Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

the meeting. Okay. Now, we'll open up the public portion of the meeting. And uh first person, we'll call it Brandon Slider. Did I pronounce your name right, Brandon?

Yeah. Yeah. Good evening, budget committee. Thank you for being here today. I understand it's been a long day uh for you. Uh my name is Brandon Slider. I'm a resident of Newberg, uh founder of nonprofit connect Newberg. Uh we're a nonprofit community-led acting as kind of a logistical bridge between Newberg's sister cities of Asago, Japan, and Potorrf, Austria. Um, personally I have over a decade of experience in international logistics, years teaching ESL and uh, also just working with disaster relief in Japan. And so I kind of understand how these international connections can really relate to local opportunities. Um, recently I've been volunteering my time at Shahalen Valley Middle School to teach Japanese to some of the traveling students headed to our sister city this May. And I've also provided them with some fun Japanese books and materials out of my own pocket because I understand that it's not just about traveling. It's about kind of the experience and hopefully it'll create a spark for these kids to want to study the language or get involved in the culture. Um this September we're also leading a delegation to Austria including our Newberg mayor, a lead teacher from Mountain View Middle School and an incoming Mountain View Middle School student. And our primary goal uh is to strengthen our diplomatic ties. Um with the school in particular, we're hoping to set up an exchange program between Mountain View Middle School and um Potof Middle School, which I unfortunately can't pronounce because I can't speak German. Um so that both middle schools have these really cool exchange programs. Um, recently I even have met with the Austrian ambassador to the United States and the honorary consouncil of Austria and Portland and they both identified uh really these amazing opportunities for the youth in our in our area, how they

can not only travel and experience the culture but um potential work studies and trade training. Uh, for example, I don't know if you're aware, um, I know some of you are really, uh, adept at machining, but for instance, aluminum welding is a bit of a high skill um, job that's high demand, difficult to find in the area for what I've been told. Um, but Austria is they've kind of spearheaded that technology and that trade. So the ambassador brought up the potential, you know, of taking some of our youth over to Austria to learn that trade, bringing jobs back to Yamhill County. Um, and obviously Japanese manufacturing and Austrian engineering, they're just two of the highest uh standards in their field in the world. So Newberg's international connections offer potential for language and culture, um, trade skills. Obviously we have the wine industry connection in the Shahalen Valley and Poisorf's wine industry is very strong as well. Um so we are a startup nonprofit. Uh we have some foundation foundational support of community members uh who believe in our mission. Um but we're looking for a foundational partner with the county. Um we're asking for $5,000 which could be used for student scholarships to send our students to these different exchange program cities. uh to provide textbooks and learning materials for those interested in learning Japanese and German. Um I have long-term goals of providing vouchers for delegates that visit us in Newberg so they can purchase locally in our shops in town or even really anywhere within the county that wants to join in on the program. And also delegate support for our upcoming trip. I hope that we can bring some good gifts to our uh friends over in Austria and make sure that we're good stewards of that relationship. So, I'm asking the county if they're willing to join the community

in making this professional bridge a reality. Um, if we don't build the infrastructure now, we can lose those connections. Um, I provided a summary for each of you on kind of the grant proposal and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Otherwise, thank you for your time. Thank you, Brandon. Thank you. Thank you, Brandon.

Okay. Um, the next person is Jordan Robertson and some of my friends and crew and a few friends and crew. All right. Hello. Good long day for you guys. Um, I just want to thank everybody here for having us today. And I also just really want to thank you for the role that you play in our county and all that you guys do and your role. Um, and that just personally from my heart to each of you. Appreciate you. Um, I'm Kathy Anne Meyer. I am the interventions for safe families program manager over at Lutheran Community Services. Um, and we have one of our programs is a church-based alternative to the state raising our children in the foster care system ultimately. And first I'm going to let me just like um give you this information. Our ask is a little bit different today than what I'm used to asking for. So I just want to make sure that I'm really clear in our ask and what I'm presenting. So um anyhow just our interventions case management and safe families for children is not only a child welfare prevention program. It is also an economic stability strategy by strengthening families at moments of crisis which we do a lot. Preserving parents ability to work and keeping children on stable education paths. LCSNW is helping to build a more resilient workforce and a healthier community. Investing in this model means investing in long-term economic vitality, reduce public system cost, and the well-being of Yamhill Countyy's families for generations to come. I'm going to hand it. Hello, my name is Jessica Kirkland and I am a family coach supervisor and

community outreach coordinator for Safe Families. Um, I have the privilege of reading a story to you. This is um an example of one of the many families that I have the honor of walking alongside through this journey. Katie's alarm used to go off before sunrise so she could make the drive from her home in Yamh Hill County to her job in Toalatin. It was steady work, honest work, and she was proud of it. She was training to become a professional dog groomer. She was building something and then everything unraveled. Katie's long struggle with alcohol came to a head, and she lost her ability to drive, eventually facing a 15-year suspension. For a working parent of four in a county where transportation often determined stability, it could have been the end of her employment altogether. And I just want to say, I have four children at home and I know the obstacle that it is the to balance both being a mom and um holding a career. And it's a huge obstacle just in itself. For months, she pieced together rides just to keep her job. Every shift required coordination, favors, and uncertainty. The stress mounted, and the risk of losing everything, her income, her housing, her children's stability was real. This is where Lutheran Community Services Northwest DMill stepped in. Through safe through the safe families program, Katie was connected to a volunteer host family who cared for her children during some of her own some of her most unstable moments, ensuring they were safe and supported. At the same time, her LCS interventions case manager Stephanie walked alongside her, helping her take steady, practical steps forward. Together, they focused on one critical question, how to keep Katie working. They researched options, filled out applications side by side, and made the phone calls that can feel impossible when your confidence is gone. As Katie shared, when you don't feel like you have value, it's hard to even apply for a job. With support, she began to see that value again. Eventually, Katie completed her training and transitioned

into a dog grooming position for a locallyowned small family business that she could walk to in Newberg. With help securing the tools she needed, she was able to set step fully into that role. Today, Katie is working consistently. She is working every day on her sobriety, budgeting, saving, and even preparing to purchase a home right here in Yanhill County. Her children, who once faced disruption, have remained connected to school and surrounded by a consistent, caring community. Katie's story began long before this moment. She grew up experiencing homelessness and survived domestic violence as a young mother. Stability was never modeled for her. It has been built step by step with support and it is still fragile. As she says, "This will be a lifelong journey, but today it is a hopeful one. Through partnerships with local self-sufficiency programs, TANINF, ODHS, and Lutheran Community Services, Lutheran Community Services is able to step in at critical moments before job loss becomes long-term unemployment, and before family instability becomes something much harder to reverse. For Katie, that intervention didn't just change her circumstances. It stabilized her ability to work, preserved her family, and created a path forward. She puts it simply. Stephanie, my LCS case manager, saved my life more than once. For families like Katie's, workforce stability isn't just about a job. It's about it's about removing the barriers that make keeping a job possible and making sure a moment of crisis doesn't become a lifetime of instability. That's the work of LCS Northwest and Safe Families in Yamill County.

Um, just two points to highlight. Um, many of you have heard about Safe Families in the past. We've been in here before. For instance, there's two things that I want to highlight about the movement that are a little bit different today. First of all, you might have noticed we're talking about the program a little bit differently. Safe Families for Children is a child abuse prevention program um, keeping kids out of state custody, but we are highlighting another component of the program today, which is the economic stability. Um, you know, families are the the bedrock of our community, just like uh an important piece of infrastructure. They really are what our economy is built on. And safe families helps stabilize those families and as as was mentioned, prevent um long-term disruption. So, that's the first thing. And the second and um maybe more exciting um element is when we've asked for money in the past or when we've talked about our program in the past, the limitation um for serving families has really been the number of volunteers. That's been the limiting factor. So more more people are coming to us needing help than there are volunteers to serve them. Um that that has really changed over the last two years through a lot of hard work and a lot of communities stepping up. And right now we have um more volunteers than uh we have staff to support those volunteers. So the the Safe Families model limits the number of volunteers a staff member can support. So we're here today um asking for more of a uh family coach supervisor which supports those volunteers that have already stepped up in our community. So our our our movement is growing. Um, our ability to raise funds is growing, but this uh one-time request will help us bridge that gap to really get caught up to the volunteers who are have stood up and

want to help and help our fundraising get caught up to uh maintain the budget. Thank you. Before you go too far, um, do you have a handout or something? What's the specific request? 16,000. Yeah. Thank you. You got it. I didn't get one. Well, I have I'm just Thank you. Thank you. I I have one. I read it already.

Is there any Excuse me. Is there anyone else that hasn't uh had a chance to sign a a request? How about online?

No. And chair um hearing and seeing that we don't have any more comments. I did want to acknowledge that we did get some written requests also that normal I'll just add these. They're in your binder under community requests. Um, and I just want to recognize that we usually, you know, acknowledge these as part of this hearing. Uh, the first one is going to be from CASA, um, uh, courtappointed special advocates. They have a request and it's related to continuation of the $6,000 that they've received in the past. So, that's in there and it'll be on your deliberation list for Wednesday. The other one is there's a request from uh Yaml County Aries um uh which is the amateur radio that does a lot of work with emergency management and search and rescue. They also have a request uh for power equipment for their travel trailer for $1,648. And then the last one that was just handed to me, thank you. Because it wasn't in my binder, is also from Enrech. um for uh OSU Oregon State University um the North Wame Research and Extension Service. Um and they are asking for

10,000. I'd like to request $10,000 in economic development funds. Sorry, in the second to last and I'll update that. I'll I'll read through this. I don't see that last one. Yeah, I don't either. I don't have it either. No. No. Where's the Oh, that guy. It's not in there. I didn't have it in my binder yet. I think I will make sure you have a copy of all these requests. Um, got it. Yeah.

Anything else, Finn? I'm double checking because it seems like we've had a lot of handouts going. I just want to double check one more time that I didn't miss any. Can you give um just the list of those again? ENRACK was 6500 10 grand. Oh, 10 grand. And again, I have this will be on the deliberation worksheet that I'll prepare in handout on Wednesday when we go into deliberations. I I will have all these plus the amounts that are, you know, being requested on the spreadsheet. Okay.

So, the ones that I just listed, CASA, it's in your binder, uh, Aries, uh, for 1648, and then ENREC for 10,000. What was what was Gas's total? 6,000. They're asking for any afterwards. Yeah. What was the increase? They did not. They just said uh requesting renewal of the county $6,000 funding allocation for the upcoming budget cycle.

That's what That's reading straight from the memo. It's It's in your binder. No, I know. But I Okay.

Okay. If there's no other input and we'll call a close to the meeting. Yeah. So, we'll close the hearing and deliberations are on Wednesday. Thank you very much for everybody who attended and gave comments. Just have a good evening.