It is my pleasure as the outgoing president of the Association of Oregon Counties to introduce our 2022 Annual Report. We have experienced many things this year, but for me one of the highlights has been the opportunity to begin reconnecting.

There’s an old saying that reminds us “people don’t care much about what you think until they know how much you care.” When we know each other as people, elements such as civility, appreciation,  acceptance, and mutual respect will become woven into the operating equation of our association.

This was a deliberate process with events scheduled at locations around Oregon where the opportunity to spend time with one-another face-to-face has been a welcome experience. Clearly virtual meetings have offered some efficiencies and we will continue to provide the hybrid option, but there is great communication value in being in the same room together.  I suspect as AOC moves forward, we will continue to utilize both means.

In seeking to identify highlights of the year, clearly moving beyond the pandemic has provided a sense of relief, and to some extent, it feels like we are getting our lives back.

In my mind, however, beginning to leave COVID behind us is over-shadowed by a significant milestone – we have a home of our own – a mortgage-free home of our own, just steps from the heart of Oregon government.  And, in March, we will be having an open house to share our new quarters with the world.

This new home is more critical now than ever as we institutionalize our reimagining project. One of its major components is accelerating both our presence, impact, and influence in the Legislature, but also expanding our relationship with state agencies, something that clearly needs to be a major focus.

We can be proud of a reimagining process that has been comprehensive and inclusive. The primary goal was to create a strategic document created by our commissioners, chairs, and judges. At last count, 33 of our counties have had direct engagement in the process. As the reimagining process comes to a conclusion, we are grateful for the commitment to the process that included our kickoff in Salem, board meetings, focused sessions of our key committees, a legislative retreat in Hermiston, and responses to our request for input and on-going review.

I personally had the pleasure of visiting seven of our eight district meetings to talk further about the plan, and in some cases, introduce it to those who might not have been as involved in its development. I have been pleased with the reception we have received.

One of our efforts in this process is to identify a more viable process for not just increasing our influence across the state, but also exploring ways in which we can do the business of representing our counties while also honoring different interests, needs, and ideals. We are actively seeking ways of identifying those issues on which there is general agreement and avoiding those where that isn’t the case. Coupled with that is developing processes and procedures that enable counties to represent themselves on issues that AOC may not include within its portfolio of major issues.

Another critical accomplishment during the past year has been the assembly of a highly-skilled staff of legislative specialists while also defining a new organizational pattern.

Financially, for the first time in some years, we can be confident about improved fiscal management. As a result of that process, we have come to realize that in order to thrive, we need to actively explore other revenue sources than dues or scale back our level of services.

AOC is the logical organization to be a major influence in our state. We represent every corner of Oregon and provide a voice for those who are distanced from the seat of power while at the same time recognize that our counties are more alike than different and although we have vast differences in size, in the end we have much in common.

We are not a cumbersome organization. We have 120 commissioners, chairs, and judges spread across Oregon. This affords us that opportunity to know, respect, and understand one another.

In far too many ways, government is divided and broken at too many levels. We can be a model for what effective government should look like.

At the annual convention in Eugene I handed over the gavel to Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot who now leads the organization. On January 4, I will step down as a commissioner as Umatilla County swears in my replacement.

My hope for AOC is the same as my hope for Umatilla County and that is leave behind both entities better than I found them.

George Murdock

AOC President (2021-2022)

Click here to view the 2022 Annual Report.

Contributed by: George Murdock | Umatilla County Commissioner and Outgoing AOC President