The choices available to Josephine County have recently improved significantly. A few short days ago we were faced with the imminent demise of the Sheriff’s Office. Now with Federal Bailout money over the next four years, we have been given time and a way to use that time managing a transition to a more stable and secure future.

We can’t rely on continued Federal support. It took a massive national crisis to provide us this last extension. The Feds are sending us a very clear message that this is the end by reducing the level of support significantly each of the four years. We must not waste another chance to seize control of our own lives and plan for our future.

We can still create funding alternatives to the Districts, but at a minimum, the Districts provide a floor for Public Safety while we manage that transition. Funding instability causes the loss of trained personnel and resulting waste. Over the last dozen years, Josephine County has trained 98 replacement officers at an approximate cost of ten million dollars due to this continuing instability
The Federal Bailout can allow us to accelerate the rebuilding of our Sheriff’s Office at no cost to the taxpayers for two years. Utilizing Federal Bailout funds to cover anticipated deficit years in the Sheriff Districts 20-year plan would allow us to ramp up service levels now and defer collecting any taxes.

This is a real opportunity to rebuild now and pay later.

The Sheriff’s District concept is the first viable, truly equitable, most efficient proposal ever presented to Josephine County Voters. Every one of the incumbents and candidates for Commissioner has committed to use bailout funds to reduce District tax collections.

The graph below demonstrates how District tax collections can phase in while being offset by Bailout funds in the early years. The anticipated cost in the later years could similarly be offset by any funding alternatives we can develop and implement. Several were proposed by the Long Term Funding Task Force and others. No tax collections until 2010. Reduced tax collections until 2013. Time to develop alternative funding sources to allow further reductions.

This can truly be a win/win/win scenario, but only if we keep our eye on the long term and create those conditions by approving the Sheriff’s Districts. Support the Deputies who support you. Vote YES on 17-25 and 17-26.

The following is a chart of how the cost is spread out to cover the transition:
Assumptions:
• The example is based on the average property “assessed” at $130,000.00
• The Federal phase-out payments over the next four years worked into the Sheriff Tax Districts.
• Federal money paid to match phase out – as agreed by Commissioners.

Graph provided by GrantsPassNow

Trust, reliance and definite confidence glisten from Mike Murphy’s eyes as we meet in the Mayor’s City Hall office and chat about his vision of Grants Pass. His Honor couldn’t look better for the part, if this was a movie. He’s rather handsome, debonair, fits his office chair well, and offers a genuine smile you can’t refuse.

City building style and decorative office motif exudes small town, down home architecture which instills a calm, collected and composed feeling in those who visit. His professional and friendly staff adds to the charm of your stay. And, to top that, says the Mayor, “Grants Pass has the distinction of being one of the state’s smaller successful cities.” And, he continued as the city’s number one spokesperson, “It’s such a wonderful place to live.” He obviously could have gone on and on about the pluses of G.P. living, had I not asked the next question.

MURPHY IS ORIGINALLY FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA and graduated from Pasadena City College and the University of California-Bakersfield. He joined the university staff in their public relations department and first vacationed in Southern Oregon in 1974. Grants Pass’ future mayor confessed, “I was born down there, but never felt comfortable. It was really never home to me, if that makes sense?”

While vacationing in his future home town, he applied for a job and was accepted. His two week notice was immediately dropped off at UC-Bakersfield and he arrived here Memorial Day weekend, 1974. And, the Mayor says, “It has felt like home ever since.”

The mayor has a daughter and son-in-law who are both reporters for the local newspaper in Yakima, WA. His son attends school in Portland.

MIKE MURPHY WAS ELECTED TO THE GRANTS PASS CITY COUNCIL IN 1990 and served in two wards until 2004. He was elected mayor last November. Unlike our county commissioners, the city council is not compensated.

WE GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS and discussed some issues of national interest that parallels with city problems, such as the economy. There have been recent layoffs at some of the city’s largest employers, and that concerns Murphy. I asked him about the possibility of attracting new business to the area? “There is only so much a city can do”, he said. “What we are concentrating on is not getting in the way, nor creating roadblocks for businesses who wish to locate here. My emphasis, based on what I have learned with the assistance of the economic development people, is you have to offer the environment where businesses want to locate. When a business is established, or re-locates, you have to consider employee needs and desires. Of course they need land, brick and mortar, equipment, etc, but as much as anything, it’s creating the environment they want for their families. Our most successful tool for recruitment in Grants Pass is tourism. Most folks don’t realize that. A big percentage of businesses locate here because they first discovered Grants Pass while visiting. So, first you got to get them here and have them fall in love with it, as I did.”

THE MAYOR CONTINUES, “We have to be a community that offers a level of certain services as well as charm and all that good stuff, so that they want to come here as it’s a great place to raise children, that sort of thing. For instance, some the local retiring doctors are recruiting for replacements. A negative would be the closure of our libraries. People don’t normally associate those two together. And, when you’re recruiting the best and the brightest, which is what you want to do, they have choices by the very nature of it. There’s more than one place for them to live. So, they come here to visit and love a lot of things about Grants Pass, then they see some of the turmoil of local politics, places shutting down, threats of closing jails, lack of public safety and supported funding levels and then you hear, ‘This town doesn’t have a library?’ I heard that allot. If they use the library or not, it’s like a flashing warning sign saying that something isn’t quite right, here.” Of course the problem is choice, again. They are thinking, ‘maybe we better go somewhere else?’

MAYOR MURPHY FEELS A LARGE PART OF HIS JOB is to accentuate the positive of our way of life in Grants Pass and not let it erode during these hard times of economic disaster. He made a point about the national stimulus package that just cleared congress, and soon available from the state. “If you agree with it or not, if it’s available, we want our share. During recent city budget talks and workshops, there’s been significant conversation about cutting out our capital expenditures programs”, complained Murphy. “This is about things already in our program that we want and need to accomplish. So, I’m thinking to myself, when you spend money to improve a road, a street intersection or something locally, it isn’t like piling all of that money in the center of the road and burning it. You’re actually paying someone locally to do the contract work. On one hand we are asking for a portion of federal and state monies to create local jobs while were thinking about getting rid of our own capital outlay to spend money locally”, he questioned.

“MAYBE THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO CUT OUR CAPITAL EXPENDITURES?” It’s an investment in our city’s future and expenditure today to keep our people employed. We could employ local firms to work on our needed infrastructure projects. Maybe, this is an especially good time to do just that,” Murphy told us.

BIG BUSINESS IS COMING TO TOWN such as Home Depot, among others. The Mayor says they could employ about 100 people, but a good percentage of them will be part time, “I don’t see a big job increase.” says the Mayor. “I see these types of stores more as a ‘job shift’. There’s only so much money people have to spend on home repair. So, if they’re buying paint and nails there, and not somewhere else, some local businesses could suffer and perhaps close their doors. So, it’s moving jobs from this store to that one.”

Mayor Murphy explains, “How does that change the situation? It’s going to depend how much Home Depot draws from outside of the community? It’s different of course from a manufacturing base business, that creates a new product, thus, new jobs.”

THE MAYOR WAS ASKED ABOUT POSSIBLY TELEVISING The Urban Area Planning Commission meetings, “I’m not against it, but I would first like to see them cover the special city council meetings and workshops. There’s money involved on how many of these we can do. The regular scheduled council meetings are held twice monthly, and we have several special meetings from time to time, such as the recently held tax rate meeting. This was one of the more important and most significant decisions the council had to make. To me, those should come first”, emphasized the Mayor.

Funds are usually always a problem these days with government entities as well as private concerns. Mayor Murphy is going to look into the possibility of obtaining sponsors to allow more TV coverage, similar to current Public Television.

THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY in city Government operations has been charged by some constituents. Councilperson Tim Cummings said he thought the Budget Committee had discussed a certain issue prior to the council meeting, thereby a possibility that minds were made up before any meeting discussions on the matter took place. Some look upon this activity as a bad idea.

THE MAYOR RESPONDED with, “It depends on what they were discussing and how far it was going? Having conversations about issues of local interest is good. What could be a problem is going beyond that and deliberating to a conclusion out of the public’s watch. That is passing the line and we don’t want that. There’s reason to think that we were flirting with that line. What we must do is be very sure everything we do is transparent, that public business is conducted in a proper public way, and that we’re not reaching conclusions ahead of time. Public trust is a delicate thing. People have their lives to live and don’t watch what happens in city government on a daily basis.

“THEY ARE TRUSTING PUBLIC OFFICIALS, trusting their government, to do things right: most folks are only marginally involved with local government business. We, as city officials must preserve that trust”, Murphy assured.

“Once the people are not sure of what’s going on, if elected officials are doing things behind closed doors, you’re creating doubt in their minds. Then, they rightfully question everything we do. If the system breaks down in one specific area, it transfers over to everything else. The integrity of the system has to be protected. You have to be up front. Once the faith is broken, it takes ten times the effort and time to regain the peoples trust, and it’s so unnecessary”, reiterated Murphy.

THERE ARE FOUR NEW COUNCILORS who were elected last November. I asked the Mayor how it was working out. “I’m optimistic”, he said. “There is a significant learning curve going on right now. Our new councilors care deeply about the community, but frankly, have no experience. And, we have three councilors who only have two years experience. We’ve had a significant turn-over in executive staff in the last few years and we have a new mayor. What I’m suggesting here is that we’re at risk of losing our institutional memory. With so much turn-over, people don’t know the traditions and processes by which things get accomplished. They get lost and confused”, explained the Mayor.”

“OUR NEW COUNCILORS HAVE VERY LITTLE OR NO ‘BOARD’ EXPERIENCE”, Mayor Murphy said. They are very successful small business persons who are comfortable to themselves, and as such make decisions, but have only one person to satisfy. They haven’t been part of a large organization, and as far as I know, have never been part of a board of directors? We are now the council and mayor, equivalent to the board of directors of a multi-million dollar corporation, with a whole bunch of products we put out from public safety to safe water and we have the oversight responsibility, and not the day-to-day operational responsibility, thank goodness. This is where the City Manager, David Frasher, and our entire professional staff, comes in.”

Mayor Murphy continues, “It is my role and the Council’s role to set policy, plan for the future, and to have oversight of the operations. The City Manager carries out our set policies, is the overseer of the organization, and the employees. Not the City Council.”

“THERE HAVE BEEN SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF LATE, due to our changing situation in Council”, said the Mayor. “But, this will go away once everyone understands what their roles are and what they aren’t. It’s new territory for the new Councilors. It was for me too at one time. You’re part of a group process, now. You are one councilor in a group of eight councilors. Being a councilor, by itself, has no authority. By our charter, you’re a citizen. The power comes from the full council, the group of eight, when they collectively pass a resolution, a motion, saying this is what we want? Some think the mayor has the authority to do things on my own, get involved. That isn’t the way it works. It’s a group process and the group needs to give direction, not individual councilors. In other words, work as a team.”

MAYOR MIKE MURPHY SUMS IT UP THIS WAY, “Even in this economic downturn nationally, Grants Pass is doing better than most every place else. No doubt we are hurting, but when I hear about what’s going on in other places, we aren’t doing so badly, and maybe more importantly, we are so poised to be one of the first to recover. When the national economy improves a little bit, Grants Pass will improve a bunch. We’ll be one of the first ones to move up because everything that was right before the downturn is still right. I’m very optimistic for the long term, we just have to wait this out and protect our assets and community from declining too far. My approach is to take this time to concentrate on our master plan, our long range goals, look at our infrastructure, and get ready for what’s going to come. That ‘boom’ that caught us kind of off guard a few years back, is coming again-Big time. Let’s get in front of it right now.”

For instance, says an enthusiastic Mayor, “What do we do to preserve our down town with its downtown charm, which is the core of our community? What do we do for it to stay and grow, so we don’t end up with a bunch of strip malls on the outside of town? New businesses will come. Where do we want them to establish? Let’s use this time to get ahead of everything. The time is now and our future is extremely bright.”

“WE ARE SO LUCKY HERE”, Mayor Murphy exultantly expressed, “One of the many things so positive is the geography in which we live. The Interstate goes around our town, instead of through it, such as Medford and Roseburg. We’re nestled in a gorgeous valley with a beautiful river running through it; which defines us in a way that other places would love to have. We must protect it. We have to prevent any sort of urban sprawl. We have to make sure it remains for our children and all generations to come, and at the same time, be set for growth. It will come and we’ll be ready.” -Mike Case

Contact:

Mayor Mike Murphy Telephone: (541) 474-6360

City of Grants Pass FAX: (541) 479-0812

101 North/West A Street

Grants Pass, OR 97526

Julie Rubenstein

You may have noticed the signs or logos around town, little emblems placed here and there announcing a meeting or project of the Rotary, Kiwanis or other service club. They don’t advertise their good works, other than the occasional plaque at a city or county park or an “adoption” sign on a stretch of roadway. By and large the members of these clubs toil in relative anonymity, deriving their gratification from the work itself and the thankful faces of those they serve. To outsiders, the work of these service organizations remains something of a mystery, so in the sprit of celebrating those who give, here is a rundown of who they are and what they do.

Most of the clubs are local branches of national or international chartered organizations. The three best-known groups are probably Kiwanis, Rotary and the Lions Clubs, each of which have multiple chapters in Josephine County.

Kiwanis
This is a worldwide organization active in 90 countries, with about 600,000 members worldwide. Their motto is “Serving the Children of the World.” There are two Kiwanis clubs in Grants Pass: Caveman and Grants Pass.

The Caveman Kiwanis club runs the familiar See’s Candies trailer parked downtown during holiday season, which generates some $30,000 annually to fund its charities. They serve local kids by granting $1250 college scholarships to seven graduating seniors at area high schools, plus two at RCC. They also sponsor building clubs and Key Clubs at the middle and high schools, and an esteem-building program at Riverside Elementary as well as helping with miscellaneous civic events.

The Grants Pass Kiwanis sponsors scholarships at Grants Pass and Hidden Valley High Schools and donates to at-risk youth through L.I.F.T. and College Dreams. They also run a “Quiltz 4 Kids” donation program for foster children, and they mentor HVHS students in the Future Business Leaders of America club, and middle schoolers through the Guiding Lights program. Their special focus in recent years has been care and improvement of County parks, where they’ve installed playground equipment, wheelchair ramps and other projects. Funding for their projects comes from operating the parking lots during the County Fair, and from various food booths.

Rotary
Rotary is another organization with a big international presence. First formed in Chicago in1905 as a way for male business owners to give back to their communities, it quickly spread around the world. Its motto is “Service Above Self.” Today, there are 1.2 million Rotarians (men and women) and over 32,000 Rotary clubs in about 200 countries. Locally, there are three clubs in Grants Pass and a new club in Cave Junction. Collectively, the area clubs sponsor the annual Rotary Duck Derby, which has generated about $650,000 for projects that included finishing Morrison Park and reconstructing athletic facilities at area high schools.

***
Grants Pass Rotary is the oldest and biggest of the four. Its list of service projects is a long and distinguished one. This club spearheaded the development and implementation of two celebrated parks in our area: the All Sports Park (now called Reinhart Volunteer Park after the Rotarian whose dream it was) and then Morrison Centennial Park, named after another club member. It’s also responsible for the Wellness Wagon, a mobile health center currently in use as a dental clinic, providing free or low-cost treatment for persons who can’t afford care elsewhere.
Among their other projects, in no particular order, are:

• RYLA Sponsorship: Rotary Youth Leadership Academy is a leadership training course for incoming Juniors in the District’s high schools;
• Four Way Speech Contest awarding students for the best presentation about Rotary’s famous Four Way Test of the Things We Think, Say and Do;
• Rotary Invitational Track Meet, which has become a major West Coast event with nearly 1000 student athletes participating from 40 different high schools in Oregon, California and Washington. The club supplies all the awards and staffing with some help from the other Grants Pass Rotaries.
• Annual grant awards to community groups totaling about $10,000 in small “seed” grants for capital projects;
• YMCA spring swim program offering free swimming lessons to needy kids;.
• Donations to Rotary First Harvest;
• Scholarships of $2,000 each to a student from all four area high schools and one at RCC;
• Rotary Youth Exchange, in which they host students on both inbound and outbound exchanges, and take them on a drift boat/camping trip on the Rogue.;
• Student of the Year awards recognizing leadership with $1000 in gifts & certificates, and
• Sponsor of the Interact program at Grants Pass High School teaching the values of community service, and hoping to bring it to other high schools.

***
Rogue Gateway Rotary is the second-oldest, retaining many of its charter members who are still active on the board and committees. With less than half the membership of Grants Pass Rotary, it has fewer service projects. But on a per capita basis, its members stay busy with both club-sponsored and other personal charitable or volunteer work. (This is true of most service club members – you seem to find them popping up everywhere a helping hand is needed.) Its current service activities include:

Student of the Year awards to students in area middle and high schools, recognizing them for their commitment to Service Above Self;

A Service Above Self award to a non-Rotarian adult working in the community;
Dictionary distributions to area third graders;

• Indian Mary Park reconstruction
• Quarterly Grants Pass Parkway Cleanups (its “adopted” section of Highway 199)
• Maintaining the stall barns at the JoCo Fairgrounds
• Donating to World Community Service projects, including water purification systems in Guatemala and construction, equipment and staff support for the Bhotechaur Health Clinic in a remote area of Nepal
• Collecting donations for the International Rotary Foundation
• Managing the Josephine County Christmas Basket Program that supplies full holiday meals to needy families;
• Collecting for Polio Plus, and
• Picking pears at the city’s orchards and making cash donations to Rotary First Harvest, a regional Southern Oregon fresh food collection program that feeds local people in need through various food banks.

***
Greater Grants Pass Rotary is the newest club in Grants Pass. One of their earliest projects was helping raise funds for the cash-strapped county fairgrounds, another example of a service club stepping in when public funding for an important institution goes away. Since then, they’ve taken on:

• supplying homeless teens with day to day items for living, such as clothes, toiletries, furniture and kitchen accessories, to name a few
• supplying four families with children in a local elementary school with a turkey dinner, gifts for the kids and something for the parents
• contributing $500 to local food banks
• working on building weather shelters for some rural school bus stops
• establishing two scholarship funds for local high school students, and
• exploring ways to singly, or with a partnering club, develop a world community service project.

Lions Clubs
The motto of the Lions Club, a national organization, is “To encourage service-minded people to serve their community.” The mission of the Grants Pass and Illinois Valley Lions Clubs is to fulfill that promise in various ways. They raise funds by running food booths at the Fair and elsewhere, as well as parking lots during events. The Illinois Valley club is a major sponsor of the Cave Junction Labor Day Parade and festival. Their service activities and goals are:

• To provide eyeglasses and eye care to needy youth and adults.
  To provide hearing tests and hearing aids to the needy.
  To honor a “Student of the Month” from one of the local public high schools.
  To provide an annual college scholarship award to three of the “Students of the
  Month.”
• To conduct highway litter patrol on 2 miles of US 199.
• To adopt a needy family for Christmas each year.
• To support various youth programs.
• To provide Diabetes screening.
• To provide help with eye operations.

In addition to these organizations, there are many other area clubs with a mission of public service including the Grants Pass Active Club, sponsors of the Boatnik Festival and making grants to local agencies that serve children. Josephine County Toys for Tots, Habitat for Humanity and Paint Your Heart Out. Some of the organizations are made up solely of women, such as American Association of University Women, Zonta, and the Soroptimists Club, all of whom seek to help children and/or women gain equality and advancement in the business or education world through grants and a variety of service activities.

As the social services safety net through government continues to unravel, Josephine County is fortunate to have so many individuals working through so many organizations to help out. From Search and Rescue to animal rescue, this county practically runs on volunteer labor. Service are a good place for people who derive joy from serving the needs of others, and their volunteerism is rarely limited to working with the clubs where they belong. They’re the types who just naturally join in when there’s a call for help. As one of the Rotary club presidents put it, “these activities go largely unheralded as folks often do not seek any recognition and just go about these things more or less quietly in their lives as they literally practice `service above self’.”

Josephine Community Libraries to open Children’s Room by winter break

Grants Pass, November 25, 2008-When Josephine Community Libraries launched its summer reading program in July, volunteers pledged, “We’ll get books in kids’ hands anyway we can!” The library group is now proud to announce its adherence to that pledge with the opening of the Children’s Room on December 20, 2008, the first day of winter break for area schools.

“This is an exciting time to have our children’s room opening!” said Debbie Bennighof, the new volunteer children’s librarian for Josephine Community Libraries. “With school out, children will have an opportunity to check out books and enjoy library services that haven’t been in place for over a year and a half. This truly is a holiday present to our community’s children, and I am so honored to be a part of it.”

Children will be treated to a special ride on JCLI’s version of the train in The Polar Express, complete with hot chocolate and a reading of the book. Circulation will also be available in the Children’s Room only, so kids can check out books over the holidays.

Rumors are also circulating that Santa may be stopping by to check out the action.

The opening will have something for grown-ups, too: a sneak peek at the new library. Though check-out will be unavailable as the circulation system will still be getting installed, the community is invited to preview the rest of the library, meet staff, talk to volunteers, and become a member of Josephine Community Libraries.

“Come by and see what we’re doing,” invited Doug Walker, president of the Board of Directors of Josephine Community Libraries. “And if our computer network system is functioning by December 20, you can even get yourself a JCLI library card!”

Walker also notes that the group is working tirelessly to get the library ready for opening. “We got the keys to the building last week, and since then we’ve been installing computers and phone systems, signing contracts with booksellers, scrubbing floors and windows, doing inventory of the books, and generally getting the library ready for our opening.”

The libraries in Josephine County closed on May 17, 2007. In September 2007, committed community members formed Josephine Community Libraries, Inc., a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization dedicated to reopening and operating the libraries in Josephine County. People interested in getting involved with the library effort can send an e-mail to info@josephinelibrary.org. Those interested in becoming member can send their check or money order payable to “Josephine Community Libraries” to P.O. Box 1684, Grants Pass, OR 97528 or make a secure donation on the Web site, www.josephinelibrary.org.

# # # # #

Josephine Community Libraries, Inc.

P.O. Box 1684 Grants Pass, OR 97528

541-660-6531

info@josephinelibrary.org www.josephinelibrary.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earlier today, Congressman Walden addressed the House of Representatives to discuss the House majority leadership’s removal of a four-year extension of county timber payments from a Senate energy tax bill.

Greetings fellow citizens of Josephine County and welcome to this edition of Community Matters; the general election is just around the corner and we all will have many decisions to make regarding our country, state, county, and (for some of us) our city. There will be very important measures on the local ballots that will impact the quality of life we all enjoy: Public Safety being at the top of that list. I want to thank all of the civic minded citizens who come and speak up at the BOCC weekly meetings, as well as the ones who contact directly for clarification on these important issues. I have compiled some of these questions and provided answers as follows:

Are the city of Grants Pass and Josephine County competing with each
other by having separate ballot measures in the November election?
Not really. Wherever you live in Josephine County, you will be
deciding in this election whether to ensure you have law enforcement and
a jail. For Grants Pass residents, there will be two measures on the
ballot: one to support the Grants Pass Police and Fire departments and
the other to support the Josephine County Sheriff’s jail. For rural
county residents, there will also be two measures on the ballot: one to
support the Sheriff patrols and the other for the Sheriff’s jail.
There is no redundancy. No matter where you live in Josephine County,
you will be deciding to support the agency that provides you a law
enforcement officer in your community and a jail to keep the criminals
locked up. Both pieces are essential to a decent public safety system.

Are the County Commissioners committed to finding other sources of
revenue to support public safety besides property taxes?
Absolutely. Remember, the two Sheriff Districts are replacing only
about 75% of the $12 million in “O&C” payments the county lost which
has supported your public safety. The Sheriff’s District will not
support two other extremely critical pieces of the public safety system:
the District Attorney’s Office and Juvenile Justice (detention center
and shelter). I am committed to developing other revenue sources to
support these essential pieces of public safety. Other potential
sources include renewable energy projects, increasing timber receipts on
federal lands, or providing new services/products that bring in new
revenue.

Has the County done anything to reduce costs of County government?
Yes. First of all the number of Full Time Equivalent positions in your
county government workforce has been reduced over 40% in the last 3-5
years. County employees have endured reductions in benefits. The most
significant cuts were made in 2007 when the libraries were closed and
there were further reductions in staff throughout many county programs,
including County administration.

Can’t the County just move funding away from less important programs
to fund public safety?
Approximately 80% of County revenues are mandated
funds that can not be spent on programs other than what those funds are
intended for. The loss of $12 Million of federal funding equals over
two-thirds of our general fund, funds where we have a choice over how to
spend. It is impossible to cover the two-thirds loss with the remaining
one-third. In addition, that other one-third supports essential county
programs such as the District Attorney’s Office, Juvenile Justice,
Assessors Office, tax collection, building and maintenance, legal
department and so on. Without these programs, there simply would be no
county government.

County voters have said no to property taxes in the past, why ask them
again?
Because something very fundamental has changed. For decades, federal
dollars were coming in each year to pay for these services. Previous tax
levies were intended to supplement those federal dollars. For the first
time in decades, we are not receiving that level of federal dollars.
This is a new situation for Josephine County citizens. These are not
ballot measures to supplement those federal dollars, these proposals are
to replace those federal dollars.

Why does Dave Toler support the Sheriff’s Districts and Grants Pass
public safety levy?
As your county commissioner, I want to ensure the safety of our
citizens and the success of our local economy. To achieve those goals, we simply must provide stable funding for public safety. Many people move to our area because of its amazing quality of life. Public
safety is the foundation to maintaining that quality of life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of Community Matters. Again, the general election contains important measures that will impact us all. I urge all of us to get more involved, study the issues, attend (or watch on RVTV) the public meetings, consider the impact your vote has the quality of life we all enjoy, and take your opportunity to participate in the American way of life, by voting in the primary election this fall.

Commissioner Dave Toler
dtoler@co.josephine.or.us

We have all been waiting with anticipation for someone from the State level to provide us with an opinion or some clarification of what to expect with our foreseeable future. Reportedly, nine of our thirty-six Counties are in serious trouble.

The loss of the federal subsidy (frequently referred to as the O&C) is having a devastating impact on the many of us that have become dependant upon those resources. Our federal government has now terminated their commitment in continued funding; causing a sincere hardship on many aspects of our lives, including public safety.

Josephine County is at the very top of that list. It should not come as a surprise to anyone however. Although we enjoy the lowest tax rates in the State, there is a downside; and we are now facing that reality. Albeit there are many other dimensions to this dilemma, we are concerned with our public safety and the quality of life we all deserve.

This administration is committed to cutting as close-to-the-bone as possible to stretch out our funding to provide you the best service possible. We recently turned in eleven vehicles, some Deputies are now sharing a vehicle to save on gas; our volunteers on patrol have been put on hold; we are looking into different uniforms for jail personnel which could save us over $100.00 per uniform; we’ve recently relocated our sub-station in Cave Junction to save over $7,300.00 per year; we continue to aggressively seek out grants and other funding sources – we have even approached private industry to seek funds; we have relocated our jail personnel to a more confined area to enhance their productivity, without loss of safety – evidenced by our ability to book more inmates last year; we assumed our own dispatch center at a savings of approximately $130,000.00; to control our overtime and provide some level of safety to our Deputies we operate one shift per day.

We cannot answer for what other administrators may or may not have done. Finger pointing does little to solve any problem. We believe in dealing with what we have in front of us, plan for the future….and move forward! Today, we have become a very transparent organization, embracing public scrutiny (i.e., the establishment of the Citizens Sheriff Advisory Committee). We are dedicated to our goals, ideals, objectives, and performance – which revolve around you and our community. We are asking that you also look to our future.

“Earning” your trust was one of the compelling forces driving the changes in this administration. We will continue to strive towards that goal.

The following information comes from the Governor’s Task Force on Federal Forest Payments and County Services – titled “Initial Report”. In part, the reason for sharing this report with you is so that you understand we have not been crying “wolf”. The problem is real and affects more than just this County. It is time to stop lamenting about the past and work together for our future.

Respectfully,

Gil Gilbertson

The full report is available at:

http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/docs/federal_forest_payments_062008.pdf

The Governor’s Task Force on Federal Forest Payments and County Services – Initial Report:

• The imminent loss of federal forest payments…will create a fiscal crisis for the majority of Oregon’s counties far worse and longer lasting than the crisis experienced by state government during the recession of 2001-03.
• Even with the best efforts of county governments and the state, there is no single solution that will allow the crisis to be successfully managed or resolved in the short term.
• The crisis confronting the hard-hit counties and the erosion of funding for schools will trigger new demands for shared resources from state government and state taxpayers. Competition for shares of the state budget will intensify.
• We found that many counties have already cut services to bare-bones levels.
• We advise the affected counties and the state to prepare for the worst.
• Oregon should respond…with an “all hands on deck” effort by all levels of government, including state supervision and management of insolvent counties.
• Even if all our recommendations were accepted and implemented, we find that they would make up less than half of the revenues lost from the expiration of (federal timber) payments.
• There is no immediate solution to the problems created by the loss of (federal timber) payments. Multiple responses will be needed from all levels of government – county, state, and federal.
• Nine counties will face revenue losses of 20% or more of their discretionary funds. A tenth county, Polk, is right at the edge of this cutoff. The “hard hit” counties, in order of greatest initial General Fund revenue impact, are:
  • Josephine -67% -$12.4 Million
  • Douglas -65% -$23.3 Million
  • Curry -60% -$ 3.7 Million
  • Lane -50% -$17.6 Million
  • Jackson -32% -$14.9 Million
  • Grant -27% -$ 0.6 Million
  • Klamath -25% -$ 3.1 Million
  • Columbia -23% -$ 1.9 Million
  • Polk -19% -$ 2.1 Million
• Standing pat and waiting for economic recovery to provide additional revenues is not an option.
• The financial ability of the state to respond (to the recommendations contained in this initial report) is of great concern.
• In addition to the less quantifiable risk to community safety and beyond, courts, public defenders, district attorneys, and community corrections will experience the systemic impacts of budget reductions.
  • Decreased assets by county sheriffs will translate into fewer cases ready for prosecution. Also, staff limitations at district attorney offices may cause fewer cases to be prosecuted. These impacts will reduce the flow of cases to circuit courts and could lower state funding for county jails and community corrections services under current state funding formulas.
  • Further, because funding is often based on the volume of cases moving through the system, courts, public defenders, district attorneys, and community corrections may experience additional funding cuts from other sources.
  • Additionally, district attorneys with limited funds will likely target their scarce resources on high-priority crimes and may decline to prosecute nonviolent property crimes, minor drug crimes, and misdemeanors. Counties with severely compromised budgets may discontinue their drug courts because of personnel shortages, and as a result may forego state funding earmarked for drug courts.
  • Finally, courthouses in counties unable to make capital investments in circuit court facilities will fall into further disrepair.
• Counties are obligated to provide incarceration, sanctions, and services for felony offenders on probation, parole, or post-prison supervision and those sentenced to prison for 12 months or less; however, the levels and types of these activities is a local decision. Counties have the authority to design and deliver a continuum of sanctions and services to meet offender needs and provide community safety.
• For most counties, the impacts on community corrections will come from reductions in the local criminal justice system and in treatment programs provided directly or indirectly through county mental health programs. These impacts include:
  • Reduced number of deputy district attorneys
  • Reduced number of jail beds available for pre-trial detention and to respond to violations of supervision.
  • Reduced number of law enforcement on patrol in the county.
  • Reduced county treatment services available.

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A Sense of Community & Public Spiritedness

I was struck by a recent letter in the local print media concerning the endangered sense of community we face in Josephine County as a result of the loss of libraries, reduced public safety, and dysfunctional political leadership. I had never before put together all these things to view the Big Picture, and think about the implications of what that means about us, our sense of place, and about our collective character.

For better or worse, we are all in this boat together. Whether or not you use the libraries, have a fire or robbery on your property, or have to deal personally with the process or consequences of city and county government actions, you are not only affected by the direct loss of services but also by how we, the collective citizenry of this county, suffer the loss of character and values. How much further can we reduce our expectations – of our leaders, our institutions, or ourselves?

The way I see it, we are nearing rock bottom in all of the above. I attribute this in part to all of those local gadflies and perennial commissioner candidates who so loudly “refuse to pay a penny more in taxes to those no-good spendthrifts running our government.”  If this is the kind of thought leadership that influences the average voter at election time then we are in even more trouble than we realize. It’s not just people voting their pocketbooks, its people choosing to be satisfied with a lot less – less culture, less protection, less government, less leadership, and less concern for the entire social fabric of our community.

We are seen by the rest of the state as a county which won’t help itself in the same way that even other O&C counties have stepped up to the plate to plan for the budget devastation that lies ahead. We continue to plant our heads in the sand, to pray for federal deliverance, and to bicker among ourselves instead of rolling up our sleeves and pitching in for the sake of the collective “we.” I don’t blame state leaders for scorning us, frankly – and the last laugh will be on us. If the latest pair of public safety measures loses at the ballot in November, the State of Oregon can step in and take over our Constitutionally mandated functions but they will charge us for it by imposing their own tax on county residents.

I admire the dogged efforts of the Josephine Community Libraries Association in moving their plan forward to have a membership-sponsored library. The old Real Library Committee had largely burnt out and discouraged its leaders as they watched their own efforts sink time and again at the ballot box. The fresh new crop is doing a determined job, unhindered by the sting of past failures. But I do take issue with the entire premise that this county can hope to have libraries only through a private nonprofit structure, unsupported by local tax collections. It’s another good example of reduced expectations – we will never again have a full county library system and yet few even seem to care any more.

Likewise, the anti-public spirited mood has infected so many of us that few even raise an eyebrow any more at the constant bickering, nit-picking and pursuit of personal vendettas that goes on among Grants Pass city council members and County Commissioners.

I’m running for office myself right now. I’ve had to articulate my values and mission, which goes as follows: I believe in a good governance approach and in preserving the values of a shared society, with individual responsibility to contribute to the greater good. If only all the voters in House District 3 agreed with this – I might actually win the election.