Just more than a year after the recall of two Morrow County commissioners, residents are again considering a recall petition against the three members of the board of commissioners.
Irrigon resident Stuart Dick is organizing town hall meetings in cities across the county to determine if other residents are frustrated to the point of recall.
“I don’t want to have to go organizing signatures,” Dick said. “I don’t want to have to do all the paperwork on it. Someone’s gotta do it.”
An open process
Dick announced residents will be considering a recall during a Morrow County Board of Commissioners meeting in early January. An ad hoc group he is helping to organize, Morrow County Citizens for Liberty and Justice, will host public meetings to discuss the option. The group has 67 members in its public Facebook group.
At the board meeting, Dick invited the commissioners to come explain or defend their choices to residents in a less formal setting than the twice-monthly commissioners meetings.
David Sykes, chair of the county board, said later he will try to attend these meetings.
“I look forward to talking to people,” Sykes said. “That way you get to give them the factual information about what you’re doing.”
Sykes said he feels the board has been as transparent as it has been able to be.
“I got the legal advice, we held town halls,” he said. “We’ve done everything legally and above board, out in the open.”
He said the time it takes to present the county’s plans, such as the ambulance service area plan, has frustrated some residents. The county is hoping to present its latest draft, with Oregon Health Authority’s preliminary approval, during town hall meetings next month.
“A lot of the information was put out before we even had the plan developed,” Sykes said. “When you have something to show them, then you can show it to them, but until that point, there was nothing to show anybody.”
‘Of the people, by the people, for the people’
Dick expects many residents to be in favor of a recall, he said, especially after continual public outcry over the county’s handling of making a new ambulance service area plan.
“The commissioners have an agenda, and they don’t listen to the public,” he said. “They’re disingenuous.”
However, he said, if the majority of people who attend the five meetings are against a recall, he will not be pursuing it. He will only do what his fellow residents want, he said, because the last recall was so divisive and emotional.
“We went through a horrible recall that left scars in our county that probably will never be healed,” he said. “We do not want to have to do another recall. We do not want to go through this again.”
Still, though, Dick is taking charge of the movement.
“The people of Morrow County just need to know the truth about what’s happening,” he said. “Our republic is established for a rule of the people, by the people, for the people. And they’re not transparent and they don’t hear a word we say, and they’re not allowing the citizens to contribute to our government.”
There are five reasons Dick cited for why he is considering petitioning for a recall. Alongside the commissioners’ handling of the ambulance service area plan, Dick said there has been a lack of transparency around building a new courthouse in Heppner. He said the commissioners have made decisions about the building without consulting the residents and the choices will be detrimental to events such as the county fair and the Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo.
Dick also said he is concerned about the workload and salary of the county administrator — and a new assistant county administrator — plus the workload and salary of the commissioners themselves. Additionally, he said he the commissioners have refused to address the ongoing high levels of nitrate in the northern part of the county and a tax break the commissioners approved for Amazon was detrimental to the county’s residents.
Despite these concerns, Dick will only move forward with a petition for recall if it seems that his fellow county residents are on board. He said the last recall happened behind closed doors for much of the process and he wants this process to take the opposite approach.
County perspective
Morrow County Administrator Matt Jensen defended the board’s decisions.
“The commission feels like there’s some difficult choices that have come before them that are not issues they created,” he said, “and they are trying to handle them in the best way to get the county back on solid process.”
Jensen said many of the issues — such as the ambulance service area plan — the county is now tackling went unaddressed by previous administrations. He said the commissioners understand some people might not agree with their approach.
“There’s pros and cons or different sides of every issue,” Jensen said. “We have an individual who doesn’t agree with what the commission is doing.”
Jensen said the pushback against a new ambulance service area plan shows distrust of the county government.
“They are more or less blasting us that we can’t be trusted for anything,” Jenson said, “and that’s unfortunate because the commission’s really tried to set it out, saying we want it done right.”
While the changes being made to the plan do remove some of the power and responsibilities of the Morrow County Health District, he said, it’s not being done to spite the district.
The county did make changes to its draft based on feedback from the health district and the public. A section that caused particular opposition, about what would happen to the ambulances if a provider vacated its service, has been removed from the draft entirely, Jensen said.
“I’m hoping that the residents of Morrow County will weigh into the real matters of the issue and, and consider those before just jumping on and signing a petition,” Jensen said. “It’s good to make educated decisions.”
Moving forward
Dick said he feels the same; he said if he learns his understanding of the situation is wrong and people are happy with the commissioners’ decisions, he won’t proceed with filing a petition for a recall.
“Be up front with us,” Dick said of what he wants from the commissioners. “It’s a lack of transparency, and there’s no reason for it.”
Sykes disagreed with Dick’s interpretation of the commissioners’ actions.
The two will have the chance to discuss their differing perspectives at Morrow County Citizens for Liberty and Justice’s five town halls.
Leaders are organizing a date for the meeting in Ione, but the rest will be at 6 p.m. on their various dates.
The meetings will be in Heppner on Jan. 25 at St. Patrick’s Apartments and Senior Center, in Lexington at the Holly Rebekah Lodge on Jan. 29, in Irrigon’s Oregon Trail Library District meeting room on Jan. 31, and in Boardman at the Garfield Grange 579 Hall on Feb. 5.
