Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to Administrator Issues and Updates on September 9th, 2026. County Administrator Gary Smote, will you please call the roll for us?

Yes, thank you, Chair, and welcome back, Commissioners. Commissioner West is out of the office today. Roll call. Commissioner Helm?

Here.

Commissioner Schrader?

Here.

Chair Roberts here. All right. Thank you, Gary. You want to introduce our first agenda item? Yes, thank you. And Commissioner Savas is on his way. He'll be here shortly. First item is Budget Committee Informational Meeting Proposal. Presenting is Cindy Becker from County Administration. Talking slowly. Cindy Becker is Project Manager from County Administration. We've already talked this idea with you commissioners. We want to get formal approval of this proposal. Cindy, go ahead, please.

Good morning, Commissioners. Nice to see you all. I hope you had a great time off and a great summer. So today is really a follow-up from the May Budget Committee meetings. During those meetings, several of you had expressed the desire to really get a little deeper into each of the departments, really learn more about what their programs are, who they're serving, their operations, and just have a better sense of of each of the agencies, each of the organizations, before you dove into the heavy lifting on budget committee. So what we are proposing is that we kind of change the format of the budget committee, and rather than meeting quarterly, we meet monthly. And during those monthly meetings, we devote that time each of the departments and elected offices, give you an opportunity to ask questions, talk about what they do and how they do it. And then we also may include some topical issues that are kind of countywide. And then we would also use that time for some of the typical things we go over with the Budget Committee with all of you. So that is the proposal. And you have three options here to direct staff to develop the schedule and agenda for these monthly meetings. We're looking at October through April. Or direct us to develop other options or not do them at all. So I just wanted to present that and answer any questions and move forward.

All right. Thanks, Cindy. Go ahead, Commissioner Hill.

How long, Cindy, how long would you expect each, if we were to have monthly meetings, how long would you expect them to last? We're looking at two hours.

Two hours per meeting? Yeah. It could be shorter. It's really whatever you all want.

I support it. So I think there's a lot we need to know about the budget. And I think getting a little more deeper into it is a benefit to us and to our constituents. So I'm totally on board. Finding two hours in a month shouldn't be that hard, right?

Commissioner yeah, so just to make sure I understand so this gives the opportunity for a department to come to us month or whatever department it is and do what we used to do which was at the Budget Committee meeting present what they're doing what their progress are what their needs are so it would be something like that right this is that opportunity but broken up in the 12 sections

Correct, Commissioner. They will not be talking about the proposed budget for the next year. They'll be talking about the current budget and the programs and services and have that dialogue.

Okay. So there will be an educational element to it, obviously.

Yes.

Okay. I'm good.

Yeah, I think one of the things I'd like to see too is just addressing some of the performance measures at the same times and how those are connected to the budget and kind of so we can see the impact on staff and resources would be beneficial, I think. Absolutely. If there is a motion, I think we're pretty close to move forward on this.

I move to direct staff to develop a schedule and agenda for monthly budget committee meetings from October to April. Second.

All right. Commissioner Helm has moved approved to direct staff to develop a schedule and agenda for the monthly budget committee meetings from October to April. Commissioner Schrader is second to that. Any further comments or questions? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll for us?

Commissioner Zavas.

Aye.

Commissioner Schrader. Aye. Commissioner Helm. Aye. Aye. Chair Roberts?

Aye.

Motion passes 4-0, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Gary, what do you have next for us?

Thank you, and we're on it. We'll start these scheduling meetings right away. Next is public safety levy referral update. You asked us two things before you went on recess, and this is to answer those questions and to give you a general update. Cindy Becker is also going to lead this item. Go ahead, please, Cindy.

Good morning, Commissioners. So, changing topic. As you recall, there was a lot of discussion at a prior issues meeting about the preliminary reports that Praxis had put together, and then that report was sent to all of you. So, one of the things that we talked about that was kind of left was the intent and desire of the board to have more community engagement and also more board engagement. And so to that end, you had talked about having an internal committee. And if you go to the second page of this document, So what we're proposing are two committees that I think that align with what you had discussed last time. So the internal committee would provide feedback and review of the pricing and program options in the levy, in the proposed levy, and then to discuss communications and engagement strategy and materials. The recommendation is that there be two commissioners on this committee, sheriff and their finance staff, county finance, county admin, praxis, and then PGA and county council as needed. So they don't necessarily need to sit in on all of the budget discussions, but we would pull them in as needed. And then that committee would start meeting as soon as possible. The next committee would be an external committee, and that committee is really to provide recommendations on community engagement to help move the message. There's a desire on everyone's part is that the sheriff's office shouldn't be the only entity moving the message about the importance of the levy, and we really want to connect with the community not only to educate them but to engage them and particularly those organizations, those individual businesses who are leaders across the county who can also help support this message. And so we are recommending that the participants in the second committee would be local electeds, nonprofit leaders, local business leaders and influencers, fire and emergency management service leaders, health systems leaders, and praxis. And we would look at that meeting, that group starting to meet in December through February. And I'll open it up for questions.

Thank you, Cindy, so much for your work on that. I think that I'm pretty excited about this. That was one of the hopes that I was to be able to bring together. number of entities to help educate and bring us all together on the same this county's huge and trying to message across the county really having one united voice on this issue to make sure that we're collectively putting out the correct information and then working together to create that message of what we're trying to accomplish and the outcome measures of it too. So just wanted to say thank you. I know early on I reached out to my colleague here, Commissioner Helm, trying to recruit her onto this. And I think it's, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm very optimistic, all of us kind of coming together and meeting on a regular basis about what that message is. Appreciate it. So Commissioner Savas you have a comment.

Yeah in a way you know this is somewhat similar to the work group that we kind of put together prior to the budget and the levy and the math and all those things that we discovered during that period of time has been extremely valuable so I would really like to see us really continue on that path and I don't know if the makeup of the makeup you're suggesting for the composition of this group, would it be similar to the, I mean, what similar people would be at the table that were at the work group? It would be basically the commissioners and finance staff. Okay. It wouldn't be anyone else? The external one would be or not? I mean, we had finance staff. I mean, to me, the math is really important.

Right. And so we really want, the intent was that the internal group kind of kind of get down and dirty into the weeds, if you will, and really looking at what's in the proposed levy, what do the numbers look like, all the assumptions that go into that. So a lot of the questions, Commissioner, that you had asked in the past about the current levy, to get ahead of it and to also look at the options that we had had last time in May and looking at the options that the sheriff wants to be considered. So it's really... It's really that internal group and to get down into those weeds. And so that's why it's really, it is made up primarily of finance folks and commissioners and also looking at those options. And then as we create those or as you, Sheriff, creates those, how do we start talking about the messaging? You know, what are the critical messages and what are some of the forums that we can start moving forward on that? So it's really, it's... It's in the weeds with high-level decisions being made at the same time. And then the second group is really how do we, that's that really community. It's like, okay, we're not going to the community asking them, not going to this group and asking what. We're saying it's really the how. So here's the levy that we want to, the package that we want to move forward. That's all been talked about internally. How do we message that? How can you help us do that? What are some things that you need to help move that message? So it's really, it's not the same group in terms of having the unions and the budget committee and various folks from the departments. It's really kind of, we have a limited amount of time, so we're trying to make the best use of it and really focus that internal group to do the what and then the second group, the how.

Yeah, well, I'm looking at, so thank you, I'm looking at, just to verbalize it, two commissioners, the sheriff, which we didn't have in the work group at the time, acting sheriff, right? CCSO finance, which we did have in the work group, county finance, which we did. And I think county admin staff yourself. Right. Right. So there's some similarities there. Correct. Right, right. Well, I like the structure. I'm good with it. But I really feel that the errors that were made were more mathematical in the levy. they were the content of the levy so I really think that that's really imperative so I would suggest that maybe Commissioner Helm and myself really be those two commissioners that sit on that committee to just make again have that continuity and it also have the the the math background to make sure we get it right this time Commissioner Helm

Well, I was the one that wanted to continue the work group because I thought that we had started something really good. And those were really intense meetings that I learned so much from everyone in the group. I think we all were kind of surprised at what we learned. So I'm happy to be on that. But what I'm questioning here, so I don't see on the external committee anyone, a commissioner, on that. So you don't want a crossover of commissioners on the external committee as well?

We'd be more than happy to. It's up to us probably, right? Yeah, if you'd like to, absolutely.

Because I would think that you would want someone from here also out advocating so that it's kind of coming from all of us. But I'm fine to continue on to do the internal committee and if needed on an external committee as well, just because I think that I would. having been a mayor, having been in the public, seeing it from that point of view, I think gives me a unique perspective in trying to get our other electeds on board for this. Because this is a communication strategy, not just from us, it's from them as well. So it all has to kind of filter down to the public. So, yeah.

Yeah, I think that... when I kind of look at the two different committees, the last committee was really to help educate and make sure that the union and others were all on the same sheet of music, understanding the budget, and this I really feel is a different focus. The focus really is taking a look at how do we make this successful, and I really believe that EXPERIENCE IN PASSING EVERY PUBLIC SAFETY LEVY THAT WE BROUGHT FORWARD. I DID SEE SOME CONCERNS IN THE LAST ONE. I FEEL LIKE THERE'S SOME CHANGES THAT THE PUBLIC EXPECTS AND I THINK WE CAN MAKE THOSE CHANGES. It's important to work with all our cities. That's one of the reasons why I was thinking of Commissioner Helm as a former mayor because there were some mayors that did oppose it last time. I've been meeting with them, talking with them about really what were their concerns, can we address those, and have received really positive input about how we can make some modified changes to really get us all to move forward to help support this. I think kind of really these are, from my view, the external one, I agree. I think that's, hey, meeting with the community, educating them about the issues at hand. But the internal group is really kind of the nuts and bolts of what needs to be on it, what does the public really expect out of it. And I just feel like I kind of bring that. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of years doing this. One of the challenges and why I'm so excited to see this change is, I'm going to be very direct. It was often just put completely on the sheriff to do it. And it is an incredible lot of work. And I do feel that I appreciate Gary and really helping pull us together so that we're all working together in one central focus to send a clear message and that we're really kind of united on what that ask is going to be. Again, I appreciate your hard work on that. Commissioner Savas, you had a comment?

Yeah. As my memory serves me I know the first came on the Commission I forgot exactly what year it was that the levy was up for renewal Chair you were the sheriff at the time and I Was learning and I was learning about e led in the budget and the shortfalls and why e led was not penciling Budget Committee members had brought forward the fact that were underwater meaning we weren't collecting enough money and to meet what was promised in the measure that created ELED and I immediately went to the levy to say are those same mathematical problems exist there as do the levy and the answer was that I discovered was yes. And I brought that to your attention when you were sheriff. And I remember sitting in the room with some folks, an informal internal group. That's what it was. And my recommendation was, we need to get the math to a line, right? And the response was, the decision was, at the time, is that to leave it as it is and that Raisinet runs the risk of losing the measure. And I think, as I recall, that measure passed by nearly 70%, 68% or something like that it passed. But we have been out of step financially every step of the way since I've been here on the levy. Financially, it's not lined up. So we under-collected, and that under-collection has been estimated at this point, which we learned in the work group, and along that time, to be around 11 to 12 million under-collecting. So, or over-promising, however, whichever side of the equation you want to look at. So that's a big delta. So I think that's why the mass imperative, and I also agree on the external committee that we ought to have, and Chair, I think you'd be the best person for this one because we need a message to the mayors and others why and how public safety is, number one, important, but what's paid for by the general fund and what's paid for by the levy and what's not. As you and I talked, I shared some ideas with you in your office here a few months ago before the levy and after the levy. You know, the mayors need to understand that the DA's office, you know, parole and probation, all those things are things that really aren't in the levy and the costs have gone up. And that needs to be that needs to be somewhat either recovered or balanced or understood. So it's the math, I think, that failed. That's failed us. And I think that's why imperative we have. I want to play a role in that. on that part internally. I don't need to play a role in the external part, but I do want to play a role in the internal part.

And I love the robust conversation as we kind of go back and forth. And I think that I'm always happy to kind of openly discuss kind of the challenges. And let me kind of take you back in time on the Enhanced Law Enforcement District because I'm very familiar with it. You're right, it did not keep pace. But the problem is when you do things that take money out of that taxing district, it impacts it, right? And so that's where I firmly believe you have to live within your means. And if the county makes other decisions to fund other things, There was a consequence out of that. And the consequence back then was myself, Clackamas County, Clackamas Fire, the school district, we were all very excited that we knew the urban renewal district around the Clackamas Town Center was coming back on the tax rolls. I was like looking ready to hire more deputies. That was gonna be a big tax incentive to hire deputies to finally get to the point where we needed to be. And you're right, but it was not keeping pace. Because it was an urban renewal district, the tax funds were taken out of that to really make improvements in that area, which they were done. But my opposition that I have about the urban renewal districts is they should be short in nature. That was 30 years. And what happened was there had to be a way to fund the light rail. So once that urban district renewed, the fire department and the school district got their money. And the money that was supposed to come really to the sheriff's office, what happened was they used that to pay the debt service. I know, Gary, we've talked about this. The debt service is going to be paid off in a few more years. But that was why we couldn't hire any more deputies. And then so when I look at the numbers, that's why I'm Intimately familiar with these numbers and where I have struggled in the past and one of the big reasons Why I want to kind of get into this position to make sure that we were all getting educated another investment that was made that has had a financial impact on this county and and Not to criticize the previous board But they did make a decision to build a courthouse and that courthouse has a 17 million dollar annual payment so The revenue is coming in. We've just made other decisions as how we want to prioritize those dollars. So I really believe when I meet with the public is I want to live within our means. I want to be responsible. It's tough economic times right now, and making sure that What we ask for is really to provide those core necessary services. Right now, it's really vitally important because I believe the general public is financially struggling. in particular seniors so So I just I can't emphasize enough that whatever that ask is to be to me It has to be kind of that bare minimum to buy core services to just keep the sheriff's office in this county as safe as we can and so that is why some of the Points that we make in this that I kind of bring that history of getting to where we're at today and I CARE ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY IN THIS COUNTY AND WANT TO SEE IT CONTINUE. SO IT IS IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US. MARTHA, I DON'T KNOW, DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS? I WANT TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO GIVE YOUR INPUT.

I DON'T, NOT AT THIS POINT BUT THANK YOU FOR ASKING. Let me use on this a little bit longer. Okay. Can I? And then I can maybe have a sit down with you and just see where we are with this, okay?

All right. Well, as we sit here, we haven't really come to a conclusion, I guess, as to Gary.

So the first request today is the internal committee. We're ready to go seeking which two commissioners would like to serve on the internal committee. That's the most urgent thing I could ask for your input today. Now, three of you can do it, but then it becomes a public meeting. That's not a problem. It just makes it logistically more difficult. So I would ask if you were able to identify two of you to serve on the internal committee. It could be a separate two that serves on the external committee, but for today, the most important is which two of you would like to serve on the internal group. Please.

I think both of you folks have expressed an interest. I'm fine with that. I would be happy to serve on an external committee. because I think that would be a better use of my gifts because so. Commissioner, we can't hear you.

Go ahead.

I said I would support my two colleagues being on the internal committee.

Which two?

Yeah, which two? Paul and Diane. Okay. I would be glad to serve on an external committee. if that is a possibility, which is probably a different role.

All right. I'm fine to be on the internal.

Go ahead. Chair, thanks for the history lesson on ELD. I think those are relevant arguments regarding ELED and the tax base and our ability to... what funds we have for general fund. My point specifically about bringing up ELED is the, you know, the disparity in math was a means of discovering the fact that the levy was been off for all this time and every year that delta grew and grew and grew. So I don't know what analogy to use if, you know, if we're I'll just use, top of my head here, if we're going to charge, if you're going to pay $50 for a gallon of paint and you walk home and you're only collecting enough money to pay for half a gallon, then that's really what you walk away with. And really, so that delta is what we need to fix. It's math. And the content, I think, that the sheriff and staff can help work on the content of what's in the levy just making sure that what we promise in the in the levy is we're collecting the funds to pay for it and i think frankly just a little editorial here i really think that's been at the core of the rift for a long time between in the budget committee meetings is that we didn't understand why we didn't have enough money And I think it was fair for the sheriff to say, I don't have enough money. And the discovery was we weren't collecting enough city contracts, the levy. And of course, ELED, we already knew, but that delta was even larger. So I think there's been a lot of great work in CCSO finance staff and our finance staff to come together and have that realization. And I think the work group helped tease a lot of that out in a very constructive way so that we all understood we had a good working relationship. So, sure, I move that myself and Commissioner Helm serve on the internal committee.

Okay. It sounds like that's... Is that what you wanted? That's right, yeah. All right. And I did want to kind of respond to the last thing because I do feel like it's... I really want to make sure that there's accurate information put out there because I do wholeheartedly disagree with you on it. That county finance, the sheriff's office finance, spend hundreds of hours going through the cost model before it goes to the public safety levy. And that what you cannot do is... You pass a public safety levy, here's how much it costs for the deputies to do their job. Partway through, before that levy's even up, you give a contract, a negotiation with the CCPOA that's $18 million, and then you don't give that increase to continue to fund those deputies. So if you give them the increase, so be it. But the county has to fund that. If they don't fund it, what do you have to do? You have to cut positions. You have to keep vacancies. You have to balance a budget. And that's what that I have wholeheartedly disagreed with is that, and I believe when you say it wasn't accurately done, county administrator, county finance, the sheriff's office finance, you're saying all those people are wrong. And I just disagree with that. And when it comes to the contract with our contract cities, I can tell you we worked incredibly hard. When I first took office as sheriff for the very first time, I did see that we were giving the farm away to the cities. They had a great deal. And one of the city administrators told me, he said, I said, look, the most I could increase the contract in the first year based on the contract was 8%. I said, you know, I'm sorry we're going to increase it 8%. And he said, I knew we were getting a good deal. And I said, the unincorporated area was picking up the tab. And I said, that's not right. So what we did is we formed a huge work group which involved all the contract city leaders and we looked at a cost model. We even sent folks to Seattle because they provide a lot of contracted police services and looked at how they did their cost model. We brought it back and we continued to refine it and we wanted to make it fair for both. So we didn't want to overcharge the city but we also didn't want to undercharge them. So we really spent an incredible amount of time continuing to refine that. And it is constantly really a work in progress, because technology and things change. So it's not just something that sits stagnant, that we continue to refine it. To give you an example, body cameras, right? When those body cameras came into effect, you have to have somebody process it. So guess what? That's an additional cost. So is it perfect? No. But the positive thing about it is it's constantly under review and constantly making sure that We're trying to be fair to both, and we listen to our cities and really want to make sure that it's fair across the board. So it sounds like you've got some direction. It sounds like Commissioner Savas and Commissioner Helm are going to work on that, and we'll move forward. And what do you have next, Gary?

So you have a motion on the table. Do you want to dispense with the motion or finish the motion? Vote on the motion. Oh, did we need a motion? I thought you just needed a direction. Commissioner Savas made a motion. I thought we needed a motion. You don't need one? We don't need one. That's fine. I withdraw the motion. So I want to be clear, the entire board, you make the decision, not this committee. This committee will bring back the full recommendations to the full board, and I'm happy to meet any commissioner to brief you on what's going on in this committee. All right.

Can I just clarify? So Commissioner Savas, Commissioner Helm on the internal committee, and Commissioner Schrader and Chair on the external committee?

Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. Next item is progress update on the new performance-based ambulance contract with AMR. We promised these two commissioners to give you a periodic update and this is one of them. Presenting today is Mary Rumbaugh, Director of Health, Housing and Human Services and Kim LaCroix, Division Director of Public Health. Go ahead, please.

Good morning, Chair Roberts and Commissioners, Mary Rumba, H3S Director. So as noted, we are here today for our next six-month progress update on the county's ambulance franchise agreement with American Medical Response, or AMR. Before we begin, I do want to acknowledge that this week marks the 25th anniversary of September 11th. We want to remember those lives that were lost and forever changed by the attacks. And we honor the extraordinary courage and sacrifice of our first responder community. And we hold all of them in our thoughts as we mark this important anniversary. So with that, let me move forward. So we did provide our first update in February when the new contract was still in the early stages of implementation. So today gives us an opportunity to look at what has changed over the last six months and what we're learning as more of the contract becomes fully operational. Overall, we're seeing really great progress in several areas. And we're also learning where adjustments are needed as we gain more experience under the contract. So today's update will highlight both of those areas. As noted, joining me is Kim LaCroix, our Public Health Division Director, as well as in the audience is Bill Conway, our Public Health Emergency Services Manager. Kim's going to walk through the update, and then we as staff are available for any questions when we're done.

thank you mary and thanks for the opportunity to provide an update. As mary mentioned we have another six months of experience under the new contract and much more information about how it is performing so today I' m going to focus on what has changed since then and what the data are Before I begin I want to remind you that the county's role goes beyond monitoring AMRs compliance with the contract. We do work closely with AMR and partners across the entire EMS system to address challenges and continually improve how the system works for our community. The partnership and oversight work is reflected in several areas of the contract, first starting with response times. In January, AMR missed the 90 percent response time requirement for emergency calls in the suburban and the urban zones. and in February, AMR missed the requirement in the urban zone. However, since March, AMR has met the response time requirements in every geographic area for both emergency and non-emergency calls. And really this improvement occurred because AMR was able to adjust and added ambulances where they deploy them to respond to increased demand. and importantly we now have a functioning system that allows county staff to consistently track and verify response time performance. Another major area of progress is clinical performance. The new contract was intentionally designed to look beyond just response times and also measure the quality of care that patients receive. So when we spoke to you in February we were still developing the clinical measures. since then reporting has begun in May we started with the heart attack care and AMR is currently meeting the performance requirements so we' re moving from developing the system to actually using it to measure the quality of care patients receive. also want to provide some context around ambulance transport costs you may recall that the price increased significantly through the region and in the country due to rising costs in health care and EMS costs including personnel workforce fuel vehicles and medical equipment and historically Clackamas county rates were below the market and not kept up with inflation. most of the transport costs are covered by insurance so the rate increased primarily affected uninsured and privately paying patients to represent a very small percentage of transports however under the contract amr continues their compassionate care program which offers financial assistance to residents experiencing hardship in the contract also requires amr to continue the nurse navigation program to help 911 callers with non-emergency medical needs determine the most appropriate level of care without automatically sending them to an ER. Over the past year more than 1,200 calls went through nurse navigation and patient satisfaction remains very high at 4.75 out of 5. we' re also learning from some of the new approaches in the contract and making adjustments as we go one example is basic life support ambulances so these were included for lower acuity calls so our advanced life support ambulances could remain available for more serious emergencies after several months we found there weren' t enough appropriate calls under the current criteria to use the dedicated bls ambulance is efficiently so those units have been converted to the advanced life support ambulances and of course we can revisit that bls model as a dispatch system evolves. And finally, we've also seen movement on the two recreational safety programs that were unresolved the last time we gave an update. Public health staff helped bring together the appropriate partners to explore solutions and support continuity of these important services. So the High Rocks River Rescue Program operated this summer through a partnership with the county, Gladstone, and the city of Oregon City, while the partners work towards sustainable long-term funding solutions. our participation was intended as a one-time temporary bridge and does not establish an ongoing commitment for public health or the county to fund the program moving forward. Additionally the AMR reach and treat program ended in April but regional search and rescue partners really stepped forward to help fill that gap by forming teams that can provide advanced medical care in remote areas. overall we've moved from the early implementation phase of this contract into a period where the systems are operating and we can begin evaluating what is working and where adjustments are needed and we'll continue to monitor performance and work with our EMS partners to address issues as they emerge and then when we return to the board in six months we'll have additional response time and clinical performance data and that will help give us a better even a better picture of how the new contract is performing over time. And with that we're available for questions thank you.

Thank you for the presentation and update. When you say that most of the calls are covered by insurance, a small percentage, private pay, do you know that percentage?

I don't know that off the top of my head, but that's certainly something that we can look into.

I would like to know what that is eventually. Yeah, I'm just curious because I do know that most of it is covered by insurance, but I just wondered... small to some people is not small to others so definitely yep.

Commissioner Salvas.

Yeah, I appreciate the report and as I'm reading on the KPIs I'm glad to see things are falling in line and falling in compliance that's great. Just to build on Commissioner Helms question that 90% Whatever that number is I am a little bit curious about the impacts. I know we were put in a very tough spot is either signed the contract or lose ambulance services, so it was like It was a very duff and I you know I know that and I apologize to staff that you know I was I Was really struggling with this and I was really trying to figure out a way to negotiate something better right because of those impacts but You can't win them all But I would like to know just maybe maybe how many folks what that 10% looks like it was what that Delta between ninety or the eight nine ten percent whatever that number is what those impacts are and And is there any means? Does, if those people owe that amount, is there any kind of a payment plan or anything for those who can't afford it? Let's just say that they've got, is there a means, they're not gonna lose everything, there's a means of financing that?

Yeah, absolutely. I can take that question. So as I mentioned there is the compassionate care program so that is available for people experiencing financial hardship and then AMR also has a liaison that can work directly with people who are that need more help understanding their bill or help navigating the system and we can help connect folks to that liaison.

Okay, yeah, I just like to know what that number of people are that are impacted by that. I don't need it now, of course, but yeah, thank you.

All right, this is information only, and Gary, what do you have next? Thank you. Next is Advisory Board and Commission By-law Approval Process Update. Presenting this is Nancy Bush in her role as Interim Director of Public and Government Affairs. And bringing a guest, Donna. You'll introduce Donna, please. Thank you.

Good morning, commissioners. Yes, I have Donna Hockey here today with me. She knows more details about what's been going on. So I'm going to do a little bit of an introduction and then I'll turn it over to her for more detail. So this is, I just want to briefly introduce the work that the public and governmental affairs has been doing leading up to the bylaws for the county advisory boards and commissions. So over time, the commissioners have asked for that to be updated, for them to be more consistent across the board. Not that they would actually be exactly alike, but there were certain things that were not in all of them that should be. So this builds on the conversations the boards has had over the years. In 2013, the board identified several basic elements that should be addressed in every set of the bylaws. This included limited terms, public meetings requirements, Robert rules, and the quorum. These were added to the template at the time and more recently the board also identified a need for a stronger conflict of interest language as well. PGA has reviewed approximately 60% of the county's ABC bylaws to understand how consistently those elements have been addressed. We have found some significant gaps in that particular overview. For example, one in three did not clearly state its purpose, more than half did not have limits on term renewals, and 81% did not include conflict of interest language. So the goal is not to create a one-size-fits-all, but it is to establish the clear baseline and make sure the ABC's bylaws accurately explain its purpose and roles and responsibilities. So I'm going to turn it over to Donna to kind of give you a little bit more detail of what we're looking at and what you're going to be seeing moving forward.

Thank you, Nancy. I'll walk you through the bylaws revision process and highlight some updates. There will be 43 sets of bylaws coming before the board in batches of no more than five at a time between now through the next year. And PGA will work with county administration to schedule those. The main goal of the bylaws revision is to support the success of our ABCs. Hundreds of volunteers bring valuable expertise and lived experience through their service. They generously contribute their time to the county. These revisions will provide a clear framework for their work so their meeting time can be focused on issues and the communities that they serve instead of interpreting roles, responsibilities, or procedures. It also increases efficiency for staff so that they're not spending time interpreting those as well. The revisions are primarily focused on clarifying and streamlining existing bylaws. We're using consistent language where we're Requirements are common across ABCs, including areas such as meetings, membership, conflict of interest, and other procedures. Then we're tailoring the language where needed to reflect the unique role of each ABC. It also gives us an opportunity to clearly state each ABC's purpose, goal, and clarify the roles and responsibilities. A few examples of the updates include advisory role. Advisory boards are advisory in nature. but we strengthen that language in the template to clarify that the role of the ABCs is to provide recommendations to the board and to county staff and departments and that it does not direct staff or the board. We've added an advocacy clause to guide ABC members that they may not provide written or oral testimony on behalf of the county unless explicitly asked to do so and provide a clear path how they could talk about those issues to their departments and how that information can bubble up to you, and operational details. We're reviewing each set of bylaws to make sure important operational details are included, such as how many consecutive terms a member can serve and that these provisions are appropriate. They vary from one ABC to another, but having this information clearly stated provides consistency and clarity. There's an established collaborative process for each set of bylaws before it comes to the board. It begins with department leadership reviewing their ABCs using the pre-audit tool and considering ABC's purposes, roles, and goals. They might merge an ABC or they might sunset an ABC, but if they move forward, they'll go through the revision process. Department staff then work through the existing bylaws and update them using the revised template. with PGA available throughout the process for consultation. Once the department has a draft, it's submitted to PGA for review. We'll work to provide feedback and questions and refine the bylaws, and then we'll make sure that language reflects the unique role of the ABC. Staff will then share the revised bylaws with ABC members for their review and input. Most of the ABCs will review and vote on the bylaws before they move forward. And then they'll go to county council. Sometimes that has to be switched, but most likely that's the process. And after that review, PGA works with county council on the final review, and then that'll come to you. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Commissioner Salas.

I am. There's a policy question or two in all of this and appreciate the history. And I was watching some of this work. And again, most significantly since COVID, there's been a very difficult for some of these committees to fill vacant positions or positions, period. And I'm now rethinking, frankly. this thing about how many terms a citizen can hold on a committee. But maybe instead of asking that question, maybe the best way to ask the question is, why would we have a term limit? for advisory committee people? Because I'm seeing where it's not working out so well on a couple committees where there's just people there that it's vacant and those get appointed and either don't show up or they don't know and it's a huge learning curve and it's a disadvantage to the committee to wait for them to come at the speed. And so what's the argument for a term limit on an advisory committee?

Thanks for the question, Commissioner Savas. We're working with departments for their individual recommendations on how it's working. Sometimes they want to keep somebody in a position or keep that for informational continuity. So they would like to have some people stay on. And so they increase that they might serve three consecutive terms and help others who are coming new. Sometimes they see that people, if they do not have a term limit and they can serve just that way that the same people will go and there's not enough spots for new people to come on. And so just based on the individual ABC and the history of it, we're kind of having staff best decide which one to go with.

Yeah. you know, I appreciate staff's input on that, and sometimes it's, you know, some of these advisory committees are more about the community than they are about, you know, staff, let's just say. Maybe they're not even staffed at all, for example. I think that we need to revisit that one. Again, on the term limit thing, I can see where, obviously, If the term is, let's say, three years and it's up for the board to reappoint, then the board has an opportunity and so does the incumbent to know that they're up for renewal or not. And I think that's an appropriate check-in, whether that's a two-year or three-year, whatever that may be. But I think that there are some advisory committees where they do roll up their sleeves. There's a lot of work to do, and they really need to be knowledgeable. And if they just start getting up to speed, and pretty soon they're termed out, then they're not bringing any more value to the table. So Gary, how do you suggest we proceed with this one policy question?

Yes, either you can give direction today or we could create a policy on ABCs that's far-reaching countywide that you would create that we would use as a guidance. My memory in 2013 was that you did not agree to term limits, only that a term should be defined in the bylaws, how long a term was. What Donna just shared is up to this point departments have been given latitude in working with their advisory boards, but if that's the direction you want to give us the governing body, no term limits, just define the term. That's certainly something we can do across the board. So either tell us today or we'll come back to you with a formal guidance. I guess do you all agree with that? No term limits other than define what a term is and you're the ultimate arbitrator when you decide.

That's the way we've done it. I don't see any reason to change it.

And I don't recall ever saying we wanted to have term limits for all our ABCs. So I think you characterized it correctly. So yes, define the terms, but not have a term limit.

Yeah. For clarification, you would like to define the terms for if somebody serves two years or three years, but they can serve as many consecutive terms as they would like?

Well, I'll be up for the board to reappoint.

As the board of commissioners decides.

So let's just say someone can't attend a meeting or whether it's a disruptive or whatnot, the board has that opportunity, whatever that term is, two years or three years, to say, hey, there's someone who really wants this seat or maybe we can make that call. So it's not an automatic, you're on the board, you're on the board forever. It comes up for renewal, so to speak. That's not the exact term I wanted to use, but yeah, you get the message.

I just, I have a question. Can I just ask a quick question? Go ahead, Martha. Thank you, Chair. Are we doing anything with the community planning organizations? Right now, we're just concentrating on the ABCs. Are we doing any... I'm sorry, did you? Go ahead. Go ahead. I didn't hear the whole question.

I'm sorry.

Oh, I said, are we doing any work of this kind with our community? Organization that's kind of like that the unincorporated areas that have those is that just gonna be We're gonna be working on this now and maybe taking a look at those other organizations So right now we're this is just looking at the ABCs.

Okay, looking at CBOs is something we are Hoping to do in the near future.

Okay All right anything else

that's it then gary those update only right yep that's it thank you thank you very much next advisory board and commission appointments speaking of such so commissioners you all you know you all know tony tony is interim clerk to the board until we hire a permanent replacement tony served as clerk to the board before he became a policy advisor he's going to do both jobs for the short term but tony is incredibly competent in this role as you know from when he served in this before so tony welcome back and then please go ahead

Good morning, Commissioner. Shaking the dust off a little. I will start with the Property Value Appeals Board, formerly known as Board of Property Tax Appeals. There are two vacancies on the board. Through a recruitment process, applications were received. Two are recommended for appointment. The first is Lawrence Krugel, who would be reappointed, and Ashley Doty, who would be a new appointment. The board could select other candidates or require further recruitment. Any questions?

May I have a motion?

I move to appoint Lawrence Kruegel and Ashley Doty to the Property Values Appeals Board as recommended. Second.

Commissioner Schroeder has moved to appoint Lawrence Kruegel and Ashley Doty to the Property Values Appeals Board as recommended. Commissioner, I'll second that. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, please call the poll.

Commissioner Zavis. Aye. Commissioner Helm. Aye. Commissioner Schroeder. Aye. Chair Roberts. Aye. Motion passes 4-0, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Go ahead. Apologies. The second advisory board is Clackamas Workforce Partnership. Currently has one opening on their board due to an adjustment by the Higher Education Coordinating Committee. Through a recruitment process, one application was received. That individual is recommended for appointment. The name is Allison Linford as a business representative for the first term. All right.

We have a motion. I move to appoint Allison Linford to the Clackamas Workforce Partnership.

Second.

Commissioner Schrader has moved to appoint Alison Linfoot to the Clackamas Workforce Partnership. Commissioner Helm has seconded that. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll? Commissioner Salvas.

Aye. Commissioner Helm.

Aye.

Commissioner Schrader.

Aye.

Chair Roberts. Aye. Motion passes 4-0, Mr. Chair. All right, Gary.

Chair, I just want to just point out an error in the packet. The packet for the matrix of the ABCs for the two are identical. We don't have the matrix specifically for the workforce. I support the action, but every time I click on the workforce matrix, it comes up to have the property values matrix. Okay.

Noted and we will keep an eye on that in the future commissioner.

Thank you Thank you, and I also would just like to make a comment to those who volunteered for these positions Thank you very much for your time All right, thank you next is review of your board business meeting agenda for tomorrow Thursday September 10th 2026 at 10 a.m. You have a full agenda you have three presentations first the county clerk clerk McMullen will give a general election information update and as she does prior to any election. Second, recovery awareness month. Third, a business spotlight presentation on Bridgetown Mushrooms Company. Then two public hearings, both are boundary change, I'm sorry, no, transfer of jurisdictions of two county roads, two cities. Then a long consent agenda that we've saved up for you while you're on recess for the Board of County Commissioners and for Water Environment Services. If you do have any questions, would you please let me know prior to the meeting so I may have staff in the room or I'll be able to answer it for you. Thank you. The final item today, Chair, is Commissioner Communications. All right. Commissioner Schrader.

Yeah, thank you, Chair. I just want to say I'm glad to be back. I had a wonderful opportunity to visit grandchildren, which was pretty fabulous. But I've also missed the folks here and all the work. And I think I left little somethings on your desk, I think, from Chris. Yeah so yeah just glad to be back you know back at the back at the table again keeping things going so.

Commissioner Salvas.

As they say in Greek thank you is a sorry fall so for the for the gift. Yeah, I appreciate the recess to some degree. I did do a lot of county stuff. during that period of time, but certainly we didn't have a lot of meetings like we typically do, but I was able to get a lot done. It was nice to be out at the fair, see things going on there, but life still goes on in August, and there's a lot of good things that are taking place. Oddly enough, just kind of bringing up the speed, there's been transportation meetings that did not take a break, especially on the state side, so been working hard at that. I was in Salem all day yesterday, and we've been having meetings last week. I think we'll have another one here next week as well, but C4 met last week. Commissioner Helm was in attendance there as well. We had a great presentation from Grace Kernighan from the governor's office I believe working on this ODOT work groups and kind of gave us a report of what was happening and I guess in advance of a potential package in the 2020-17 transportation package shows kind of enlightening to hear that and then the day following Friday it was announced that ODOT would be putting out and recruiting for a new ODOT director. Um, that was a Friday announcement that I got in the mail. So, um, uh, look forward to seeing who, uh, who applies for that and hopefully we get some great candidates. Uh, chair, I'll save the rest for tomorrow.

All right. Commissioner Helm.

Yeah. Um, it was, uh, it was, I would say nice to be away from the office, but I'm really glad to be back in the office. Um, I had a couple of, uh, very busy weekends with friends and family and granddaughter's first birthday party with all the grandbabies and kids and in-laws and it was a great time. I did attend the Beaver Creek National Night Out last week. That was the rescheduled one because the first one on the National Night Out, they were smoked out. And weirdly, the night before this rescheduled one, that was a Monday when all the smoke came in back into the valley here. And they were worried they were going to have to cancel it again. But it did clear out on that Tuesday. That was a nice event. Got to see some friendly faces out there and wander around. C4 meeting was interesting, getting the update from Grace and having dinner with the folks at the City Happy Valley. That was nice. And in between, I've been meeting with constituents and other electeds, both for campaign reasons and for helping them out at their city levels and stuff. So it's been a busy couple weeks.

Right, I will go ahead and say my comments for tomorrow So this concludes our administrative issues and updates and we'll go ahead and move on you ready Gary. Yes. All right I'll recess as the Board of County Commissioners convene as the Housing Authority of Clackamas County Board of Commissioners Gary Thank You chair and commissioners.

This is your single policy session today. You're you're sitting as the Housing Authority of Clackamas County. Commissioner Leinster is not able to join you, so it's just the four of you. The item is Consideration of Three Options to Address the Housing Authority of Clackamas County's Administrative Offices. Presenting today is Mary Rumbaugh, Director of Health, Housing, and Human Services, and Shannon Callahan, who's the Executive Director of the Clackamas Housing Authority. Welcome and go ahead, please.

Good morning again, Mary Rumba, H3S Director. So good morning, Chair Roberts and Commissioners. So the Housing Authority of Clackamas County Administrative Offices is an important part of how we serve our clients. And I do believe we do have a PowerPoint. We'll see if we're able to pull that up. The Housing Authority serves more than 375 clients in person each month for assistance from staff with things like initial move-ins, updating paperwork, handling moves, reasonable accommodation requests, and other household changes. HACC's current office is undersized, not up to current ADA standards. has a lax confidential meeting space for clients, and has significant deferred maintenance, and you'll see this when we go through our PowerPoint. So identifying a long-term office solution has been an important part of our public housing repositioning work. When the board approved Housing Authority's updated repositioning plan in early 2024, We anticipated that the client serving offices adjacent to Clackamas Heights would be demolished and that HACC would use a portion of its disposition proceeds to lease or purchase office space elsewhere. We've since reviewed a number of options for the Housing Authority client facing offices and after careful consideration are recommending to the board that we continue to serve clients at the current site there at Clackamas Heights for the client facing office, but that we would need to undertake a major renovation of those offices. So Shannon Callahan, Executive Director of Housing Authority is with me and she's going to walk through some of those options that we considered and our recommendation that we're bringing forward today. Good morning Chair and Commissioners.

Could we go to the third slide please? So while finalizing the plans for the new development at Clackamas Heights, as Mary said, we determined that the office space location for the administrative building was not needed for the redevelopment. though several other operational buildings were needed and were demolished. And what you can see here on the image that you have is on the left side, you'll see the three buildings that were demolished in the upper left with the three yellow Xs. And in kind of the center-ish of the old Clackamas Heights, you'll see where the client-facing administrative offices for the housing authority are located and will be located in the new development. On the right side is the new layout of the development, the new street grid, all of the buildings there. the the park area. So whether or not we choose to proceed with a major renovation or we do minor repairs or whether we look at leasing office space that building at this point still exists and we don't have plans for what to do with it after that. So in going through what I briefly just went through was some of the three options that we have looked at for the client-facing HACC admin offices. The first is that we considered leasing and purchasing a new client-facing office somewhere else in Clackamas County. After an exhaustive search, we did not find a building that met all of our needs within a reasonable cost. And in looking at a leasing option, it was not financially sustainable for the Housing Authority to take on an ongoing lease cost where prior we had owned our own building outright. As you know, the Housing Authority's finances are largely dependent on HUD resources and don't allow us to take on a new lease expenditure. We also evaluated making just basic repairs to the existing office But the basic repairs, as Mary said, would not address the building's inadequacies related to ADA compliance or the lack of necessary space. If you look at the three buildings that were demolished, the second building down from the top contained a very large multi-purpose community room where we did hold orientations and trainings. And so some of our client-serving space has already been demolished to make way for the new development. In the next slides, we're going to show, we'll go through rather quickly, but you can get a better sense of what the current HAC client-facing building looks like. and the associated staff trailer. Next slide please. So this is the current exterior of the client facing offices for the Housing Authority and you can see the current trailer in the back where we have our occupancy specialist working out of. We are, thank you, we are working on another modular that would replace that trailer. This is exterior of the building. On the left you can see what is a very unusual rough line which makes it very challenging to repair and prevent frankly water intrusions and also it looks obviously the building has been added to a couple of different times over the years. And then these are the exterior entrances to the current building. Next slide please. Here are some examples of the interior conditions. Primarily these are demonstrating the ADA challenges with the undersized hallways, and an adequate bathroom facility. The bathrooms also, clients have to come through, it's a very, they have to come through the secure areas or the staffing areas to access bathrooms, so it is a challenge for us in the current configuration to maintain the files and secure systems that we must have under HUD compliance while still allowing access to basic restrooms for our clients. Next slide please. And then finally you can see some of the water intrusion issues from years of deferred maintenance on this building. Well as I said making some basic repairs would address some of the immediate problems with a failing HVAC system, a failing rough, a lack of a security system, and the need to replace floor paint, address, frankly, mold and drywatt. Our concern with taking that approach is that a substantial investment would be needed but we would still have the same undersized inefficient building that doesn't meet the needs of our clients. We've had estimates of the repairs on the building and they are over three quarters of a million dollars and that's before we breach the roof and the envelope of the building and we're concerned that we cannot tell the extent of the mold and damage in the building. And so After taking into account all of these considerations, working with our construction teams, we are proposing a major renovation of the housing authority offices. This would allow us to utilize land that we currently own free and clear. It would contribute to our financial sustainability as we would not need to take on any ongoing debt or have ongoing lease payments. And we feel that the connection to our residents and our mission would be enhanced by being on the site of the Clackamas Heights redevelopment, which will be our largest affordable housing community in Clackamas County. Slide eight, please. Next slide. A very busy slide about finances. But as to the finances and budget for our renovation, we have approximately 3.3 million in unassigned capital funds through 2027. This is a fund that is only for public housing and will no longer be a type of funding that the Housing Authority receives once we transition out of public housing. We must obligate and use these funds, obligate these funds by 2027 before we are out of public housing or we will lose this funding. So we do have a unique opportunity that we have identified 75% of the funds that would be perfect for this purpose, but really would go back to other purposes if we do not use them and other purposes outside of Clackamas County. For the remaining approximately 25% of the funding that we believe is necessary for this project, we have two sources that we would be working to ensure the appropriate amount. The first is called public housing transition funds and those are funds that are only available during this time of transition. out of public housing. It's a special HUD funding. It is eligible to support the HAC offices, client-facing offices. And we also have Section 18 disposition proceeds. These are the funds from the sale of the Housing Authority's current assets. This was initially contemplated in 2024 as the source of any new office space for the Housing Authority, but we would only use these funds sparingly and as a last resort because they can be used for affordable housing development. And I would also just note that the amount that we are expecting from the Section 18 disposition proceeds has increased by $18 million over what the board last received an update in early 2024 as we were able to leverage $18.2 million in funding from the state to develop Clackamas Heights. And then the final slide. Actually, I applied I have one more slide, but this this is actually the detailed office renovation budget Which with a 10% contingency we believe is about four point three million and as I mentioned we have the three point three million completely identified and we'd be working with the other two sources and to bring back a solid financial proposal for this board to bless if you were to recommend that we proceed with an office renovation. And then finally, the last slide is really just a proposed construction timeline. And when we would, if you bless moving forward with this recommendation, we would be going out to bid with a competitive construction contract which would firm up the budget and we would bring back that contract and the funding approval to this board. We anticipate in January of 2027. So that concludes the presentation and we're happy to answer any questions you might have.

Go ahead.

So your earlier statement, I can't remember the exact language you used, but as we phase out of public housing, that was the term, right? Correct. So is this Clackamas Heights property and the buildings, right, the homes, is that going to stay in our ownership?

Yes, 100%.

Okay, unlike the hillside, right? Correct. Okay. So we'll have a permanent presence there?

Yes.

Okay. All right. I was just concerned that if it was going to be phased out and then it would be a stranded investment to put another building on this property at 30 years. So I'm okay with that. And I can see that the hallways are pretty tight. And I think anyone in a wheelchair or whatnot or trying to move around through that hallway would be pretty tight. So, you know, in respect to the... to the residents there? How many residents are going to be there at the village?

We have, there are 200 units planned and we estimate there are going to be 500 people living in those 200 units as their families and different households, about 500 people.

It's good to see that project underway. It's been something we've been working on well before I even got here. But you and I had that HOPE grant and a number of other things that ultimately didn't come through. But, yeah, I support it. Thank you.

All right. Commissioner, help me out.

No, I think that covered it, actually.

All right. Well, it looks like we need a motion then.

I move to direct staff to continue to develop architectural plans and bring a final contract back to the board for review and approval. Second.

Commissioner Hall is moved to direct staff to continue to develop architectural plans and bring a final contract back to the board for review and approval. It's been seconded by Commissioner Schroeder. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll?

Absolutely. Commissioner Savas. Aye. Commissioner Helm?

Aye.

Commissioner Schroeder?

Aye.

Chair Roberts? Aye. Motion passes 4-0, Mr. Chair.

All right, thank you all for joining us this morning. Our next meeting will be our business meeting tomorrow.

Chair, real quick before you gavel down, just because we got a blurb in from the city of Malala for all you friends in Malala that are out there, you have a boil water notice due this morning, so hopefully you've been notified. to boil your water due to a turbidity issue.

FYI. Thanks for the information. All right, we're adjourned.