Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

one and welcome to administrative issues and updates on August 11th 2026 County Administrator Gary Schmidt will you please call the roll yes thank you chair Commissioner Schrader is out of the office today roll call Commissioner West Commissioner Helm

Chair Roberts. Here. Thank you, Gary. Well, everyone, we have an extensive agenda today, so I'm going to try and move us along and can use your help as well. So I'll remind everyone you have time budget this afternoon if we don't get through all the issues that we have. I will now recess as Board of County Commissioners, convene as the Water Environment Services Board of Directors, and have Gary introduce our first agenda item this morning.

On this project, you talked about timeline just a minute ago. Can you get it done? Do you anticipate needing that extension that's not guaranteed, or what is expected as a timeline on a project like this?

Are you confident that the contractor's ready to start next week, that all the ducks are in a row? Yes. Okay.

Go ahead. So my iPad is being worked on, so I'm a little bit of a disadvantage. right now at this moment, but Ron, you kind of mentioned, could you just expand on it if you could? I know you kind of, this came before us here a couple months ago or so, right? And then it's got a lot of other history that goes way back, right? I've been here a long time, so I know we keep on throwing money at this, and I know it's because of the storm issues and the water and all the things that are happening and the migration of the river and all these things that affect that. West comes to us pretty regularly

Yeah, and I will just make the request, at least personally, personal request to maybe get a list of how much money we've put in this in the last 15 years. I know it's substantial.

Okay, I can put that together for you. Thank you. All right, Commissioner Hill.

Thank you, Ron. Yeah, and I know we discussed this last time. The folks up at the mountain are happy to get this fix. Is this just really truly a Band-Aid?

It is just a Band-Aid. It's another Band-Aid. That's right. And it's such... The river is... It changes every year. It changes every winter. And we have to do fixes. I am looking for the longer-term solution myself. I don't know what that is. I know it's going to be in the millions and millions of dollars. But in the meantime, this has to get done to fix a real urgent need. So I will be supportive of this. But I also... would love to see a long-term solution, although this river has like a mind of its own and does something different every year. So it's a little hard to gauge. All right.

I just wanted to highlight, and maybe you could talk about that. It does sound like, from the information I've read, that you're making it much wider. That gives us room for maybe some crazy flood conditions that might change it. Maybe you could talk about that.

All right. Well, thank you for your hard work. If there's no other questions or objections, we'll move this to our business meeting agenda for this Thursday, August 13th. And seeing no other comments or concerns, so I'll adjourn as Water Environment Services Board of Directors and reconvene as the Board of County Commissioners. Gary, what's next? Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. On the financing, so I know previously we had, I think recently we refinanced some bonds and some different debts that the county had and we got a phenomenal interest rate. It was to our advantage. Oh, can you hear me now? It was to our advantage when we refinanced and so with our credit rating being as stellar as it is, will the board find out or how, you know, of course we want to do what's most financially expeditious for the county and what makes Will the board see that financing option that's chosen between bank loan or a bond? Does it rise to the level that it comes before us to make that choice or is that done at the staff level?

Okay. And on the historic, so you have some wood. Is there any, I'm trying to like add a question around the things that you guys, oh, the kitchen items. Some of the kitchen and that commercial kitchen seem to be relatively newer and probably reusable. We had a very expensive ask to include a new commercial kitchen. Are we salvaging as much as we can to save our cost from the commercial kitchen that exists already for the new property that will be built with a commercial kitchen? Are we taking that into consideration and trying to salvage as much as we can? And is there anything there that we

We've looked at that, though. I mean, I just saw it from like, oh, this seems like a nice commercial kitchen. I wasn't like down there expecting the appliances and whatnot. But, you know, it's nice to see when you're doing a tour of the property, like, oh, maybe, you know, you think maybe this is salvageable. I was just hoping there might be a cost savings since the new commercial kitchen is not a small price tag.

Okay yeah if it's salvageable I mean a fridge alone a walk-in fridge is crazy those gas stoves and ovens are expensive so if possible and it makes practical sense I think we should look at that before we just discard those items.

Great job, by the way. This is still super exciting. By the way, I want to remind everybody that this is a county project. There is a lot of people that are also excited by this, so they're jumping on the bandwagon as they should because it's such an awesome project that we're getting done. This is county-led stuff here. This is a county initiative. This is local government in action. I want to preach that from the mountaintops. Good job, Clackamas County. It's something so good that all the other leaders in the state want to jump on and be a part of it, too. which we appreciate all comers and

All right, Commissioner Hilton has a comment.

Thank you for the presentation, Cindy. So I know that this comes up, the good neighbor agreement that you're working with for and the neighbors. What's the timeline on that, getting that done?

During construction, okay. Correct. It's not during construction. All right, thank you for that clarification. And then are the construction updates only by email? Are we doing any other type of reaching? Is there any other way to reach out besides like door hangers, business to business or anything?

Right well that being said if there's no other questions. This is information only and we'll move on to our next agenda item And thank you Cindy for coming today

For the public certification, I've been championing some type of pet services for individuals that maybe don't have a home at the time and they're living on the streets with their loved furry one. And sometimes that is a real barrier to getting into care. and other models have had really creative solutions, and we wanted to have one also. So thank you for continuing to work on our furry loved ones. Thank you, Kishore West.

I don't think my husband understands that. You might want to call him for me, Cindy.

Go ahead so Maybe um, maybe you said it I'm looking for this is gonna be paid for with which funds Supportive housing services funds. All right. Thank you I appreciate the adjustments and I did sit in on some conversation with these folks to better understand what it is and I know there was some confusion. Was it Commissioner Hellman who joined us? Yeah. The two of us. So I'm with a new scope. I'm comfortable.

No, I move to direct staff to proceed with a solicitation for legal services to Housing for Success participants as proposed.

Second. Commissioner Elm is moved to direct staff to proceed with solicitation for legal services to Housing for Success participants as proposed. Commissioner Savas is second of that. Any further discussion? Clerk, please call the poll.

All right. Commissioner West, go ahead. You already got into my question. Yeah. So it looks like we had been funding a lot of permanent supportive housing under a previous model that was more traditionally the housing first model. There has been a shift away back to transitional housing. We know all of this, right? Yep. And so my first question was, are we backfilling previous policy priorities for permanent supportive housing and then made the shift to fund priorities and there's many that we value also with the new kind of hud structure around recovery systems and traditional housing it look

Okay. So you don't see any funding cliffs we're facing because of the drama at the federal level?

Just to be, like, watching how you guys have made the pivot here and the different services and Bravo. Great job. And you did a really good job making that pivot and still prioritizing things that are important within our care system. So, yeah, these are environmental things that we just don't always control, and you're making do with what reality is. So I appreciate that. Thank you for answering my question.

Yeah, more of a comment, not specifically about this, but just seeing the array of different programs and services here that are out there. And I know that our budget cycle is very compressed. There's not a lot of opportunity to talk about KPIs, metrics, and so forth, and what these programs are about. But it does strike me that there's a lot here and might be an opportunity in the future maybe list, maybe how many FTE we're retaining or adding. I'm assuming retaining. For the most part, I know some of these are outsourced, so that maybe it doesn't apply, but it's still jobs. As well as, again

Okay, great. Thanks. All right, since there's no objections, we'll advance this to our business meeting agenda for actually Thursday, August 13th. So can I confirm that? Are you still going forward this Thursday on a consent agenda?

Yep. Okay, very good. All right. Thank you. We'll work on making that happen.

All right. Any comments? Well, I have one, I guess. And that is, first and foremost, I see Craig Valkenberg here, the CEO of Lama View. Thank you for coming today. And also just that what I'm so excited about is additional senior care living. And I just see this as a huge need, not only for our county, but really for Oregon and across this country. And the addition of... facilities such as this which I'm also very impressed with just the continuum of care that they have you know from independent living to assisted living to memory care to all those things that I think are so important to help

Yeah, great project. I'm just, you know, one of our big concerns as we see the rising demand housing insecurity within the senior population, not just in Oregon, but many places. And that's been a concern of this board is about seeing that demographic really suffer with housing options and availability. It's a very beautiful facility. It already is a beautiful facility. There's lots of opportunities there for individuals. My question is, is there any units available to those that are lower income seniors that have at more risk for housing or homelessness issues than than others in that communi

Yeah. And we need all ranges and all types of housing. I just know that one of the big primary concerns as seniors that are living on the edge literally facing homelessness and strong housing insecurity and I assume that it's a pretty wealthy community that lives here in your property at Willamette View. And I don't know our role in that, but I know that's a major concern. Has there ever been any thoughts or opportunities about developing any type of housing that would take care of this population in our community that is lower income?

And it seems like it's a thriving business model that you guys have. I don't begrudge you that whatsoever as a private entity. As a commissioner with this population with all types of housing, but my primary concern is with those that are on the edge of homelessness right now. And many, many, many, and probably the vast majority of Clackamas County residents could not and would not be able to afford to live at a Willamette View property. But we'd love to maybe partners with you in the future about how to develop more housing for those that are on the margins. Good leverage of the nonprofit str

Yeah, I have a question about is the funding model for this similar to affordable housing where all the costs are basically covered or amortized or calculated in over the period of the bond? Looks like it's 35 years. Is that about right?

Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that. Maybe an offline discussion maybe in the future for a coffee. We're overdue for that, by the way. But if I divide that $155 million... by, you know, 92. It's a pretty high number. But there again, in affordable housing, you know, they calculate it and bake in literally everything for that term, let's say 30 years, you know, including utilities and everything they need to pay, maintenance and everything else. It doesn't sound like that's the same model here. So I'm just curious how this model works. And again, conversation for a different day. I do want to say o

Yeah, I think you understand where I'm coming from with the question.

I think it my question. I think Commissioner West is it's really that you know that What income levels of what housing remains and the long in the long picture right yeah? No, no response needed

Yeah I think we we need all levels of housing for seniors and I can appreciate that and really trying to be creative and partnerships with you and other entities to kind of help expand that and so I think any movement in this direction to me is exciting and just need to continue to work hard on this issue that we're trying to face on those that are on the edge so with you that so if there's no other questions this is already going to be on our Thursday meeting correct Gary yes all right so we don't need any other action thank you Craig for coming in today and what do you have next Gary thank y

Thank you for the information, additional information from the last session we had. We've gotten a lot of constituent feedback since the July 7th policy session and I just want to bring up that the reason I brought it up in the first place was because of what happened on the west side of The Portland area, and that we wanna take into consideration the community impacts, both the environmental, the amount of water, electricity, energy, this is gonna, would affect Clackamas County and whether we want them here. I'll talk about the moratorium thing here in just a minute. the economic impact, whet

The compelling need, obviously, because it is, we have resource issues. We have water, you know, right now, the Clackamas River, I've never seen the Clackamas River this low in my lifetime, and it's pretty frightening. But I will say, too, is there a way to put a pause on this now? while we put a moratorium in place. I mean, my, okay, you're shaking your head. So that's one question. It wasn't one of the options, so I kind of figured it wasn't. But what I'm hearing, and this is, I want to be very responsive to our constituents, is they want to make sure nothing happens at all until we have gua

All right, so we had to start that process because what happened over in Washington County is I mean There's an application that went in like hours before their moratorium went into place, right? So I mean they are out there sniffing around and you know Getting in under the gun and it's it's tough because I want to I want to make sure this happens as quick as possible. So We'll talk about that then.

All right. Thank you. Commissioner Savas Okay

As you stated, and in the report here, it states that, you know, there is that enterprise zone pause. I'm using the word pause. Focus on that for a moment. So that's in place as a result of HB 4084. And so that gathered my attention. I realized that only applies for the tax exemption. So if someone wants to act today and they want to forego the tax exemption, they can go forward today. So I want to make that perfectly clear in my understanding. And then what sparked my interest on this was Hillsboro, because it was on the news that Hillsboro put a pause, not a moratorium at the time, it came o

As I'm reading that, drill down a little bit. I'm going to get a little bit technical. It uses the word pause, and it says in June 6 of this year, the moratorium took effect. But on what grounds? Because it was economic relief. It was not about infrastructure.

Okay, so you're saying that pause and moratorium in our context is the same thing.

Okay, we've established that. It's not the answer I wanted, but I appreciate it. My concern about this, relying on maybe the state who's only looking at the economic effects, I've watched this play out in the housing emergency where the state or the governor institutes a housing emergency. They seem to provide the funds and the resources for housing, changing our land use laws so that we eliminate, you know, the time clock or barriers, and so they're foregoing a lot of the mechanisms. And there's a lot of local pushback on that. Wait a minute, I don't get notification? I know it's in an effort

Yeah, I appreciate that. I just want to say really my point here is that I don't have confidence that whatever the state's going to do, that they're going to look at these local issues as carefully as we would, right? And I'm not sure it's even on their radar, right? I think it's more about is it a tax incentive or is it an opportunity? Maybe they'll look at it from a power utility standpoint. I just don't want to see the burden of the impacts. And I brought up water before. I'll be consistent with that. There are a lot of domestic wells. The only source of water is their well. And I do know t

Again, I have a couple questions here really kind of comes back to you kind of really did touch on it kind of code restrictions the regulatory authority that you have or don't have and I will just say one of the big things I looked at was at NACO National Association of Counties meeting with a lot of counties really across this country that are dealing with this and one of the issues that in one city in particular I talked to that They warned me on some of their concerns, right? One of the big ones they had was noise having to do with the fans, which was causing some problems. And some of the

All right. Commissioner Hillman, then West. Go ahead.

Right. I agree. And I think there's a lot of information out there that we can find. I mean, between AOC, NACO, you know, there's the old data centers, right, that were the large football field size ones that are, you know, they use up a lot of energy and water. And there's newer ones that don't. I haven't done my research either. But I... do want to say that I think we need to do something sooner than later. I don't want to wait for the state. The state has not addressed our natural resources, especially in light of their housing rules and the burden it puts on us and what we have to end up d

Thank you. I agree. There's a lot I agree with. Learning that there's a big learning curve for this. There's a lot to this I don't know yet. There's a lot that's happening. I am by no means ready to make big policy decisions on this issue. There's a lot of moving parts, and it's moving quickly. There's a lot of changes in the industry. And I also don't have a lot of confidence in the state in 2027 for them to make sure that local governments are protected, local communities are protected. And so I see Hillsborough Act in other jurisdictions. And so I wouldn't be opposed to what is permissible

Yeah, so I'm going to ask you a question. I don't know either what Commissioner Helms' motion is going to be, but where should we start? If the big question is we want to put safeguards in place or guardrails in place, whichever way you want to word it, if we want to get ahead of this and make sure that Should an application happen that we adequately have the right criteria in place to allow or disallow it? However, it doesn't seem like jumping into moratorium without really knowing if it is really called for is the right step. It does not seem. So is it more the exploratory aspect, or is it a

Yeah, well, but we can't do a moratorium, but we can. I appreciate you summarizing, but those are not my words. My words were, again, I want to, maybe I'm nuancing this, but I'll be very clear. My is putting safeguards in place. I think safeguards is not a hell no, right?

Yeah, I appreciate that. And the reason I'm really careful with using the word safeguards is I think that there are, and we're here, and I think you even shared at one of our sessions that there are very small data centers that people don't even know about that are not having any great impacts, right? We know that they're so small they're inside existing buildings, right? So... It's, I think that some of the concerns are people think about these football or two, three football-sized data centers, which I can't even envision, which, you know, I would have an adverse reaction just even knowing t

Well, I think the whole point of a moratorium is a pause and gives us a chance to... kind of do our research and I think that's what you're saying right is we can do we can do a little research so let me I'll throw this out I'm open to amendments but this is what I've come up with so I would like to move direct staff to initiate the fastest legally permissible temporary moratorium and concurrently determine if there is any interim development standards that can legally be adopted before the moratorium is effective. See what I mean? We would be closing the gap of the gap.

There's no amending the zoning ordinance before you amend the zoning ordinance. Can we put a moratorium and just pause until the legislative session figures it out?

Well, that's what I'm saying. It is a moratorium. It is just a moratorium and then gives us time to... What is the definition of a correction program?

Okay. Okay, yeah, because the clock starts ticking, right, as soon as it's put in place?

Okay, oh, okay, all right, all right. Well, then I will revise my motion to just say then that I move to direct staff to initiate the process to adopt a moratorium on data centers.

Yes Open to doesn't need a second first Yes, you need a second first.

Yeah, so I will give it a second so we can go through this process Second Commissioner West so like me I'm gonna ask a question of Caleb again I think I know the answer but I want to make it clear so what I'm what I am suggesting that for a edit to our amendment to the motion is that do the research right elements of that in the motion somehow. Maybe it's already in there, is the intent in there, Commissioner?

The intent is in there because that's the whole purpose of a moratorium.

Well, it's what comes first, is the cart before the horse? Which starts first? What is the most important thing from a legal standpoint so that we don't get ourselves in trouble?

I'm good with the intention. I just wondered if the 45-day window is adequate to do that research.

That's why I was thinking the cart before the horse maybe is the research then, if necessary, which probably so, you know, a moratorium or criteria about, let's say, water usage. I don't know. I'll leave it there.

So we have a first and a second. I don't believe there was really a modification to it.

I'm just thinking that maybe to make sure we're prepared, I'm not sure 45 days is enough time, so I would say that if the amendment was to research it and bring it back to the board as options or criteria needed for the moratorium, then it leads the path in a way that is thoughtful.

I guess if I come back to this option three, I'm just bringing that up.

Commissioner Helm, I mean, does that... Well, that's why I asked about the correction program. Yeah, yeah. I don't think that applies here to this.

So if we look at option three, would that help us accomplish this goal that we're all kind of talking about?

Okay. Then I will amend my motion to move to direct staff to initiate the process to adopt a moratorium on data centers and a correction program.

Still seconding. All right. Are we still discussing?

Just to recap where we're at, Commissioner Helms moved direct staff to initiate the process to adopt a moratorium on data centers and a correction program. It's been seconded by Commissioner West. And I'm going to open it up again for discussion. Is that correct? Did I get that right, Gary? Yes.

And just for clarification, that correction program is to research and bring criteria back to the board so we have more information when this goes into place. Simple. Yep.

Well, that's why I ask about an interim development standards to kind of, I want to put a wrench in it. That's what I'm trying to do to just stop the wheels, right? It's... this process is, it's a long process. So if there's nothing that can be done in that arena, then I guess we just move forward with the moratorium.

And I want to say that we do understand that, but I think this issue is urgent enough that it moves to the top. This is what we do is we have to reprioritize on a daily, weekly basis.

All right. One more quick comment, and we'll go to a vote.

Yeah, so I'll ask the question. When does a 45-day clock start? Does it start today, or does it start after we adopt the moratorium?

Okay, and then when... How does that correlate to the correction program where the research is done?

I think it's on us to actually do some of that work for you, Dan. I mean, I said there's a lot of information out there available. We're not reinventing the wheel. Other counties, other states, other jurisdictions have gone through this. So if we can glean something from someone else, I will promise right now I will do that as much research for you as possible so that we don't start from scratch on this.

Aye. I'm hoping that if you see any red flags, you bring them to us for consideration. Again, I'm more on the process. That's my hesitation is the process and the timing.

How's the team holding up? Want to go till noon?

All right, questions. So we multiply that, is that in that 6,000 to 10,000?

AGREED, YES, WE DID GET A COUPLE BEFORE THIS MEETING THAT I WAS ABLE TO READ THROUGH AND JUST TO EXPRESS OUR, I WOULD SAY OUR GRATITUDE TO ALL THOSE, WE HAVE SOME VERY STRONG CPOs IN THE COUNTY AND THEY DO REALLY, REALLY GOOD WORK AND I APPRECIATE ALL THAT THEY DO. THEY ARE OUR BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN THEIR COMMUNITIES AND ADVOCATE FOR THEIR COMMUNITIES AS WELL. I agree, we have to find a way, but what I'm hearing you say, there are no other options as far as a group policy. Everyone will have to go out. We've explored everything, correct?

Okay, wow. The question I have, Gary, is since we are a county that's self-insured with excess carrier, I mean, is there any way they could fall under the umbrella of us if there were specific guidelines drafted? I'm not sure if that's a good... It's kind of putting you in a tough spot to answer that because perhaps it's maybe not.

And so what would be your recommendation for next steps?

All right. Is there a nod to continue with that direction?

With the dollar amount we earlier talked about, I guess, right? For the reimbursement?

What is the risk? I mean, what are they doing? Why is this insurance totally necessary? I don't totally like.

So somebody like falls and breaks a leg, falling on the steps during a meeting.

And it's that's that's I'm learning here. That's common practice of the facility you're renting from it's not their insurance that covers you have to provide your own. That's correct. This is for events a common practice for events period. Absolutely. Weddings, bar mitzvahs, CPO meetings.

Okay, but they're independent totally of us, but we cover them.

So they're independent of the Board of County Commissioners. They're independent entities that provide insight and advise us as community members, you know, concerns or things they care about. But they're totally independent of us, but we are paying for them to be insured.

It's not, they're not having parties out there on, you know, our time. Oh, I know, I know.

I mean, I guess I'm just hung up on the piece that full independence, we pay the bill.

All right, did you guys want to say anything before you move to questions?

All right. All right. Commissioner Savas.

Yeah. First of all, if these are going to be ongoing funds versus one-time funds, I would like to see how that looks in the forecast. Okay, so that's my hesitation here today. I would like, you know, I appreciate the internship in the treasurer's office for the internal auditor, so I support that. I know that's a one-time type thing, but we talked the other day, and I'm still advocating at some point next year that we consider how we actually put in a, because we're lacking a position there. It's not that it's vacant, but we need to create one. We're understaffed in the internal auditor functi

Okay, so One quick follow-up here. So knowing that the board adopted the budget by by program and by What's the other term? Category. Category. Do you already have a program category where this would be, knowing that there's supposed to be like a monthly report of some sort, right? How would you do that in a most seamless way?

I appreciate your response to the first part of my question, so thank you. And maybe if there's a point in time where we actually need to transfer funds to make up for that, I could strongly support that, but I do know that a lot of work's underway and there's a lot of opportunity to find more efficiencies within the Sheriff's Office without compromising service.

Yeah, thank you, Under Sheriff Eby. Can you kind of give me specifics on what that funding gap is? Is it add to pays? Is it...

Yeah, that was one of my question was, you know, so it sounds like it's overhead. They have a limit on it, correct? Yeah. And that's what you're required to pick up. And then the, I think the other thing, maybe you could just talk about the benefit of having these two deputies and really the response to calls in the general area. Maybe you could just talk about that.

Yeah, I had met with some TriMet officials some time ago. I think it was this past winter, basically. Really wanted to reestablish that partnership. And I do see it as a huge benefit of additional deputies out there helping take calls and being back up for other calls in the area. So, yeah, I'm 100% behind it. Commissioner West?

Well, it seems like a really good deal for two deputies. So is TriMet looking to enter this agreement indefinitely to pay for these costs? Is this for five years, two years, one year? How long do we get these officers at them footing the bill?

Oregon City. Oregon City. So TriMet has these funds available to help basically local law enforcement afford these deputies or officers?

So these deputies would become eligible to be full-time employees, members of the CCPOA, by all other purposes, they look like any other deputy, right? And this is just the funding source for that FTE?

We've had issues with some heavy use of overtime. Could could the budget be blown beyond like what we're expecting here if this?

Okay and Gary, can you refresh me really quick on what was, again, the administrative position? Oh, the privacy officer. The privacy officer for HIPAA compliance. So was that privacy officer dealing with all of our clinics, all of our public health, and all of our screening with vaccinate? I mean, it's a lot. We don't have a designated FTE to do this already?

Didn't we have somebody in county council?

And this will have to be ongoing. Ongoing, yes. And... Mary, you could probably attest to this. A violation is way more expensive, and the exposure politically is way more expensive. I can't believe we don't already have one, actually. I didn't know this. This is like, oh. I mean, we're talking about a HIPAA violation can be as easy as you left that on the printer, right? I mean, it could be... you, um, inadvertently tried to look at your spouse's records because they told you to look at them because they didn't have access to, but you work for the County. And so you looked for your wife to sa

opportunity, just to put it out there, and I'm looking forward to sitting down with the new sheriff, Sheriff Rhodes. I know he's got something scheduled with each of us. And we're talking about money, we're talking about budgeting, and one of the things that came up was the million dollars plus that the sheriff's office is paying for for the vacant positions and allocated costs. which could be a revenue source if there's new eyes and a fresh start of looking at that. So that might be an opportunity to not only enhance funding on both sides of that, whether it's directly to the sheriff's budget

Yeah, going back to the privacy officer salary and benefits, is this person, because it's been done out of the county council office, do they have to be an attorney to do it?

Okay. It just seems like a really, really high number to me.

There's no federal funding for the HIPAA person? No.

And then I have a follow-up question. How many people have we added to the county council office in the last year?

Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes, go ahead, Cal.

But it's not a temporary position, right? You just said temporary, right?

Can we just have a full-time contractor on contract? It's more expensive to have a contractor than an employee. It's a huge exposure. All right.

I think we're going to get a motion on this.

Move to approve the positions. Move to approve, well, I'm reluctant to use that number, so I'm going to go with, I move to approve funding of the two deputies, an internal audit internship and a county policy officer to be paid from a combination of county general fund contingency and other sources as needed or possible.

Do you need a direct number, though? Does he have to have one?

In the way I'm interpreting that, what I mean by that, that's my motion, what I mean by that is that if some of that can be funded with already budgeted funds that is general fund support, but in a department, that'd be tapped first. I'm looking at Gary. Do we need a specific amount?

Okay, well, I'll withdraw the motion and let someone else make it.

All right. I move to approve the $305,564.55 in general funds for two deputies, an internal audit internship, and a county administrative privacy officer to be paid for from the county general fund in surplus contingency. I'll make that motion, and I'm sure we will be adjusting this potentially in the future.

All right, is there a second? Second. So Commissioner West has moved to approve $305,564.55 in general funds for two deputies, an internal audit internship, and a county administrative privacy officer to be paid from the county general fund surplus contingency. It's been seconded by Commissioner Helm. Is there any further discussion?

I mean, I think... It may look different next year. We're going to have to, we've got to make a decision today. This is not necessarily what it looks like even in the near future. So I'm willing to make this motion as recommended. But I do share the same concerns as Commissioner Savas. I just don't know how we got to the, you know, with the specific motion, Commissioner. So I'll be supporting the motion that I made. And I do think that these are pretty important investments being made by the county.

Chair, my comments before the poll here is I'll be abstaining. I don't think it's out of realm to have pre-prepared here how that would look in a baked-in forecast. I guess that's my... I support what we're doing here. I just, you know, knowing that there's a million dollars that the Sheriff's Office is paying for in vacant positions and allocated costs, there's a savings there. I think there's a creative way of doing this and not putting us in a situation of ongoing, this ongoing burden. So I'll be abstaining for that purpose.

All right. Thank you all very much. Gary, can we take a recess?

I'd like to be sooner than later. I'd like to get going. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I want to be present. Back at 1.30? Sounds good. Okay. Back at 1.30.

All right. Adjourned. Back at 1.30. Good afternoon. Welcome back, everyone, to our policy session on August 11th, 2026. County Administrator Gershman, will you please call the roll again? Yes, thank you, Chair. Roll call. Commissioner Savas.

Right. Great. Thank you. Commissioner Helm has a question.

Thank you, Mary. So talk to me about the Clackamas County Payton Summit. Is that already on the books? I'm fascinated. I know a lot of people with chronic pain, and it is a huge problem. And I know depression is a really big reason. The people with chronic pain, I know my mom suffered from it. It was really, really hard on her mental health. I'll let him answer that.

And I know there's a few places are called like chronic, I don't know, the technical name, they're like chronic pain centers, right? And I don't know if they are, if they work or not. Do you have any history with those kind of centers?

ANYTHING ELSE, COMMENTS? ANYTHING ELSE, COMMENTS? IS THERE A MOTION? IS THERE A MOTION?

I MOVE TO APPROVE THE THREE I MOVE TO APPROVE THE THREE SPENDING REQUESTS FOR UNALLOCATED SPENDING REQUESTS FOR UNALLOCATED OPIOID SETTLEMENT

Commissioner Helm has moved to approve the three spending requests for unallocated opioid settlement funds as presented. Commissioner Savas is second of that. Any further discussion?

Questions? I kind of, I guess I have one of Gary perhaps, and that would be, I guess I'm trying to understand why was that not in the budget process that we had earlier in the budget season?

It doesn't apply to this, but I do want to just state again that if there's a spending proposal, of that remainder for ongoing expenditures, I would like to see it accompanied with the forecast and how it impacts the forecast. I know that does not apply here. This is one time I recognize that, but I just have a little bit of heartburn knowing that we're only two months in on this budget. And we're depleting those funds. And the budget or that the fiscal year does not cease until June 30th of next year. And we're only two months in.

Okay, help me out here. All right, the purpose of the focus groups is to gather customer feedback on the development. All right, don't move the screen, Andrew. I'm reading from it. The development process and the community's perspective on opportunities and the challenges of the current development regulatory environment. So give me an example on the, and then it says, this is confusing, it is anticipated that the three focus groups will be conducted. Conducted.

I think that's a great idea, especially involving the development community, which they all have different needs and wants, but you'll probably hear a resounding kind of maybe major theme from that. But you probably already know what it is. I'm curious. You're in that department. So when you say community education, is that what you're talking about as a development community, or are you talking about the community at large?

Chair, I move to approve the $70,000 for Performance Clackamas Transit Team and the $30,000 for the Performance Clackamas Development Team for a total request of $100,000 to be paid from the County General Fund Surplus Contingency.

All right, Commissioner West has moved to approve $70,000 for the Performance Clackamas Transit Team and $30,000 for the Performance Clackamas Development Team for a total of about $100,000 to be paid from the county's general fund surplus contingency. And that has been seconded by Commissioner Helm. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Clerk, will you call the poll?

And Commissioner West might have some insight.

So as you guys know, I've been representing the board for the last, A year and a half now on this specific issue. There's been a number of different heavy lifts that have been done, including the legal work to get to where we are today, where we just voted to take timber receipts and not SRS funding for the first time in a long time. And so working through this, these legal efforts with AOC, this is specifically around ONC lands type stuff. natural resources and working with that group to get the movement that we've gotten not just with lobbying but also with the legal efforts and working with

We need to clarify that, but I think we should pay this one.

I'm not sure it is. Second or the first I think it's actually one of several Historically, so I don't quote me on that but my recollection was when I used to sit on those meetings way back that This discussion about paying those legal battles was something that this group Regularly try to spread across the board Clackamas County picked up their fair share I You know for a while I think the board at one time expressed collectively that they weren't seeing the value in it. So we ultimately pulled out of participating because of no progress. So, you know, I'd frankly like, I don't know what the d

I agree, Commissioner. Some of this also is, I mean, recently because of some of this effort, we've seen significant progress. when dealing with these timberland issues. Significant. And it's a different climate than it was previously. I remember last year's. I don't remember before that, so you may be right. I will admit that. But this is a pretty significant... Considering what we just are going to get in return after all these efforts, this is... less than a drop in the bucket and i think that supporting our rural counties and especially the 16 western counties some of that movement has hap

Yeah, I'd also be remiss to say it has nothing to do with this organization, has nothing to do with these fees, but it's a shame to see us reinvesting while a lot of our forest is on fire right now. Exactly.

Unrelated, but it's just a shame. We're getting increased timber production to manage those forests moving forward because of some of this advocacy, and this has been long an issue for many years. You know, and I agree with you. I just... They have been good allies in trying to fix the issues that we're dealing with today. And these increased timber production and timber receipts is going to go a long ways to protect those federal lands in our local communities. So I think it's a small dues overall and expenses to pay for the importance of the issue and the movement that we've gotten.

Maybe before it goes to collections. I move to approve payment of the Association of ONC Counties invoice in the amount of $9,908.36. I'll second with a little more discussion.

All right. Commissioner Helm is moved to approve the payment of the Association of ONC Counties invoice for the amount of $9,908.36. Commissioner West is seconded. Any further discussion?

Totally. I'm going to vote yes, of course. But, you know, what was the history is important. And then what's the expectation moving forward so that we're. BUDGETING FOR IT OR AWARE OF WHAT THAT PROCESS LOOKS LIKE NOW, I THINK IS APPROPRIATE, AND I'LL BE VOTING YES.

I WANT MORE CLARIFICATION ON IF THIS IS AN ONGOING LITIGATION. IS THERE AN END TO IT?

OR IS THIS JUST LEGAL WORK THAT GOES ON IN THE PROCESS OF DOING THIS WORK PERIOD?

I WOULD THINK THAT WOULD BE BUILT INTO THE $30,000 A YEAR IN DUE. JUST SAYING.

Some of that's political. Yeah, I think Multnomah County is political. I don't know Benton specifically, but I think that's also political. Josephine shocks me a little bit, considering the amount of ONC lands that they have. But I think Benton and Multnomah County are, that's a political statement. But And I it would be interesting to know if this is ongoing litigation or these are just expected some legal costs that are occurred because of You know the environmental side the environmental justice side that stops our timber production and our collection of receipts And what you know doesn't w

Okay. I do remember sitting in those rooms and talking about this very thing.

I'm gonna abstain because I think this is an ongoing, and I abstain on the earlier ongoing expenditure.

Thank you. Chair, I move to appoint James Rhodes to the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council. Second.

Commissioner West has moved to appoint James Rhodes to the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council. This is seconded by Commissioner Savas. Any further discussion?

Yes, earlier this year Commissioner Helm was invited to speak at the boring CPO and she had a conflict so I attended in her stead and they County Park staff made a presentation and for that nice presentation went through the whole issue and what I gleaned from that was that there was some issues with the piping of the irrigation or where it was going and maybe something in design or an error, whatever that was, and that it was going to be corrected. However, there was also funding challenges that related to the amount of water. But I thought that I had gleaned out of there that there was proba

Yes and I've been in communication with Tom Riggs about this it's been an ongoing issue I will say and if I remember correctly and anyone correct me if I'm wrong I believe this park was set up initially by volunteers a number of years ago. And I want to say I was on Damascus City Council when it happened and they made this Big, beautiful park, because it was the trailhead for the Casador Trail. And a lot of effort, volunteer effort, went into it. It's a beautiful park. It has a lot of ornamental shrubs, trees, grasses. It takes a lot more maintenance than one of our typical county parks, which

I would like to add one more thing and that is, um, I think it's important sometimes to be good neighbors, and I do know sometimes when weeds go to seed, and there's neighboring properties nearby, and there are weeds on our park, and they're blowing into the neighbor's property. That's another factor that kind of bothers me, and they're pretty tall weeds.

And Tom's going to give us the history and how this park was built. Am I wrong? Was this done by volunteers?

And in that conversation, do you mind if I go ahead? In that conversation about the mower, if they will take care of the mowing, are we providing that mower then?

Right, because it's more of a commercial mower, not your average little John Deere tractor.

Great. Commissioner Savas? Yeah, so a couple questions. What parks are being irrigated?

Okay so the this is a golf course considered a park?

Okay. So how about landscaping? What parks are being landscaping and which ones are we not landscaping?

When was the last time you were out there? At Boring Park?

So you saw the northeast side of the park with the weeds with the neighboring property? Yeah. Okay.

You know, it's a highly used park as a trailhead, and when I was there on Sunday, the parking lot was full. People were loading off their bikes and whatnot, and again, as a trailhead. So it does get a lot of use, and I know we made the investment to build the trails, and that's frankly part of the trail system. I assume, I don't know, but, you know, what role is, and I'm actually kind of raising this a little bit, with Metro, but what role does Metro play or can they play in any kind of future bonding to help pay for the facilities that they keep on acquiring and having us build, right? I mean

Well, let me ask the question a little bit differently because I think you were close to answering my question, but I'm not sure you got there. And that is that, so who maintains the spring water trail in Clackamas County? Whose responsibility is that?

Do we see any remuneration for the city of Portland or we just we just have an agreement to maintain it?

Okay. So going back to when you were presenting at the boring CPO, you mentioned that there was a hiccup or a sprinkler system problem that needed to be remedied. Was that remedied?

um, just, I know I'm, I'm advocating for this. This is in my backyard. Right. And, uh, I, I feel for these people is that I, you know, what I do around my house, uh, once a year typically is like a cleanup crew. Like you just bring everybody in and get it all done. And just that show of goodwill for just, you can transform it in a day. All the shrubs can get cut. You can get the grass cut. You can take care of the weeds. You can do all this. And just, I know it's, an awful time of year to do it because it's so hot and dry out right now. But it would be so nice if we could go in and show them t

So I can't, Commissioner Helm, thank you for mentioning January. I wasn't sure what month it was, but it was a long time ago. And I think I left the room and others did too with the feeling that it would be something that has to be remedied in a reasonable amount of time. And it's, you know, it'll be a year just in a matter of months. And, you know, the season has passed for any kind of irrigation. So I, you know, what is it? Maybe you can sit down with me and show me what it is and I can get some volunteers and get out there and fix it. I, you know, I'll find a way.

So just to cap this off, the golf course is irrigated, correct? And there's a sprinkler system. All that irrigation system is in place, right? And we have somebody who maintains that today, right?

Okay. So we have the resources. I guess we have the expertise. I just can't imagine why this park was neglected. Sorry.

I just don't think that characterization is fair. I mean, I don't think that we, you know, when we walk away from a meeting thinking it's going to be taken care of and staff from the Parks Department says it'll be taken care of and it's not taken care of. I mean, we find out later. I don't think that it was proper for us in January to come back here and say, by the way, you got three votes. Go fix it. I don't think, I think there's quite a bit of room in between. And again, the fact that I learned about it this late and it's created that much friction with the community, it's, I don't know.

Well, if it's going to take a motion to get it done, I move that we clean up Boring Trailhead Park.

Well, I don't remember what month it was, but Mr. Bates was here a number of months ago bringing forward the same issue. So it's not like it hasn't been on the radar since January. We have heard from the boarding community and it's still not been addressed. True, true, but they're the ones coming forward, so.

It is a different park than all the rest of our parks. I understand that.

I just think there's an obligation that the Water District, on behalf of the community, waive fees or reduce fees in the... guise of maintaining and irrigating the park, and we had a hiccup with something mechanical, the system, it seems that we are not fulfilling our end of the deal, right? And now the park has gone to brown, it's dead, right? The grass is dead for now. It'll come back with rainfall, but the weeds and everything else are out of control. And so, you know, I think we need a fulfill our end of that deal, whether we look at it that way or not, I do. I look at it that way. They ma

Yes, we all want it fixed. What is the... What is the man hours or the scope of the job for you right now if we prioritize that? What do you see the impact and practicality being for your department?

Do you have the bandwidth or the expertise to fix it?

So you have the knowledge and the skill set to get the job done. Yeah. In your assessment, can you tell us whether or not this is the best way to irrigate this or this is going to be an ongoing problem of breakage and equipment or infrastructure not working right?

So would we ever, I mean, maybe we should consider gardenscaping in a way that doesn't require gas or heavy irrigation. There's many things you can do for beautiful outside landscaping that is going to really reduce the use of the water if it's going to be a constant repair problem, if it's going to be wasteful because of just the makeup of the topography and the soil. And, you know, are there plants that are drought resistant that aren't weeds? Is there hardscaping that can be done? different things that we can do. Is it more effective to put turf down that looks like grass, right? But that's

It's not cheap, but I can tell you a lot of suburban neighborhoods don't want to mow their lawn anymore, and they have very beautiful backyards, and they put turf in now. And guess what? It's dog-friendly, pet-friendly now. It is. If it's done right. If it's done right. Sorry. But you know, it can be quite fantastic. I don't think it's the solution, but there are ideas out there and innovations that we should look at.

Yeah, and I think, you know, my concern comes down to, and you briefly touched on it, is bandwidth. And usually, you know, When you take something new on, something else has to come off the end, unless we're adding staff. And I recognize that. Second component or concern I have is budgetarily, right? How much is it going to cost for the water? And I do know a lot of parks that they mow it and get it all nice and trimmed up, but they don't water during the summer for that very reason. So I do see that you can come in and just as Commissioner Helm said, you know, get it all cleaned up, mowed and

It's not all turf. And I will say, I have ornamental shrubs around my house. But I let my grass go brown in the summertime. It's like the amount of water it would take to keep it green and the amount of fertilizer to keep it green. I want my shrubs green. I want my trees green. I want my flowers to be bloomed. But the grass can go brown. So there's a trade-off, right? Could you just paint the grass green? You could do that, too. Some people do that.

You can paint the brown grass green. There's special paint for it. Let's get creative.

All right. So moving forward, I guess trying to figure out if you feel like we need a motion or... No. Okay. All right. So then I think we have clear direction.

Yeah, after our last library discussion that was convened here, We made a motion to, and it was approved by the board, to act and convene a meeting, whether it be C4 or something like, I think I used those very words, or something like C4. I have contacted a number of the mayors, and I heard that they felt that that myself and perhaps Commissioner Schroeder in because we have been pretty well the point people on libraries and I know that Commissioner Schroeder is pretty passionate about this as well essentially help be the conveners for this meeting and the mayor's expressed interest in that a

All right. The final item today is Commissioner Communications. So I would ask each one of you. I got somewhere to be.

Love all of you. Did you have something to share?

I have frustration, but I'll leave it there. Very frustrating couple weeks. Do we need to listen? We'll listen.

We've got a few minutes. I just hope we can work together. And I know for the most part we do. We work together pretty good as a team. But I just think right now that when the board makes a decision... and sometimes one of us doesn't like it, maybe we're one of the boats that didn't support it, that we don't take efforts to undermine it. I was asked about the recovery center And actually, a couple days ago, about one time when a former commissioner was at one of the public meetings and was turning the crowd against the board and taking the side of one upset neighbor about the recovery center a

All right. Any comments? All right. Thank you for all for joining us this afternoon and have a great day.