Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right.

Good morning, everybody. I'm going to open up the Samuel County Board of Commissioners formal session at 10 a.m. on June 25th. And I'd ask Bailey to lead us in the next loop. Thank you for that. Let's see, is there a calendar session? Is there any changes that need to be made?

None.

Okay. D is public comment. We have two different public comment periods coming up today. So if you are here for the public hearing towards the end of our meeting, it is the green cards. I'd ask that you fill those out and get one to Bailey or Cale. If you're here just to give a general public comment that's not on an agenda item, fill out the tan card. and get it to bailey or kale if you're online raise your virtual hand and we'll get you queued up right now i have four that are in person and the first one i'm going to call up is john if you could come up name and address and we're going to have a three minute time limit so as soon as you hear kale or bailey's phone ding that'll be the end of the comment period good morning and welcome

Good morning.

Good morning. My name is John. My address is 22070 Northeast Sunnycrest Road in Newburgh.

What was the other?

Yeah, that's it. First of all, I'd like to pray that all voices are taken seriously, no matter what gender, color, religious background, et cetera, all of the above. To say that my time here in Yamhill County, Oregon has been very difficult would be a huge understatement. I wish that people's moral systems could get rid of prejudice and hatred. It's not fun, especially having a disability on top of that, always having to keep my head on a swivel. Not being able to drive without threats. It's not limited to just racial slurs or hate speeches. driving without threats of harm, threats of malicious acts over and over again. Not understanding if certain friendships are genuine, because I've been in this courtroom a handful of times. And there's things on record, and I don't want it to fool anybody, that as much as justice was finally served, it took two years to finally to finally have a fair outcome. And along the way, people had to come with me because they knew that as a black male, I will not be believed. I will not be taken seriously. I can't even door dash at night without feeling scared. I was having to keep my head on a swivel. When I have conversations with people, I never go home without feeling like, uh-oh, what story are they going to tell the police? Yeah, I may have a clean record, but don't let that fool you. I've been targeted in that sense over and over again. I know that we say that slavery ended. However, there's forms of it still. It still happened today. And I was a slave, basically. I mean, if you don't believe me, I have court records where I had to protect myself in ways I shouldn't have to. And as upsetting as this is, it's a matter of seeing it and addressing it and not calling it just a misunderstanding or dismissing it because that's what brings back the memories of of somebody knowing that since there are no consequences, this is not taken serious, I can just do it to them over and over and over again, and nothing will ever happen. And it's crazy that my voice will never be heard. It'll never be enough. And I just wish all I'm asking for is change. We need to change our hearts. We need to change the system. We need to change the way we treat people. We need to change the way we drudge people. We need to change the way we live. We need to change the sense and direction of the culture here in Yankeeville County. That's all I ask, please, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Thank you, John. Amen.

Up next, I am going to call Leisha Adams. Again, name and address, please. Thank you.

My name is Alicia Adams, 1404 East Park Lane in Newburgh. I grew up in in Newburgh, just outside of Newburgh, up on Salem Mountain. Four generations of my family still live up there, and our family has lived in Yamhill County since before 1869. My great great grandmother was a Quaker minister and Herbert Hoover's childhood is So my roots in Newburgh go very deep. I say all that because their ancestry and where a person comes from are very important to some people in this county. So those are my bona fides. I left the county and lived in East Africa for 15 years and built a family there. I have three healthy, compassionate, intelligent, beautiful black children. My oldest when he was 16 years old was accepted to George fox. And we were still living in East Africa at the time and as a family, we decided that it would not be exceptionally safe and comfortable for him as a young black man to come to newberg. We didn't make that decision based on my experiences as a white person living in a majority white community we based that decision on stories we were hearing from friends. news stories we're seeing about things happening in newberg in yamhill county in the newberg schools and most impact fully the online posts on social media of people purporting to represent yamhill county and its values. 18 months ago, some things changed. I moved back to Newburgh with my middle child and enrolled him in Newburgh Dundee schools. At his middle school, the N-word is used frequently and casually without regard to its weight or potential impact on a Black person. He has heard slavery and cotton picking associated with your people. He does not want to report these incidents. The sheer frequency of them would make that impractical, but also he doesn't want to be potentially ostracized as a snitch or as overly sensitive. Very little of this racial insensitivity that he's experiencing in school seems to be malicious. Almost all of it seems to be based on ignorance and naivety about the impact of and the challenges of being a minority in American society. And rather than push him to be a vocal advocate or a change maker at 14 years old, I have to be content to hope that in some small way his presence in this community will make a positive change and that he will not be irreparably harmed along the way. I watch the Board of Commissioners every week. Last week, Commissioner Starrett expressed disbelief that there is racism prevalent in Newburgh and Newburgh schools, and I wish that were true. But that confidently assured naivety is reproduced as ignorance and insensitivity in too many of our children who are assured that racism isn't a problem. So they don't have to recognize how their words and actions have an impact on minorities, and they have no tools for recognizing or dealing with racism when they encounter it. A few weeks ago, another woman sat here and shared her personal story of loss and asked Commissioner Starrett to more carefully consider the words she speaks from the dais. And I would like to echo that call. Please consider how your words from a position of authority are heard and valued against the lived experience of minorities in Yamhill County who you represent, including my children. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next, I'm going to call Elaine Koskela. And I'll ask the same for your name and address, please.

Hi, my name is Elaine Koskela. I live on Chehalem Drive right outside of Newburgh in Yamhill County. My husband and I raised our three daughters here in Newburgh's public schools. I personally have worked in schools for about 17 years and still have. I deal mostly, do a lot of things, but mostly with student behavior and attendance. I just learned some things. My grandparents were early settlers of Newburgh and we're probably related. We're probably related. I'll just say that. I'm here today because of an exchange between Bubba and Mary Starrett in a Board of Commissioners meeting. Watching it, it looks like Bubba was pointing out the federal Juneteenth holiday, which is probably worth mentioning what that is that celebrates the end of slavery. And specifically, the date is from the freedom of Black Texans from white slave owners about two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. And I think it was federal troops that went to free them. Bubba pointed out that racism still exists here. And what happened with both of you that I could tell is racism immediately got thrown in an all or nothing category with both of you going to extremes. Honestly, I get the defensiveness if one thinks they are being called racist. And I support a philosophy that primarily focuses on calling out the good in people and more on that later. but come on we're adults we can do nuance um there is real danger in ignoring racism or really ignoring anything that has negative consequences to ignore to deny allows it to continue and thrive um so pointing out the all or nothing thinking mary you said you see i just i think when we make those statements we're painting a picture of a community that i think is completely erroneous you say you hear it you see it i'm just trying to see whether or not it's verifiable or whether you're just painting a picture of newberg as a racist community um that's that's that all or nothing. There's a couple of things in there completely erroneous. And then also like claiming that painting a picture of Newburgh is a racist community. I wouldn't say that. I also wouldn't say that completely erroneous. That sounds to me like you're saying it doesn't exist at all. And I would like to point out that that is very hurtful to the black, brown, Asian people who have been told to go back to where you've come from, or the Black students that have been sold in an online auction by their classmates, or the Black people who have been told not to be hurt or concerned by the Confederate flag. It's just a family symbol. No, you shouldn't feel uncomfortable because you are Black and the Civil War was fought over the right to own Black people. don't you know it was fought over states rights that's actually like telling people how to feel is not healthy and one of my triggers I wanted to come to you today to encourage you all with nuanced stories, stories of people who have not experienced racism. Seriously, good job. And to challenge you also with some local stories of racism that is still happening and talk about how we can best deal with those instances and continue the conversation that Bubba started. I have permission to share from a Yamhill County farmer and Native American Randy Woodley, who wrote, he said, just share my whole piece. He wrote some great stuff.

I'm going to have to ask you to summarize it very quickly, please.

Okay. I'm sorry. I was told that there isn't a time limit, but that timer actually is a time limit.

It is. It's a three-minute time limit.

Okay. I will summarize. I wanted to come and encourage you all to have a conversation and to listen to people's stories and then i came across archived blog posts written by you mary and honestly i was speechless speechless um and i think that honestly i have questions for you so i don't have time to ask you questions but happy to meet with you anytime okay Great I think that one thing I realized is that one. smearing people seems to be an excuse to not listen to their message and to. yeah that you and I have probably have very different. definitions of racism and I think that's maybe where we all can start a conversation.

And remember, you can always submit if you have more comments, you can submit.

Yeah, I can go ahead and do that. I can submit it because I did write it out.

I'll look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. To meet if you'd like to. Thank you.

I'll send in, if I send in my comment, can you then reply to me? Will you see it? Yeah, sure can. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Up next, I have Tracy Moon. Tracy Moon, Good morning name and address, please.

Tracy Moon, My name is Tracy moon and I live on more street in newberg and I have for 12 years. I'd like to first thank Commissioner King for recently approaching the subject of racism in Yamhill County. It isn't an easy subject to bring up because some people can't handle the truth. I'm here today to speak about an issue that shapes the very fabric of our safety, our community health and our future. The documented existence of discrimination right here in Yamhill County. For years, we have watched a painful pattern emerge across our county. We have seen federal lawsuits, substantial evidence findings from the Bureau of Labor and Industries, and unanimous jury verdicts convicting local government and school entities of intentional discrimination based on race, sex, and gender identity. We have witnessed public employees targeted for who they are, candidates of color having their signs systematically vandalized, and our youth subjected to vile, coordinated harassment. These are not isolated misunderstandings. They are documented public records. When discrimination is allowed to fester, the effects on a community are devastating. It creates an environment of pervasive fear and hypervigilance for our marginalized neighbors who are forced to wonder if their county leadership actually values their safety. It drives away talented workers, poisons our workplaces, divides our neighborhoods, and inflicts deep psychological trauma on our children. A community fractured by hostility cannot thrive economically, socially, or morally. Healing this division requires us to have open, honest, and often uncomfortable conversations. We cannot fix what we refuse to face. True progress starts when leadership provides a transparent space to listen to targeted residents, validate their experiences, and track bias incidents with absolute seriousness. Yet instead of leading these necessary conversations, certain members of this very board have chosen to deny that these behaviors even exist here. To look at a mountain of legal evidence, civil rights verdicts, and direct testimony from your own constituents and claim that Yamhill County does not have a discrimination problem is a profound betrayal of your oath of office. Denial is not neutrality. It is a choice to shield bigotry and silence the victims. It signals to bad actors that their behavior will be tolerated and it signals to vulnerable residents that their county government will not protect them. Your job as commissioners is not to protect the sanitized, comfortable image of this county. Your job is to serve and protect every single person who lives, works, and pays taxes here. We're demanding that you do better. Stop the denials. Stop treating human rights as a partisan talking point. Acknowledge the documented reality of discrimination in Yamhill County. Actively participate in open dialogue with the community and commit to measurable structural accountability. Our neighbors deserve better. Our children deserve better. And this county deserves leadership that has the courage to stand up for everyone. Thank you. Thank you.

With that, we'll move to online. And we have two commenters. Please promote the first. Gabriel, can you hear us?

I can hear you. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can. Name and address, please. And you have three minutes.

Great. Thank you. My name is Dr. Gabriel Kleinman. I live on Northeast Wolsongville Road in Newburgh, where I have for about three years now. I'm a physician anesthesiologist at OHSU, where I run all of our adult operating rooms. I also sit on the Executive Council of the Faculty Senate, where I thoughtfully represent the voice of all of our faculty, as well as our 20,000 employees. I come before you today because I believe we must hold our leaders accountable for words that they have put into public record that do not just reflect a past opinion, but a fundamental disregard for the progress of our nation. When we look at the history of this country's struggle for equality, we often see those who stood on the right side of history and those who sought to tear it down. It is deeply concerning to me that the official sitting before us once described recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. as an annual con job and the droning of the media. How can we possibly trust a representative to advocate for all constituents when they once asked, is this the best black man America has to offer up, attempting to diminish the dignity of an entire community? Using bigotry as a weapon of convenience, this official sought to delegitimize the entire civil rights movement by attacking the identity of its organizers, specifically calling out Bayard Rustin, a hero of this movement, labeling him in a tone dripping with her prejudice as a well-known homosexual and a communist. As a out and proud gay man and moderate Democrat, I find this particularly sickening. It reminds me of a time when this identity that I am so proud of was used as a slur to discredit our contributions to justice and civil rights. This official was not just attacking a man. They were attacking the very idea that a gay person has a seat at any table of progress. This rhetoric goes far beyond simple politics. It is a calculated effort to frame the fight for equality as racial agitation and to suggest that those who fought for their humanity are still slaves with just a different master in their own words. When we hold office, commissioners, we are expected to uphold the dignity of every person we represent. We cannot do this if we continue to embrace or remain silent about voices that use our identities as smears and our history as a target. I am calling on Commissioner Starrett to answer for these words. Do you still believe, Commissioner, that honoring the work of Dr. King is a con job? Do you still believe that being a homosexual is a disqualifier for being a leader of integrity? Shame on you. We deserve better. We deserve leaders who recognize that their voices carry weight and you represent all of us, not just white, straight, conservative, fringe politicians.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Can you promote the next commenter online, please? Jessie, can you hear us?

Yes, sir.

Go ahead and name and address. And you have three minutes. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Jesse Ferris Cunningham. I live on Springbrook and Newburgh. Thank you for the opportunity to speak and for the parts each of you play and hold in our community. I watched the fuller exchange from the June 18th meeting. I did not hear Commissioner King say that every person in Newburgh or Yamhill County is racist. He said racism exists here. He gave examples when asked, and he clarified that he was not making a blanket statement about the whole community after that concern was raised. Those are different statements. Saying racism exists here is not the same thing as saying everyone here is racist. When someone responds to racism exists here as though it means everyone here is a racist, the conversation shifts away from the harm being named and towards the discomfort of the people hearing it. That matters because Black and Brown community members should not have to keep reproving harm for white comfort. I'm here as a disabled white community member because I recognize this pattern from other systems too. When harm is denied, minimized, or reframed, people stop reporting. They stop asking. They stop trusting that the system wants to hear them. Denial does not make a community safer. We can love a community and still tell the truth about what's hurting the people inside of it. My ask is simple. Please listen before defending. Please do not protect the comfort or reputation of the community more quickly than you protect the people being harmed inside of it. Please do not respond to the naming of racism as if it were an attack on every person in the county. And please do not make harmed people bleed on command just to be believed. As a quick reminder, unintention of harm does not negate harm that's actually felt by others. Thank you.

Thank you, Jessie. Thank you. Okay, with that, we're going to move on.

I just would like to make a comment. I want to thank everybody for taking the time to come and for those who are online a couple of things I wanted to point out. Perhaps it's been lost in the fact that this prior board, including commissioner. lindsay burschauer actually included juneteenth and voted to have it as one of the holidays paid holidays for yamhill county employees this was a board decision because we understood the import of that particular recognition so i would like to point that out i would like to also point out commissioner king when you mentioned a story about what happened at the aquatic center and about what we said to the two girls you didn't tell the whole story and i would like to tell the whole story now the story is is that This woman, whose name is Spirit, and she's aptly named because she has a spirit that does not seem to exist too much in the vitriol. She has a spirit of Jesus Christ, and this is what she said online to what had happened to her. She said it was very hurtful because they screamed out, someone in a car randomly yelled at us, stupid N-word. This is not the first time and probably won't be the last. And honestly, it makes it very hard to live here. I'm putting it out there. Next came an email, a response to that that said, and I would like to just read this to you. i wanted to reach out because i was the one who said those words to you by the aquatic center last week this was the young man who drove by i'm not sure why i even said that in the first place other than me trying to be edgy in front of my friend it was a tasteless joke and i regretted it immediately i wish i could take it back i'm incredibly sorry that my words and actions offended you that way i'm also a christian and i truly let you know and i let you and god down in that way i understand completely if you don't want to accept my apology but i want you to know i'm very sorry to which spirit replied just seeing this thank you for apologizing i can't lie bro it really hurt my sisters and i jesus loves you and i hope you know that even if you let him down in the moment there's still this undying grace for you and god bless you She met this young man for coffee and they had a conversation. But if you look at the online comments, there were those who said this is a wonderful story of redemption. Someone did a stupid, cruel, thoughtless, unkind, racist exhibit to to a young person in this community. She did not respond with hatred. She met excuse me. She responded by saying, I accept your apology, and as a Christian, I want to extend that same grace to you. But the online comments would not allow that redemption to go. They kept saying, he doesn't mean it. Why did you accept the apology? This isn't genuine. While others said, but Spirit herself said, God is breaking the cycle. so while we continue to gin up all of the outrages which truly do exist there are outrages and offenses and everybody up here can point to things that were said or done about them regardless of the color of their skin who they married and what their lives are like but every single one of us has had to deal with that this is not to discount racism racism exists but when you exploit people just disability unrelated when you exploit people to gin up discontent and and division in a community and i want to know what are you doing to maybe point out what we have going on in this county because no matter how hard we try to sit up here and talk about all of the wonderful things that are being done by our clinicians and our departments it just seems to be glossed over We have the Mental Health Disabilities Advisory Council where we're now looking for a ton of people to sit on that as consumers and lived experience. Those go unfilled. We have people here, we have clinicians that are on the spot when there's any kind of a situation or anything like this, they reach out and they will then move in to addressing those issues. But we don't want to hear about that. We want to gin up. the uh we want to gin up virtue signaling and we want to gin up sort of this this race baiting thing when that does nothing to solve any problems so i just want to go on record and say this is not productive and i don't think there's anybody up here who's a racist all right all right that let's be respectful to everybody please thank you

Commissioner, I would respond with that when you asked me for an example, I didn't know the rest of the story of Spirit. I knew that Spirit. I know Spirit personally. And when I reached out to her to see if I could use her name in a public area and asked her if she would like to come and give her the rest of her experience, she told me. rest of that story and i i think that this is where we agree i think that um that we do have to bring it up that it does exist and we do have to talk about it and so otherwise it gets swept under the rug and i believe that the only way to cast out darkness is through the light and bringing things to example so i don't um i don't disagree with what you said at all i i i don't know that ginning up or or um other ways that you put it is necessarily true. I think bring up completely erroneous examples or story. You know, it's not the first time you put words in my mouth. And, and I I just I'm tired of that. And so I'll just keep calling it out.

Okay, well, thank you.

We're going to move on. And our next one is F, which is work session. There is none. G is our consent agenda. We have some minutes to approve. I would move approval. Is there any further discussion?

None.

None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. H is old business. There is none. I is other business. I1's consideration of approval of an agreement between Yamhill County Health and Human Services and the McMinnville School District in the not to exceed amount of $83,351.79 for the 2026-2027 school year.

Chair, before I move approval, I want to say there are a number of different agreements in a variety of different school districts. And one of the things that we do when we look at the scope of work for these clinics is that we evaluate them. So I asked Director Manfred for some data on what we're finding in terms of what's coming out. in terms of the school-based health clinics and the services with youth and family. So the numbers that I got were basically the primary diagnoses were, these are our kids. generalized anxiety disorder major depressive disorder adjustment disorder cannabis use disorder post-traumatic stress disorder and the age groups most affected are 6 to 18 and there are some more in the 19 plus so they're about 1500 kids who are 1500 uh services and about 208 kids so in all of these keep those numbers in mind and these diagnoses in in mind in our young people So I would move approval on number one.

Okay. Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. I choose consideration of approval of an agreement between Yamhill County Health and Human Services and the Newberg School District in the not to exceed amount of $83,351.79 for the 2026-2027 school year.

I move approval.

Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. None. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Item I-3 is consideration of approval and agreement between Yamil County Health and Human Services and the Sheridan School District in the not to exceed amount of $139,414.50 for the 2026-2027 school year.

Move approval.

Motion's been made. Any further discussion?

None. None.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Item I, force consideration of approval of amendment number six to agreement between Yamaha County and the Delta Duff and delta duff for psychiatric behavioral health services board order 25-231 increasing rate of pay to a hundred dollars and 82 cents per hour effective july 9th 2026. move approval motion's been made any further discussion none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye motion passes unanimously thank you Item I-5 is consideration of approval of Amendment Number 8 to agreement between Yamil County and Donald Henschel for Psychiatric Behavioral Health Services, Board Order 25-208, increasing the rate of pay to $107.33 per hour, effective July 9, 2026. Move approval. motion has been made any further discussion none none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye motion passes unanimously thank you Item I-6 is consideration of approval of amendment number 4 to agreement between Yamham County and Andrew Nye James for psychiatric behavioral health services board order 25-210 increasing rate of pay to $93.58 per hour effective July 9, 2026.

Move approval.

Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Item I-7 is consideration of approval to amendment number 4 to agreement between Yamil County and Erica Ranquillo for psychiatric behavioral health services, board order 25-207, increasing the rate of pay to $93.58 per hour effective July 9th, 2026. Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. I-8 is consideration of approval of Amendment Number 14 to agreement between Yamhill County and Janelle Werner for Psychiatric Behavioral Health Services, Board Order 25-365, increasing the rate of pay to $107.33 per hour, effective July 9, 2026.

Move approval.

Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Item I-9 is consideration of approval of Amendment No. 2 to an agreement between Yamil County and Amy Thorkelson for Administrative Services Board Order 25-170, increasing rate of pay to $40.31 per hour, effective July 9, 2026.

I move approval.

Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Item I-10 is consideration to authorize and approve subset intergovernmental agreement number 7300-00058607 between Yamil County and the Oregon Department of Transportation allowing ODOT to negotiate right-of-way services on behalf of Yamil County effective upon full execution through October 31st, 2029. I would move approval. Is there any further discussion?

None.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Item I-11 is consideration of approval of a board order in the matter of a blanket refund order authorizing the tax collector to issue lawful refunds to taxpayers through June 30, 2027. I would move approval. Is there any further discussion? None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. That brings us to Jay, which is a public hearing.

Excuse me. Yes. Do we have to, uh, we have the sheriff's car on the agenda. Is that something we need to, is that next week? Oh, I thought it was today. I was all ready to talk about that 1954 Bel Air. That was a very good year. Sorry about that.

All right. With that, we're going to open up the public hearing at 10 40. Ken, do you want to kick us off or give us some background on this?

Uh, yes, um, this application is unique in that it's a request, uh, to, uh, have a land use approval issued in 1976 used for a single family dwelling. And I wrote a letter dated, uh, May 8th, 2026 in response to the building permit application. And in an abundance of caution, the, the applicant's attorney understandably, uh, appealed my letter. However, I really didn't issue any land use decisions, so there's really no decision to uphold or overturn. The letter of May 8th was simply to inform the applicant of the need for the public notice and to provide options on ways that could be accomplished. Uh, when I wrote the letter, my concern was actually twofold. My first concern was that there was a public notice that was required to be sent, and second, that the applicant be prepared for any appeal. And in this area there's been many appeals over the years. But my two concerns have been addressed. First, the applicant hired an attorney, so I believe she's prepared for any appeal. Second, I've sent out a public notice to neighboring property owners describing the issue related to this property, and so far I've not received any opposition. My suggestion would be to treat this Uh, you know, go through this process and at the end of a testimony, just ask if anyone is in opposition to this. And then I would ask the board to send this application back to my office and I'll, I'll sign off on it as being substantial construction.

Okay. Um, so I I'll go through the order and then we'll get to the comments here. Um, so is there any extensions by the member, by any members of the board? Nope. I have none. Okay. As a Is there any objections to the jurisdiction of this board to hear the matter before it.

Hearing none. Seeing none.

Does any board member need to announce and state on the record any substance of ex parte contact or any site visits.

None.

None.

brings us to the reading of the statement yes Oregon law requires that persons who attend a land use hearing be advised of certain rights and duties before the hearing begins first with regard to the standards for approval state law or s 197.797 requires that we list the applicable substantive criteria that must be met in order for the county to approve an application the standards will be listed by the county planner in a moment as part of the staff report Testimony arguments and evidence must be directed toward the standards for approval. 2nd, the raise it or wave it rule under Oregon law. Any issue that might be raised in an appeal of the county's decision in this matter must be raised before the record of this hearing is closed. Failure to raise an issue accompanied by statements or evidence sufficient to afford the decision makers and parties and opportunity to respond to the issue precludes an appeal to the board based on that issue. 3rd, and this is directed to the applicant under 1 97.796 failure of the applicant to raise constitutional or other issues related to proposed conditions of approval again, with sufficient specificity to allow the county to respond to the issue precludes any action for damages in circuit court. finally i will also note that under oregon law and because this is the initial evidentiary hearing on this matter any participant that is anyone who submits oral or written testimony during this hearing may before the record is closed request an opportunity to present additional evidence arguments or testimony regarding the application the request must be made prior to the time the chair announces that the hearing is closed and with that that brings us to staff reporter um Yes, there was a land use approval for a single-family dwelling issued on this 4.2-acre property on January 26, 1976, through what was called a lot size variance at that time. February 2, 1995, a letter from the Planning Department stating the land use approval issued by Commissioner Ted Loposinski was still valid. Then there was a septic permit issued July 30th of 1998. And then a septic inspection on September 10th, 2014, just to make sure that the septic was still functioning. Afterwards, a letter was sent stating that the development meets the Yamhill County substantial construction policy and the building rights are vested. That ends this portion of the staff report. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, with that, it brings us to the applicant's case. Is there any testimony in opposition to this? I'm not seeing it. So I have just testimony in support of this. i'm still going to afford the opportunity for you guys to speak if you want but just know i guess it's all in support of the application so i don't know if you want to still come up and maybe give a quick few minutes or have one person or with that i'll call up the first one i have michelle crawford but you guys can pick amongst yourselves

All of my family members here and my sisters on the phone. Okay, perfect. And she might speak on behalf of the family members.

Okay. We'll have the sister go ahead and raise your hand and then we'll know when Kim's phone go ahead. And well, actually we'll just prompt you, Kim, when we get to you. So go ahead and name an address.

Michelle Crawford. I reside currently in North Carolina, but I'm here because I want to return home to the community I was raised in. And back to my grandparents farm, and you can see my family members are all here and our neighbor grew up with us in support of that. So if you haven't looked through we provided my family members provided letters of support there in the records, so I don't know if you've had the chance to look through them, but it's not I will give you. the background. My grandparents purchased the 559-acre Bremen Orchards property in 1958. My mother helped harvest crops on the property during her summer breaks while she was attending Linfield College. She's a graduate of Linfield. In 1965, my mother purchased a five-acre parcel on that farm so that she could build a home for her family, allowing her to remain close to her relatives who are here and the surrounding community that she'd become very familiar with and loved. This is a property where I was raised, surrounded by extended family, and given the opportunity to continue a connection to the land that began with my grandparents. Raising sheep, participating in 4-H, and helping our neighbors herd their stray cattle back into their pastures on a regular basis allow me to learn firsthand the values of rural farming life. My parents purchased the four-acre lot adjacent to their home in 1970. In 1976, they came to the county board and got a variance to construct a residence on the land. Their intention was always to preserve the opportunity for one of their children to build a home nearby maintaining those close family ties, allowing future generations to experience the same proximity my mother shared with her parents and her brother. And he's actually here. He still lives on the property up on the hill. My parents' plans and decisions regarding this lot reflected their expectation that I would someday return home, which I'm trying to do, build my house on the lot, and make this my home for the rest of my life.

sorry when my mother passed away in 2014 still hard to talk about it her state was distributed and i got that lot just might have to take over for me so i'm here today to fulfill that dream building my forever home on a family property and able to be backed by my family Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. So the next one I have is Cindy Robertson.

Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for listening to us. My name is Cindy Robertson, and I've lived in Yamhill County most of my life. And when my family moved here almost 60 years ago, we bought the old homestead and 13 acres from Howard and Hazel Timmons, Michelle's grandparents. We were directly across from the Crawfords, and it turned out that Michelle and I were about the same age. My younger sister and her younger sister, Kim, were the same age, and we've become lifelong friends. And we always knew that that property was theirs when their parents passed. Her grandparents had a vision that they would have their family around them all continuing this tradition of farming and stewardship of their property. michelle has always believed rightfully so with many many assurances that she would be able to build on that property when she was ready to come home and retire um i'm here to just say i'd like to welcome her back and continue our friendship for the rest of our lives thank you for that can you give us your address real quick please oh yeah i wrote it down sorry 513 southeast grant street sheridan thank you thank you uh up next i have michael timmons

Good morning.

Good morning.

Name and address please.

Michael Timmons, 17, 500 Northeast Timmons lane, Dayton. I've been lucky enough to live on the family farm pretty much my whole life since 71. And, uh, I've been involved with this property that's in question for at least 40 years, taking care of it. And during that time, it's been expected that it would be built on for Michelle or her sister, one of the two. And I'm just here to testify to that. I'm also planning to be the contractor for the house. And we put a lot of time and money into getting the plans ready and working out all the details for the property. So just hoping that it all works out. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you.

So I think I missed one that filled out a green sheet. Okay, come on up. Oh.

good morning my name is charles w woodward iv my address is 44 west 35th avenue and and eugene 97405 um we put in as mr friday mentioned we put in this in a month some caution the letter um upon its face appeared to me to be a little ambiguous as to whether it was a decision or not um and so we again out of abundance of caution uh put forward uh the appeal statement that i believe uh I'll agree with Mr. Friday as far as the recommendation on moving forward. I think that's an excellent way of handling it. And I don't really want to take up any more of your time. So if you have any questions for me, I'm certainly available at any time to answer them if you have them. Appreciate it, Earl. Thank you.

Do we want to promote Pam to see if she has a comment that she would like to? What's your name? Craig, come on up real quick, Craig. Good morning. Name and address real quick, please.

Yeah, I'm Craig Timmons, and my dad was the one who bought the farm back in 1958. And my life has been spent mostly on that farm. And I am so grateful that he was willing to give me 11 acres when he felt like I had worked for him long enough to earn it. And I was able to give some of that property to my son so he could have a home near me. But our father was a very generous man, and he would really be wishing that the county would say, yes, you can go ahead and build this home. I see no reason for anybody to object to that myself, but I just want you to know that as part of the family, I'm sure in favor of it. Hope it goes well.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, go ahead and promote Pam. Kim, sorry about that. Kim, can you hear us?

Sorry, yes. I just wanted to, one, thank you guys for your service, and I appreciate how cautious you guys are in making these decisions on building permits. But I am strongly in support of my sister building. I feel like we have all the paperwork over the years to support her application to build, and just want to be on the record that I'm fully in support of her application. Thank you.

Thank you, Kim. Before you go, can you give us your name and address just real quick, please?

Oh, sorry. Kim Spiegel, and we have a house on Brayman Orchards Road in Dayton, Oregon.

Perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm not seeing any other testimony in support. We're going to go to the appellant's case, which I'm not seeing any unless there's somebody online that wants to raise their hand. Then we're going to go to other testimony in opposition, not seeing any. 11 is our public agency report.

There were no additional public agency reports.

And would the applicant like a rebuttal? No. uh staff recommendations uh send it back to our office and we will sign off as a substantial construction okay well with that there's nothing further we're going to close this public hearing at 10 56 a.m and we will deliberate this hard case to figure out what we're going to do um i would just make a motion that we uh go with staff recommendations Is there any further discussion? No. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. And thank you all for coming. That was a hard one.

Thank you. What should we do?

With that, we're going to go with announcements. And we'll kick it off with Commissioner King.

Thank you. I John Potter, I had a chance to some neighbors on on high heaven reached out to me. John Potter, This couple weeks ago and was able to sit down and go to their house and sit down with them and hear concerns over John Potter, The bike park that's happening up there and just general concerns about, you know, previous board has heard with the gate closures and so on and PB, Harmon Zuckerman, You know, it was a good conversation. And I think it just highlights the importance of meeting, you know, neighbors of projects as we've seen in this community being heard. And so I just like to highlight that that's willing to have those conversations whenever possible. PB, Harmon Zuckerman, And and I'm, you know, they had a list of things of answers and I'm working down that list share if you're on you're on the list to PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Um, PB, Harmon Zuckerman, I got with Russell market the Juliet's house for a little while and just had a chance to talk about some future goals and Family Justice Center and so on and just how we can be supportive of those things and just to just now kicking off some kicking the cannon ideas around PB, Harmon Zuckerman, There was a a bit of federal delegation that came from blm the director and some of his staff and then along with oregon and our district and we met at hampton lumber for a tour and uh just talked about owen sea lands and the commissioner from Douglas County and the president of ONC came as well and just the importance of keeping those forests healthy and logged and and working the way that they were designed to and yeah so it was really interesting to hear that from the federal side and see their interest in in what's happening in Oregon and I very much appreciate them coming to talk about those things um PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Sure, like you guys get invites to things outside county and I've been PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Portland Chamber had reached out to me several times for a few events and was able to attend this one was largely around tourism. And I think what that PB, Harmon Zuckerman, John in the back would would would agree with me here that, you know, we have a problem with Portland having a negative connotation when it comes to travel and we end up in Jim Hill County, Willamette Valley get tied into that. And so I was able to speak with several people in the tourism industry and a lot of other electeds as well. Just about that. The Coach Shepherd of Oregon State football was one of the speakers. And he challenged the room of, what do we want Oregon to be? And so I think it was good for them to hear. He's a pretty cool guy to hear speak. And then I think just to address the public comments as well, I met with at least nine people and had over 45 people reach out to me this week with concerns and stories. And what it highlighted to me was really that people have experienced racism in every part of our community. And again, this is not a blanket statement. that all of one community or another is bad. But it does highlight from our faith-based community to university, to schools, to business, to walking down the street. And I agree with you, Commissioner Starrett, that really the I'm impressed with Spirit's response to that. And I hope that that really is a response that can continue to happen because I think love is the only way to really address it. And so I'm impressed with how that happens as an example. John, I met John for the first time yesterday who spoke. Hearing his stories and his experiences is really hard. And so I just want to say that I hear you. And I'm happy to have the conversation with anybody at any time. And happy late Father's Day.

Commissioner Serrett?

Thank you, Chair. The Housing Authority's board meeting approved their budget. And just a couple of updates on some of the wait lists. There are 268 families on the housing rehab wait list, and that is for rehabilitation to their homes. We had updates on the McMinnville CDBG, the Oregon Healthy Homes. And there's also a grant that provides for local weatherization upgrades. There are three more families. that are going to be able to be helped we talked about the veterans safety grant just an update on that church street property which used to be a county foreclosed property and it's been it's been handed over to the housing authority the interior demolition is complete and the bottom line is is that the object of the game is for them to get this back on the tax rolls and make it affordable housing for our another family Also, I don't know if folks are familiar with the program that Housing Authority has. It's the family self-sufficiency where folks are basically taught about financing and able to save in escrow for home ownership in the future. And there was a graduate and she was able to increase her income on the program by 10 grand and is saving escrow funds for home ownership. and a couple other really good programs that folks don't don't know are part of the housing authority but i appreciate what they do there and some other items which is a housing authority continues to work with a real estate services company for the redevelopment of the northwest rubber property and they're in discussions to partner with an organization for 72 unit affordable housing development in downtown mcminnville and this is uh sort of to replace the united methodist church demolition so lots going on at the housing authority they always have stuff in the hopper northwest senior and disability services again their budget was approved 92 of it comes from medicaid they've got good stable funding and i do want to point out cprd is the congregate male meal supplier and the host for the senior program northwest seniors provides the meals and shahelan parks and recreation actually services that so they're going to be increasing by including a another part-time person i wanted to give an update on the waste management situation folks concerned about waiting in line to at the uh the recycle center so i did hear from dave huber and he wanted to uh he's a public sector services manager he wanted to point out that yes there are concerns about the wait list but here's here's what their their plan is for the future that the land use application would add additional entrance lanes to their facility on winooski And they're also the entire program is is going to be addressed because they're seeing vehicles coming into the facility from outside the area. And the object of the game is a short term plan to alleviate the waste top wait times adding more throughput. And likely behind the existing transfer station so with the changes, for instance at woodburn. And the influx of volumes from other facilities they're seeing a lot of it coming from outside yam hill county. So they're working on it there, they understand they have limited recycling in their transfer station but they're working on it, and this is just sort of phase one of that so so I.

Thank you for that. I'm going to touch on two things real quick before I get to you. Carlton Parade's coming up this Saturday at 10am and then we had a fair board meeting trying to get things squared away for the upcoming fair. It's going to be here real quick, July 29 to August. Second, and with that, we have a brand new volunteers page that's up and going. So you can go to our website, click on the Fair and Rodeo tab, and then scroll towards the bottom. It'll say volunteers, and you click on that tab, and it'll take you to the link to sign up to be a volunteer. It is different from last year, so make sure you go through that process. You can also go on the Facebook page to get information on the Fair and Rodeo Facebook page. With that, we're going to go to Ken and kind of get a rough rundown on where we're going to be at with going virtual, because our move is coming up real quick.

Thank you, Chair. Yeah, just made some notes here to make sure I can track this. So work is progressing on the government services building and basically coming to a close as far as the improvements that are being made. Part of this move is going to be moving equipment, AV equipment from this space to the new hearing room. So as a result, we're going to need to do some formals virtually. And we talked about this before. So as far as what I'm looking at at the calendar for July, July 9th will be our last in-person formal session in this room. which is kind of a milestone because it's, you know, 50 plus years of holding formal sessions in the courthouses, we're moving to a new location. So July 16th, July 23rd, and July 30th are what we have identified that for formal sessions being held 100% virtually. So we'll be on Zoom and folks will be able to attend and participate in the process via Zoom. We did talk before, and this might be a discussion for the board to have about one of those sessions, maybe foregoing having a formal session. Historically, we've had at least one formal session where we had kind of a summer break. And I know, Chair, you mentioned July 23rd.

23rd works best for me if we're going to take one of them off. I would think it'd be best if we did it during

move and during virtual so i guess i would recommend that day okay so we'll make sure we notice that that there will be no formal session on july 23rd so that means july 16th and july 30th will be virtual meetings and and no session on the 23rd and then we're looking at august 6th will be our first formal session in the new hearing room at government services building and we are in the works of we'd like to do a ribbon cutting you know for the new location for that event so staff and i will be working on preparing for that and getting invitations out and noticing that the we'll be meeting at the new location i know i got some big scissors in the back here if you yeah excellent Um, so August 6 will be the 1st formal session at the new location. Uh, adding to that, there will be some, um. And it makes sense to forego a formal session on the 23rd, because we do have, we've identified that on July 20th that week. Is when, um, everyone who's in the Fenton house right now, which is the commissioner's county council staff and the administrative staff will be moving to the new location. During that week. So new offices will be on the third floor of the government services building. And these are some of the final groups in occupying that building. So kudos to Haworth Construction and all the contractors that we have involved making the improvements on the building. um we're just a little past schedule but uh overall work is proceeding and looking forward to showcasing the new location once we move yeah all right cool it's gonna be kind of sad no kinda is there anything else for the good of the order hearing none we're going to close it out at 11 09 a.m thank you everybody for coming and sticking