November Ballot Update: At the Benton County Board of Commissioners meeting, they covered the nuts and bolts of voting this week. Absentee and military ballots have been sent out, and the staff has gone through training in signature verification – and, yes, every ballot is checked. Voting observer training happens today. The ballot counting area will have nine cameras to monitor all areas.
Keep an eye out for your ballot which will be sent soon. Check the County website for detailed instructions on how to fill out your regular ballot. Then keep an eye here as we will be making sure that a full description of ranked choice voting is available prior to the election.
Lobbyists Chosen: The Commissioners have chosen a lobbyist company to work with them on issues such as the Jail System Improvement Program (JSIP), transportation, and homeless services. According to Financial Services Director Rick Crager, the firm selected includes a former Chief of Staff from Rep. Dan Rayfield’s office and a combined state and federal experience base which will open the County up to more federal money.
JSIP Advisory Committee: JSIP Project Manager Nick Kurth spoke about the new advisory committee members for the program. Committee members include:
- Kate Caldwell of Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV)
- Ricardo Contreras of Casa Latinos Unidos
- Helen Cunha, a community member
- Andrew Freborg, a community member
- John Gotchall, MD, of The Arc of Benton County
- Cornelia Levy-Bencheton, a community member
- Elona Meyer, a community member
- Carole Millie, OSU Student Conduct and Community Standards
- Malcolm “Mal” Miner of the Rotary Club
- Andrea Myhre of Corvallis Housing First
- Karen Nibler of the Corvallis League of Women Voters
- Mary Anne Nusrala of the Corvallis League of Women Voters
- John Sarna of Benton County Republicans
- Roberta Smith, a community member
- Gordon Zimmerman, a member of the business community
A representative of the Linn-Benton NAACP has been asked to join the committee, but has not responded yet. It was suggested by Commissioner Pat Malone that someone from Samaritan Health be added to the committee as well.
This is a second group of people who are meeting to advise the County about the JSIP.
Other JSIP Business: Final results to the latest survey for JSIP will be released next week, with several opportunities for the team to speak to residents who are interested in learning more. The next forum will be on October 19 at Linus Pauling Middle School, located at 1111 NW Cleveland Ave., Corvallis, from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
At the most recent forum, there were about 35 people online and 45 people in person – although approximately half of those in person were support staff from the County.
No More Whereas: For just over an hour, the Commissioners spent time with a proclamation about Native American Heritage Month, followed by a discussion about how to waste less time on proclamations. The primary time savers included cutting out the term “whereas” and limiting each proclamation to one page. Perhaps most concerning to the board was the idea of limiting how many proclamations to be made each year and how to spread the proclamation-heavy May’s various holidays into an every-other-year calendar without seeming dismissive about important causes.
By Advocate Staff
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