The World doesn’t think it is nice to interrupt our commissioners while they are trying to pull one over on us.
No need to be hostile
Jeers to the rude woman who heckled Coos County commissioners last week. Disagreement is the raw material of democracy, but courtesy is the glue.
Gag me with a spoon! Courtesy works both ways. There was no consensus of the public to accept a one minute limit for questions or comments on something this important. There was no agreement to give unlimited time to ORC. People take time off from work and drive long distances to address the Board. How dare they cut people off mid-sentence? Now that is rude, I don’t care how much glue you apply!
Why would Nikki stop ORC COO, Dan Smith from answering how much money ORC paid to the County during its previous mining leases? (The answer, I believe, is zero) Why keep it from us?
Compartmentalizing land use considerations, such as fixing W Beaver Hill Road, from other issues within the context of this public meeting is understandable given no planning department personnel were in attendance to answer questions. Nevertheless, the commissioners have the authority to uphold land use decisions if appealed and the public are very concerned about safety, health and environmental issues.
Lastly, it seems an earlier perceived willingness on the part of Whitty to bring in qualified legal counsel to represent the County in mineral lease matters may not be accurate. At Wednesday’s meeting Whitty seemed less enthusiastic about the idea and concerned with the cost.
No one is really sure what the purpose of last Tuesday’s meeting really was but it does seem evident that there is no intention of allowing the public to participate in the lease negotiations. Does that mean the public will still have ample opportunity to review any draft agreements and weigh in on the deal before it is signed? The public rude, crude or courteous need to make the decisions of the Board stick to them their entire political life.
In some sad way, I think Coos County citizens are so beaten down after decades of high unemployment and scraping, scrapping and struggling to get by, are too afraid to stand up to officials and assert their rights. That is if they even have the energy or the resources to attend these meetings.
Public meetings are very different from place to place and I must agree, the public are not well treated here compared to say Portland, OR or Alexandria, VA… The public there do not put up with rules like these.
This is my next leter to Ed, it covers some of the subjects talked about in these post.
den
A review. An executive meeting held under the Oregon Public Meeting Law, ORS, Chapter 192, by Public bodies, is no more than a private meeting. Public excluded.
Why? Has Coos County Road Department had to absorb all the pain and stress to fund the platform for the mining company when any revenue generated through agreements, leases, royalties, and other, will be directed to the County General Fund.
In my attempt to obtain facts, on February 13, 2009 I submitted a public records request to see documents concerning one or possibly two correspondence sent to Oregon Resources Corp., ORC, in November of 08. ORC had referred to receiving correspondence from Coos County, thus the meeting described below, 2/3/09, was requested by ORC to clarify some of the requirements in that correspondence.
My request was denied, on February 24, 2009 and the proper Oregon Revised Statues, ORS’s were referenced, ORS 192.440(1) “as what you requested is not a record that you have a right to inspect.†And, “Any draft or discussion documents for the purpose of real property negotiations are exempt from inspection pursuant to ORS 192.502(9).†“{records otherwise made confidential or privileged under Oregon law.}â€; “ORS192.660(2)(e) {executive session on negotiation of real property transactions); and ORS 40.225 {attorney-client privilege}.â€
All bases were covered, I never made it to first base. Boo hoo.
It is well known that Coos County and ORC. have developed a current business arrangement, even though it may not be final at this writing, concerning the use and maintenance of the County roads, on which ORC will haul (transport) their Mineral products.
Other business also includes the leases of the mineral rights, in certain areas, and exploration agreements of county property and royalties all pointing to future revenue benefit to the County.
Kevin Stufflebean has spoken about it at public meetings, and the newspapers and other sources have written about arrangements.
The road maintenance requirement, paragraph 13, was required by the commissioners in the “conditional use permit, final decision order†of Oregon Resources “conditional use application†“Applicant shall be responsible for the proportionate cost of maintenance, repair and upgrades of County roads on the designated transport route.â€
ORDER 07-10-278PL October 4, 2007.
The enforcement of the paragraph is “Applicant shall be responsible for immediate payment of such cost upon demand by the County.â€
Even when all the conditions of paragraph 13 are accomplished, the clarity of when ORC will start their payments to the County is lacking. And for the County to add “Coos County Road Department†money to Beaver Hill Road, now, which “Already,might be the best maintained road in the countyâ€, is wasting money.
Paragraph 13, resulted from ORC, obtaining the mineral rights, on Weyerhauser property, but needed county permits to actually do the process and move the ore to a processing facility by way of County roads.
The other business in progress, ORC wants to explore more areas, which includes about 6000 acres of County property, mostly in the area of County Forest Lands.
The public meeting on February 3, 2009, ORC, County Commissioners and South Coast Development Council, SCDC was held to address ORC concerns about the leases and agreements for exploration. The meeting also gave Stufflebean the opportunity to clarify the expected June 09, first payment from ORC for their share of maintaining Beaver Hill Road. No money now, and not for a while.
What does all this smell like. North West Natural is the only gas company who is interested in bringing gas to our County. Nucor, is the only steel company interested in building a steel mill here in our County. The’re the only company who wants to put an LNG storage facility on the North Spit. The mining operation could be as big a deal as an airport or a railroad.
Public involvement in ways that matter is a tough row to hoe. Past results are no guarantee of future benefits for the County as a hole.
I agree completely Magix, I am stunned, stunned I tell ya at the way these County Commissioners treat the public. Do they not understand the more they try to blur the facts, the more people are going to question them. Just think about it M, they went from firstly moving public comments at their regular Wed. meetings, to public comments at the END of their meetings, to only written questions, to three minutes, to one minute.
What the hell are they thinking? I’ll tell ya what I think is going on. Stufflebutt has got his ass in some kind of sling, not sure what it is or who it’s with. And Wittless is not bright enough to know what the hell to do except follow da man, whomever it may be this year, which obviously is Kevin. All of this nonsense started immediatly AFTER Dec. 31, have you noticed?
I think the mtg. on Tuesday was so they could hand the job to ORC, no questions asked, the public not knowing enough about it. I think ORC blew their cover when they said they thought this meeting was about Article 13 or whatever they call it. And because of Bob Mains’ very, very needed suggestions to actually be responsible with the interests of the county, Wittless and Stufflebutt had to devise a way to put it off. It was embarrasing to say the least.
I cannot believe Wittless interupted the public continuously throughout the meeting, talk about rude.
I think we need to speak to the state office which the Commissioners operate under to find out how long they can play this cat and mouse game with the public. Surely they’ve broken more open meeting laws than in December.
Wittless , Stufflebutt and and their very frightened atty. better get used to us, don’t ya think? They don’t like it one bit, but I don’t think they are going to be able to operate the way they’ve become accustomed.
I was so impressed with the publics’ questions, our neighbors really are thinking and researching these issues, and I am so proud of each and every one of them.
Many of them are learning for the first time how to really watch and listen to what this board is up to.
Shame on Wittless, shame on Stufflebutt and a big shame on their enabler the Co. Atty. What a disappointment that one is.
She’s determined to shut up and shut out the public at every turn.
Perhaps we’ll just have to find out ourselves if her legal advice, and petty actions at meetings, and allowing these road-blocks she’s advising them about is proper action for a County Council. That should be interesting, huh?