Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right. Good morning everybody. Sorry for the little bit of a delay and sorry to those online that didn't know what we were doing. Uh anyway, I open up this uh formal session of the board of commissioners at 1011 on April 16th and I'm going to ask uh Commissioner King to lead us in the Flex loop. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for that. Up next, we have our calendar session. Is there any changes? Nope. All right.

Budget, budget, budget. uh Dia's presentation and we have uh Gina Nichols uh joining us from the Association of Oregon Counties and she's going to come up and give just kind of a brief dialogue on our interaction with uh with AOC and what our membership dues go for. Good morning and welcome Gina. Good morning. It's good to be here.

Right. Hello. I'm Dr. Gina Nickel. I'm the executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties and I'm here today um as I usually come uh every year to uh every county and work with you during uh the interim. I want to thank uh each and every one of you um for the time that you spend uh in the Association of Oregon Counties. One of the things that we do and we must have each other's back on is uh local control and um local government uh and uh the committees uh that we have on the advocacy that we do and the education that we do to educate uh the public and also to educate the legislators in what works uh for county governments is um critical and I want to thank you for that. Uh there's a number of uh advocacy boards. Um the legislature has a lot of rural making uh boards that um are can be exciting and sometimes um not so exciting. Uh but it's important that we all serve on that and I want to thank each and every one of you for doing your part. We also do a county college for new county commissioners um every other year starting on January. It's pretty intensive. Uh but and thank you uh to all of you that um have attended those in the past. Um, we have a very very uh challenging 2027 legislative session coming up and it takes each and every one of us um uh to be there. Um, and AOC

is uh the group that helps tie all the counties together. um whether you agree on policy or not, one of the most important things that we have to educate and argue for is um doing things that our people elected us to do and that's local control. So, thank you.

Yep. And we appreciate it. Any questions uh for me? your your dues go to support um our uh legislative uh group, our advocacy. Um uh as as you know, 60% of our counties are um don't have other uh legislators that they hire and we uh do that together um for a a very cost-effective amount I I think. Um, but happy to answer any questions that anybody may have.

And for the county, some of the bigger ties to AOC would be our group effort for insurance purchasing. And so we're appreciative of uh

CIS that that's another service that we provide. Um in uh 19 uh 82 um we got together with the cities and created the um CIS which is a city county insurance uh company and we can provide insurance um to the cities and the counties together um at a more coste effective rate um and um as the executive director I'm one of the trustees so if anybody has any issues, please come to me so I can go straighten it out. Thank you. I just want to say thank you. Every year since I've been here, I've always, you know, looked at those dues when they come do and sticker shock and going, does it really pencil out for us? But knowing that we are not one in the position to be able to self-insure. There's that piece. So, we are tied to that. the advocacy that goes on. Um, I think the fact that we have so much buyin from all the commissioners, we might not like the outcome because everybody's got a vote and it might not be something we would agree to, but there's an awful lot that goes on during sessions in terms of the steering committees and their advocacy. I look at HHS and local government advisory committee, which thank you for making sure that got reconstituted and and all of that. But, um, thank you. And I know you've you've you've lived this. you've you've been especially with mental health, you've got an extremely um um intensive experience there. So, thanks for bringing that to all of the discussions that we have had and uh you you really are committed to this job. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. like you said, County College was a massive help for me and the support that I felt from your whole team and yourself and um learning about the just the little pieces and and uh but letting us also have the ability to pivot and go to the state and uh advocate against a bill and so on. It was uh it was a once in a-lifetime opportunity and the relationships that you build across there too was really great and I've learned a lot and how to advocate for Yhill County through AOC. So, thank you very much.

You bet. And you all have me on speed dial, so if you need anything, give me a call. Thank you. I can just tell you the most important thing that I saw last year for AOC was how uh GINA kept all of the counties and that is that is hard to do when you start getting into Multma, Washington County, Clackmus County, but all of the counties together for the CFFA contract that came through and that was that was phenomenal to see everybody stick together on that and uh end up coming to a great resolution on it. So, thank you for that. And what are the what you pay me for? Yes. Right. So, what are the six words that you're never supposed to say? is the first thing in county college. You know who I am? Yeah. Don't you know who I am? You're never supposed to say that. Exactly. Thank you, Gina.

Yeah. That work on the cappus was unprecedented because you had Multma County standing with the frontier counties, standing with the rural counties, and they all said, "No, this is the line and we're not crossing it." So, I've never seen that the whole time I've been here at AOC. Thanks. It was amazing. A lot of work, and it was worth it.

Thank you, Gina. Great. With that, we have our public comment. If you're in the audience, raise your hand. If you're online, raise your virtual hand. Seeing none. Okay, we're going to move on. F is department updates. There is none. G is a work session. There is none. Uh H is consent agenda. We have some minutes on there. I would move approval. Is there any further discussion? None. None. None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I.

Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. I is old business. I1 is consideration approval of an ordinance and findings in the matter of approving a comprehensive plan map amendment from agricultural/forestry large holding to commercial forestry and a zone change from exclusive farm use EF80 to forestry large holding F80 for tax lot number R452400702 and approving planning docket number P A-01-25 and declaring during emergency and setting setting the effective date and this was continued from March 26. I would make a motion to approve.

Yeah. Uh Chair Johnston, um for this we need to do the uh first and second reading. Um and um I'll do that by title only unless there's any objections. Objections. No objections.

Okay. Uh then we'll do the first reading. Um in the matter of approving a comprehensive plan map amendment from agriculture/forestry largeolding to commercial forestry and a zone change from exclusive farm use EF-80 to forestry large holding F-80 for tax lot number R452400702 and approving a planning docket number PAZ-1-25 and declaring an emergency and setting the effective date. Uh is there any discussion? No. No.

Okay. Now I'll do the second reading by title only in the matter of approving a comprehensive plan map amendment from agriculture/forestry largeolding to commercial forestry and a zone change from exclusive farm use EF-80 to forestry large holding F-80 for tax law number R452 400702 and approving planning docket number P A-01-25 5 and declaring an emergency and setting the effective date. Thank you very much. And do you do we have to declare the effective date or is that if we declare it as an emergency then it's today. Okay. So

all right motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. None. None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. J is other business. Uh J1 is consideration approval of a resolution in support of National Crime Victim's Rights Week, April 19th through the 25th, 2026. And we have our district attorney, Kate Lynch, joining us if you want to come up and give a short presentation and introduce your friends that you brought.

Morning. Thank you, Chair. Um good morning. I'm Commissioner Starret, Commissioner King. Um, I'm Kate Lynch, uh, district attorney, and with me today I have three of our, um, very dedicated, hardworking employees from our victim services division. Um, we have Khloe Bachmann, we have Gel Dea, and we have Liz Beth Moren. Good morning, Paul. Morning.

And I have just a few remarks regarding um, the proposed proclamation. Um, as uh as the board of commissioners know, uh, National Crime Victim's Rights Week is approaching. Um, this annual observance provides Yan Hill County with an opportunity to recognize victims of crime in our community, honor the professionals um, such as these uh, these folks who have joined me here today to honor them um, and to reaffirm our county's commitment to ensuring justice, compassion, and support for all victims. Uh this year's theme emphasizes the importance of strengthening community partnerships and elevating the voices of our survivors. As district attorney, I believe that issuing a county proclamation shows our shared dedication to these values and also helps to raise awareness in our community. I'm respectfully requesting that this board approve resolution 2604161 and issue a proclamation for National Crime Victim's Rights Week. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks everybody. We need approval. I would move motion. All right. Uh motion's been made. Is there any further discussion on this? Done. Thank you for your Yeah. Appreciate you guys coming uh today and and presenting that. And um I would call for a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. And the motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We should mention that the sheriff's office has a new uh comfort puppy in training that will help not only staff but uh but crime victims. Uh and he looks absolutely adorable. What's his name? Watson. Watson.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh J2 can discussion of the moderate income revolving loan program MIRL. Commissioner Starret.

Thank you. began discussions about this back in January. And uh just a little bit of of background, the moderate income revolving loan is aimed at basically boosting home ownership for moderate income Oregonians. That's between 80 and 12% AMI. So that's the whole purpose of this is to provide home ownership opportunities for folks of moderate income who couldn't afford to live in the cities that they work in perhaps. So part of the process of this is to work with the with the jurisdiction and to participate in a pro in the program. They have to have an IGA with a sponsoring county. So that's why we're here. I've had conversations with our tax collector and our assessor Derek Warf, spoken at length with uh Megan Ellson from OCS, Oregon Housing and Community Services. Had conversations with Gary Whiteill Bazook from ReMax. And so this is really most of a it's a private uh public partnership which is uh which is kind of something different and OCS has $50 million now. They're in the middle of rulemaking but what we want to do is see if the board has an appetite to go ahead and sign an IGA to allow Yamhill County to work with these other jurisdictions. I believe there are and we have uh Heather with us. Um Heather Richards, McMinnville Community Development Director, the Newberg community development director, Scott Seagull was unable to join us. Will Worthy was unable to join us. But we have a number of other folks here who would be able to answer some questions. We have Austin Sana we from OCS Austin Turner from the managing director for uh Adamston Holdings and again we've got Gary Whiteill Bazook who actually initiated these conversations back in January. So it might sound really complicated but we've done things like this in the past and I think this is something we might want to consider. What I would like is maybe to get a base coat from Megan from OCS and um and and whoever else who is here who feels like

they might be in the poll position to answer some questions. Is that Gary? Um and it's Austin. So Austin, if you want to join us up here and Megan, if you want to just give us a real quick thumbnail sketch because the board has the information in the packet and they've been able to look at some some of the basics of the the program. So, we'll maybe start out with um with Megan from OCS to tell us a little bit about the um the process of a jurisdiction getting involved uh with the county if we do sign an IGA. So, Megan Ellson is I believe up next. Hi. Uh can you all hear me? Yes, we can.

Awesome. Thank you so much uh for having us. Um and uh we appreciate you all being uh letting us be here to speak to you. Um as mentioned we provided uh kind of our baseline presentation for your review. Um so so as mentioned the uh moderate income revolving loan program um is a uh state uh funded program right now. Um and so what this would look like and kind of the role of the county um in this um is to be supportive partner for the cities as they do this. So both cities and counties are uh available to set up their own role programs. Um but for cities uh we do uh require that then an IGA be signed with OCS. Um and this is particularly in um their responsibility um and role to assist the counties with um the repayment process. So this is a revolving loan structure as mentioned. Uh we have uh of 75 million right now in the revolving loan fund. Um currently what will happen is that cities and count counties and cities that set up this program determine affordable housing projects that they would like to support with rural funding. This is a gap funding or gap financing um money that can be used for affordable housing up to 120% AMI. Um this is it can be home ownership, it can be rental. Um and then the cities uh would determine that they would like to support a project. Um they kind of are the primary driver or determiner of the project that they would like to support. If they provisionally approve a project, uh then that would be passed up to OCS for kind of a completeness review. We issue a zerointerest loan to the city and then the city would use that funding to allocate the Merurl dollars to a affordable housing project so that they

can um complete construction or conversion of non-residential properties into an affordable housing project. Um and then the loan repayment process can happen in either one of two routes. So um and this is kind of where the role of the county for the city would lie. So the first and kind of primary or historical route would be a um kind of a tiff structure. So um the property itself would receive a tax exemption and in lie of those property taxes the um taxpayer would be paying back uh a program fee which would go back to repay OCS's loan. Um the other option that is available to uh rural programs at the local level for repayment is that they may pledge an alternative funding source. Um this can be defined by the jurisdiction and agreed to by OCS um and can be very broad range of things um that would uh allow them to repay the loan and kind of an alternative option. They can pledge different funding. um they may issue a loan to the developer from the loan we issue and use those repayments kind of there's multiple options available um and so then those funds would be recycled back into the revolving loan fund itself. Uh the aim and purpose um as mentioned of this program is really to um give cities and counties some control over the types of affordable housing projects they seek to support. Um there's a lot of flexibility built in so that um cities and counties have uh you know a lot of determination around how they want to use this funds, how uh how they want to meet their housing needs in their community. Um and then it is kind of that revolving structure um that goes back to the um back to the pool. Um and so that's kind of a very big picture overview. the the role of the county when it comes to a

city's implementation of the program is to help facilitate um the tax exemption and the repayment process. And so that would be kind of the primary role of the of VM Hill County um as it relates to the cities um seeking to do this this program. Um I'll stop there. I know we have a few slides so um you know if we're happy to answer additional questions. So, I know there's a lot of folks here to to speak to more pieces, but um myself and Austin um are very available to to speak to any any of those components or answer clarifying questions.

The the key piece here is our uh our assessor and our tax collector, Derek Warf. So, my first question was what what is the workload? What does this mean? And is this something um that you would even entertain us considering? and and I do appreciate uh uh Derek spending a lot of time on digging through this and and it that's the key piece is can we do it?

Yeah, thank you Commissioner Shar. Yeah, we spent a lot of time on this when it was going through legislation. Uh the Senate bill initially introduced it and then amended in u 2025 for the application but and we worked with AOC closely on this too uh recognizing that could be adopted locally across the state. So um we were focused on administration and and how can we administer the program? What's our exposure in terms of labor time resources but also what happens if a loan program were to go apart were to fall apart and then it's in a collection and it's in a default or a foreclosure kind of thing. So um two different uh spaces we wanted to focus on. One is the upfront set up the program, get the IGAs in place, get the eligibility requirements and how to funnel applications through whether it was coming through the city or coming to our used to be our economic development officer um or whoever is playing that role. uh we wanted to make sure that the qualifications for eligibility and completeness of the application and you met all the requirements was done by somebody close to the to the business community or the city or the sponsoring body that was going to approve that application. So, um we have a role in there that we we put pieces in the agreement as to depending on how the funds are going to go out and how they're going to be repaid. We have a role to play in that. But once we establish the framework up front, maybe that takes a bit of time and effort and legal review and everything else, then we're on to that second phase, which is now the applications are getting approved and transactionally, how are we going to administer these? So that was the lens we were looking at when we uh originally were involved in testifying on this this Senate bill. Um, and so just a little little background. Um, right now Yamill County has 40 plus tax exemption programs. So, you know, we do

a lot of this kind of stuff. Some of it's very standard churches, schools, but after you get out of those basic exemptions, there's a lot of programs that we're administering. Um, we have 45,000 4,500 plus accounts that have a current tax exemption. Um the real market value of those properties is 2 and a.5 billion. The assessed value is 1.3 billion. So you know there's a lot of time and energy in our office around exemptions. So how does this stand out different? Well those 40 exemptions group into buckets. All the churches in a bucket, the schools are in a bucket that you know so on so forth. We manage those as mass property appraisal. We say all you know everybody looks the same does the same thing. These transactions are oneoff. So, similar to what we did for the SIP program or the RIT program, it's going to be a single application, a single property, and we're going to be administering that particular account. Um, this particular program got a lot of buzz around the first of the year. So, it's it's that kind of makes sense with your January um comment. We have talked at length amongst our association where's everybody at in the process and there are a significant number of counties. I can't say most because I'm not sure if it's it's halfway or not, but everyone's kind of looking into it right now. So, we're all we're in that space. There are three counties that have gone farther than we are to uh executing an IGA and starting the application process. Nobody has anything on the books that I'm aware of that's like in repayment yet. So, we have an idea of how we're going to do it. I feel comfortable we have the tools and the people to do it. Um, again, initially the the uh l of tax, the fee in lie of tax, whether it's a loan payment or the fees or how it's going to how it's going to pencil out, that's that doesn't scare me. We're going to be fine with that. What really gives me a pause and something I'd like to see either mocked up or worked out

and maybe our friends from OCS know, but u if the loan were to go bad, if you want to put it that way, what role does the county assessor play? Am I am I foreclosing on a property? Am I filing a lean? Am I filing, you know, how do we go about recouping? Um and I'm I haven't seen that mechanism yet. Um but other than that, you know, the the components of the program are are doable. Um I would say that when we start negotiating fees around the applications that I would ask for an earmarked component of that fee to be addressed or to be targeted for assessment and tax. Um we will be handholding, hand billing, collecting, distributing, repaying. We would do all that not only for our benefit as sponsor, but if it becomes a city issue, I would be doing it on their behalf. Um and we have a lot of unfunded activities already.

So is that are there are admin fees baked in? Maybe somebody from OCS, Megan or Austin are do you want to do we have admin fees but come on in. Come on up. Tell us who you are. Eric doesn't bite. You can sit next to him. Yeah.

I am Austin Turner with that. Thank you. Uh Commissioner Start. Yeah. Um, we would plan on uh including the cost of the administration um whether it's city, county, whoever plays a role in and getting the program together, getting our applications through, reviewed, consider consideration, getting all those things paid. We would figure out what that number is. We'd work together what that number is. Um, and we would have that paid uh through that through the through our loan or grant. So, we would include those those fees. Would that be a prepaid before we start or would it be a hey let's do this application county's out staff time and whatnot to be recouped when the process is approved. Um or just walk me through it.

Yeah, the idea would be to to find out what those costs are after after we've done it. It's all put in place. Everybody can say, "All right, we finished it. We're done. All right, here's what it here's what it costs." And before uh we are getting those dollars, we're cutting those dollars out to the assessor's office or the city's jurisdiction. And at that point, is there any time where it could go sideways to where we would be out dollars or was it by the time you get to that point, it's a guaranteed and we recoup our costs? Yeah, at that point um I imagine that um before things are set up um way before that we will probably work with just jurisdiction very closely to hammer out the the project itself. Right. Okay.

Um and then we develop a roadmap of when those fees would come in. But so before folks would have to do any of the work jurisdiction would approve a project whether it was our project or any developer. um that would have to happen before I think you're putting the boots forward to implementing everything because um as Megan said um this is kind of very project agnostic. This program is meant to um allow for uh jurisdictions to get really flexible and creative on and getting affordable units out the door whether they're affordable um uh for rental or home ownership. Um so it's really a case byase basis. Um and it'll be different um that leg work will probably be different for different projects. So we would hammer that out with its project specific plan um not only for the payment of of the administration um and implementing at the onset and then what that looks like um during the um affordability period or payback period. Yeah.

Thank you. And that's that's how I envisioned it. It'll be related to the trans to the to the project or the transaction if you want to call it that. There might be some upfront that we just put into it knowing that when the projects start coming through, we're going to recoup during that application or that project process. That's how I say it. Oh, Megan,

sorry. Yeah, thank you. I I I didn't want to interrupt any folks, anyone. Um, just circling back just for context. Um I didn't quite touch on this in my um uh beginning statements, but uh the for each project um both the sponsoring jurisdiction and the county tax office um will receive um as part of the loan an administrative um sum. So that's f equal to 5% of what the mer funding for the project would be for that would go to the sponsoring jurisdiction in that case the city and then 1% would be uh go to the county tax office or the county office um for the particular project. So that piece is already built in. I know you all were kind of talking separately from that but that is part of the um the loan that would also be um distributed from OCS. I just thought I'd add that that piece. Thank you.

Thank you. Is that enough? Um well 1%'s relative to the project number, right? Uh we'll see, you know, um I don't if it's a statewide pool of 75 million or 50 wherever it's at now.

U how many transactions materialize for Yamhill County, we'll we'll get there. U but the sunk cost of developing the program once we do that, we're just going to have to push some activity through it to recoup. That's the bottom line. So, um, if we're if the policy decision is to move forward with the opportunity for jurisdictions to offer this, um, I'm committed to doing our part to get that program stable and have a process and all the IGA's pencled in, um, with the hope that activity down the road would recoup the costs.

There are two projects in the works. Uh, Heather Gary, do you have something that's tenative that's pending our approval? But you have you have something in mind. Certainly. Yes. And that's in Newberg. Uh Newberg and McMinnville. Newberg and McMminville. So you have your eye on projects. Are you at liberty to discuss those? Yeah, I was going to say, can you give an example of which ones they are?

I can give you some round numbers. We're working with um some other jurisdictions as well that are not in Yhill County. Um but uh round and about um for our projects um for home ownership projects, we're really um we're m we're making them pencil when we're able to take out um a lot of the front forward acquisition costs and carriage costs um given the economic environment right now. Um and so we can we can determine a specific number very quickly um and provide that for both of those projects for consideration um for folks. Um but typically if we're generating um anywhere from 40 to 50 homeownership units um we're looking for a grant uh of about 1.5 upwards to 2 million to be able to take down the dirt um be able to carry it um get it through pre-development and uh leverage that uh grant through our construction financing. So 4050 home ownership units, million and a half and total uh loan proceeds or gap proceeds um to make the project pencil. Um that would be what we'd be looking at paying back over that um 10year is what our plan calls for is a is a maximum of 10 years that would be paid back through um annual fees collected. So

yeah, that's kind of a discussion, but it may be high here to you, but do you know if the if the vacant land held for future development for low-inccome housing exempt also during that period? No. Um, our model, thank you for asking that question. Our model is very different in that we're not leveraging uh a land trust on the land to to to play that, you know. So there will be no co-op. There will be no land trust for any property abatement. The objective is to incentivize the housing. There will be an abatement period, but ultimately those folks will be paying full boat revenue at the end of the the loan repayment period or or 10 years or shorter in some of our models. Um so no, okay,

it's full boat. So as a point of reference, like habitat when they acquire vacant land and hold it vacant for future low-inccome development, their property's exempt, that land's exempt. So that would sort of be stacking on this program, but it sounds like that's not little smoothness. Yeah. But you do have I want to push the issue because that's what kind of got me in involved here is you do have your eye on a property and a project in Newberg and in McMinnville. That's correct. Okay.

Yeah. Right. and those jurisdictions have expressed that um they really can't move forward unless they have um strong support and and maybe a a game plan for the IG to to come to get into place with the ML camp. Can you talk about either one of those projects at all? Are you at liberty to I could give details or

um Sure. I could I could speak to one in particular in McMinnville where um it's a a property that we're hoping to be able to acquire uh nestled within an established community already um that's very near an elementary school. Um, and we'd like to put in 35 to 40 units there of uh 1,400 on average square foot homes, threebedroom, three bath um with a garage, a parking spot, and homes that are designed to do the do our best to blend in with the community. So, we're not um building necessarily to density that's also stigmatizing for those folks living in the neighborhood and their neighbors. So, the idea is to build like and kind on on the project. Um, and if we had the opportunity to do that, our objective would be sell those homes um between $350 to $370,000. And those kind of homes go for upwards of $500,000 on average in home. So, um, we have a couple of those examples in Portland already. Um, the city of Portland awarded us about $2.8 million in a very similar way to build uh these kind of home ownership units as well. Um, so we're just, you know, looking at jurisdictions to rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, and get that kind of housing out for folks,

but not the skinny ones, right? Not the skinny ones you see on your way to Newberg. That's what Gary promised. So otherwise, it was like Yeah. Yeah. That's I mean, we're definitely We want to get We want to get the units in. We want to get the the density in there, but we also want people to be proud of their homes. Um, we want people to to be walking through the neighborhood, not be stigmatized that they're they're in that kind of housing. Um, which is unfortunately what we see a lot coming out the door with some affordable developers. The picture that's in your slideshow, does that represent kind of a a typical house that you guys build?

That's what we're doing right now. Um, ideally, we would um we'd be able to detach these. So, in Newberg, for instance, um we're working with a very prominent family there um with a a master planned area in Newberg where um you know, we want to build exactly what Polish is building across the street. Yeah. you know, um, and we can do that. So, you're seeing an example of, um, like in kind market rate to that style of town home that's in Portland and selling for much more, right,

than what we're selling them for. And these are all like these are all like and kind finishes. I mean, we can really put incredible energy efficiencies and build it just like a regular brand new home. These these big developers are are building and selling for a lot of money. if we're able to mitigate our carriage cost because it's so expensive these days, especially on the front end. Um, and just that cost of the land makes makes it work for our bank. Um, who sees that there's uh, you know, uh, there's some type of profit margin that goes along with the risk they're they're taking as well. Um, it's just not it's not a lot. Um, and that's where our mission is, you know, it's it's getting out. Yeah.

Yeah. What kind of time frame are you guys looking at needing this implemented by? Um, as soon as possible. Um, what that would give the ability uh for other other jurisdictions in Hyam Hill County, all of Yamhill County uh the ability to go after confidently their ordinance, share the pro share these programs, share project specifics with their city council folks, um, and get those bodies and get that energy going uh to passing an ordinance. Uh once that's complete, um we can get something submitted with the jurisdiction to OCS and start that review. Um and we let those land owners know it's coming down the pipe. Um and we just go from there. Cool. Thank you.

Uh Chair Johnson, there also is an extensive and comprehensive framework being passed around as the template. So there'd be some modifications, make it Yamh Hill ccentric, but uh the heavy lifting of contractual stuff is pretty much laid out. Okay. If we were to move forward. So the rule making is in process right now. Uh Megan, can you tell us with is there rulem going on right now? That was my understanding.

Uh yes. So the there is rulemakings happening right now. Um so as Merurl has evolved, we first started with uh we were the program itself opened with Senate Bill 1537 from the 2024 legislative session. In the 2025 legislative session, we had Senate Bill 48 which added that um additional uh pathway for repayment that I talked about that alternative funding source. We just uh those temporary rules are in place. So it is usable right now. Um the one additional key nuance to note here is that in this last short session, the 2026 short session, House Bill 4037, um made some additional slight tweaks to uh kind of all those changes that happened with 48 to make it a little bit more manageable and usable. Um those are just now being reviewed to do rulemakings, but um the 48 changes that happened uh Senate Bill 48, those are in effect uh right now. Um and I will just note um as well for for this uh from OCS's perspective, you know, we understand there's there's a lot of local processes that happen in communication that would happen in coordination between the cities and the counties. Um just so folks know from OCS's perspective, um how a city and county or city and technically a county could um implement the program is the city itself passes an ordinance. um they would let let us know notify us with this ordinance. We would then issue an IGA with the county. Um so the the IGA from OCS which we have templates for would go uh between the county and OCS and then once that's in place we can issue a master agreement with the city so they can open their mural program. Again, that doesn't limit other agreements that need to happen or conversations or anything like that or contracts between the city and the county to discuss the process, but just from the OCS um side, that's what uh we

will be looking for for the city to kind of set this up and then move forward with an active Mural program. Um just thought I'd add that that piece in there. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Anything further? Anybody else? Heather or Mayor Malcolmson, do you guys have any um thing you would like to add just from your cities? Heather Mike.

Um thank you. Uh I think I what I would add is I ditto Derek's remarks. So we're talking about it at the city. It's been on our list of tools for affordable housing projects when the first Senate bill passed. So, we've been looking at that. Uh, we have a variety of other tools that we're in the process of propping up right now and uh brought our list of tools to the city council and this did not make the sort of cut for the immediate programs that we wanted to set up because we were aware of what was happening at the state in terms of the discussions being tweaked a little bit. Um, but if there's interest in moving this forward, I'm happy to bring this to city council for discussion and vetting it. We would look at the same things. What's the cost of administration? administration would be propping up a program um and then managing the program and obviously the risk and liability to the city in terms of the um defaulting on the the loan or the grant agreement. So, uh but the first step when Gary and Austin met with me and I'm aware of the project they're talking about um and very supportive uh home ownership opportunities that are affordable in McMinnville are very difficult to come by. It's very difficult to get those projects off the ground. We've been successful with rental properties in the affordable housing program for 80% AMI or less, but the 80% to 120% is really the missing niche right now that we're not seeing that housing built in the community. And then if it is built, it's not built at an affordable rate really uh when for it to um go into the market. So, it is it is a housing product that we're definitely looking for right now. We were interested if the county was interested first to start pursuing the the city work.

Cool. All right. Sure. Come on down.

Hillary Malcolmson, mayor of Lafayette. Um, sorry, you caught me off guard and then afterwards I thought, um, just so you guys know, um, last week a bunch of us in the cities, we did meet for a few different things. Um part of it was wrap up to the big um permitting process that went collaborative online, but we were talking about our next steps as um a collaborative group of cities and um affordable housing is that topic that we're working on and really talking about we need to all engage together and learn from each other what works in one city, what doesn't work in another city. um something creative one city is doing such as Newberg shared about their SDC tiers and things like that. So I do know that there is we're not talking officially on behalf of you know all the cities but there appears to be appetite for something that could help I don't know bring us all together with projects. So, I think something like this that would be countywide would give us another resource as we all team up to try to one city if we can do affordable housing, but another's not working on it. It's not as strong if unless we're all working on it. So,

cool. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion on that? So, do we need direction uh to move forward uh consensus or what do you want? Well, I think at this point I don't think there's an agreement or anything that's for the board to take action on at this point. So, if it's whether or not there's consensus to proceed and and you know, if there's an or something to come forward, I think at that point the board would take formal action. Okay.

Thank One question would be what are the steps and who is going to be working on this and Derek's sort of my concern now because of the you know dumping this in in his lap and saying figure it out. I want to make sure that there's going to be some What would you expect the collaboration to look like with OCS obviously with your holdings company with the county? Will you get together and talk or will this be something that uh really who is the one who comes up with the can we use the template that's out there? I think Commissioner St's looking for support for us to have most of it done. Is that what you're asking for Derek?

It's a good question. I I think that the the what the first thing that Heather understands that we need to do and and what Megan has reiterated is we need the jurisdiction to move forward with with that ordinance with that kind of project under consideration. That'll keep Derek from spinning his wheels necessarily. Um he can do project specific work and and and and planning. Um, but it's it's really the jurisdictions that need to initiate that that movement with OCS and with have passed passing an ordinance before OCS is worried about the IGA with and correct me if I'm wrong, Megan, am I am I describing what you need what what what you need from jurisdictions for kind of that that work to trigger from uh the county?

Yeah, that a great flag. Yeah. So, uh, a lot of it, especially as the city is, um, the one initiating kind of their their local program. Um, as you mentioned, the the ordinance is kind of that first step. Um, and I I do want to plug, you know, uh, OCS, myself and Austin, who's here with me today. Our our full-time full-time job is Merl all the time. We're here to be supportive. We're here to answer questions and help cities kind of navigate these first steps. Um, you know, I think it's really really positive that you all are already having these conversations early in this this process. So, the county is involved. Um, and that that will help kind of take those first steps, but as you mentioned, um, it's it is the the passing of that ordinance. We do have a template ordinance on our website right now that folks are welcome to use. They definitely don't have to. Um, but if you're looking for something that uh has the language uh that you might want to use, um you're welcome to to to utilize that um as the city um to kind of take that first step. Um but again, we'd be happy to connect with with all the cities or or whoever um to talk about what that can look like, answer those individual questions.

Cool. All right. With that, if there's no nothing further, Yeah. Um, so, uh, excuse me. So, one of the things I'd be interested in before bringing this to city council is if there's county support for it because we won't be able to move forward if the county won't move forward with an IGA. That was the discussion I originally had with Austin and Gary. Um, the city council is going to be just as concerned about staff capacity and resources and putting a work session together for them also takes time to prop up. So today's conversation I think was to get in front of you and see if there's support from the county to pursue a program uh so that if we did move forward with one and put an ordinance together and put the program together and it comes to you for the which is the second step that there would be support for that on that second step.

Um so for me yes definitely and I actually look forward to this being implemented. Commissioner King. Yep. Commissioner St. So you just need consensus. We don't need to Okay. Yeah. Okay. But I think so ultimately the IGA would come to us. We're not saying anything now. We're not signing on the dotted line. We're saying there's consensus to explore it and that's that's what I'll share with city council. But if there wasn't that, I wouldn't even bring it forward to them. So appreciate that. Thank you. Yep. Thank you, Austin. Megan and other Austin.

All right. Cool. Sounds great. That brings us up to J3's consideration of submission of an application for the 2026-2027 Yamhill County Assessment Function Funding Assistance CAFA Grant application in the amount of 4,28,768. I would move approval. Is there any further discussion? Derek is here if you have any questions and he'd be more than happy to answer them. Not enough, is it? Well, up from last year though, right?

So, just quickly, the when when CAPA was adopted in the late 90s, early 2000s, it uh it provided for 35% of the assessor's budget. Um the funding mechanisms that go into Kappa that then get distributed through that grant program are delinquent interest and recording fees. They were never indexed. So those numbers are still the same numbers that have always sort of put into the pot. As expenses have gone up and that revenue, that grant revenue is what I call it to us has been consistent. We're now down to about 10% of our assessor's budget funded through CAFA. And over the last four long sessions and three short sessions, so I've seven years I've tried to um work with AOC and other partners to get CAFA reform through uh legislative change so that we can change the metrics if nothing else to index them so that they can sort of keep up but also putting more into the pot because the growth however you index it is not uh keeping up with the growth of uh expenses in general. So, um, we put in for 4 million. We hope to get 400,000. That 400,000 then gets split, uh, 80 90 85% of my office, 15% gets divvied up to admin, IT, um, other the clerk's office, etc. Everybody gets a little piece of what they submitted. So, um, yeah, it I've I've projected it flat from last year, Kit, to your or Commissioner Johnson, to your point, um, we were a little over the estimate last year, and I think honestly we might be at or a little low this year. So, it may just teeter out right at the same. Okay.

Until we see debt service availability come up, more housing, more turnover, more deeds, more recording, it's probably pretty stagnant. Okay. Okay. All right. Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. None. None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion passes. Thank you. Uh, let's see. J Force, consideration of approval of amendment number eight between Y County Health and Human Services and Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center in the amount of $65,000 per year for operating the Willamina Schoolbased Health Center retroactive to July 1, 2025. I would move approval. Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None.

None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. J5 is consideration approval of amendment number eight to the provider service agreement between Yamhill County Health and Human Services and the Yamhill County Community Care Organization retroactively effective January 1, 2026. I would move approval. Motion's been made. Any further discussion? None. None. Right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. J6 is consideration of approval of the contract amendment to the master subscription agreement between Yamill County and Relias Learning Board Order 17-288 increasing the annual amount to $70,149.13 for the period of August 1st, 2026 through July 31st, 2027. I'll move approval. Motion's been made. Any further discussion?

None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. J7 is consideration of approval of a memorandum of understanding between Yhill County Youth Services Center, YC YSC, and Pulk County Juvenile Department, PC PCJD, to participate in the YCSC's learn to earn program for the summer of 2026. I'd move approval. Motion's been made. Any further discussion?

None. None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. J8 is consideration of approval of an ordinance in the matter of amending the Yamhill County Clerk's Office and Surveyor filing fees code declaring an emergency and setting the effective date. Caleb. Yep. So, uh, yeah, just like the last one we did, um, if there's, uh, no objections, um, I'll perform the first and second reading by title only. You have no objection.

Um, and then if it's unanimous, we can declare an emergency and, um, it'll be effective today. So, okay. I will now perform the first reading by title only in the matter of amending the Yan Hill County Clerk's Office and surveyor filing fees code declaring an emergency and setting the effective date. Is there any discussion? Ma'am. Okay. We'll now perform the second reading by title only in the matter of amending the Yanhill County Clerk's Office and Surveyor filing fees code, declaring an emergency, and setting the effective date. Thank you very much. And with that, uh, do we have a motion already? So moved. So moved. Is there any further discussion? None.

None. Good. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All right. I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much.

Thank you for that, Caleb. And we are moving on to K. There is no public hearings today. L is announcements. Commissioner King. um AOC had a uh HHS and public safety um joint meeting conversation around the differences between aid and assist and civil commitment and emergency management. Um was really a great conversation. U our sheriff was there and Sam Elliott and Sheriff Hunter from Salem alongside with some of the um HHS side. forgot my notes on who they were. But um it was an interesting conversation and you know where it lands of the human dignity to practicality of how that works for the county. No decisions were made, but it's helpful just for down the road as we get into this long session in 2027. Um, so I appreciate the the the team putting that together for us to to be able to it helped me understand a bit more the differences. Uh, Saturday was Chameleia Fest in Newberg. It was a huge turnout for big five and 10k run and then festival afterwards. It's fun.

Did you buy a chameleia? Well, if you if you run, they give you one. Yeah. So, um, I didn't have time to to walk this year. I have gotten them in the past, though. They're they're pretty hearty. They are very They're a good They're They're not like a little whip. They're They're a good one.

Um A Boy Alumni Event. Um F Friday Friday or Saturday, I don't remember the days anymore. Um that's a a great organization if you guys haven't heard about them that, you know, helping farm workers find a path towards citizenship if they don't have one already. And then um alongside with education, further education to be able to move up into um either management or starting their own companies or um other areas of the farms they work on, whether that's wine- making or being management of nurseries or so on so forth. So English classes along with that as well. So really great organization. Outdoor Education Academy fundraiser, Nessa Hayes and Teresa Crane. Um they have about 3 to 5,000 kids go through their outdoor education alternative program every year. So they had a big fundraiser as well that I got to attend and it was a really big packed house at the Mesa Winery. Uh PCC meeting with additional elected stakeholders. We're making traction with the government affairs and just their regional person. Um and my next step is to start having conversations with some of the board meeting with some of the board members. um met with a group of seniors around tenant safety concerns um here in McMinnville uh hospitality launch at the Stellar Winery um with WAMIT workforce partnerships and uh it seemed like a really great conversation of mostly um hotels but I saw a couple of wine industry related folks as well um and that's really just seeing where the gaps are to help um understand how either somebody like Shemecka or others can can take uh hopefully they'll be able to distill down that information and see where they can help those gaps of education for the

hospitality industry. They've done it with truck driving and other areas in our region as well and for other industries. Um at the last city county dinner, the mayor of Willamina invited me to come to their city council. It's gone but uh I was able to attend. I'll let uh the chair give that update and uh the investment committee our investments seem to be doing okay sir.

Thank you. So the AOC HHS um public safety and veterans steering committee uh had a really really good conversation with Andrea Bell OCS on homelessness affordability and the emphasis again on locally led uh and diverse projects. We have a lot of them and I and I and I want to make sure that we're aware of the fact that we have many such programs here in Yamill County through housing authority, the shelters, the stratus because HHS has 10 units for serious and persistent mental uh illness uh clients of ours. And we've got rehab county properties through affordable housing corporation that we have been involved with. Community Homebuilders has had our support and also Habitat for Humanity USDA HUD type programs. Yamill County currently has two sites for adults and one housing site for youth that for for kids that need uh crisis respit. Also, we have a pack house here in Yamill County for those who need um 24-hour support uh for folks who are really having a psychiatric crisis but don't rise to the level of hospitalization at the state hospital. We have a se seven unit crisis and respit supported housing site. We've got access to Rainbow Lodge and we have of course our TTRS homes and the Oxford House. The other discussion had to do with something that we have been talking about for many years and that is when our sheriff's deputies are required to transport a civil commitment patient uh who is not an inmate, has not committed a crime to the state hospital. For those who live in the far counties, we've got an 8-hour oneway ride. For instance, we had Sheriff uh Sheriff uh the Malier County Sheriff talking about the eight-hour trip. You've got somebody in your car who could be having a psychiatric crisis and no way to address that. So, we are not getting So, we're really not getting Medicaid funding for that. Our deputies don't have the bandwidth, nor should this be something

that's been dumped in their lap. Fortunately, our sheriff uh did attend and share some of his experiences. We had uh Sheriff Hunter from Marian County gave a great assessment of the costs associated with those types of transports. So what we're hoping for and AOC can get behind it and that would be legislation to address this to put a bill forward. Oregon um emergency management presented their legislative agenda. The other thing I want to point out is we did receive uh the Trump administration did approve the federal disaster declaration for the December 2025 um the atmospheric river uh damage. The damage was done mostly in Sheridan. So Sheridan will wind up working with the state to access those funds. They have received them but uh they will be uh they will be addressing this through the state. The other thing we've talked about and this started with conversations we had back in the summer with the uh rural health transformation program. So when the federal government reduced some programmatic elements and funding, they did uh offer uh large amounts of money for the rural health transformation program and we are included in that. So this is where you can go ahead and apply for certain projects regarding um healthy communities, prevention, resilience. And so we're basically uh project proposals are going to be accepted through the 26th and we also have a number of projects that have been um already prior to that awarded. I've had preliminary discussions on what will happen on Monday and that with our HHS director Lindseay Manford on the HHS budget. You're going to have the same questions hopefully and we can drill down on things like ending fund balance, general fund, how much general fund is going in, how much is Medicaid related, CCO, how much of these contracts and how many of them are flexible and how much of the uh for instance public health money that we're putting into general fund, how much of all of that can be uh can be

accessed in terms of flexibility. How could we move that money around? We had our local investment advisory committee meeting on Wednesday and our treasurer gave us uh an pretty much an an idea of what's going on at the county level, some of the the funds, the buy and holds. Uh they're trying to mitigate some risk, talked about the higher interest rates and um the uh ending balance in our third quarter. Uh income trends for um uh for some of the uh investments that we have. And then this week, a federal judge ruled that a state law that we have in Oregon, which is the Reproductive Health uh Equity Act uh is unconstitutional. Oregon Right to Life, brought suit because they would then be required to provide coverage for abortions. And anyone who knows Oregon Right to Life, their job is to save babies, not to provide access to uh terminating them. So, Planned Parenthood uh is upset. The governor said she's going to put all the uh energy she has and the attorney general's office to fighting this. So once again, we have pure distilled evil in the governor's office and I hope that uh this stands and that these organizations that are dedicated to life are not required to provide abortions to their employees. My rant is over.

Thank you very much. Uh last Thursday uh we did a site tour of the Sheridan Vet office uh that is empty right now to see if there's any partnership or connection between uh Sheridan and the county and the sheriff's office uh to see um if there can be a nexus with dog control um and or a substation for the sheriff out there. uh our next steps on that and that that we've really came to no uh concrete idea of what would be good. So the next step Ken's going to reach out to Preston to see what their idea is for a collaboration and we'll take steps from there. Um it is a very welllaidout facility. Um seems like there's plenty of room plenty of room to expand. There's five kennels in there now. Um the sheriff thought that uh based on layout and concrete floors that it could fairly be easily duplicated to have 10 kennels in there. Um there's outdoor space for uh outdoor kennels. So there's a lot of possibilities go into that. Uh again, nothing set in stone, but uh I think u lot of good ideas so far. Um I think biggest key is going to see what Preston has for ideas. uh Ryak uh we had a presentation from George Fox uh kids the engineering program like I've been talking about for months now uh it was very interesting I love to see the passion in them and I love to see the projects that they came up with for uh bicycle safety and uh possible bike paths and utilizing that fund uh 680 that we have that's potentially in another four years I'll have over a million dollars in it uh to go towards some form of a bicycle safety or pedestrian safety upgrade in the county. So, looking forward to that. It was a great presentation. Um, Lafayette had their city council meeting. Uh, just a couple bullet points on it. Uh, it sounds like they approved

the veterans uh, park completely or just the flag pole completely. And it sounds like you're going to land at about a 70ft flag pole. So, we'll see how that ends up going as it proceeds. Um, also they're transferring money from their uh reserves to pay off their Mac water and light debt four years early. So, congratulations on that. Uh, going to end up saving interest by doing that or um interest first. It's going to the budget. We were given we gave instruction to build the budget position for that. For that. Cool.

Um, it'll save interest. There's no prepaid bonus, but what it does is it removes it sunsets that um service fee for that was put on specifically for the Mac water and light debt to each resident. Ah, so your your users are going to save on the service fee then. Yeah. Nice. You got our next project, but we're paying it off early removes the debt and sets up us as strong as possible as we move into that fun office soon.

Yeah. All right. Thank you. Uh Tuesday, like Commissioner King said, uh they had Yam the first uh Yamh Hill County Hospitality launch U led by WMT Workforce Partnership. Uh very interesting. I I kind of like the setup on it where local leaders, local groups that are tied to possible decision- making that it would affect uh a businesses whether it's funding or regulation or whatever sat around the outside and listened to the inner horseshoe of businesses and what their biggest effects are right now in current time. It seemed the biggest ones were employment education. So hard to get uh employees coming in that can do math or even some complain that are having a hard time reading. So like just literally something as simple as just educated kids um was a huge uh priority to them. Another one was obviously the economy and struggles that they're having with tourism uh being drawn into our area and what's driving that. Um uh other things were just uh in general struggles I think with uh you know costs of whether it be uh energy, utilities, uh fuel, uh food, I just everything in general because it was really heavy into the kind of that hotel industry, restaurant industry. There was one uh group there, the charter uh company out of Grace Craze out of McManville. He was there. It seemed kind of odd, but again, he had a little bit of input with the table that I was standing at uh for marketing. Uh went through a lot of different scenarios that are available to them now. Uh what scenarios could be available to them. And so it was nice to just sit there and listen to what the struggles are kind of uh that are that

are there and now. Um but it was great. I I think they're going to have a survey to see if they want to continue that and see what the next levels of it look like. next week.

I thought it went great. Uh McMinnville uh city council meeting, they discussed uh their water potential rec center or pool bond uh putting it back on the ballot and at what financial level that they would put it on. They seem to land somewhere between 75 and 80 million if they did a new uh recreation center. And they also addressed that maybe they would look at just what the cost would be to renovate the existing facilities and then what that bond would look like if they did just that. So they're going to get values back uh from their city manager. Have a ballpark on the renovation?

No, they did a tour of quite a few different facilities around the state, new ones, renovated ones. Um and they did not come to a consensus on the renovated one on what the value would be. Uh but stay tuned on that. Um we had parks board meeting last night. I think the they were kind of finalizing uh who who and what committees uh we wanted to focus on. I think the most exciting one that's going to come out of that is what our parks look like in the future for sustainable funding. So are we talking campgrounds, RV parks? Can we utilize more of that uh state funding that comes in for campsites if we have more campsites? And what does that look like? So that that's going to be uh fun to watch that roll out over this year and see what those committees come up with on what our parks look like to really start feeding themselves sustainably uh funding wise. So that was a great meeting this morning. I had a parkway committee uh pretty much the same stuff. Discuss where we're at with phase 2A with construction. If you drive in that area, you can see that they got the steel beams in. and they're going to start laying the deck in the next two weeks. You'll see about 100 concrete trucks roll in at 4:00 a.m. and they're going to try to get that punched out before a lot of the traffic starts coming in there. Uh next meeting they're actually going to start discussing, give us an update on where we're at with right of way purchase for phase 2B, which goes from 99 Rex Hill down to the construction site that they're at now. Um we are going to be before um the transportation committee and it sounds like we are getting really close u to get funding to complete McDougall roundabout. So nothing again nothing's always 100% but this is the closest we've been in a long time with

internally within ODOT to get complete funding for McDougall. Um, also Lafayette and 18 not as close, but they are starting uh funding. They have funding to start engineer and drawings for that. There's no construction set yet. Uh, but again, considering where we've been at for the last year and a half having this conversation or even two years and almost like that roller coaster arrive. Yep, we're we're set for construction in 2027. Nope, now it's gone. Now we're back on for 2030. I feel great about the direction we're headed, especially when you're working with such a a big organization within the state. Um, but Lafayette 18 is going to be up next and I still like say I'm committed to all three of these projects, Newberg, Dundy, Bypass, McDougall, Lafayette 18 to make sure that we can uh get these over the finish line. Uh with that I have parks, not parks. We have fair board meeting tonight uh at 5:30 and I have no other announcements. So I would unless there's something else for the good of the order I will close her out at 11:23 and thank you all for sticking in there with us. Thank you.