allow you to speak. Please introduce yourself. You'll have three minutes.

Hi, thank you. I'm Laura Vanine. I live in Clackamus County. Sage Social is an illegal event center. For four years, they've been holding large-scale events without permits, approximately 200 illegal events so far. Got it.

And in 2025 alone, I documented 68 illegal events. Most wedding and event venues are located on wineries and golf courses, not 19 acre plots of land. I now live right next door to a concert venue. Their event barn sits about 300 yards from my home, including my bedroom. The walls of my home vibrate to the beat of their music, and so does my bed. The music is so loud that I can't have dinner with family and friends outside. This is a nightmare. The neighbors were never asked for their input on this event center, which also violates state land use laws. When I testified at a hearings officer with a hearings officer on April 28th, I mentioned this. They never notified us about this. One week later, we were notified of a land use application. What for, you ask? Whether or not we approve of Sage and Social adding indoor bathrooms to their event barns, not whether we want to live next door to a concert venue. This is a joke. Someone in zoning failed to do their homework when they allowed this event center to be permitted with a far within a farm forest agriculture zone, violating many state laws. Meanwhile, Sage and Social has a conditional use permit, which means they're not allowed to hold any events. They have zero permits. They've held 68 last year. When is enough enough? And how many times how many illegal events can happen before a conditional use permit is revoked. Is it 200 events? Is it 300? Is it a thousand illegal events? We want to know. But more importantly, I would like you to know that what is happening as leaders in our community, we desperately need your help. Would you like to live next door to a concert venue that was added after you moved in? Probably not. And lastly, this is exclusive farm forest agriculture zoned. This is by state

guidelines. These laws cannot be changed. And according to the hearings officer on April 28th of this past year, he said that they should be holding zero events since they have zero permits and they're not even supposed to be a part of this conditional use permit process because they are really against the ZDOS's of the state land use laws. And yet they continue to break the law over and over. The noise is ridiculous. And I'm asking that this conditional use permits be stopped, ceased, or halted. The fact that they came into us after the fact about adding bathrooms to their barn is an insult. And I want to thank you for listening. But this has been going on for almost four years. Somebody in zoning has failed to do their job.

So thank you so much. Um Gary, um we this is something we should talk to code enforcement about. I'm there has been an active matter. I don't know the current status, but this has been going on for quite a while. The is correct. Uh, I need to follow up. We'll follow up with this. Yeah. Okay, we will follow up. Uh, and I want to thank you for testifying. Uh, Commissioner West would like to ask one question, please. Can I can I add on to this? Um, um, well, let's how about we do it this way because I'm being very, very generous today in public.

How about I have Commissioner West ask his question and then if you would like to make a a statement, then let's Is that okay? All right, let's do what is your question? I'm just curious is where ex I know she told us but I didn't quite was able to picture in my mind where is this happening? I thought it might be on your side commissioner home of the county. It's out in uh the Beaver Creek area. Beaver Creek I believe. Right. Isn't that correct, Laura? Did she say there? That is correct. That is correct. It's in the Beaver Creek area. Yes. Okay. Uh Miss Vanine, you still have the ability to speak if you'd like to answer. Thank you. Yes, it is in the Beaver Creek area.

Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. I I know that this has been an issue for quite a while and we will all get an update and update you as well, Laura. I know it's been a a point of concern. Did this come up? Have we we've talked about this this you had this property before and tried to deal with? Yeah, we've had difficulty with this. Yeah, we Yeah, we'll get an update and thank you for bringing that to our attention today again. Would you like to make one more comment, sir? Yeah, come from Oh, do do we have anybody else virtually? Uh, we have one more hand virtually, Madam Chair. take just take one second on this thing here. Um,

okay. I'm I'm well versed into this into this situation and uh these people should have a noise monitor going on with this permit and um it cannot exceed a certain decel and it also should be um stopped at 10:00 10 p.m. should be the event should be over at 10 p.m. That's how most these permits work. Okay. Thank you. I I have a I have a son and a daughter-in-law that run wedding events up in Washington state. That's that's how it's ran. That's that's their permitting process. Thank you for sharing that. We have one more person virtually. All right.

This is a final reminder. If you're attending this meeting virtually and wish to comment during general public communication, have not yet done so to please raise your hand. Mr. Lespool, I see your hand. Please go ahead. Yeah, good morning. Um interesting conversation and uh a lot of it revolves around the budget and budget priorities and I did have a question about that coincidentally and that is could we get an announcement of where the draft or the proposed budget is posted so that folks can get a little better idea about it and uh

certainly I I echo some of the concerns expressed by uh Shirley Morgan the first person who spoke. Uh numbers get tossed around and percentages get tossed around. Um if a candy bar cost 50 cents and it unfortunately goes up to a dollar US. Um

well wait a minute. Is that a 500% increase? So we really need to connect the dollars and dollar amounts to the percentages as uh Commissioner Savis indicated. Um, I'm a big supporter in public safety regardless of what that looks like. Um, and I I guess what I'm saying is that when we think of public safety, we tend to think of uh the police or the presence that we see on the streets and not so much what's going on behind the scenes and what it takes to provide that. Um, being budget season, I can't help myself, but I I I've just got to share something with everyone, and that is we have two folks that are former commissioners running for the board at this time, and that's Jim Bernard and Sonia Fiser. And I recall sitting in the in the chambers there on repeatedly where they knowingly approved unsustainable budgets creating a financial mess that ultimately was inherited by uh commission uh by uh our county administrator. And um you know obviously they're running again. Um, you can imagine I'm not voting for them, but I I I just want to make it clear that the reason that they're no longer on the commission um is as strong as ever. And frankly, I think that we need people that are going to be much much more careful with our money and in more inclined to be directly connected with the citizens and things that are going on. So, big concerns about the budget. I know it's a it's a it's a very awkward time for everyone and a consideration or something that folks don't know about the budget is that

urban renewal takes property tax money and invests it in in districts with the hope of future return. And while urban renewal can be a good tool, it's often abused. And as urban renewal takes more and more money from property taxes, we find entities like the sheriff or the schools uh required to increase their ask for uh supplemental bonding and funding. So, um, big questions about how the budget's going to to spin out, what it's really going to look like, and, um, and certainly, um, where we're going to be in six months or a year, and

and less, we're we're running out of time. Uh, is there anything else you'd like to add? Yeah, I I have one last point and that is that um I would I would encourage everyone to vote regardless of your leanings or feelings and and folks need to be aware that measure 120 is on that ballot and that's the gas tax increase u that I'm not supporting. So please everyone get out and vote and u as always I thank you for your time.

Okay, thank you. And I just want to make one comment. Uh you can go to our website clackmus. usbudget/budgetpresentations uh and you can uh get an information on the 2627 proposed budget the adoption process who's on the budget committee as well as how to participate. And I know it's up on our screen now and thank you Andrew for pulling that up for people. So uh you do have a way to connect via the internet and uh get that information and we will also have during the budget as you know public comment uh when the time is right. So all right I think we are done with public comment. Am I correct?

This is a final call if you're attending this meeting virtually and have not yet done so to please raise your hand if you wish to speak during general public communication. Madam Chair, I see no other members of the public either physically or virtually present wish to comment today. All right. Thank you, Gary. What's next on the agenda? Thank you. Next is a presentation. Your monthly business spotlight video today is Solder Timber. Presenting is Laura Edmonds, economic development manager at the county. Laura, go ahead, please.

Good morning. It's a pleasure to be before you today. Um very excited to bring another business spotlight um video to you today. As you know the business spotlight presentations um today is Solder Timber. Funding for the video production is through our office of economic development lottery funds and budgeted county general funds supporting public and government affairs. um as part of um your previous approval um the B with their with your um annual business outreach strategy. These videos were developed in concert between office of economic development and public government affairs. Um it was show it was established to showcase businesses in the county and the advantages of the incentive programs and grants that you have approved that we implement to help support business development and growth in the region. So with with today um this is a shortened video and the full video will be available on our website on the county website as well as social media. So, Solder Timber was originally founded in 2002 and rooted in German timber joinery expertise. Solder Timber has helped lead the shift towards precision pre-cut and mass timbers construction in North America through their flagship Tennessee facility. When the company began exploring expansion opportunities in 2018, Clackamus County's economic development team worked closely with founder Reinhardt Ser to identify potential sites in the county. Today, Solder Timber is operating an Esticada and participating in the county's enterprise zone incentive program. Reinhardt sends his regrets. He has been traveling and he's in Tennessee now. So, he was wish he was hoping to join us, but he wasn't unfortunately was unable to. So, we're going to show the short video. Andrew

So timber focused in 2002 with a start in Tennessee to pre-cut heavy timber for the industry who don't have the equipment the CNC machinery. So that's what we're doing in timber frame for locom components was starting first now only timber frame components and now mass timber. So we cut panels for companies like manufacturers will make compresses the panels.

The building is like a 40,000 square foot manufacturing area with the office attached to it. Um it's full CLT and um mass timber building. So CLT is basically like um plywood where we have like we cross laminate big boards like into each other. So we don't really have the shrinking pro problems what we have like on beams or what we maybe know from log homes that they settle. So CLT doesn't do it because we are cross laminating that together. Uh we are fabricating on the HIGA PVA drive uh which is like designed for CLT panels. It's the first one in the United States with that development. Um it's designed that we can freely work all the way around the panels. So on this machine, we can go on all six sides of the panels uh in one go. It's definitely more than twice as fast as a traditional machine. The raw panels from the manufacturer come in, we handle them through the machine um and then coming out on the other side where we do the end finish on there, preparing it in the right sequence for the job site and preparing it for shipping. Blackmas County was picked because of uh less restrictions than uh Portland area when you be here. Uh Seattle was the same thing. King County was kind of a overload of restrictions and rules and regulations and long time to build and whatever. So Esta made a good impression to us and said okay here we can handle it very easy and uh permit is done in a couple weeks and things are much better here than in other places in Oregon especially Portland. We have here 5 acres. We have planned for up to 200,000 square ft production place. We have right now 40. So we have another 60,000 in front of us. But at

the moment uh we are getting this thing filled with two shifts and get things growing and uh hope we get the same experience with good employees as we have so far. Employees has to be in a place where they want to live. The area should be attractive. Having the Pacific not too far, having Mount Hood very close, have a great place besides the work. That was very important for me, too.

All right, that's colleagues. Any questions other than Bravo? It's exciting. Uh oh, wow, it lit up. Okay, Commissioner Savis, Commissioner Helm, and then It was Commissioner Helm first. Oh, Commissioner Helm first.

It doesn't matter. I just wanted to say we've had the opportunity I've had the opportunity to go out there a couple of times to a couple events um at Solder uh Timber and meet them. And I I will say it's the best smelling tour I've ever been on. I just love love love the smell of Freshwood. Um that said, um Laura, I think he mentioned when we were out there last, there are some complimentary businesses they would love to see come out to Esticada um that would help um their business. Can you can you and I'm not to put you on the spot, but can you remind me what those are?

Um I know one is like the they need someone who does the major panels, which I think they have imported right now. um that they are the ones that end up cutting I anyway there's there's complimentary businesses that I think would be great. There's a lot of land still available out in that business park in Esticada. Um and I'm hoping we're uh wooing those businesses to come to Esticada to help out Solder.

I appreciate the question. Um, so we are we have been in conversation with him and trying to look at his um his supply chain vendors and then reach out to see who's got interest in relocating. I think it depends on the regionality and the um the volume that those other businesses are going to be able to garner from the region. And so we are investigating further um that the expansion of that industry, but right now we don't have anybody that has been interested in relocating. Um and we are look we're talking to some other businesses for that industrial park out there as well. And there's some interest, but there hasn't been anything new that has developed unfortunately. But we are our team continuously um works on that. Well, and I see this too as a kind of a wave of the future for bringing in um

not building homes faster, right? If you can have like a a 3D model of a home and have it, you know, put on a truck and, you know, build it in a week or something, I think there the technology is there um to do something like this. And it it just seems like it's it's it's I might be thinking way far ahead, but it's probably being done somewhere. But I I just it's a great operation. They're wonderful. just the most gracious people and I'm really glad they're here in Clackamus County. Okay, thank you. How about Commissioner Savas and then

Yeah, I just want to say um as Commissioner Helm just stated, you know, we've been there a couple times and you know, Martha, you and I have been here when they first got their got their foothold in in Oregon and got, you know, Business Oregon and our staff all involved and so it was great to see the facility finally built. Beautiful facility inside. Yeah, it does smell awesome because the smell I I so I like going to building construction sites

as well. But um you know it is a new technology and I don't say no it's not that new but it's a growing technology and to see some of the CLT uh facilities being built around the Northwest that I've seen is pretty spectacular. And not only that, but their building itself is pretty spectacular. It's a it's a model um of of what CLT is and um just a awesome building. I was really impressed from from the gate from the entry gate all the way in to the inside and upstairs and so forth. Just a uh it just shows you the uh the ability of the technology. And by the way, the other thing that's kind of was shocked for me was learning way back that these uh you would think that a a CLT building compared to a metalbuilt building would be uh have a higher fire rating, not a higher fire rating, but a higher fire hazard. And actually they don't. That's

right. Um because the timbers are so big that the burn time is such that it would be they would be put out before there's any structural weakening. So, um I I thought that to be quite fascinating and the assembly time to put together a CLT built building is much quicker um because the panels it's like putting together a puzzle or you know I won't say a Lego set but essentially everything's modular in design. So u just appreciate their hospitality and glad they may have have a footprint here in Clakamus County. Christian West,

I'm a little jealous because I haven't got to see their facility yet. I keep hearing about it. I would love the opportunity and I would love maybe to bottle that up into a car freshener successes how we can be successful in Clackamus County and smell good while doing it. Um we love that Oregon timber smell and um it's so much a part of our heritage. One thing that we have been able to maybe downstream help with is increasing timber production and localizing that which also is great for the environment because the more localized we are with our production and the less we have to like ship logs from other countries here. It's less impact on our roads. It's lower um lower emission of greenhouse gases as local procurement matters local jobs. We keep it to our local rural communities working in sustainable ways to modernize our management plan within our ONC lands and our own county forest so we can downstream benefit really innovative creative businesses like this one is really like where we're trying to go and lead as a county and it's us kind of facilitating the production and on the policy piece and then letting the market be the market and the innovators be the innovators and then there's a reason why they choose to do that work here in Clackamus County and it is so exciting. And yes, I would love to get a chance to visit and meet these gentlemen and their team and get a chance to get a nice whiff of the Oregon timber. It smells a little bit like trees and money at the same time. So, we appreciate that growth and those economic opportunities while also being sustainable. Thank you.

Thank you. Maybe we can get some shavings. A little orza bag, right? Make us feel calm, you know? Yes. Yeah, just breathing nature. Yeah, I remember when we started to recruit them and we're very happy that they've settled there. And just one comment is that um what what I've been noticing is Esticada is booming with its industrial area. Cami

is another uh industrial hub right now as well as Malala. So, um, a lot of what we do to attract businesses, uh, seems to be, if we're limited with our land within our own UGB, the county, we do have these hubs out there where we can hopefully promote the the rural, you know, the rural economies for those cities and and our colleagues out there. So, and we do just that. We promote them continuously. I know you do and you do a great job, Laura. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Gary, what is next?

Thank you. Next is the consent agenda for the board of county commissioners. Andrew, would you please read the consent agenda?

Consent agenda for the board of county commissioners. Item A, elected officials. One, approval of previous business meeting minutes for the board of county commissioners. Two, approval of an amendment with Clakamus Women's Services for enhancing the provision of linguistically and culturally responsive services to victims through the Clackamus Women's Center Latinu Services Initiative. Amendment values $15,30 for one year. Total agreement values $210,60 for two years. Funding is through Oregon Criminal Justice Commission Justice Reinvestment Program. No county general funds are involved. Three, approval of an amendment with Northwest Family Services for Community Based Victim Services. Amendment value is $50,39849 for one year. Total agreement value is $100,796.98 for two years. Funding is the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission Justice Reinvestment Program. No county general funds are involved. B transportation development one. approval of a resolution declaring the public necessity and purpose for the acquisition of rights of way easements and fee property and authorizing good faith negotiations and if necessary condemnation proceedings for the Scots Mill Road Northeast BU Creek bridge replacement project. No county general funds are involved. Two, approval of an amendment to an agreement with the Oregon Department of Corrections for work crew labor. Amendment value is $20,000 and no time increase. Total agreement value is $45,000 for 5 years. funding to county park user fees and other park revenue sources. No county general funds are involved. Three, approval of funding agreements with American Metal Specialties, Badish Homebake, Benchmade Knife Company, Optimized Technologies, and Rogue Fabrication for business development grant program awards. Total award value of the five agreements is $440,000. Funding is through lottery dollars. No county general funds are involved. Four, approval of a grant application to the United States Department of Transportation for traffic safety and road curve study. Application value is $2,425,632 for 5 years. Funding is to the United

States Department of Transportation and 66,48 in matching funds from the county road fund. No county general funds are involved. C Health, Housing, Human Services. One, approval of a grant agreement with the Oregon Housing and Community Services for property redevelopment funds. Agreement values $200,000 for two years. Funding is the Oregon Housing Community Services. No county general funds are involved. Madam Chair, that concludes the board of commissioners consent agenda. Uh, does anyone want to remove anything from the consent agenda? I should have asked that first. Uh, seeing none, can I have a motion, please? Uh, Madame Vice Chair, I move that we approve the consent agenda as read.

Second. Okay. So, Commissioner West has moved uh that we approve the consent agenda and Commissioner Helm has seconded. Could you please call the poll? Commissioner Savis, I. Commissioner Helm, I. Commissioner West, I. Madam Chair, I. Motion passes four to zero. Madam Chair. Okay, great. So, now we're going to be moving on. Um, Commissioner, actually, Administrator Schmidt, what is next? Uh, chair, would you please convene as the water environment services board?

Okay, thank you for that. We will now recess as the board of commissioners and convene as the water environment services board of directors. So, let's have that read, Andrew. Yes. Next is the consent agenda for water environment services. Andrew, would you please read the consent agenda? Water environment services board of directors consent agenda. Item A, approval of a contract with Insitu Form Technologies for Bolton Force main pipe installation. Contract value is $1,452,35 for 5 months. Funding is through water environment services sanitary sewer construction funds. No county general funds are involved. Madam chair, that concludes the water environment services board of directors consent agenda. Uh, any questions, colleagues?

I move we approve the west consent agenda. Second. Commissioner Helm has moved to approve the consent agenda and it's been seconded by Commissioner Savis. Could we please call the poll? Director West, I. Director Savis, I. Director Helm, I. Madam Chair, I. Motion passes four to zero. Madam Chair, I will now adjourn as the Water Environment Services Board of Directors and reconvene as the board of county commissioners. Uh Gary, what's next?

Thank you, chair. Next is county administrator update. That is me. I'd like to recognize our county employees for the great work they do during my time today. I'd like to recognize our staff in the Department of Transportation and Development. our permitting unit of transportation and development commissioners. You may know this, but when someone applies for a permit or an application, often our staff will contact that individual and work with them first before the permit is filed to make sure they have the proper paperwork, that everything is in order, and to give them guidance in that process. Recently, a member of our staff, engineering technician Alba Vogland, did some fantastic work that was recognized by a member of the public who wrote, "Alba has provided concise, factual, and constructive input to our requests to date. Her availability before and during the development permit application process has been crucial to guide us first timers through. In one instance, a concise, factual, and constructive reply to our questions came less than two hours after we made the request. This demonstrates a pattern of highquality customer service. Thank you, Alba. Well done, Alba and team. That's the type of work our employees do. So, thank you, Alba, and all the permitting staff in transportation and development for your excellent customer service. That is my report today. Back to you, chair.

Thank you so much, Gary. Well, colleagues, we're now at Commissioner Communications. Commissioner Saris.

Yes. Um I know we're at budget season and um all eyes are on and concerns on around um our budgets. Uh and we wear several different hats for our different districts as well as the county. And um you know we I know we've all feeling the pressure and Clakmus County like other governments not only in this state but um in not only in this region but across the country are all feeling the pinch because of the rapid inflation in areas and there's no fingers to point really per se. Um it's a problem that's really not in our control and I think that it's going to take a lot of um cooperation and collaboration um regardless whose budget we're talking about to make it through. I I appreciate uh um one of our speakers here um uh Dave McNeel being here today. I think he's obviously very concerned about our ability to provide services in certain areas. Um uh but I think a lot of people that really understand the math and and um see the big picture of the math are you know concerned and I always I feel like I am an optimist um struggling to be a realist in today's economic environment. So that being said last night was uh at the NCPD North Clackamus Parks and Recreation uh district advisory committee meeting. Um, you know, we our staff there presented uh a little portion of the financial forecast. Um, not really the budget per se because that's not their that's not uh it's not budget season or not they're not the budget committee, but just showing them the fiscal cliff that they're seeing. They didn't see the bar graph. They just saw the numbers. So, they really didn't get um anywhere near the detail. But I I I want to say right up front, I bring this up right up front because I was anticipating we would have a public

session to talk about the financial health of NCPRD and what we're up against. And um I'm hoping we can still do that. I I I conveyed to people when I was told that we would have a public session. Um and so I think that it would not just benefit members of the DAC obviously, but a number of members in our community. And and again, I think it's I think anyone that's concerned about any budget can look at that as an example really of the challenge that we're facing. Um it's not the numbers are different, but the situation is not unique, right? It it's just it's everywhere. Um uh I just shifting over, I do want to say that um uh the you know, as far as the sheriff's levy, I ask people to look at that. I ask people to support that. If public safety is important to you, it would be devastating if it does not pass. Um, and I know we all value public safety. Um, and um, uh, again, I think it's really important that people know that, um, it's your choice. The voters are in control of whether or not that passes. And, uh, we hope it does. Um, it'll be a very difficult budget discussion otherwise. Um, looking forward to, uh, again, you know, as difficult as as it's going to be. um all all the different budgets that we're looking at, but I I am looking forward to working with our budget committee members. Um and I want to thank them for their um dedication and commitment of time, especially the county budget committee, which is unique than the district budget committees. But that level of effort and being here for several days is a, you know, a commitment of time. And I appreciate their contribution and their hard work and their dedication towards really trying to trying to again work in a collaborative way to find ways to to cope with what we've got. Asking more and providing little support is not

enough. You know, it's the difference between needs and wants. And I think now we have to look at needs. Um, but I think that collaboration on both sides, I'm really hoping that we can have a very uh collaborative budget discussion this year. Um, I do not like the way it has been in the last few years, but I'm hoping for collaborative and I just want to just build on the uh CCSO work group that we put together. Uh, they had their last meeting last week. It's been four meetings. Uh, Commissioner Helm and I were part of that. I'll tell you the uh the fact that everyone's being so professional and the uh I think we had some hard discussions but it was very positive. I thought the the environment um and the uh collaboration and the understanding was was rich and I'm hoping that we can carry that on to ourselves and uh and throughout all our presenters um that um we need to think about this more in a collaborative way. Um, it's really important that I think our we're more far more receptive to understanding when the tenor is cool and calm and responsible versus um I would say maybe more heated. Um, so again, I'm looking forward to again a collaborative uh discussion going forward. And that's what I have for today. Chair, I yield back to you.

Okay. Thank you so much. Uh, Commissioner West. Thank you, Madame Vice Chair. I love saying that.

Oh, you do. Um, I'm just uh so humbled and honored to be able to sit in this position and also get to serve with all of you. I know Craig's not here, but I enjoy serving with Craig, too, Chair Roberts. And um uh I've learned so much and I've better understood what public service is all about and so much has happened since I uh took office in January of 2023. And um I'm just humbled to be able to sit here with you guys and do really good work and see the impact of that in our own community. And I just want to do a little review about where the county was in Janu January of 2023 and where we are today specifically when addressing homelessness, substance use disorder, um, and the untreated behavioral health needs in our county. Um, when I got elected, in my opinion, um, we we lacked a clear vision on what direction we wanted to go in. And uh a lot of voters in Clackamus County were really upset because the SHS tax had passed and Clacamus County said no and the rest of the region said yes and they felt kind of straddled with this burden and they saw a lot of dysfunction coming out of Portland. So that did pass approximately 5 years ago. But since then Clackamus County purposefully set forth a vision called the recovery oriented system of care, a framework in which we would address this. and we're very intentional about that policy and framework and how we would deal with this population, triage it and get people the care they need. Since then, we as a county since 2023 um under the recovery oriented system of care, we've successfully placed over 1100 households into permanent supportive housing since um that time. While the number of people experiencing homeless um es and flows with different point in time counts, we have significantly reduced what's called chronic homelessness. that is the most acute that suffer with homelessness, behavioral health, and substance use disorders in our streets. And we've prevented thousands and thousands of evictions. I want to make sure that since 2023, we

know that the county has aggressively expanded its housing placements and prevention efforts, often and almost always exceeding any annual targets despite any adjustments or headwinds that we might face and barriers. We've exceeded the long-term goals. By 2025, the county once again is over 1100 households into permanent supportive housing. That was much further than our actual 10-year goal. Um we have had massive eviction prevention. We've prevented almost 4,000 people from even um going into homelessness. And we um since 2021, over 3,300 evictions have been prevented, keeping more than 71 people in their current homes. In 2023 24 year um almost 1300 people were placed into the permanent supportive housing and then we have high retention rates where people are not returning back into homelessness almost 96.1%. Um in the most recent point in time counts where we I think are recovery oriented system of care has targeted a lot of its efforts the most um the most ill on our streets with behavioral health issues or um with substance use disorder often in trauma that are their causation for being chronically homeless. We actually saw a 22% decrease um in that uh last number. We've done a lot of things. Why? How do we get there? How we how we've been so successful? Why the large bipartisan support, the respect from metro and across the entire region? Why are they asking how did Clacamus County have overall successes over and over again when other jurisdictions and regions have consistently persistently struggled? Um, in 2025, we modeled the Veterans Village, which I like to remind everybody is the recovery oriented system of care's beginning before I even got here. We didn't call it then, but it completely matches and is congruent with the recovery oriented system of care. And it was not easy to get off the ground to make sure that we didn't have

homeless veterans with no access to care off of our streets. It wasn't always popular because it didn't fit the perfect housing first model that was all the rage. but definitely has failed here in the Portland metro area and pretty much everywhere in the United States since 2013. But Commissioner Svice, even with the bipartisan help of Commissioner Humbersonson, wouldn't it quit on our veterans and they were persistent and they created a pilot project that was so successful, it has been replicated over and over again. And it really was the evidence that we needed to show we could continue to model this. And then we opened in 2025 with the governor cutting the ribbon with us more transitional housing um uh which is the Clacamus village. Now why is transitional housing important? I'll be brief. It's important because throughout the region we've divested away from transitional housing or appropriate housing depending on where someone is with it and their care needs. It was always about permanent supportive housing or the apartment for everybody. Um, and so we that doesn't build out a whole care continue, but the Clacamus Village we opened in May of 2025. Since then, we also have done Blossom Community Development. We just did a big ribbon cutting yesterday for um the the facility over Hillside in Milwaukee uh wi with hundreds of new affordable homes depending on where somebody is within their income. We have the medical waiver launch. We have incredible housing success. We have also impacted and worked to help seniors over 55 that we've seen a sharp increase in that number, but we're trying to have very target approaches to that. And we're close to actually having functional zero veterans homelessness in the entire county. Also, when I got elected in 2023, we had an explosion of homelessness in the Malala Esticada and even bleeding into the Sandy area. You talk to all of those mayors today, that is not a problem any longer in the rural part of our county. That has been functionally like functional zero. It's hard to get to forever zero, but functional zero means we can manage it,

get ahead of it, and it's no longer that visible on our streets and people are getting care. So, with all that said, since 2023 to today, no county, no local juris jurisdiction has been as successful as Clackamus County under recovery oriented system of care in the state. That number is not close. We have Lakewood Road behavioral health opening. We have the Caring Place, which is going to have a dinner tonight at Commissioner Helm's house supporting that. the navigation center, that resource. We have the stabilization center that people don't necessarily have to intersect with intersect with the justice department and they can get the care they need for 24 hours. And then attached to that is an additional 60-day respit housing. Then we have really which is one of the most exciting projects in the entire region under um this many of the this board's leadership the recovery campus a multi-acreage recovery campus focused on detox bags medical treatment transitional housing workforce education building out that actual care continuum that fully gets people the care that they need and moving away from local failed policies that just haven't worked and trying to make that hard pivot. Um, I don't think we should apologize for that success. I think that we should share it and that we should ex and we should tell people about it and the Clackamus County residents should be proud of that success that we've had. We have lots more work to do. Um, but I wanted to make sure today that we spoke to the overall great success under this board's leadership um, and what got us here since 2023. It wasn't by accident. It was by very specific policy decisions made where we are also laying out a worldview and a framework and a policy framework that was a shift away from the status quo. That was leadership and that's what leadership looks like and this board has shown it over and over again. So more people are clean and sober. More people are housed by percentage. More people are getting back into the workforce and stabilized. More people are being prevented into homelessness. More treatment is happening. More intervention is

happening in Clacamus County than anywhere else in the state. We should be proud of that. But it wasn't by accident. And that's the actual truth. Thank you. Oh, you make me tired just listening to you. We've done all of that. My god. I mean, I've left a few things up, but the clock was taken in my three minutes. You know, I wanted three. I miss your help.

Uh, yeah. I want to address two or three things here. So uh number one uh I want to speak to Shirley for just a minute at the 71% may have come from me uh at a previous meeting and I have since been schooled on the percentage the 71% I believe is the entire public safety that includes the jail uh juvenile seccom all of that it is not the general fund for CCSO because there's three buckets of money for them they they get the general fund they get the the le and then they do get uh their levy. So anyway, there's it's it's I've been in this work group. We've learned so much in the work group and it was it was very um enlightening and um my I want to support and fully fund the sheriff's department. But I know that also that what the citizens want are boots on the ground. They want sworn officers. They want public safety. And um I I we but it we need all the support services as well. So, I I understand that and I think as we go into this budget cycle, we're a lot more um in tune with what's going on. So, I'm I'm hoping it goes goes really well. Um Commissioner Schrader and I uh attended the Stafford Hamlet um meeting on Tuesday and uh very gracious group. We did get hammered with a few tough questions of course, but which we were expecting. Um but anyway, I think the meeting went very well and um it was uh uh I think productive and um we listened and as always we bring back to um the county what what their concerns are and we know what their concerns are as they relate to PGE. So um we got some very nice emails from them after. Thank you guys for being so nice to us. Um then yesterday we attended the

Hillside Park grand opening. Say I got a little tearary during a couple of those speeches. Um, I seeing next door the homes, the postwar war homes from 1942

that these people are moving out of and into these beautiful new apartments that I it's just they they've done everything so right and so well and utilized in the units. Every square inch of space has been thought thought through so well. Um, and there's gathering spaces and there's a barbecue area and it's 275 units of of new homes for people of new of new uh doors. So, I'm I'm just so proud of all the work Clackamus County and all the teams of people that uh that went into this. So, um very and I think Clackamus County has a lot to be proud of when it comes to these types of of housing units because we're we're a big part of that. Um and then this morning I attended the Good Morning Damascus meeting in Damascus of course. Um and there is next week just for anyone who might be listening there is a um next Thursday which I believe is the 21st from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the park Centennial Park uh right there by By Mart behind the fire station old fire station um is a uh what's happening in Damascus with the roads. So I encourage everyone to attend so you can understand where the funds for the road from the disinccorporation is going to be used because it's going to take care of the local access roads and it's going to be a oneandone. So um and we're also going to have some renderings. We asked this morning if um staff could bring some renderings of the Sunrise Corridor project so people can get updated on what that looks like. um especially the new Rock Creek Junction area, which we're hoping that's next on the list of things to get fixed. Um but anyway, um next Thursday in Damascus, um there will be uh an open house put on by the county. So that's it. Back to you guys, chair.

All right. Well, yeah, I just wanted to mention Hillside Manor as well. was really uh fantastic and um it has been years in the making actually because we knew that we had this this underutilized pieces of property and so the first thing we did is we actually remodeled the apartment complex that is there and then we lobbyed so hard to get the dollars from the federal government and from other uh you know opportunities to make that happen. I think it was Chuck Robbins, if I recall, was uh head head of that, moving forward with that. And uh to see it finally come to fruition and the fact that it's I I spent at least a decade in the making. I have to tell you that really. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. These projects, they don't happen overnight. and to see the beauty of the building, uh, the quality of the housing, the artwork, and you're right, juxtaposed right against this the old these little 1942 kind of bungalow types. Yeah. Home and Yeah. And to to densify so we can serve more people in a and densifying in a way that is um really beautiful. You know, it's a a lovely welcoming uh place. Uh the only comment I had, it was awfully cold.

Oh my lord. Awful windy and windy. Oh my gosh. And for a few minutes, we thought the tent was going to blow away, but it it held firm. But I thought we were on the mountain. I was kind of looking like, whoa, it's cold out.

So, I'm glad that. But there's more to come. I know that we're also working on projects in Oregon City as well. Again, we have underutilized space. It's kind of down by the end of the Oregon Trail area there that we've been we're going to be densifying and um doing some work down there as well. So, I know that that is on the books and more details to come. Uh, one of the things that I did want to let you know which is very exciting, the uh, uh, partnership between Oregon State University Extension and Clackamus Community College is going extremely well and they are going to have a natural resources center of excellence. I've been working on that project for a while because, you know, change is hard for people. So they're very trepidacious about moving from where they are located at our campus to the community college campus. But we assured them that they would have adequate signage. They would have adequate space. They will have a kitchen. They will have uh a a way to you know attract people there for all the programming they want to do. And indeed I uh also mentioned and I think this is important if you get started at the community college you know and there and then you have extension and the science and all the other things they do it can be a direct pathway I think into a four-year degree at OSU. So I really appreciate everybody coming together uh for that conversation especially Nancy Bush. I'd like to mention Nancy on that project management. She and she and I had to have a a lot of tough conversations just getting people calmed down and saying, "Nope, nope. This will work. It'll be a great idea and it's going to be great for both OSU and the community college." And we just saw the renderings. It's going to be a gorgeous building. Um where people can see it from the road. So, like I said, they're going to be seeing OSU signs as well as

Clackmus Community College signs. Uh the other thing that that has happened to me is the Wamtt Falls Landing and Heritage Area. I've been involved with that group for a long time and you know they uh renovated the Westlin um you know police station. So now that is a lovely space but they are now moving again to what their original intent was and that is to get a heritage area designated the only heritage area designated uh in the state of Oregon along the river corridor and um I know that we have t water we've got the grand rod on one side and other uh tribes on the other side and we're hoping that we can build th those relationships with them so we can all be working together to make sure that this heritage uh site happens. And Gary, I have been asked to see if we could put it on our legislative agenda for the state legislature as well as potentially federal dollars. But that is a a discussion to have as a group to see if that's where we want to go. But, uh, I think it would be I think it's would be extremely important for tourism and for the economy here. And it fits right into the kinds of things that we're doing with the locks as well. I mean, all of it is one big piece of a heritage area. Um, and oh, another place I went to visit that I really thought was fantastic. I did go to see Hope's Garden.

Oh, I heard. Yeah, it is a beautiful place. It's a wonderful framework for um pregnant women who are trying to get out of domestic violence situations or they're unmarried or whatever. And it gives them actually a two-year window of space and help uh in order to have their children, live in a community there together, uh get their GEDs, get their education. Um and it was really it was fantastic. It was it's really a a fantastic idea and I think it helps young mothers through very very difficult times. So, thank you for How many babies did you hold?

Oh, the only had a toddler. Yeah, I always like to hold babies. I'll when I retire, I'm going to volunteer, I think, to to uh maybe go to some of the you hospital wards and hold the hold babies. A lot of those women were homeless and they got them off the streets. They got a safe place to have their children. They get to live there for two years while the baby develops into a toddler and they get stabilized, get education, get workforce help and the community is it's it's amazing. They're an amazing group of people. I think I think I it was very impressive and I really thank you for having me um take a look at that.

I think they wanted a baby shower and I was like I'll send Martha to a baby shower. I don't know if I'm the right for a baby shower. And yes, we heard from the Stafford Hamlet, you know, and when they get a little prickly, I always remind them, but remember, you're here because of me. So, she can't be too mad at me. I helped helped that move that along. And as I said before, I'm not sure I'm very close friends with Judy Hammerstead, but I'm never not sure she's ever forgiven me for the Hamlet because they're pretty vocal and pretty active and uh yeah, they're really upset about PGE. Um, and we had a lot of listening to do that night. And that's all I have. So, so with that, ladies and gentlemen, I think we are adjourned.