AOC President and Umatilla County Commissioner Larry Givens, Governor Kate Brown, and LOC President and City of Salem Councilman Brad Nanke at the June Intergovernmental Council meeting.
Governor Brown convenes quarterly meeting with county/city leadership
Contributed by: Mike McArthur, AOC Executive Director | June 27, 2016
On Monday, June 27, 2016 Governor Brown met with AOC President and Umatilla County Commissioner Larry Givens and LOC President and City of Salem Councilman Brad Nanke, along with AOC Executive Director Mike McArthur and LOC Legislative Director, Craig Honeyman LOC. Also in attendance were the Governor’s policy advisors: Lisa Howard, Carmen Fore, Annette Liebe, Ivo Trummer, Vince Porter and Jeremy Van de Hey.
Topics on the agenda included transportation, mental health/public safety integration and property tax reform.
The governor reiterated her support for additional revenue for transportation. She was asked by county representatives if the administration could produce a simple explanation of the Clean Fuels program – describing how it will be implemented in order to help get past the hurdle that prevented a transportation package moving in past sessions. The Governor agreed to provide this explanation and additional information.
In addition, county representatives described AOC’s work over the past several years in dealing with the problem of mentally ill being housed in county jails, and the lack of community mental health services. County leaders noted that although progress has been made in some jurisdictions, much remains to be done. AOC suggested we find a way to provide technical assistance to counties who are interested in addressing this problem and indicated that this would involve bringing together public safety and human service professionals from local and state departments to develop strategies to work with this population. The Governor expressed support for this effort – as did the cities – and we agreed to continue to work with the Governor’s staff on implementation.
The cities expressed interest in pursuing legislation to reform the property tax system (measures 5 and 50). This would most likely require a legislative referral of a specific question to voters in the form of a constitutional amendment. There was discussion of the political difficulty of this undertaking.
Governor Brown shared her interest in three priorities for the coming year: housing, rural economic development and career technical education. She also stated her prediction that state resources would be very limited next session.
AOC looks forward to continuing to work in partnership with the Governor, her staff, and cities to advance these issues and deliver solutions for Oregon.