2006-828-Minutes for Meeting June 19,2006 Recorded 8/22/2006FICIAL NANCYDESCHUBLANKENSHIPTES COUNTY CLERKS 1+u 2006'828
COMMISSIONERS' JOURNAL 08/22/2006 01;21;32 PM
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2006-828
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❑ { Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
1300 NW Wall St., Bend, OR 97701-1960
(541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org
MINUTES OF ADMINISTRATIVE LIAISON
DESC14UTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
MONDAY, JUNE 199 2006
Commissioners' Conference Room - Administration Building - 1300 NW Wall St., Bend
Present were Commissioners Dennis R. Luke, Bev Clarno and Michael M. Daly.
Also present were Mike Maier, County Administrator; Dave Kanner, newly hired
County Administrator; and, for a portion of the meeting, Susan Ross, Anna
Johnson and David Givans, Commissioners' Office. Also present was Erik Lukens
of The Bulletin. No other citizens were present.
The meeting began at 1: 30 p.m. Mike Maier provided an overview of the purpose
and structure of the Administrative Liaison.
1. Discussion of Commissioner Clarno's Recent Trip to Washington, D.C.
Commissioner Clarno gave an overview of the discussions she had with various
federal representatives in Washington, D.C., including those regarding funding
for roads, veterans' services, health services and other programs. (A copy of her
report is attached as Exhibit A.)
She emphasized that because of the uncertainty of continued funding, the
County must decide how to deal with a possible revenue loss.
2. Communications Update.
Anna Johnson gave an update on the newsletter program and Department
"report cards". The budget newsletter was distributed today.
Mike Maier explained the "Inside Deschutes County" program to Mr. Kanner.
These segments are produced in lieu of televised meetings. It is possible the
program will be on line at some point in the near future.
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, June 19, 2006
Page 1 of 2 Pages
3. Property and Project Update.
Susan Ross stated that the County is participating in the downtown Bend flag
project, which is handled by the Boy Scouts. Flags will be placed in front of
the Courthouse building.
Community Development will be moving into temporary facilities in Redmond
soon, as construction of the facility they are to occupy has been delayed. She is
trying to contract with the City to possibly develop a joint use building.
Ms. Ross brought a request for lottery grant funds before the Board regarding
La Pine Community Kitchen - operations. Each Commissioner granted $1,000.
Grant requests from the Historical Society and the Deschutes Children's
Foundation will be addressed at the June 26 meeting.
4. Discussion of Transition Plans/Issues.
Dave Kanner said that the issues the County is addressing are familiar; just the
process is different.
5. Other Items.
None were discussed.
The meeting adjourned at 2: 55 p.m.
DATED this 19th Day of June 2006 fzens utes County Board of
Commissioners.
ke, Chair
Bev Clarno, Vice Chai
ATTEST: Mi ael M. Daly, Co missioner
Recording Secretary
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, June 19, 2006
Page 2 of 2 Pages
June 12-15, 2006
Report regarding visit to various key individuals in
Congress to secure federal county payments:
Meetings:
Congressman Greg Walden & Brian MacDonald, Chief of Staff
Paul Unger, Counsel and Legislative Director to Senator
George Allen (R-VA). Paul is a good friend to Oregon and
keeps a close eye on legislative matters that affect his
native state. A native of Redmond, Paul was the Chief of
Staff for many years for former Congressman Bob Smith both
on his personal office staff and on the House Agriculture
Committee.
Chris Lyons, Legislative Assistant to Senator Ron Wyden (D-
WA). I was supposed to meet with the Senator, but he was
unable to meet at the time we had arranged.
Jay Sullivan, Jamison & Sullivan (Lobbyist for AOC). Jay is
a native Oregonian and grew up in Ontario. He has been in
Washington, D.C. for over 20 years and is close to the
natural resources/forestry issues in the Congress. Among
other senior posts in D.C. he's held in the past, he was a
senior staffer in the Department of the Interior under
Secretary Manuel Lujan, and his partner (Cy Jamison) was
the Director of the BLM under President George Herbert
Walker Bush.
Congressman Peter DeFazio and David Dreher, Legislative
Assistant
Doug Crandall, Staff Director, House Resources Subcommittee
on Forests & Forest Health. Doug is the Staff Director for
the Subcommittee Congressman Greg Walden chairs. Doug is a
native Oregonian, and is a key staff leader on all forestry
matters in the Congress. Doug was instrumental in assisting
Congressman Walden in swiftly passing the County Payments
reauthorization bill (HR 517) out of the Resources
Committee in June of 2005.
Bill Imbergamo, Professional Staff Member, House
Agriculture Committee. The jurisdiction over forestry
policy in the House spans two committees, with Agriculture
being one and Resources being the other. Bill is the lead
forestry staff member for the Agriculture Committee, where
the County Payments bill is currently pending in the House.
The Agriculture Committee is chaired by Congressman Bob
Goodlatte (R-VA) who works closely with Congressman Walden
on forestry matters.
Frank Gladics, Professional Staff Member, Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee. Frank is the principal
forestry staff member on the committee chaired by Senator
Pete Domenici (R-NM). Frank has an Oregon background as he
used to be the Executive Director of the Independent Forest
Products Association based in Portland (IFPA merged a few
years ago into the American Forest Resource Council in
Portland). Frank works closely with his counterparts in the
House, Doug Crandall and Bill Imbergamo.
Calli Daly, Deputy Legislative Director to Senator Larry
Craig (R-ID). Calli is the principal natural resource
staffer to Senator Craig. The Senator chairs the Senate
Energy & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands &
Forests, and is the sponsor of the Senate version of the
County Payments reauthorization bill (S. 267).
Senator Gordon Smith and his Legislative Assistant, Matt
Hill.
David Tenny, Deputy Under Secretary of Natural Resources &
Environment, United States Department of Agriculture.
David is the principal deputy to Under Secretary Mark Rey
and is one of the leading staff members for the Executive
Branch on the County Payments effort as well as related
forestry matters. Prior to being appointed by the
President, David was a senior staff member on forestry
matters in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served
under former Chairman Bob Smith when Bob chaired the House
Agriculture Committee.
Findings:
There is general optimism among the most involved lawmakers
and senior staff leading the County Payments
reauthorization and funding effort that the coming year
will be fully funded, although it's impossible to determine
at this point if full funding will occur. The primary
reason for this is not lack of strong commitment from the
leading Representatives and Senators, rather it's due to
undetermined revenue sources to fund the program. Thus,
while advocates are working hard to fully fund the
reauthorization through 2013, the multi-billion dollar
"price tag" simply doesn't have a revenue source at this
point so both short-term and long-term funding sources are
being pursued. The funding means is quite complicated as,
in layman's terms, the revenue must be "new money" - so it
must be a source that is not currently utilized or relied
upon by another federal funding recipient, or funding must
have an offset (cutting payment from one federal recipient
to reallocate it to another, in this case County Payments).
Neither route is easy as the current timing finds the
federal government without a budget surplus, unlike the
surplus situation when the Act was last reauthorized and
funded.
The concern about the specifics advanced in the President's
budget proposal is minimal since, as most of Congress
notes, the President's budget is merely a requested
blueprint and once proposed, the will of the Congress takes
over and priorities and requested funding changes. The
fact that President Bush acknowledged the County Payments
program and need for some funding is a positive
advancement, leading Members and staff acknowledge. By
comparison for those concerned about the lack of full-
funding in President Bush's budget, during the last
authorization and funding round President Clinton didn't
advocate a single dollar for County Payments despite strong
urging to support the program in the Congress - and the
Congress still fully funded it and disregarded Clinton's
lack of support.
In addition on the "concern" front, while the House
Resources Committee approved the County Payments bill with
strong support last June, the joint committee of
jurisdiction, the Ag Committee, has not yet acted on the
bill. While Chairman Goodlatte is a supporter of the
effort, it's key to understand that the technical process
requires that the program's funding be "scored" against the
Ag Committee's budget allocation. It's a technical issue,
but a critical one. The timing of this scoring reality is
less than ideal as the County Payments passage timeline
comes at the same time as the Farm Bill is being developed.
The Farm Bill reauthorizes all federal farm programs, which
are not inexpensive. Coupled together, the funding required
for the Farm Bill and County Payments produce a hefty
funding tab. This is one significant functional hurdle
facing the Ag Committee, and helps explain why they have
not yet acted on the bill. The jurisdiction for the bill
in the Senate is the Energy & Natural Resources Committee,
and no action has occurred in that committee yet either.
Senators Smith and Wyden both serve on this panel and are
working with Chairman Domenici (R-NM) to see action
scheduled on the bill. Note that Oregon receives
substantially more funds than New Mexico.
In addition to the lack of solid revenue sources at this
time, it's key for us to understand that Oregon receives
the significant majority of the county timber payment
receipts under the current formula (260M). County Payments,
while supported by a solid bipartisan list of
Representatives and Senators, are not a priority for many
eastern and urban legislators, and many believed this
program to be a short term and temporary fix during the
last reauthorization. While they are not necessarily
opposed to reauthorization, it may well come at the cost of
another priority to them if an offset is the means to fund
it. And considering that the eastern and urban votes in
the Congress are many, there certainly appears to be
thought given outside the Oregon congressional ranks that
something different than the status quo formula will be
needed to build a majority of support when the vote to fund
the program comes around. This is not a formal position by
any of the leading proponents outside the Oregon
delegation, but that sense appears clear as an option.
Another concern voiced was the issue of Title III monies
being inappropriately used by several counties. Without
Audits and other control measures, expenditures were
inappropriate.
In addition to many ideas for new revenue or achievable
offsets that are constantly being run out by County
Payments advocates in the Congress, in my meetings I
advocated for land in lieu of payments. Suggesting that
the Federal Government convey management of Federal Lands
f
to the States to manage for the replacement of lost federal
payments. A formula could be developed whereby the average
of timber receipts could be off set by an acreage of
federal lands to equal the amounts of county payments.
MESSAGE:
• The reauthorization, and primarily the full funding of
County Payments, is no easy task. The fact that the
federal government is in a deficit position rather
than a surplus like was the case during the last
authorization and funding period creates a much taller
hurdle to clear.
• Congressman Walden, who is leading the effort in the
House along with Congressman DeFazio (it is their bill
being pushed in the House), has noted this difficulty
openly for the past year. Together Greg and Peter have
turned over every possible funding stone in their
reach, and the fact that none of them "score"
sufficiently by the Office of Management & Budget and
Congressional Budget Office (as is required) at this
point reiterates the warning they've been issuing for
some time. That being said, they remain very
dedicated to finding the funding source and won't
discount any idea until they run it out entirely.
• While the Oregon county position has been advocated
well to our delegation, many other counties in other
states who rely on County Payments are apparently not
working their Members of Congress directly. So, our
effort is one of strength-in-numbers, and we're
reaching across state lines to ensure that every
recipient county meet directly with their
Representatives and Senators to get them formally on
board the reauthorization and funding need. One's
constituency, particularly their elected
constituencies, are the best advocates to spur
additional support in the Congress.
G
❑ Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960
(541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.oriz
ADMINISTRATIVE LIAISON AGENDA
DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
1:30 P.M., MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2006
1:30-1:45
1. Update on Washington, DC Visit - Bev Clarno
1.-45-2:00
2. Communications Update - Anna Johnson
2:00- 2:15
3. Project & Property Update - Susan Ross
2:15- 2:30
4. Request(s) for Economic Development Grant Funds - Susan Ross
■ La Pine Community Kitchen
2:30 - 2:45
5. Discussion of Transition Plans/Issues
2:45 - 3:00
6. Other Items