Getting to YES

Local government can get stuff done.

The public needs to be willing to say "yes." 

The default orientation of taxpayers is to say "no" to new tax measures that come up for a vote. People wonder if we really need the change. People distrust government. People don't want to pay more in taxes. "No" wins the day -- unless there is a large, credible group of people saying "yes," making a persuasive point that the proposed project is worthy.

Tam Moore has been participating in local government, as a county commissioner from 1975-1979, as an engaged volunteer for a variety of civic organizations, and as a journalist for an seven decades. He warns that neither the county's Animal Control Shelter nor the county jail proposals are on a path to getting the public support they need. Tam Moore is a veteran of the early years of the Vietnam War. Fifty years ago he looked like this when he reported news for KOBI-TV.

Guest Post by Tam Moore

It’s painful to see smart, caring people fumble the ball. That’s what’s happening in Jackson County, Oregon this spring. County government has one huge problem – the aging, under-capacity county jail completed in 1981. But that’s not what the county administration is trying to solve.

These days, they are fumbling the ball over replacing the Animal Control Shelter. And they are getting turned aside in an effort to get city councils in the county’s 11 incorporated cities to consent to becoming part of an Animal Control Service District. If formed, it might become the legal vehicle to build a new pound for our stray dogs and cats.

“Where was the public involvement?” Ashland City Councilor Gina DuQuenne asked county officials last week. So far councils in Ashland, Central Point and Jacksonville have put off endorsing the county service district proposal.

Not coincidentally, two former volunteers at the current animal shelter, who recently posted on this blog, are telling cities there are other shelter options. On Tuesday they are holding a community forum to talk up those options.

There’s a huge disconnect evident here. And it’s not the first time in recent history.

Those who know the situation understand that county management alienated the dozens of volunteers who championed the Animal Shelter and the creatures it houses. The volunteer “Friends of the Animal Shelter” organization dropped “shelter” from its name. Those who observe, or in my case often campaign for a progressive approach to county problems, know it takes public support, most often culminating in an election win, to make changes.

Two notable successes preserving local institutions came through the formation of county-wide special districts. Jackson County’s share of costs for the Cooperative Extension Program run by Oregon State University is secured through a special district. Four-H kids and their families, small woodland owners, and farmers and ranchers carried the election campaign. Book lovers from every branch of the County Library System carried the election campaign which formed the Jackson County Library District.

Let’s get back to the jail crisis. That’s what it is.

How do we know that a jail designed back when I was a county commissioner in the late 1970s, and completed in 1981, is in crisis? Every year, by state law, the district attorney impanels a special corrections grand jury to review facilities and management of the county jail, the work-transition center, and the juvenile detention center. Since 2009, every grand jury has recommended a new jail.

News media and the public mostly ignored those warnings.

In 2022, the written report declared “Jackson County is experiencing a jail space crisis.” The 2023 grand jury repeated the “crisis” language. You can expect similar language when the 2024 report comes out in May or June. We will receive this evaluation despite repeated initiatives by the sheriff, the courts, prosecutors and community corrections officials to adjust the justice system so it functions in the face of limited jail capacity.

County government in 2018 launched a real effort to replace the jail. It culminated in a special district proposal with a $171 million, 796-inmate-capacity jail placed on the May 2020 ballot. Covid came along at the same time. Voters rejected the measure. There weren’t any “Friends of the Jail” citizens ready to campaign. A squabble arose about whether the new facility would provide mental health services to inmates.

This spring County Administrator Danny Jordan told the Board of County Commissioners that the 2020 jail design may approach a cost of $300 million. Cutting back on the facility seems realistic in the face of inflation. He said a 500-bed jail could come in at $190 to $210 million. Commissioners asked staff to look into a public opinion survey to sense where the community is on replacing the jail.

Back in 2022 the grand jury recommended the county administrator and sheriff hold quarterly public meetings of all stakeholders to “problem solve” the jail space crisis. Sheriff Nate Sickler at the time urged commissioners to create a “public engagement plan.”

Both recommendations are worth pursuing before doing polling on community support. And let’s add public involvement to resolve the animal shelter’s future.

 

[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog to your email go to: https://petersage.substack.com Subscribe. Don't pay. The blog is free and always will be.]