Caddy McKeown and Cam Parry were the top two choices for commish today, and Main and Whitty chose Parry

The process chosen to select a commissioner to replace the late Andy Jackson has received some fair criticism and raises some questions. Forming a selection committee gave a false and pointless impression of impartiality on the part of the remaining commissioners. Pointless, because if the pair of commissioners could not agree on someone from the first round of picks, the committee would simply go back to the original list and pick more. Therefore, why didn’t Main and Whitty just each pick three or four from the list they wanted to interview and not bother with the selection committee at all?

Next, the committee members chosen were not representative of the electorate and suggestions to include a labor person went ignored by both commissioners. The panelists never attend regular board of commission meetings and, since the panelists were given the duty of picking the top five, their should have been women on the panel. Finally, the committee members were, by their conduct, pretty divisive and insulting.

Then there are the odd choices in both rounds. For example, there were several superior resumes that should have made the first cut and while choices are subjective, four or at least three of the five, were very mediocre. How could the same committee choose Cam Parry as well as Timm Slater or John Sweet? Light years distance them all.

On the second round, after all the interviews, the top vote getter in the first round, Lance Benton, received no votes at all, though several observers thought he ranked at least number two.

Now, I only witnessed Caddy McKeown’s response to the last nine questions and it is clear that McKeown confidently believes she knows a lot about something, however, she was not able to articulate whatever it is she knows to me, the listener. She spoke more than I have ever heard her before but spoke in empty platitudes, like ‘you must have a balanced budget’, ‘you have to make tough decisions’, ‘it is important to be fiscally responsible’, etc… All that goes without saying, everyone acknowledges the truth of such statements but I am always suspicious of people who persist in telling me things I already know. Consequently, there must have been something good in the first half to explain her popularity in the second round because I was stunned to see her name.

It is only fair to say that Parry’s responses toward the end of his interview were getting a bit more rambling and the panel was showing signs of tedium.
Based upon the entire interview, he clearly has a lot of knowledge about process and how to bring badly needed revenue into the county and a wide view on supporting small business – no one else touched him when it came to energy and enthusiasm and in depth knowledge of federal funding sources and about all the untapped potential in the county.

Lastly, Parry worked on Jackson’s election campaign and had continued to work on projects with Jackson before he died. We hope Parry will be a good choice. Personally, if I had chosen five candidates Parry would have been the only one on the list but may not have been in my top three.

Let’s cross our fingers and keep a close watch

Questions asked of the applicants (paraphrased)
Why do you want the job of commissioner? What do you hope to accomplish in the next two years? Where do you see the county headed in the next two years? Fifteen years?

How would you streamline the departments or make them more cost efficient?

What experience do you have dealing with rules from the various programs and agencies in Coos County, i.e. O&C, tribes, coastal zone management act, etc…?

Have you studied the current budget? Past year budgets? What is your opinion?

What would you do to develop sustainable resource management for private and public lands?

Describe how the county might live within its physical means…

Describe how you would innovate and prioritize county services, road safety, etc…

How would you balance job creation with quality of life?

Describe primary top three county obligations to taxpayers

Other than fishing and timber what other industries would you like to see brought to the county?

How comfortable are you saying no to other agencies or NGOs?

Any travel restrictions?

Experience working with $25 million dollar budget?

300 employees and seven bargaining units. What experience?

Whst are you bringing to the county?

Story problem. Controversial land use request. Public hates but county would lose on appeal if denied the use. How would you handle that?

Describe prior work with state, federal, tribal, schools and other agencies

Why now? Why not run in the last election?

What type of cell phone do you use?

How do you solve problems?