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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-27 Work Session Minutes Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org MINUTES OF WORK SESSION DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010 ___________________________ Present were Commissioners Dennis R. Luke, Alan Unger and Tammy Baney. Also present were Dave Kanner, County Administrator; Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator; Joe Stutler, County Forester; Tom Anderson and Peter Russell, Community Development Roger Olson, Road Department; Capt. Tim Edwards of the Sheriff’s Office; Hillary Borrud of The Bulletin; and seven other citizens, including Tiffany Telfer of Senator Telfer’s office. Chair Luke opened the meeting at 1:30 p.m. 1. Discussion of Weed Control Enforcement. Dave Kanner said the members of the Weed Board requested that the Weed Inspector be given some additional enforcement authority when a property owner does not comply with the County’s request to clear noxious weeds. He stated that the Board does not have to be given more authority. Under State statute it is a Class A violation to not control noxious weeds on property. The issue is that when the Board created the Weed District and authorized the District to do what it is doing, there was an understanding that voluntary compliance would be sought and no penalties would be assessed. However, this is not in writing but has been the general practice. The question is whether the Board wants the District to use all of the authority given by statute. The other question is, because it is a violation of a State statute and not a County ordinance, a citation has to be issued by a Deputy or by someone who has been designated to do so and has been deputized specifically for this purpose. Commissioner Luke stated that some of the biggest violators at the time were the Forest Service, the Park & Recreation District, the BLM and the City of Bend. Therefore, at that time, the idea was to educate and not necessarily to enforce. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 1 of 8 Pages Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 2 of 8 Pages Mr. Kanner added that the work of the Weed District and Weed Inspector does apply within the City since it is a State statute. Paul Stell of the Weed Board said that the City is revising Code in this regard, and they would be doing enforcement within the City. Capt. Tim Edwards stated that they do not want to be the weed police, but could deputize someone on the Weed Board. Commissioner Unger feels that there is a mid-ground before citing someone. Brenda Pace of the Weed Board passed out a summary sheet showing information on fifteen counties. Fourteen have a specific ordinance that allows them to enforce the law. Most of the cities have had to agree to allow the counties to do the enforcement for them. There is a process followed to get to compliance. When the notice is sent out, and the owners know it can be enforced, compliance was more common. Ten counties have never had to collect a fine. Deschutes County may have more problems because it is less agricultural than some others. The point is, there would be no additional labor. There would be some cost if it went to the Sheriff or the Courts, but that is outside of the Weed Board’s work. The difference in the wording of the letter makes all the difference. Roger Olson stated that problems are typically reported to the Road Department over the phone. Dan Sherwin makes the first call, and often people will comply at that time once they know what to do. Spring Olson of the Weed Control District said she deals with about 200 landowners a year. She spends time educating each one on the process. If the owner does not comply, there is nothing she can do about it. Cheryl Howard of the Weed Board started the Weed Pull event, which started out very small but has gone statewide a few years later. Over 1,000 people helped last year. At first the people who showed up did not know what to do. Since 2006, many volunteers are now very educated. Many of them are dealing with weeds on their own property or the neighbors’, but want to reach out to others who do not comply. Education is important but there needs to be enforcement potential to handle those that will not do anything about the problem. Many properties that became vacant were then overrun with noxious weeds. Realtors and developers were contacted to address this problem, and probably about 95% of the properties were appropriately handled. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 3 of 8 Pages A representative of Sunriver said they have had their own program in place since 2002. It started on a voluntary basis and went up from there. Knapweed was a big problem at the time. Joe Stutler added that there are issues with eradication through chemicals and herbicides. Other options are the use of fire and mechanical removal. There needs to be a plan in place. The consensus was that this problem that needs to be addressed. Mr. Blust said the recommendation is to endorse the procedures plan, giving them another tool to use. Commissioner Baney stated that if this is going to be considered a serious issue, they need to be enabled to address it. Mr. Pilliod said that perhaps the City of Bend wants to enact its own and have this go through Municipal Court. Redmond might want to do the same. It may be that in cases inside the cities, but perhaps there should be alternative officers who would like to have the authority in those municipalities may be able to get familiar with this thorough the Sheriff’s Office. Mr. Anderson will bring back a modified agreement and, in the meantime, Mr. Kanner will talk with City representatives. 2. Conference Call – Public Affairs Counsel regarding February Session. Mark Nelson and Erica Hagedorn of the Public Affairs Counsel, along with Representative Gene Whisnant, spoke with the Board via a conference call. ___________________________________ The two tax measures did pass (66 and 67), overwhelmingly in Multnomah County and some of the other big counties, which carried the measures for the State. ___________________________________ The revenue forecast is coming out in February. People feel it might be flat or down a bit from December. ___________________________________ The Senate has introduced two bills, the House has introduced one bill, and committees are introducing bills as well. Probably there will be about 200 bills introduced in the 30-day special session. The will have a hard time getting it done within 30 days. Bills can be printed and introduced on the first day. There is a tight time frame for all of this. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 4 of 8 Pages Representative Whisnant said that there are several bills he will be signing on, but will not introduce any himself unless they have to do with job creation or the economy. Things will have to move fast and some things could fall through the cracks. There will not be time for much discussion of each. ___________________________________ In regard to the ODOT Bridges Transportation Waiver – Tom Blust said that he supports the recommendation in the memo from the AOC. County has a good relationship with local entities on getting the dollars to where they do the best. Peter Russell said that local jurisdictions use different ways to measure trips. Primary trips can be computed in different ways, and the definitions in regard to land use and land use approvals are different. ___________________________________ In regard to destination resorts, Representative Whisnant said the task force adjourned, with minor changes. He added that Nick Lelack is doing a good job representing Deschutes County. Erica said that the only change of concern is the housing impact analysis. Representative Whisnant stated that the wording was changed and the task force accepted it. For resorts, it was changed to a proportionate share for impacts. ___________________________________ Regarding the surveyor being a non-partisan position, Commissioner Luke said that the County already did this several years ago. This is an adjustment. ___________________________________ Recreation landowner liability is being discussed because of a lawsuit against the State. It is not known how this affects the County; for instance, the Fair & Expo Center. Mr. Kanner said he thinks there is already protection for public entities; this is for private landowners. Commissioner Luke stated that he thought it was due to an injury on public land where they were charged a fee. ___________________________________ In regard to the Constitutional Amendment, it was felt that this probably will not go anywhere. ___________________________________ SB 1024, highway access standards, relates to approach road permitting. Peter Russell and Tom Blust have reviewed this, and some major concerns are being raised. This will need to be discussed at AOC. ___________________________________ Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 5 of 8 Pages Commissioner Baney asked about three other bills: 3601, 1057 and 1039, which were introduced by local representatives. She wanted to know how these could be tracked. Mr. Kanner said that he has asked about the greenhouse gas bill. It needs to go to a regular session and not done in a quick process. Representative Whisnant said he would work on this one, which needs more discussion. The Governor has already agreed that the base year should be 2005. ___________________________________ Representative Whisnant stated that he is working with Scott Johnson on the bill that addressed the distribution of funds. The new Director at the State, Mr. Harris, feels the distribution is for new funds only, but that is not right. He will meet with Mr. Harris and Dr. Goldberg to try to get this changed. They are already issuing new directives about distribution. He does not want to wait for a new census to do this. Commissioner Baney said that she is going to be on a conference call with Dr. Goldberg this week, so will try to learn more. ___________________________________ Commissioner Unger noted that there are a lot of legislative concepts being discussed. Some are interesting, especially in regard to the use of domestic wells. This may need more discussion in the future. ___________________________________ Tom Anderson said that the DSL indicated that they acquire land from BLM through the school fund trust. Some lot of record issues came up because of these conveyances, since parcels did not go through a local partition process. Therefore, they may not be legal lots. DSL has a placeholder bill to circumvent this lot of record issue, but it is supposed to be limited to parcels acquired by DSL under this fund. Tom Anderson said that this would come up as part of the County’s receipt of DSL land, or any federal land that is conveyed. ___________________________________ Commissioner Baney stated that she would like to be informed of anything relating to the Saturday market provisions for licensing temporary facilities. Erica said that the Department of Agriculture is looking at this, and a work group has been meeting to discuss it. Mr. Anderson added that he had some information on this issue. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 6 of 8 Pages 3. Presentation of Decennial Census. Gary Ollerenshaw of the U.S. Census Bureau provided some history on the Census, which started in 1790. The Constitution requires this, and has nothing to do with who is in political office at the time. The personal and confidential information gathered is released to the public every 72 years. Over $400 billion is passed to the States based on the Census, so it is important that everyone be counted. The average return the last time was about 60%. There is a local office located in Redmond, with thirteen employees to cover eighteen counties. Others will be trained to do the upcoming fieldwork. Hiring is done through test scores; veterans and U. S. citizens receive preference. On March 31, there will be interviews of the homeless population. In the past, $754 million came to Deschutes County, and federal grants equaled $92 million. He then went over the questions that will be asked. There are only ten. Forms will be sent out either by mail or personal delivery if there is a rural route situation. 4. Update of Commissioners’ Meetings and Schedules. The one-night homeless count takes place on January 27, and Commissioner Baney will participate. ___________________________________ Discussion occurred about conveyances related to the La Pine Rodeo and the La Pine Sewer District; and eight acres located next to the south transfer station. Mr. Kanner noted that the easiest way to resolve the issue is to acquire the land in a trade. Mr. Kanner said that the library in La Pine sits on a small triangle of land owned by the BLM, and it makes sense to include this in any trade. Teresa Rozic said it has taken over two years to get resolution on the southwest transfer station because the BLM says it does not have the staff to handle the process. Consensus was that the La Pine area transfers are a priority. ___________________________________ Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Page 7 of 8 Pages Commissioner Baney said that the Redmond Rod & Gun Club location evidently does not have the support of the surrounding property owners. Commissioner Unger observed that they do not create the problem that some people think they might. ___________________________________ Crest Ridge Estates would like the County and BLM to consolidate land adjacent to the Estates to put it under one ownership. The BLM agrees with the Estates’ rules regarding the use of dirt bikes, and this would make it easier for those rules to be enforced. ___________________________________ Ms. Rozic stated that the BLM is very difficult to work with, as their priorities are not the same as the County’s and their process is very slow. 5. Other Items. At 3:55, the Board went into Executive Session, called under ORS 192.660(2)(e), Real Estate Negotiations. Present were the three Commissioners, Dave Kanner, Erik Kropp, Susan Ross and Teresa Rozic of Property and Facilities; and Hillary Borrud of The Bulletin. The executive session ended at 4:05 p.m. ___________________________________ Erik Kropp suggested that a public hearing be held on February 8 at 6:00 p.m. on the Skyliners Road event issue. This relates mostly to the use of the road by cyclists and in particular those who participate in cycling events. Cascade Cycling Classic changed its staging area last year, which helped. There were still complaints about the scheduling and blocking the road to vehicles. The first year of the U.S. Nationals started last year, and it is a two- year event. Commissioner Unger would like to see the County be consistent on any decision it makes. The group discussed a draft resolution regarding the use of the road and a fee to be imposed for events. Commissioner Luke suggested that the cost for service would need to cover having a Deputy present for however long the event might take.