By Dick Hughes
“If Marion County is going to do it, we’re going to do it right,” County Commissioner Sam Brentano said. “That’s my pledge.”
Brentano was talking about last year’s creation of the Marion County Veteran Service Office. But his words illustrated the county commissioners’ overall approach.
Commissioners Brentano, Colm Willis and Kevin Cameron gave the annual State of the County presentation at a March 13 public luncheon hosted by SEDCOR at Broadway Commons.
The commissioners thanked the county’s employees, highlighted accomplishments of the past year and assessed the challenges – many of them political – that lie ahead. They said they would go on the road this year, holding board sessions and town hall meetings in East Salem, the Santiam Canyon, and North Marion County.
Recounting 2018, Brentano said the county resurfaced more than 21 miles of roadway and will do 25 miles this year, along with applying chip seal last year to 63 miles. Revenue from state fuel taxes enabled the county to make a significant turnaround from some years, when the lack of federal timber revenue hampered such maintenance.
Meanwhile, building construction in the county continues at a strong pace. “That growth is important to us,” Brentano said. “We’re not big on raising taxes. We’re not big on raising fees. If there’s going to be more revenues to provide the services the county does, we want it to come from growth.”
Turning to political challenges, he took issue with the 2019 Legislature’s carbon tax-and-trade bill – House Bill 2020, known by proponents as Clean Energy Jobs but which he called “tax and swindle.” “The bill is about revenue generation, wealth redistribution, and control – with no measurable improvement to the environment. I absolutely believe that,” he said.
Brentano also regretted the “horrible, horrible” vote by the Salem City Council against proceeding with the third bridge across the Willamette River, a decision he said would harm the region’s economy and mobility for decades.
Commissioner Willis, who took office in January, talked about the crisis of homelessness. He was impressed by the empathy and effectiveness of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, which helps individuals receive treatment and support as alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system.
Willis announced that the county would launch an initiative to increase the housing supply and promote home ownership. That could include a strengthened county focus for the federal Continuum of Care approach for addressing homelessness.
“We have a lot of resources in our community, but one resource we don’t have a lot of is housing. We don’t have a lot of places for people to live if they do want to get off the streets,” he said.
“Housing isn’t just an issue for folks who are homeless; it’s an issue for the folks in the middle class as well. There are a lot of families that are having a hard time affording a place to live.”
Commissioner Cameron, who chairs the Board of Commissioners this year, told how the county works jointly with Polk and Yamhill counties on economic development.
Since 2007, he said, the county and its partners have brought more than $27 million in federal and state grants to the region.
The county’s efforts this year include working on broadband internet service in the Santiam Canyon; development of a sewer system in the canyon; expansion of the Aurora State Airport; a more realistic plan for the Detroit Dam fish passage; the Donald-Aurora interchange on Interstate 5; support for agricultural technology; and expanded law enforcement and street lighting in East Salem.
“Water, sewer, roads, broadband infrastructure – that’s the type of thing we need to help,” he said of Marion County’s role. “Because if we build it, they will come. If we make sure that it’s built, they will come.”
The county faces a number of challenges, he said, including Metro’s assertion of water rights on the North Santiam River and Clackamas County’s opposition to the Aurora Airport development.
Cameron concluded by saying he was honored to serve with Brentano, Willis and the 1,700 employees of Marion County.
Video: 2019 State of the County
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