Loading...
2022-411-Minutes for Meeting October 14,2022 Recorded 10/31/2022\)SES CD 1 �� G2 Recorded in Deschutes County C J2022.411 oBOARD OF Steve Dennison, County Clerk COMMISSIONERS Commissioners' Journal 10/31 /2022 2:05:05 PM 1300 NW Wall Street, Bend, Oregon c'? fJco�a IIIII�IIII'IIIIIItIIIIIII�II�I) (541) 388-6571 2022-411 FOR RECORDING STAMP ONLY DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 1:00 PM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022 HYBRID: IN -PERSON AND VIA ZOOM CONFERENCE CALL A hybrid legislative update meeting was held on Friday, October 14, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. via Zoom Virtual Meeting Platform and in the Allen Room of the Deschutes County Services Center for a weekly scheduled event during this 2022 Legislative Session. No representatives of the media were in attendance. This meeting was audio/video recorded and is accessible at www.deschutes.org/meetiDZs. Deschutes County Attendance: X Commissioner Patti Adair, Chair X Nick Lelack, County Administrator X Commissioner Anthony DeBone, Vice Chair X Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator X Commissioner Phil Chang X Whitney Hale, Deputy County Admin. David Givans, Internal Auditor X Robert Tintle, Chief Financial Officer David Doyle, Legal Counsel X Janice Garceau, Health Services Director X Chris Doty, Road Department Director Tom Kuhn, Public Health Program Mgr. Peter Gutowsky, Community Development Director X Kathleen Hinman, Human Resources Director (Zoom) Keith MacNamara, Veterans' Services Manager X Deevy Holcomb, Community Justice Director (Zoom) X Kristie Bollinger, Property Manager Dan Emerson, Budget Manager X Lee Randall, Facilities Director (Zoom) Chad Centola, Solid Waste Director Tim Brownell, Incoming Solid Waste Dir. X Geoff Hinds, Fair & Expo Director (Zoom) Joe Stutter, Interim County Forester X Sara Crosswhite, 9-1-1 Director (Zoom) X Steve Dennison, Clerk (Zoom) Scott Langton, Assessor John Hummel, District Attorney Stephen Gunnels, Chief Deputy District Attorney 2022 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2022 PAGE 1 OF 6 Joe Sadony, Information Technology X Angie Powers, BOCC Administrative Director Assistant X William Groves, Planning Manager X Kim Riley, Assistant Legal Counsel Introductions: Commissioner Adair called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. Whitney Hale, Deputy County Administrator, outlined that the purpose of this meeting was to gather feedback from the Board and departments about legislative issues that the Board has worked on in the past, and to have an initial discussion about potential legislative priorities for this year's session. Department Heads introduced themselves, followed by Doug Riggs and Iris Maria Chavez with Northwest Policy Advocates. NW Policy Advocates Update: Mr. Riggs gave a quick overview of the upcoming legislative session. He explained that this is a period of change, with a new Governor for the State of Oregon being sworn in at the first of the year. Regardless of who is elected Governor, it is expected that new agency directors will be appointed. The House and Senate races are also underway. A large portion of the capitol building in Salem is still closed, and 41 of the 90 members of congress will not observe the first day of the legislative session in -person. The learning curve will be high, with 20-25 new members who have never served before. Riggs suggested that departments focus on three to five top priorities. He spoke of the importance of collaboration and working with other coordinated groups, such as AOC or EDCO. Deschutes County's population continues to grow, which comes with unique challenges. Northwest Policy Advocates has ten clients in total, so they are able to focus on their clients and will make Deschutes County a top priority. Deschutes County Update: Chair Adair spoke about the continuing challenges of inflation to the residents of Deschutes County, with Oregon's high gas prices and grocery costs putting strains on families. Chris Doty, Road Department Director, spoke about his department's priorities. They have a stronger advocacy for infrastructure through AOC. A house bill doing away with the "Fund Exchange" is important to the Road Department. ODOT gets $40 million annually in grant block funds from the federal government, and through the Fund Exchange program, 2022 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2022 PAGE 2 OF 6 instead of giving federal dollars to local governments, it gets filtered through ODOT's financial process. This eliminates a lot of restrictions placed on federal funding. ODOT takes this federal money and filters it through their programs and gives city/county governments, state dollars. ODOT is not wanting to do Fund Exchange any longer and is trying to discontinue this program. HB 2017 should allow this fund exchange to take place but ODOT says they are not able to do so. The second bill Mr. Doty spoke of has to do with counties being prohibited from recovering fees from utilities. There are utilities that are coming through the state using county roads connecting data centers in Oregon to data centers in Washington. They like to utilize county roads for utility installation because they are lighter traveled. They are interested in instituting fee recovery from utilities that use County rights of way. They are going to try to recover some of these funds. Normal defensive bills: Tax on STCs, and an increase of 1 % to 5% for Bike Ped. Kristie Bollinger, Property Manager, is on the Oregon Board of Property Managers Association, an associate of AOC. She's interested in a bill that has died the past two years, which would change the allocation of the tax proposed revenue, and they're monitoring to see if it comes up again. The way the bill was written would be very difficult to implement for her department. Property Management is interested in anything that has to do with housing. Property management goals are related to County Commissioners' goals, and ways in which they can help with housing. Sara Crosswhite, 9-1-1 Director, shared that APCO Legislative Committee and the Government Relations Strategies work for all 9-1-1 centers in the state of Oregon, and they put together any bills that may affect 9-1-1 operations. A bill having to do with PERS is important to telecommunicators wishing to retire at 25 years of service without a percentage hit, similar to police and fire. Ms. Crosswhite is not aware of any additional bills affecting 9-1-1. She shared that staffing challenges continue to affect public safety, including 9-1-1. Eleven vacancies exist at 9-1-1, and they were just notified of another retirement. Kathleen Hinman, HR Director, spoke about her department's focus on compensation and employment. The Oregon Pay Equity Act and HB 4004 are followed, as they relate to employment compensation. Organized labor (the County has 7 different employee groups, 6 different unions) has lots to watch. 9-1-1 Operators being PERS-eligible at 25 years of service is also closely watched. The application of Law Enforcement processes, are followed. The County's unique self -insured benefit plan and on -site pharmacy, and how legislation may affect it, is a top priority. Oregon Paid Leave rule making for employers is also being monitored. Mr. Riggs said that the Pay Equity Act is front and center. Police and Fire are concerned about losing employees, as is Behavioral Health. Attracting and retaining employees has been challenging. Geoff Hinds, Fair & Expo Director, the Ag Education Bill HB3008 didn't make it to committee but may make its way back around. They track this closely. OFAA is looking to bring forward 2022 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2022 PAGE 3 OF 6 something similar to HB3173, which would trade a reduction in the percentage of funding received in exchange for a cap removal of lottery fund dollars to county fairs. This would benefit Deschutes County, but we do have one of the nicest facilities statewide. Many other fairgrounds are in dire need of updates, as buildings are not safe to occupy and unable to fully assist in emergency operations. They play a very important role in emergency response. Commissioner Chang expressed concern in where these lottery dollars would be taken away from (e.g. schools) in order to reallocate to the fairgrounds. He's not confident this tradeoff is necessarily worth supporting. Commissioner Adair has seen first-hand the need for repairs and updates to other fair facilities. Lee Randall, Facilities Director, shared that similar to the Road Department, they often play defense, particularly on bills pertaining to procurement. Project development for the courthouse expansion is important. Funding around courthouse expansion would be watched closely. Inflation is playing a challenging role in the initial estimate for courthouse expansion. Construction price increases have been experienced on the courthouse expansion, as well as other County projects. Mr. Riggs said that the legislature may look at construction inflation, and if the initial dollars allocated aren't enough to complete the project, whether the state provide these additional funds. Mr. Doty shared that one of their projects in Terrebonne was estimated at $30 million but will likely cost closer to $40 million. Will Groves, Planning Manager, was in attendance for Peter Gutosky, CDD Director. CDD monitors legislation associated with the State's land use system. One bill that they will be monitoring is the proposed removal of the limitation of short-term rentals in EFU zones. Abandoned vehicles and RVs, with the costs associated of removing these vehicles, is important. Homeless encampments, managing waste and the costs associated with clean- ups is important to the Community Development Departments. Congressman Bentz met with the head of the USFS and has made a commitment to come to Central Oregon to look at our challenges related to homeless camps. CDD is also interested in addressing difficulties with Goal 14 issues surrounding RV and Mobile Home parks. Commissioner Chang said that there will be a focus on affordable housing: not just apartments, but also mobile and manufactured home parks. Mr. Riggs added that giving local communities the ability to draft their own ordinances is important. Commissioner Adair spoke about ADUs, and how they relate to SB 762. Many ADUs that exist are not permitted, and the effect they have on defensible space and wildfire mitigation. Commissioner DeBone spoke about engagement with water resources. Deschutes County's Comprehensive Plan and how it relates to growth and available water resources. He is an advocate for agriculture. A new Plan Zone Amendment Change that was approved will include 72 new exempt wells. juniper removal mitigation efforts were highlighted by Mr. Riggs, a concern shared by Commissioner Adair. Commissioner DeBone spoke about private land that may have been misclassified/erroneously zoned in the past. Across party 2022 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2022 PAGE 4 OF 6 lines, Mr. Riggs shared that there is agreement in allowing for some flexibility and make the land use process less time consuming to allow for much needed additional housing. Commissioner Chang discussed safe parking sites outside of the UGB, to accommodate the need that is there. Janice Garceau, Health Director, spoke about her department's legislative priorities for behavioral health. On the Intellectual and Developmental Disability front, there is a proposed revamp of the IEP model and funding for it. For Behavioral Health, they are interested in additional funding for another residential facility and possible additional funding and expansion for CCBHC. They have also received information that OHA is putting forward a bill, that has yet to be seen, regarding a cost sharing penalty for each day that the County is unable to place individuals. This is a concern for the County. Lane County is also presenting a bill for indemnification for County's relating to the aid and assist population. There is a bill proposing a 988 Telecomm fee increase, which would help with funding for the call center and mobile crisis teams (MCAT). The County has had a mobile crisis team for nearly two decades, but will now be responding to some behavioral health crises in lieu of law enforcement with the receipt of one-time funding and an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Bend to expend the mobile crisis team. There is a possible funding bill specific for stabilization centers. The Deschutes Stabilization Center continues to be well -utilized. Audio quality was poor, recording secretary unable to hear her speaking. There is another bill relating to the administrative burdens and required documentation placed on behavioral health specialists, which are grossly disproportionate to medical providers. Kim Riley, Assistant Legal Counsel, said that Aid and Assist issues are important, and some type of immunity for counties and adequate funding if the state is going to place more of that responsibility onto counties. Audio difficulties, unable to hear Mr. Riggs' response. Per Mr. Riggs, the problem is that State agencies don't trust their county partners. Public Records reform and the potential monetary impacts associated with that reform were another concern of the Legal Department. Robert Tintle, Finance Director, spoke about the Finance Department's priorities are bills related to procurement, banking, and finance related matters. Mr. Tintle also reiterated concerns expressed by Mr. Randall regarding increased capital expenditures. Commissioner DeBone mentioned the courthouse expansion project increased cost due to inflation. Broadband expansion in Deschutes County, and a need for broadband infrastructure in areas within the county, was also a priority for Commissioner DeBone. Short-term rental pressures was another topic highlighted. Relating to electricity demands, Bend just went from winter -peaking (heating) to summer -peaking (cooling), Commissioner DeBone is interested in the possibility of a biomass plant located in Central Oregon. 2022 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2022 PAGE 5 OF 6 Commissioner Chang mentioned that current legislation allows larger population counties (e.g. Multnomah County) to use proceeds from the sale of tax foreclosed properties towards housing insecurity. He is supportive of reducing the population amount outlined in the current law to allow smaller population counties to utilize proceeds in a similar manner. Commissioner DeBone was not in support of this. Mr. Riggs: Measure 110 - How to get people to seek and accept drug treatment, and how to incentivize drug treatment. Deevy Holcomb, Community justice Director, shared that Parole Probation doesn't have any new bills to highlight. There has been a request for full funding based on the current biennium. They are maintaining a positive outlook on working with people in the criminal justice system, often with drug addiction. Nothing new to add on the juvenile justice side. A thinning and clearing project around Mt. Bachelor has a biomass project in the works. Biomass will be used to offset the resort's high propane usage. The County received information that this project was a selected recipient of grant funding that was applied for. The details of this funding is still unknown. Erik Kropp, Deputy District Administrator and Risk Manager, is interested in legislation related to workers' compensation presumptions which will expand to include PTSD in first responders, worker's compensation and anything related to risk management. Whitney Hale, Deputy District Administrator, spoke about scheduling logistics. Nick Lelack, County Administrator, didn't have anything additional to share from department managers who were unable to attend this meeting. He shared that Senator Findley will give a legislative update at next week's Wednesday Board of County Commissioners meeting, and welcomed everyone to attend in -person or via Zoom. Mr. Riggs suggested scheduling a meeting every other week during this legislative session. There is a revenue forecast coming in December. Bill tracking tools are available. Communication preferences: Contact Mr. Riggs via text message or email. Next Meeting: The next hybrid meeting is scheduled for the third week of November (14th through 18th maybe the 21 St ) Adjourn: Commissioner Adair adjourned the meeting at 3:24 p.m. Respectfully Submitted by: P_ RECORDING SECRETARY 2022 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2022 PAGE 6 OF 6