Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Well, good morning, everyone. I will now call to order the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners Business Meeting for August 13th, 2026. County Administrator Gary Smith, will you please call the roll for us today?

Chair Roberts. Here, thank you. Would you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? Yes. Again, thank you everyone for joining us. And now before we move on for public communication, I'm going to ask Gary for some updates on our fire matter, Gary.

All right. Well, that was a fantastic update. I'm sure we have a lot of questions. Commissioner Salvas.

The region's water supply, both from Timothy Lake down the Clackamas into our area, that feeds a lot of Clackamas County, and also the Bull Run Reservoir up at the top of the mountain. I know that's not in any media jeopardy, but obviously, you know, the one fire is right along the Clackamas River corridor, so that's really bothersome. So I'm hoping that... You know, the powers that be in the hierarchy of the people in charge of these emergencies are mindful of that and they're directing assets that way because I'm just pretty concerned. Not only that, but also the infrastructure, especially o

Yeah, this is, um, I mean, some good news. I appreciate that. But, um, I just, just a little perspective. You told us that grasshopper fire alone was about 85,000 square or the 85,000 acres. Um, I was just, I mean, it looks like a giant chunk of the backside of Mount hood. That is the equivalent to the size of the entire city of Portland. Um, I don't know, I know this is an update based on what's happening in Clackamas, but I can't help but feel a lot of grief. We're talking about, we're over two million acres, and this is just 85,000 the size of the city of Portland. This is catastrophic, esp

Yeah, just a couple questions, one of which is, I also see here, I know this isn't in our county, but it's a red flag warning for scattered thunderstorms over in more eastern Oregon, and can you enlighten us anything more about that?

Okay. And then the only other question I had is maybe you can talk about like what it takes to get state or federal reimbursement at some point in time and just to understand that more.

Our employees, Clackamas County, are going there, and it's a declaration, then we have the ability to get reimbursement for those financial commitment, I guess, from the county. Is that correct?

And the other positive aspect of that, which I believe wholeheartedly, is you also have that employee come back with a lot more experience in managing fires, which is a benefit if, unfortunately, it hits our county. So I wholeheartedly support that. So thank you for doing that. Commissioner West has another comment. Just a quick question.

I... conversations throughout the state and I'm wondering what do we know the causation of the fires that are approaching our county where all of these weather related events or are some of these non weather related do we know that?

All right. If there's no other questions, we don't need any board action. Just want to thank you again and your wonderful staff for giving us an update the other day. And we appreciate it. We'll probably be looking forward to seeing you again soon. So thank you. Thank you. Okay, next up is public communication, and testimony is limited to three minutes per person. I just ask your comments be respectful and courteous. As a reminder, you can email submissions for public communication at bcc at clackamas.us, and they'll be accepted as part of the public record. I will start out with in-person tes

Yes. Thank you Chair Lori if you can maybe share with the clerk Maybe the phone number you called and make sure you got the right number, and then we'll get on it Okay, I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect a phone call within a couple days Right like I said there used to be a live person would answer But I'll have to look it up on my phone.

All right. Thank you. And also, Dan, thank you for contacting Lori. You're on top of it. I appreciate it. He is on it, this last issue we're addressing. So with that, I'll now close the public communication portion and turn to Gary as to what do you have next for us this morning. Thank you, Chair.

There is no fiscal impact There are no County general funds involved Jeff Munns assistant County Council will present go all right, mr Munz if you could hold for one moment I didn't see Commissioner services late on yeah, I just I don't know I don't know who to ask chair, but the first gentleman who spoke Is there any particular event or issue that an ice event here or I'm not aware of one, but is there what? What means can we find out if there's something that actually occurred here?

Well, I think we have staff look into it. Okay.

I just want to make sure we find out. There's not any major events that have occurred recently. I'm not aware of anything. So I know things are happening nationally, but I'm not aware of anything happening in our backyard. But if there is, I'd like to be aware of it. All right. Mr. Mellons, go ahead.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Muntz. Any questions, comments? So next, I'll open the public hearing on this item. So, Clerk, you want to help us on that as well?

Thank you, Andrew. I'll now close the public hearing. Any comments from commissioners? Not seeing any. Can I have a motion from one of my colleagues here today?

I move we approve boundary change proposal 2026-006. And is there a second?

Second. All right, Commissioner Savas is moved to approve the boundary change proposal 2026-006. Commissioner West is second of that. Any other discussion? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll? Commissioner West. Aye.

Chair. Thanks, Mr. Muntz. Once again, I appreciate it.

So, yes, just another. I think I know the answer, but. I just want to make sure that people are aware that of this bond issuance, there's no county resources, general fund or otherwise, that are being contributed to this project. So this is no county resources, correct? That is correct. Okay, thank you. And also one other clarification is that this is the first of two hearings. There will be a public hearing, a second one. Did I glean that correctly?

So one under the guise of the county, one under the guise of the hospital authority. Yes, correct. All right.

All right. With that, I'll open the public hearing on this item. And Andrew, ask for your help.

Thank you. All right, I'll close the public hearing portion and give commissioners a chance to comment. I see Commissioner West has a question or comment. Go ahead, sir.

So I know we're going to probably... the next move is to make a motion about tax exempt bonds and that's for a way for capital to help provide capital from for projects like this Can you break down what that means? Is there a local impact to tax-exempt bonds? Is it mostly tax-exempt on the federal level? Is it tax-exempt here at the local level? Can you let us know where that exemption is coming from and if it impacts our financial revenues here at the county?

So it's a built-in tax advantage for the capital improvement?

and the project is not just residential living. It also includes a hospital style beds for maybe memory care patients or later. Like is it also, it is all residential living. It's doesn't, I know you always, you guys also offer that service. I see a head nod there. Um, I guess I'm just thinking about not to throw a wrench and everything. I'm just thinking about, um, I'll leave it at that. I'll leave it at that. I'm just I'm just I am concerned with the lack of like affordable housing stock for the seniors that are living on the fringe here. And, you know, this thing will probably pencil out wi

Great, thank you, Ken. Commissioner Salas.

Yeah, I have a question. I know we discussed part of this on Tuesday, and I think the theme that Commissioner West is sharing is one that we discussed a little bit on Tuesday. But from a tax standpoint, normally I know that people would like to have interest-free debt, but tax-exempt debt is different. And I have two questions. Question number one, does Willamette View pay property taxes? Yes. I see a representative in the back shaking his head up and down. So, in the affirmative, that he does pay taxes. So my second question is, is that... this was not tax exempt debt where would those taxes

Okay. Okay. That answers my question. Thank you.

No, I very much appreciate that. And I think also just... I honestly agree with my colleagues just as countywide. We're looking at a variety of senior Options, and I feel like we can't have enough of all of them right now so and that you're Are a 501 C 3 that meets those Nonprofit guidelines that I know you have to do so I think that's the other piece that I noticed and I also want to say just that on another front, I have been working with another group that is working on more low-income housing for seniors. So I'm very excited about some other options in the county that would we're looking a

Yeah. What's the structure in which they're repaid? So are these, they're municipal bonds, right? So what are they? Are we paying a bank? Can you break down that? Help me understand the primary structure of repayment to the bond and what that looks like.

Okay. So they're not general obligation or revenue? No. Are they revenue?

It's not backed by the good faith and credit of the county. That was my next question. Correct. It's backed by the good faith and credit of the organization. That's right. So is the taxpayer, does a risk come to the taxpayer at all? No. Okay. Okay. Thank you for helping me understand. No, it's been a quiz.

All right. Well, thank you for being here for us today. So with that being said, is there a motion on this matter? Move we allow the issuance of tax exempt revenue bonds by Willamette view I'll second all right Commissioner Savas has moved to allow the issuance of a tax exempt revenue bonds by Willamette view commission was the second of that motion and is there any further discussion or comments I Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll? Commissioner West.

All right, thank you very much. So now I'll recess as Board of County Commissioners convene as a hospital facility authority of Clackamas County. And we're going to go to the next step of this, Gary.

Why does this fall under the hospital facility authority for us to vote on today? Why? Why is the second vote happening like you said earlier?

This type of bond. But we're not doing any hospital beds or care beds within this development?

Okay. Thank you. It just feels weird that we're doing this under the, this is like, these are basically apartments. It's not the housing authority that would step in? It's like, it's the hospital authority, not the housing authority if this is housing based?

Yeah, just want to say the, the hospital facility, the hospital authority that was created. I was here when it was created, so it was for this, precisely for this purpose, and as was stated, that definition is broad. Okay.

Thank you. Intuitively, I would have assumed housing authority, but okay. Yeah.

All right. Next, we open the public hearing on the side of the clerk. Help us there.

All right, procedurally, I'll close the public hearing. to see if there's any other comments. There's none. May I have a motion from one of my colleagues?

Chair, I move that we authorize the insurance of tax-exempt revenue bonds by Willamette View.

I did say it wrong, sorry. I move that we authorize the issuance of tax-exempt revenue bonds by Willamette View. What did I say? Insurance. Insurance, oh, issuance, yes.

And second? Second. All right. Commissioner West has moved to authorize the issuance of tax-exempt revenue bonds by will have a view. And Commissioner Savas has seconded that. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll?

Chair. All right, moving right along. I'll adjourn as a hospital facility authority of Clackamas County and reconvene as Board of County Commissioners.

Once again, very nice job, Andrew. Thank you. Any colleague wish to remove any item from the consent agenda?

Chair for discussion. I'd like to pull a two for discussion and I will move to approve the consent agenda minus a two All right is there a second a second I

All right, Commissioner Sevis has moved to approve the consent agenda with the pulling of A2 for discussion. Commissioner West is second of that, and then I would open it up for discussion.

I'll take the poll. Or did we already do that? With the vote.

Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Are we made a motion and I second to discuss and poll it? No. So do we have to vote on that?

I made a motion to approve the consent agenda minus. Minus.

Oh, but we have to vote on that. Approve. We have to vote on that. Okay, okay. I still second that. All right. So you do have to call the poll.

Yeah. Chair? Yes. So thank you for accommodating that. I'm bringing this up. I intend on supporting it. I read through it. Clear there's an option there. We're approving a one-year contract with two options to approve a two-year addition. So this could go for five years. This total amount, it reflects what that would cost if it went for the full five years. my concern and reason i brought this up is whether whether or not we pass a public the levy right because part of this is funded but with the levy and that's spelled out here um and i am also aware reading through the packet that this is ba

Yeah, I think I think I think we want to have somebody from the sheriff's office address that issue I don't want to speak out of turn and there's a lot of variable factors that perhaps go into this the Let me give you an example. People are arrested. They're put in sometimes a holding cell. They're released. That might not be a bed, but yet it's providing health care. So when they say that, the calculations could be a variety of ways. It's been a while, so I would not want to speak Without kind of getting some advice on that Gary Do you have a comment about that Patrick Williams from the Sheri

All right, thank you, Patrick. Commissioner Savas, you got a question?

Yeah, a question, Patrick. Is that like typical insurance that looks... retrospectively on how much of the beds were actually there, or is it prospective in that what's anticipated? What are we actually paying for, the looking forward aspect or looking back on what the actual exposure was?

Great. As always, Patrick, thank you for your great work. I really appreciate you. Thank you. You bet. question.

Hey Patrick, it's Commissioner West. I feel I'm talking to the ceiling. A quick question for you. We went out for a competitive bid process for this, correct? Correct. And but we have a long-standing relationship with NAFCARE, like long-standing. Several years, yeah. What was the competitive bid process like and did we get a number of other players that bid for that contract?

Yeah. Yes. Um, the only thing I'd like to add, and that is, is, um, first of all, we, we used to have our own doctors, nurses, and provided our own healthcare at the jail. And at that time, my goal was to get medically accredited and have virtually found out that, um, That was not attainable, number one, without going for contracted outside services. And the other thing that the cost for internal services was so expensive, oftentimes our physician at that time would say, somebody would come in and usually, oftentimes you'll hear this, is, oh, I've got chest pains. And next thing you know, you'

Yeah. Chair, I appreciate that and thank you for adding additional information of this. I just want to make it clear I'm not questioning this agenda item. I'm not questioning the need for the insurance. I'm not questioning the competency or the services provided. None of that. It's more trying to draw attention, honestly, to the plight we're going to have if we lose the public safety funding levy in May when we put it back on. I'm just trying to take this opportunity to let people know that Law enforcement and public safety is an expensive line of work. We all know that. I'm not sure the publi

All right. Commissioner Savas has moved to approve Agenda Item A2. It's been seconded by Commissioner West. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll? Commissioner West.

Chair. Thank you, Patrick, for paying attention and being available at such short notice. We sure appreciate it. All right, Gary, looks like I now need to recess. Yes. All right, recesses. Board of County Commissioners, convene as the service district number five, street lighting board of directors.

All right. Any directors wish to remove any item from the consent agenda?

Chair, I move that we approve the consent agenda for service district number five as read. Second.

All right. Director West has moved to approve the service district number five consent agenda as read. Director Savas has seconded that. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, will you please call the poll? Commissioner Savas. Aye. Commissioner West.

Chair. All right. We're moving right along. I'll adjourn as a service district number five street lighting board of directors convene as a water environment services board. Gary.

Alright time for comment by directors or wish to remove something. I'm sure services lights on go ahead.

Yeah chair I don't wish to remove anything, but I do have a quick question. I just want to make sure the administrator is recalls My request from West for some answers and I want to I've made requests in the past and some of those have been fulfilled I want to make sure this one is I don't need it today. But there have some that have not been fulfilled in the past. So I hope it's not words that are just lost. It's actually fulfilled.

Thank you. Thank you. Chair, I move we approve the West consent agenda.

Second. All right, Director. Savas has moved to approve the West as a consent agenda, seconded by Commissioner West. Any further discussion? Clerk, do you want to call the poll?

Motion passes three to zero. Mr. Chair. Right I'll now adjourn as a water environment services board of directors reconvene as the Board of County Commissioners Gary Thank You Nexus County administrator update.

Isn't it great? I think maybe that's, as far as commissioner communication, I'll give you each a chance, but I think right now, just kind of taking a moment and talking about Andrew and what an incredible asset this young man is to the county. And I will just tell you, every time I walk down the hallway, I see him behind his computer working. He's never just chit chatting. He is incredibly committed to doing such an amazing job. There's a lot of important documents that need signed, and he'll get in his car and come track me down somewhere. We need this signed today. It's a last-minute deal. S

Commissioner Salvas? Yeah, I would concur, and I'm going to expand on this, but I do want to say one thing. Being here for my 16 years now and seeing clerks, I don't know why that position draws in talent, but every clerk that we've had has brought in something new and innovative. And so I want to just say shout out to all the clerks past. But Andrew, you have raised the bar as the others. But you raised it, and Gary spoke about it. I think that your ability to track the meetings and then put on the screen and highlight the areas that are being spoken to You are articulate. You are a great com

We appreciate you Well, congratulations We've got a phenomenal job for the county and Your demeanor your cadence your professionalism your wit and humor has been Great to work with you. You were an easy fit to the culture here now the sad part is that we're losing you because you have been so fantastic and we never want to lose great people and But this does sound like a fantastic opportunity for you, and I look forward to seeing newer and greater things from you. I don't know if the public knows this, but Andrew has quite an accomplished resume, and so we were lucky to have him for the time t

All right. Thank you again, Andrew. And we'll transfer over to Commissioner Communications. So start off with you.

Yeah, last week I made a mention of the Office of the Independent Internal Auditor and made a request that we bring back maybe an educational work session to talk about the role and the guidelines and and how their code of ethics are typically how they're adhered to what they are and you know our role or not our role frankly as a political organization when it comes to allowing again the independent internal auditor and I I didn't foresee that when we had our retreat and we established our priorities I didn't foresee Consideration, but we did a pass a goal or not a goal but a priority of build

Thank you, Chair. I would concur everything that Commissioner Savas just said, and especially regarding our firefighters. There's been a number of losses due to these firefighters. And so that's somber, and we stand with the families and our deepest sympathies to them. A big RPOC meeting last night, I was there. I sent a letter to RPOC that's on the record addressing a few issues. There's some tensions kind of building up within ARPAC for the public certification. ARPAC is the Supportive Housing Services Oversight Board, for which I sit for the county of commissioners on trying to bring oversi

All right. Thank you. So kind of. ties in with part of which I was going to talk about. I actually had a meeting with the Metro President Juan Carlos Gonzalez and they talked about a lot of the issues I'm sure you guys discussed at your meeting and really trying to get a better understanding kind of where things are headed a little bit. It was very interesting one of the conversations I had with him too is you know we've had discussions about perhaps an event center and some of those things in the county and they're in charge of the Oregon Convention Center and some of the things that they're