Your Questions and Answers

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Pat Malone's opening statement:

Good evening. A little bit about myself. I was raised by a single Mom after my Dad died. I learned about tough budgets and affordability as a kid. It taught me to be thrifty. I’ve worked to get the most from any resource whether on my tree farm, the LBCC Budget, and now for the County. On the tree farm our income came in once a year. You learn to be careful or you do without. I am careful about spending my money and very careful about spending your money.

I’ve been energy conscious starting in college. With climate change, my personal efforts have paralleled my efforts to improve Benton County. 40 years ago, Betty and I built and still live in our passive solar house. For Benton County, I champion putting solar panels on every possible county building.

One of my goals for Benton County is to make it possible to get around without a car. Cars are expensive and hard on the environment. With my help the first part of the Corvallis- Albany bike path has been paved and more to come.

I drive an electric vehicle. For the County: I’m working to electrify the County fleet and expand our charging stations.

I helped found the Kings Valley Fire Department, spent 8 years as Fire Chief and an another 30 years as a firefighter. Because climate change is real, there is an increasing chance that we will experience a major wildfire. Both Oak Creek and Cardwell Hill neighborhoods needed more than one road in and out. I worked on creating the partnerships that help make the new emergency evacuation routes possible.

I believe in working to create community. My theme here is getting things done by putting my values into action.

Question: What are the most important issues facing the County Commission and how do you propose to address them?

The budget and managing growth. Without a healthy budget, it won’t matter what we want to do. We are in challenging economic times. Trump’s draconian cuts to public health, critical funding for our roadways and bridges, slashing all of our environmental and scientific programs that directly hurts our clinics, our hospitals, and OSU. The county’s current budget is lean, but we were able to craft our budget with no reduction in service or staff. This means we don’t have many dollars in reserve to backfill when Federal dollars are reduced.

These reductions are challenging our Health Department, especially the 5 Health Clinics and Crisis Center that we operate. Medicaid is an important component of our funding, and the Federal Government is trying to reduce the number of people who qualify for Medicaid.

We need a strong economy to counter balance the disappearance of federal monies. OSU is 1/3rd the population of our county. I’ve been meeting with OSU provost, Roy Haggerty, to build better relationships. Part of my job is to connect the good things at OSU with the outside world. One of the exciting things coming from OSU now is the work being done at the TallWood Design Institute. The research on how to use our local forest products could change how we store carbon long term and use renewable resources to build all wood multi story structures.

If our budget isn’t in good shape, it’s difficult to maintain current services and almost impossible to fund new initiatives. I’m concerned about the lack of affordability and lack of housing in our county. The costs to families for groceries and gas continue to climb. With my significant experience with budgeting - on our farm, non-profits, LBCC, and Benton County budgets – I promise to continue to be a good steward of our taxpayer money.

Question: How would you take actions as a Commissioner to manage solid waste in Benton County, specifically leading sustainability efforts including waste reduction, recycling, and composting?

I am very concerned about sustainability and where we are going to put our waste. I am concerned our county will be filled with illegal dumping or worse: people burning their garbage which could jeopardize our crops, forests and land. That is why, I was honored when Governor Kotek appointed me Chair for the Solid Waste Task Force that is looking at how all of NW Oregon will dispose of their waste in the future. I am working very hard working with many counties to identify real solutions that can be in place when Coffin Butte closes. It's about our children's future and our land. As Chair, I’m in a very strong position to guide counties in developing the future plan for all solid waste.

Benton County’s current recovery rate is about 32%, which means our good intentions aren’t enough. We also need advanced, modern infrastructure, which will include a transfer station where we can get our recovery rate to well over 50%. Then the solid waste that is left can be shipped by truck or rail to landfills that are in a drier climate, likely in Eastern Oregon.

The challenge will be to develop a plan, then site and build the necessary infrastructure. And we have to achieve this before Coffin Butte Landfill is closed, in an estimated 10 to 15 years.

This plan needs to be good for the environment and affordable. We need to develop a strong sense of urgency and the will to do the difficult planning, funding, and construction necessary to achieve this vision.

Question: What do you think are the gaps in Benton County’s addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery system of care, and what can Benton County do to improve that system?

Benton County has made good progress in dealing with the addiction crisis. Our Mental Health Crisis Center opened last July. We have had challenges expanding hours beyond normal work hours and days. Part of the challenge is the competition for qualified councilors. And the reimbursement model has changed. Even with these challenges we’re planning on expanding our weekday hours from 7 AM to 7 PM starting this June.

The restarting of Benton County’s Drug Treatment Court, thanks to Judge Demarest, will help hold people accountable who have addiction issues. It has worked well in the past and I’m glad that we are able to get this program going again.

Another gap in our treatment options is our current jail. Because of its very small capacity, we are sending adults in custody (AIC) to other facilities where friends and family have a hard time supporting them.

Because of the lack of jail space Benton County has a difficult time delivering services such as counseling including addiction treatment and recovery programs. With a modern and larger correctional facility, we could do a much better job delivering these badly needed programs.

Question: Affordable housing is a critical issue - what do you believe is the county’s role in working with Benton County cities and unincorporated communities in terms of attracting affordable housing developments? What is the County doing well, and what policies would you support to address this issue?

We need to be creative about supporting workforce housing so that more families can afford to work and live here. We need to do this and still honor land use zoning of Exclusive Farm Use and Forestry designations. [57% of Benton County land is forest; 29% is agriculture, 5% are cities and towns.]

Part of the equation for affordable housing is putting housing where there are services. Before we talk about putting large numbers of housing out in the county, we need to address questions like, Is there water? Can the ground support a septic system? Is this really the place for housing, if the owner then has to commute 25 or 30 miles to get to work?

We need to examine the County’s Comprehensive Plan to see if we need to make any changes, so that we can have more houses in unincorporated Benton County. We need to examine our State land use goals to see if any changes should be made while still protecting our farm and forest land.

We need to make sure our local economy is in good shape. This means attracting new businesses and retaining existing jobs so that people can afford the housing that we have.

What is the county’s role in housing? It is mostly a supportive one. For example, Corvallis has developed hundreds of units of housing at the intersection of SW 53rd and Country Club Road, mostly to help low-income families. The county’s role was improving that intersection. In the last legislative session, Benton County supported Philomath getting state dollars to extend a sewer line with Representative Gomberg’s help. This will allow Philomath to build a number of new housing units in town where the services exist.

Question: For many years the county has asked the voters to replace our aging jail. How will you address this issue?

I have been addressing this issue by doing our new buildings in phases. Instead of building the jail, the Emergency Operations Center and the new courthouse all at once, I pushed to have the courthouse built first, because we had the money for it. I helped lobby the Oregon legislature for $5 million so Benton County could build a stand-alone Emergency Operations Center. That money couldn’t be used for the jail, so I helped direct it to go the EOC.

Benton County with our Sheriff leading, is our contact with the National Institute of Corrections. They can help Benton County with design and funding advice for building a new jail.

At my suggestion, we now have a Reserve fund dedicated for a correctional facility. We are looking for opportunities when extra resources become available to put dollars into the fund and gradually build up a significant amount. Also, we can gradually increase our bonding capacity once existing bonds mature.

Once we have the new courthouse completed next year, Benton County can engage the community in talking about what kind of facility the community will support. In 2018 and 2029 we had a series of town halls to get community input. I suggest we review that model of community engagement and combine it with what we learn from the National Institute of Corrections.

Question: Once the new courthouse is complete, what are your plans for the old courthouse?

For more than 130 years the courthouse has served us well. The courthouse is on the national historic registry; it has prestige and has been the county logo for many years. It is an iconic symbol of Benton County. We’ve had a committee tasked with giving the county options for repurposing this historic building. Recently the Historic Resources Commission has been added to help with the effort.

These are some of the challenges:

- It's connected to a jail so it makes it difficult for a builder to come in and reimagine the space.

- It can’t be housing because it can’t be outfitted to meet the seismic standards.

- Whoever receives the structure (even a non-profit) will have to register and comply with plans with the State Historic Preservation Office.

We’ve had studies done to estimate the cost of a seismic retrofit. I’ve seen dollar amounts in the $15 to $20 million range. These amounts are several years old and won’t necessarily preserve the building after a serious earthquake.

Public and private partnership is one option. Some grants are available to non-profits that aren’t available to government owned facilities.

If this was an easy question the path forward would be more obvious.

The county is leading the charge and speaking with municipalities all over the country who had reimagined courthouses. This will be difficult but as commissioner, we want to preserve it and give the community access to it.

Question: When making decisions as a Commissioner, how do/would you incorporate public input to inform your actions and decisions? How do you plan to engage with and gather input from your constituents to inform your actions and decisions?

Public input is a critical component in my decision making. I listen carefully to public testimony at Board meetings. I try to be as accessible to the community as I can. I go to community events such as Saturday Market to talk with people and attend gatherings from Monroe to Alsea and all places in between. It is a way to show my support for their events and make myself available for questions and concerns. I also go to town halls that our members of congress put on. With hundreds of people in attendance it’s a great way to find out what’s important to people. At Wyden’s Town Hall in March, I heard over and over the concern about federal overreach especially on the war in Iran and an ICE detention center coming into the Newport area.

For instance, in regards to Coffin Butte and listening: I read hundreds of pages of documents, I do listen to everyone, but I also had to follow land use law. In decades of local business experience and as your commissioner, I have had to make difficult decisions. I vote on a budget that can be very unpopular. I had to weigh in on a union that had a county wide strike but would also cost the community thousands of dollars. I have had to weigh in on hiring decisions with leadership. But ultimately you have supported me because I take all votes very seriously and I approach those decisions not because they are politically popular but what is right for the whole county.

At the end of the day, I take public input, the information I’ve gathered, and consider long term effects so I can make the best decision on what’s good for the whole Benton County community.

Pat Malone's closing statement:

No one does this on their own. It is about creating and nurturing partnerships. I have decades of building those partnerships both here in the county and with the legislatures in Salem and Washington DC. Being a commissioner is a learning process. And I thank you for the privilege to serve you.

It’s difficult to give complete answers to the questions I’ve gotten tonight. There are several ways for us to continue this conversation. In March, I started “Chat with Pat”. I will be in the Benton County’s Kalapuya Building lobby a two or three Tuesdays afternoons per month at 3:30 to 5:00 so that community members and county staff can come by and have an informal conversation with me about their concerns. Check the county website for details.

In addition, anyone can email or call me to talk or make an appointment. This information is in the back of the room or at my website: vote4patMalone. Environment – in practice Endorsements that will help get things done for Benton County Experience to continue solving the challenges that face Benton County.

Thank you for your attention. I ask for your vote for the May 19th primary.