Remarks by Ben West
103 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 5
- Play at 28:50
“Yes. Yes. Terrific. This is really exciting, Mary. Great presentation. In 2023, the Board of County Commissioners made a bold step and we implemented a recovery-oriented system of care. Anybody can go to the website and they can see what a recovery-oriented system of care looks like in Clackamas County. They can find the original resolution that we passed to make sure that our interventions as a county fit this policy prescription. And over the last few years, we have been wildly successful. And for those in the public that are new to understanding what a recovery-oriented system of care is,…”
Board of County Commissioners · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:22:35
“Thank you, Chair. Sorry I cannot be there today, but I am grateful to be here in the meeting virtually. 9 11 is uh always a difficult time of year for me and some of my friends i had a high school buddy a friend of mine in my younger years who was in the second plane that hit the second tower um and every year we we take time to remember eric um and so it's very sombering and you know my son and many young people today don't have that same familiarity about what that event was like and how it not just rocked the entire country and galvanized us together in a very unified way, but it really…”
Board of County Commissioners · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 11:32
“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,…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 18:03
“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?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 33:12
“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?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 34:32
“So it's a built-in tax advantage for the capital improvement?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 34:54
“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…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 40:57
“Okay. Okay. That answers my question. Thank you.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 41:59
“Yeah. What's the structure in which they're repaid? So are these, they're municipal bonds, right?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 42:05
“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.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 42:38
“Okay. So they're not general obligation or revenue? No. Are they revenue?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 42:58
“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?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 43:11
“No. Okay. Okay. Thank you for helping me understand. No, it's been a quiz.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 44:52
“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?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 45:10
“This type of bond. But we're not doing any hospital beds or care beds within this development?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 45:29
“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?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 46:26
“Thank you. Intuitively, I would have assumed housing authority, but okay. Yeah.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 47:26
“Chair, I move that we authorize the insurance of tax-exempt revenue bonds by Willamette View.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 47:40
“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.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 57:54
“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?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 58:05
“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.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 1:04:39
“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.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 1:04:55
“Several years, yeah. What was the competitive bid process like and did we get a number of other players that bid for that contract?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 1:11:15
“Chair, I move that we approve the consent agenda for service district number five as read. Second.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 1:20:22
“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…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 13, 2026