When we reported on the agenda for last week’s Corvallis City Council meeting, we thought… wow, there’s a lot going on. However, by the end of the four-hour long Jan. 2 meeting… not so much.
Councilor Gabe Shepherd’s motion to require a two-thirds vote of the Council to expel a member, just as Ward 5 Councilor Charlyn Ellis’ expulsion hearing is coming up next week – defeated. The plan to ask voters to double Councilor terms from two years to four – also defeated.
Generally, there is some consensus from the Councilors that four-year terms – staggered so four seats would come up one year, and five seats another year – would offer some improved governance. However, there’s also general agreement that neither current or future councilors would be particularly interested in the lengthier four-year commitments.
These Councilor gigs essentially amount to a second almost fulltime job – and they happen to be unpaid volunteer work. Notably, recruiting replacements when incumbents choose to step away has not always been easy.
With Mayor Maughan out for the week, the meeting was chaired by City Council President Tracey Yee – and the first one hour and forty-one minutes went to public comments, which overwhelmingly addressed Middle East affairs.
Councilors Jan Napack and Ellis presented a resolution they had drafted on the matter, with Ellis reading it aloud, given the public had not yet seen a draft.
After some discussion about the resolution, which decidedly advocated for peace instead of taking any particular side, the Council chose to table consideration until February, with the idea that they could make adjustments and get a draft in front of the public by then. At one point, Councilor Shepherd introduced an amendment to the draft that would have specifically called for a ceasefire, which for some people has become code for Israel to unilaterally surrender – the Council voted to reject the amendment.
The day after the Council meeting, we asked Corvallis Public Information Officer Patrick Rollens for a copy of the draft resolution. He said he would send it when it reached him. At press time, it hasn’t come to us.
Towards the end of the meeting, Councilors Paul Schaffer and Tony Cadena were nominated to replace Councilor Yee as Council President – Schaffer is the new president. Councilor Hyatt Lytle was slated to step away from the vice presidency, but then chose to volunteer to continue. Ultimately, Lytle was nominated and prevailed, though Councilor Laurie Chaplen was also nominated.
Over at the County: Last Tuesday’s Benton County Board of Commissioners meeting contrasted markedly from the Council meeting. The Board meeting clocked in at just under half an hour, and with the three members, as usual, voting in unanimity.
As anticipated, they voted to lobby for bipartisan congressional legislation that would support continuing Medicaid for county jail inmates nationwide. This would permit inmates to continue seeing their providers while in custody, offering a continuity of care, including mental health, that does not currently exist.
Not anticipated, was the Board’s approval of a final version of ordinances that would ban the use of exotic circus animals by traveling operators that visit Benton County. The new rules had been undergoing minor revisions for months – and the newest draft has proved to be the final draft.
The new ordinance replaces an older version that was apparently not specific enough. For instance, at one point, fairgrounds staff became concerned the old ordinance may have even banned local rodeos, which wasn’t the Board’s original intent.
Finally, the Board, as it does each year, voted in a new Chair for the year – the gavel now passes from Commissioner Pat Malone to Commissioner Xan Augerot.
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