Grants Pass Now

Meet Dwight Ellis
Vice Chairperson of the Josephine County
Board of Commissioners

Commissioner Ellis’s office gives an informative insight into the “Boards” Vice Chairman. His position as County Commissioner, which he has held for going on four years is non-partisan, but he wants it known that he is a registered Republican. His office wall and desk display photos of family and friends, commendations, awards, memorabilia, odds and ends, all of which he is certainly proud of. Definitely all Oregon, he is a local boy born and raised, and very much a patriot. His wife Bonnie is from Grants Pass and a true asset to her husband. They brought four children into this world, three of which live in the Grants Pass area and there are four grandchildren to brag about. In the Commissioner’s quite interesting background, there is much to be proud of.

Dwight Ellis is highly educated and received his Business Management Masters Degree by attending night school. Including school time, he spent 24 years in the Air Force, is an Air Force Academy Alumnus and served our country as a U.S. Air Force Officer and jet jockey in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war. He flew eighty-two combat missions, all into Cambodia. After that hot tour, he was stationed in England for three years, which he enjoyed. His assignment there was rather unique in that it included sitting “nuclear alert”. I asked the Commissioner to explain, “We carried one 60 kiloton bomb on our two-seater F-4 Phantom jet, which isn’t that big in terms of today’s nuclear devices. It had the capacity to probably wipe out a smaller air field. Our mission, if called upon, was to fly as far into the Soviet Union as we could, drop our cargo and get out. We were virtually on our own after the bomb was dropped. The idea is a maneuver where you simply try to make your way back to the coast line or something like that and hopefully gain assistance in reaching home base. And, you know, they never did tell us if we would survive the bomb blast. But, as luck would have it, we didn’t have to drop the bomb and relations improved with the Soviet Union.”

Dwight Ellis has been married for 37 years to his brother’s wife’s sister. Still with me? Bonnie Ellis is from Grants Pass and a definite asset to her husband. Commissioner Ellis is up for re-election this year and hoped to make it on the primary ballot but now doubts it will happen due to five hopeful contenders seeking his job.REPORTER: When you decided to seek the commissioner’s position four years ago, what was your intent?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “The idea was to eliminate some of the ‘good ol’ boy’ stuff that the voters believed was going on and tighten up the operation. There were some pretty good benefits and perks going on at that time that we have since changed.” said Ellis.

REPORTER: My follow up question was a natural. Was there any good ol’ boy stuff going on?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “I think some of the department heads had been here for thirty years, or so and pretty much built an empire. Most of those have since retired and replaced with younger folks. We have cut county government from 650 people over three years down to just over 400 today. We made some major cuts and I feel it’s better over all for county government operations because we see timber money leaving us and the Fed’s ’safety net’ looks like it might not be re-authorized for another year, but we’re not sure yet. We probably won’t hear about that until June or July. It looks like we’ll be able to get through this year due to money saved over the past three years. And, we’ll set up the new budget based on not receiving the Fed safety net money,” explained Ellis.

REPORTER: I assume this is the most important issue facing the commissioners today?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “Yes, I think it’s our public safety and what we’ll be able to provide if we don’t get the re-authorization from the Feds. What will Public Safety be able to accomplish if we don’t receive those general funds? Public safety includes the sheriff’s operation, jail, the district attorney’s office, the criminal justice system, our juvenile justice system and we are mandated to provide court security.” The commissioner tells of a new understanding, “We are finding out right now that we might not have to have a jail. But, the jail building was built by a bond and we’re still paying that off. If we don’t receive financial operations assistance from whatever source, be it the taxpayers or the federal government, we might have to contract our prisoners out to other jails and shut our jail building down. It may come to this.”

REPORTER: Tell us about the long term funding committee?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “Right now, we have a long term funding committee looking into various options available to us to raise needed funds for our criminal justice system and will make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners no later than April 15th.”

REPORTER: What is the current condition of the county

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “It’s better now than it has been due to programs within some county operations that can charge fees or increase fees and thereby become self-sufficient. They don’t have to depend upon the general fund for their programs. In addition, we’ve been able to reduce the amount of employees and personnel expenses. We increased fees in Parks, the Planning Department, County Clerk’s Office and others so that they too become self-sufficient and not reliant upon the general fund. However, that hasn’t made up the approximately $12 million that we usually get for the federal safety net funding, so that’s the big nut we’re trying to crack right now.

REPORTER: How do we get the needed funds? What method?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “There are two ways to get the money. One we’re still working on is to pressure the U.S. Congress to re-new the safety net (O&C Funds). If that doesn’t happen, the second option is to sue the Federal Government because there is a law on the books that dates back to 1937 that says the O&C (Oregon & California Railroad) lands timber, which makes up a major part of our county, has to be cut in a sustainable manner and that the Federal Government will support local rural economies with money that is gleaned off of those timberlands.

REPORTER: If the government stipend is discontinued, will the Commissioners propose a tax?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “We have nothing on the May ballot, right now. We’re waiting for the long term committee’s results. We have looked at fourteen different money sources including an add-on tax to vehicle registration. But the Oregon Constitution says that money would have to be used for roads within the county and cannot go towards the justice system, law enforcement or anything else. Everything we looked into has a specific purpose by state law. We explored a “bed tax” (hotel/motel) for the county but found that 70% of the collection has to go for visitor marketing purposes. A portion of the remaining 30% could be used for administration or the criminal justice system, but would be a small amount. We even looked into charging aggregate fees for the river rock that is taken out of our rivers and crushed. That collection would have to benefit county roads, only. We looked into increasing the gas tax by two or three cents, but once again that would only benefit our roads.”

“We are looking into a “consumption tax” or sales tax, but I feel that would only pass the county voters if it replaced something else such as the property tax. I’m not personally in favor of a sales tax because businesses are going to fight it. And, I feel it will send local people out of the county to buy their cars, RV’s and other major ticket items. They’re going to go where they don’t have to pay that tax. So basically, in my mind, it boils down to either a short term levy until we can get this safety net law straightened out with the Federal Government, or the sheriff has come up with a district tax idea. The idea has already passed in Deschutes County and he would like to get it passed here as it would guarantee his department’s long term funding. (Look for Sheriff Gilbertson’s “district” idea in grantspassnow.com). The state is currently looking at our tax system, but it will take at least two years and possibly up to six years before they could make the change.”

“We (Commissioners) are discussing approaching the state about adding on a percentage to beer and wine sales. I’m not sure how much that would bring to the county coffers and it is a state legislative issue so they would have to pass it in order for us to initiate it. The beer and wine industry will fight this proposal tooth and nail. So, every turn we have taken to generate county operational funds has run into some sort of road block.”

REPORTER: As a Josephine County Commissioner, your goal is…..?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “To keep the citizens of Josephine County safe. My main goal is to make sure everyone is safe and if someone does perpetrate a crime we have someplace to put them. If the judge says lock them up, we can accommodate and if the judge says they need some kind of educational training we are also able to provide that. But, right now we do not have the money to support our criminal justice system. If you interview the sheriff or district attorney, they will tell you that if they don’t get some sort of funding, they cannot assure public safety.

REPORTER: How do you wake the town and tell the people?

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “It’s an educational process. Citizens should go to town hall meetings. I noticed a lot of familiar faces at the meetings. The same people are showing up this year as last year and there isn’t very many of them. We appreciate these people; we just want to reach more. We have to get the people talking about the funding problem. I feel the sheriff’s concerns are valid in that he will not be able to provide adequate safety that he would otherwise be able to provide with appropriate funding.”

REPORTER: You are up for re-election this year. Why should we re-elect you??

COMMISSIONER ELLIS: “I feel I have been accessible to the people with an open door policy. If I’m not busy and someone shows up to chat, that’s fine. If you call me, I’ll answer the phone. I don’t have an ‘attack dog’ secretary out front that guards the door keeping me from the people. I also keep an open mind on issues. If I have made a decision and later thought about it or the situation has changed or I received further information on a particular issue, I’m not afraid to change my mind if it’s for the betterment of the county. You shouldn’t let egos get in the way of decision making and I try to do that and stay out of the way of arguments that take place in the board room. If I’m going to join in I try to make sure whatever I’m saying adds to the constructive part of the conversation.

I try to do the best possible job and I hope the voters see that. If you want me I’ll do my best, again.” -Mike Case

Commissioner Ellis may be reached:
Commissioner Dwight Ellis
500 N/W 6th St. Dept. 6
Grants Pass, OR 97526
Telephone: (541) 474-5221

Email: dellis@co.josephine.or.us