During Tuesday’s BOC meeting, Kevin Stufflebean addresses Phil Thompson who frequently handles the camera for the local public access channel. Stufflebean is of the impression that Thompson was filming work being done out at the Wallace Road local improvement district. For clarification in the following exchange, Thompson had a small digital still camera with him and says he took two photos.

I want to thank Phil Thompson because Phil, I understand you were out on Wallace Road yesterday taking pictures…. Oh, I thought you were recording… I am hoping you guys are doing a show on the local improvement district out there because that’s a very successful one for the County…. I am assuming you guys are doing a show about Wallace Avenue and LID… I want to thank you because I think that’s a good thing for the county and that’s the first local improvement district that’s actually going through so people will be able to see how the process works and what’s going on so I thank you…

All the while Stufflebean is encouraging Thompson to do a show on the Wallace Road improvements it turns out he is planning on doing one himself, complete with a Chyron or subtitle. In what appears to be little more than a campaign video, Stufflebean appears shortly after the BOC meeting, on camera with one of the lucky recipients of Bancroft Bond, what works out to be ten year financing, for his personal driveway. The driveway improvements are an optional side deal allowed under ORS 371.640. Allowed, but by no means mandatory, as far as I can tell.

The local improvement districts can be a great way to improve some roads and I am all for them. In effect, the County is behaving as the lender to the abutting property owners to improve the road and assessing the costs of the materials to the members of the LID with the County picking up the labor cost. Those home owners that request driveway work off the right of way can also finance the work though the LID assessment but must incur not only the materials cost but also the labor costs.

During the video pictured above Kevin addresses concerns raised at the BOC meeting earlier that day regarding tying up an already small county road crew to do work on private property. Yesterday, before seeing either the BOC meeting or the LID video, I sent the following email to all three commissioners but have yet to receive a reply.

Where can I obtain a copy of Resolution 09-09-136L pertaining to the formation of the Wallace/Shell/Caraway LID? Where do I find a copy of the agreements with the abutting land owners? Several people have asked me questions relating to improvements off the right of way and on private property, for example driveways. My understanding is the homeowners are responsible for all material and labor costs for the off right of way work. Is this true? How is reimbursement made to the county, specifically for the driveways? Is it reimbursed immediately or assessed as an increase to property taxes and paid out over time?

Also, I have been advised the road crews have been working overtime, grading on weekends, most recently in the Fairview area. Is this true? Given the small crew, is the taxpayer absorbing the cost of overtime while crews are paving private drives during regular work hours if road crew are then left doing regular road maintenance on weekends?

Thank you,

Mary

In the video Kevin claims to have eighteen road employees and with only eight working on Wallace Road that leaves ten to work on the roads.

…we have eight of our eighteen employees out here, that means we still have ten of our employees throughout the county doing road maintenance. That was an issue that was brought up at our board meeting, in fact, this morning

Here is the problem. The road department doesn’t have eighteen employees, only sixteen. Four are management and one is a mechanic. Three are on light duty, meaning physical problems restrict the type of work they can do, and one is off until the first of the year with a shoulder injury. Cindy Moody, who manages the sign shop, was seen flagging for the work on Wallace Road. Roughly, it would seem the eight able bodied workers paving Wallace Road left office staff, the roadmaster, John Rowe, and some physically impaired road employees ‘throughout’ the county.

These are the kind of factual errors that both confuse the electorate and raise the level of mistrust of the commissioner to such a high level as to initiate a recall. Whether Commissioner Stufflebean is dishonest or just incapable of keeping his facts straight hardly matters. In the end, the taxpayer is being manipulated and confused and therefore not able to make qualified and informed decisions with public money, resources and maintain infrastructure and provide for public safety.