The governance and structure committees are scheduled to meet together tonight for two hours and have allotted an entire ten minutes for public comment. The structure committee is expected to present a power point presentation of their subjective opinions based upon their exploration of county functions. Yesterday, Commissioner Fred Messerle defended the structure committee from critics saying they had prepared the most thorough and in depth examination of the county departments ever conducted.
6:00 PM Governance Committee & Structure Committee Joint Meeting- North Bend City Council Chambers, 835 California, North Bend
UPDATE Commissioner Main rightly complained at Tuesday’s board meeting about the release of draft conclusions to the local newspaper sending misleading and incorrect information. Main mentioned that commissioners from other counties were approaching him about how the county was a mess and the board incompetent and he was disappointed that this committee would put out such information to the entire state of Oregon without some formal approval. Well, according to witnesses at last night’s joint meeting Al Pettit indicated that the county was in the same condition as Curry County and months away from insolvency, something we all know is not true.
The committee strongly recommends hiring a manager or CEO but evidently did not demonstrate how this would cure the county’s budget ills or improve county functions. This is a guess, but I will bet that no reliable risk assessment has been conducted to determine what consequences such a move might have on the county. More to come…
So Al, since you are so educated as to the financial future of this county, perhaps you will do us “cave people” a favor and give us a brief explanation of the aspects in the States’ three year old study which was done to ease this county over the loss of timber receipts?
What did you NOT like about study, as you have never mentioned one aspect of it. What were the suggestions for Coos County in the document that you are, every one of you, ignoring?
Step up Al.
Mr. Sanne,
First, contrary to what has been reported in the press, the Structure Committee members submitted their respective findings to Co-Chair Jon Barton who was responsible for consolidating the information. He forwarded a copy of the consolidated draft to every committee member on Saturday, November 5th, for review, comments, feedback and preparation for our Wednesday, November 9th Structure meeting. Our open meeting took place on Wednesday, November 9th at which time we discussed the same, draft document and The World ran their article based upon the same draft document on Saturday, November 12th, four days after our open meeting.
As for all the rest of your comments, I’ll only say that this is a ridiculous battle we’re waging here. The latest Coos County forecast (according to the press) is a $9m dollar hole by 2014. That’s 24 months away. Apparently you would have been happier if I had stated we’re in trouble two years from now instead of “months”? OK. For the record Coos County will be in serious financial trouble in 2 years, not “months”. Finding additional revenue for the County is not something that can be achieved in a few days, weeks, months or perhaps years. If you disagree with this statement, please explain your short-term solution.
As a County employee I would think that you would be a bit more reluctant to dismiss the feedback of your fellow County employees who were so kind to provide us the information we used to compile our report. By dismissing the entire report you’re basically telling the Structure Committee, Commissioners, County employees and department heads that they don’t know what they’re talking about and that they’re not qualified to provide feedback. That still leaves a lot of brainpower and experience that you’re summarily discarding (myself excluded, of course). By implying that all we need to do is change the cast of characters sitting in the Commissioners seats and all will be well in the world again, you seem willing to ignore your fellow employee’s perspective on the County situation. And as a County employee I would think you would be more appreciative of the volunteer citizens who are doing what they can to secure your financial future and this County’s government services. As a County Commissioner candidate, perhaps a bit less emphasis on small and inconsequential semantics and a bit more focus on finding a fix would be appropriate.
Neither I nor any member of our Committee has ever suggested that we lay off county workers to accomodate an Administrator. To the contrary, we have publicly stated numerous times that we do NOT recommend further headcount reductions. We do, however, believe that there are savings to be gained by better departmental integration. And to my recollection, Administrator pay was never discussed in the meeting, so I’m curiou as to where the $200k number came from.
I note that you believe that Mr. Barton and I are “misrepresenting” the County’s financial condition. If you believe this to be true then I think you owe Coos County voters an explanation, because you’re implying that you know something about our County finances that government representatives from here to D.C. have missed.
I understand that you have a personal thing with me, Mr. Sanne, which explains the public calls for boycotting my business, your demands that I be removed from the Structure Committee, and your sundry ethics violation filings. And I wonder if all this mud-slinging would be going on if another member of our Committee – such as one of our County employees – had delivered the Committee’s findings this past Tuesday. If you get elected Commissioner you can bully me and every other business in town to your heart’s content, but to dismiss the feedback of your fellow County employees, and to summarily dismiss this entire report as rubbish is an afront to the County employees who serve on the Committee and an insult to the dozens and dozens of employees who contributed to the report.
Al Pettit
The paper did report that Pettit left due to “burnout” which is typically a euphemism for being asked to resign
Daniel,
I am having a hard time understanding how an individual expressing their opinion on their own blog is somehow wrong, while your editor and his editorial staff routinely injecting their opinions into a syndicated (something you say you were unaware of until Tuesday’s meeting. How long have you been with the World?) paper is not!!
I too attended BOTH meetings and I believe Mary got it exactly correct! Mr. Main did in fact say he was disappointed with the Structure Committee. It’s only right that he express some disappointment with the committee since prior to the release of the draft report the entire committee either agreed with, or remained silent about its contents, whether they knew that co-chairs Barton and Pettit were going to release it to you or not. I would say that if the majority of the committee didn’t know what their co-chairs were doing then the committee is at least dysfunctional. This committee has gone so far as to publish a draft conclusion before adopting their bylaws!!
As for her reporting that witnesses heard Mr. Pettit claim that Coos County is months away from going broke, I am a witness and I’m not alone. He very clearly made the statement at about 3-1/2 minutes into his presentation. Several of us sitting just a few feet away from you heard it. Perhaps you were still getting your pen and paper ready, or you were so mesmerized by the presentation that you couldn’t focus on his speech. Pettit and Barton have consistently misrepresented the counties financial situation as immediately dire even though Mr. Pettit himself acknowledged on this blog that the counties budget was too confusing for him to understand.
Mr. Pettit’s first “recommendation” was to say that the county needed to
IMMEDIATELY hire an administrator, and that combining departments would more than pay for a county administrator, he emphasizes it several times, yet Mr. Barton didn’t seem to support that statement when he said he thought there may be opportunities to combine redundant duties like payroll, payables, etc. to potentially save money but that those options needed to be explored cautiously due to the potential for unanticipated consequences, one of which I believe Dave Jennings very clearly identified. If the county didn’t recognize the projected savings from capital cuts or combining services would we then have to lay more people off to pay for an administrator?
You go on to say that Al Pettit made several points about how a chief executive could improve efficiency, and that the report deserves close scrutiny, “especially considering it is from a panel of citizens”. Yet Mr. Pettit’s own comments in this article would seem to indicate that he and this panel are not just average citizens. He evidently feels that he, a self proclaimed former IT executive who by his own admission left due to burnout and now sells motorcycles, is far more qualified to recommend how county government should operate than an accomplished professor. I can only imagine what he thinks of the rest of the unwashed masses that are the citizens of Coos County.
What I received from this joint session was something many of us have known and voiced long before this committee was formed and before Fred Messerele ever attended a Commissioners meeting. Poor to no communication, and that lack of communication has only been exacerbated by these two interim commissioners who, by their own actions, have shown that they don’t want to, or can’t, deal with the issue so they instead appoint committees to recommend hiring someone to do their job for them.
Daniel I realize that covering government is new to you and factual reporting is not necessarily a requirement at the World, but if you are going to post opinions anywhere but your paper perhaps you should put down the pen and paper at these meetings and invest in a recorder.
I do believe that integrating county systems does have the potential to save money, time, and resources, and could be accomplished by the current government structure. I believe this would be a far better expenditure of tax payer dollars than spending 200k a year in wages and benefits for an administrator to do the same thing. I think it is imperative that a new set of commissioners make improving communication between themselves, county staff, and the citizens a first priority. I feel that department heads should be far more involved in not only the establishment of their budgets but also the implementation and monitoring of them, and with a thorough understanding of their departments individual budget and the expectations of the commissioners, the departments should be allowed to operate under far less scrutiny.
Randy Sanne
Daniel, if you want a truthful interview from a truly honest man, Larry Van Ellsberg is your guy. There aren’t many like him in this county. Trust me.
I supported him and voted for him, but your paper did a massive, unethical, unhonest (in many opinions) hit job on him. I was amazed.
Larry is one good guy who was willing to take on the powers that be in this county, but Larry isn’t a shark, he’s a gentleman and an honest man. He didn’t make it, but he gained the respect of a lot of voters who weren’t familiar with the local hatchet men mentality, nor who knew Larry personally but gained a lot of respect just watching him quietly run for office.
Just quietly watch the piglets at Public Mamas’ Teat Daniel, they’ll show themselves, they’re the ones with OUR milk dripping from their chins.
Daniel? I apologize for asking about your timing, in hindsight that was tacky, and really not my business.
That being said, you are a young man, and we all recognize your youthfulness and openess and many here have commended you here and on your paper.
Now, some of us old crones, speaking for myself only I guess, have been to this rodeo for many many years. We’ve seen so much of this go on in coos County, in a sense you can call us combat troops. Professionalism has never been your Editors’ strong suit, as long as he’s been here anyway. He pimps for every dirty, extractive, exploitative corporation that wants a free dinner on the tax payers of coos County, let’s just say he never met a coal company or gas company or strip mine companyy he wouldnl’t cheer on, at the fiscal expense of the rest of us.
You’ve read the reports, you’ve seen the figures, you may even have seen the States’ study issued three years ago that Bob Main scorns and derides publicly at every meeting.
These are tea bagging Libertarians with a double whammy, they not only want to kill this government, or starve it to death, they want to privitize it. How do YOU explain 300 million dollars to the Port in ten years, all in the name of jobs, jobs, jobs, all the while our unemployment doubles?
Why won’t this BOC even consider actually taxing the corporate beasts that feed upon the bones of the taxpayers here?
This county is literally covered in “no corporate tax” zones, and continues to pretend they aren’t going to raise their taxes. Raise their taxes? My old arse would be happy to see them START !
Be careful Daniel, there are sharks in the water here too.
Daniel Simmons-Ritchie – Never met you before, but when I ran for County Commissioner and met with your editor, it was obvious from the beginning his questioning was loaded and from the start, he didn’t really care what I had to say, his mind was already made up. I worked for county government for 33 years, Clark and his cronies labeled me publically as someone who’s running because I had a vendetta concerning the Stufflebean Recall and was part of the “Good Ole Boy” system that didn’t want change. He wasn’t even close. I left county government just because of that. Griffith is a good example. He was backed by the same people who are proposing restructuring County Government. I worked with the Commissioners closely the seven years I was Roadmaster and not once did they question our activities at the Road Department; in fact, they always supported everything I brought before them. When I proposed laying off employees in early 2000 because of a budget short fall and issued layoff notices, the Commissioners intervened and injected funds into our department from the general fund to avoid those layoffs without my input. Something that never had been done in my 33 years of working for the county. Towards the end, I got disgusted with some of the political activity and “Good Ole Boy” politics I was seeing in relation to reducing the status of certain county roads and the County’s gas pipeline. Commissioner Messerle was one of the most vocal at these road hearings, as this affected his family’s business interest. In the end, the Commissioners left his driveway “Anchor Lane” in the county road maintenance system. There’s more to this restructuring of county government than meets the eye and is being reported by your paper.
“In today’s electronic age once something is on the internet it is expected to be spread far and wide by interested parties – even little MGx has been cited in other Oregon and national news media”
Proof please
aghast!
December 8, 2011 – 7:53 pm
You don’t have to be a used motorcycle salesman to know the difference between a well written report and a trashy opinion piece
“trashy” indeed
Equating “political reasons” with “incompetency” seems a little blurry, don’t you think? Not that I’m necessarily saying the committee isn’t incompetent, it could well be, but I’m not sure if that’s an accurate summary of what Main said.
By your own qualification, I’m also not sure if its fair to say “put out such information to the entire state of Oregon” if what you really meant to say “once something is on the internet it is expected to be spread far and wide by interested parties”. Do you think there’s a difference between “puting” (disseminating) information and allowing access to it? Again, I’m not defending the report itself, I just don’t know if what you initially suggested is necessarily a fair version of events. We can agree to disagree over that.
Lastly, I am still unsure what your basis is for the other two claims about the struc-govt meeting (that Pettit said Coos was months away from insolvency and that he did not supply evidence to support a CEO). Were you at this meeting? And, if not, who were your witnesses to the event? You told me over the phone the other day that you do not routinely use anonymous information. If this blog post is any indication, I’m a little less convinced.
I think blogs and the public should hold newspapers to the highest standards, that’s why I support what you do. My only request is that if you’re going to hold the media to these standards, you also try to exhibit those standards to the best of your ability.
Glad to see you’re peeking in, Dan. I won’t hesitate to contact you with questions.
Thanks!
Obviously, I don’t feel the wording was misleading because a ‘”DRAFT” by its very nature is not considered wholly accurate, vetted or approved and Main made it clear he thought certain members were releasing it for “political reasons”. In today’s electronic age once something is on the internet it is expected to be spread far and wide by interested parties – even little MGx has been cited in other Oregon and national news media
Themguys, MarkM, coos bayb – Hi there. I work flexible hours to cover evening meetings and weekends. I was reading and responding off the clock when I posted, as I am now. I came here out of personal interest and if I wanted to hide my identity I could have used a pseudonym. I am a firm supporter of blogs and I wish Coos County had more of them. I think, when done right, they can help inform debate, keep a watchful eye on the mainstream media, and enrich the public sphere.
I’m a tad disappointed you didn’t tackle the substance of my post. If I’m incorrect or mistaken about those particular points, please correct me.
If you have particular problems with any story I write, I am always happy to hear feedback. It’s difficult to please everyone but I try to do my best. You can email me at dritchie@theworldlink.com. We can also talk over specific issues over the phone. If you think there’s an angle we’re missing or think we can improve our coverage in some way, I am all ears. Lets talk it through.
Mary – Thanks for the links. I will have a read through. Also, am I wrong about the points in my previous post?
Cheers,
Dan.
They will be the ones to oust Main, not us.
He was warned that they would destroy him if he did their bidding. (check your old e-mails bob).
He bought into the power of the group, instead of the power of one.
30 people.
The proposal is being spearheaded by the structure advisory committee, a citizen group formed by the commissioners to find efficiencies within the county government. The committee presented a series of findings and recommendations to the public and another advisory group, the governance advisory committee, in a joint meeting on Wednesday night.
The idea of hiring a manager was met with unanimous approval by the members of the governance committee, who are simultaneously examining whether the county should change its three-commissioner format.
How many of these people are sitting on or with SCDC.
Here’s the list.
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SCDC Board of Directors
We have a 25 member Board of Directors that consists of representatives
from both public and private interests.
NAME STANDING REPRESENTATIVE
Greg Aldridge Past Chair* Coquille Economic Development Corporation
Jon Barton Current Chair FONSI
John Briggs Treasurer Accountant
Steve Britton Board City of Coquille
Chris Claflin Board Oregon Economic & Community Development Department
Ken Croes Board KCBY TV
Mark Daily Board Councilor City of Coos Bay
Deena Gisholt Board Oregon Pacific Banking Company
Roger Gould Board South Coast Bar Association
Curtis “Huey” Hewiston Board Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
Angela Jacobson Board PacifiCorp
Paul Janke Board Bay Area Hospital
Linda Kennedy Board NW Natural
John Knutson Board Knutson Towboat Company
Dave Kronsteiner Board Oregon’s International Port of Coos Bay
Ike Launstein Board K-12 Educaton & Reedsport Area
Jeff McKeown Board City of Coos Bay
J.J. Mcleod Board South Coast Business Employment Corp
Bogue Morgan Board Umpqua Bank
Bill Richardson Board City of North Bend
Mary Schamehorm Board City of Bandon
Dr. Patty Scott Board Southwestern Oregon Community College
Timm Slater Board Bay Area Chamber of Commerce
Kevin Stufflebean Board Coos County Commission
Ron Stuntzner Board Planning & Engineering
It is this repeated pattern of misinterpretation demonstrated by Pettit that calls the committee’s supposedly “draft” conclusions into question. For example, Pettit characterizes Dr Fischer’s analysis a discussion of the subject matter whereas it is a grade on the quality of the report. Additionally, he makes uninformed assumptions about the good professor’s full breadth of professional experience while exposing a bias against the academe while forgetting that most teachers are from the public sector just like some of the committee members. My criticism has been aimed at the report and the public conduct of the authors any discredit is aimed the quality of the work not the individual. Finally, any hamburger slinger at McDonalds can claim private sector experience. If Parry and Messerle put their faith in this report the county may as well fold up now.
Why do you need to see them when you already “know” what they say?
You don’t have to be a used motorcycle salesman to know the difference between a well written report and a trashy opinion piece
You can go to 1:20 in the video. To all you poor boys trying so hard to “be somebody”. And all the while feigning worry about the economy, and all the while denying the $40 million this BOC is sitting on.
How do you feign bankruptcy while you have $40,000,000.00 in reserves?
You do it hoping the populaton will see you as “the movers and shakers” and those that really really want to bring jobs here, if only you give us another $10-20 thousand dollars from each city and organization in Coos County, then we will refuse to show you our financial records. A la Mrs. Messerle and Jonnie Barton at SCDC. Why are you refusing to show We The People OUR paperwork? Clark in the World today reiderated , these papers, these records belong to the people, not to these groups and commissions.
So where are the records Port of Coos Bay and SCDC? We have a legal right to see them.
I have NO idea why this scene has come to me today. Except I think I’ve had to deal with a bunch of whiney ass men who are flailing around here in Coos County, just “trying to be somebody”. Well guess what boys, THIS is WHY you ain’t never gonna “be somebody”.
You’re spoilers, that’s what you are, and getting together in one big happy circle jerk every week ain’t gonna change the facts Little Al. Not one lick.
For the boys: http://youtu.be/wz6YMrJt7xk
Mary – I can understand your need to seek outside consultation regarding the Structure Committee’s findings, but the fact that you consulted a sociology professor for his opinion on organizational and operational challenges is telling. I’m sure Dr. Fischer is a fine professor and I’m sure that he is an expert at “deviance, women in society, social stratification, social psychology, social theory, and research methods” (as listed on the FSU Sociology website) but I’m quite certain his career as a sociology academic would be rather useless in the context of the Structure Committee’s charter. Everyone on the Committee has extensive experience either working in government, or working in the private sector. And each brought special skills to the table.
Perhaps you should sit this one out – move on to another topic. We’re trying to address a big problem while you’re investing your time trying to discredit people whose years of experience, knowledge and know-how places them beyond reproach.
“come on now
December 8, 2011 – 3:32 pm
themguys,
why do you sound so shrill in every post? not getting enough sleep as of late?”
Thank you so much for asking come, it’s usually sparked by the realization of the flat out number of ignorant, uninformed, bigoted, racist people I live among.
I try to accept ignorance, but in todays’ world of instant information? It’s really hard to accept abject ignorance as a norm.
Have a great evening.
themguys,
why do you sound so shrill in every post? not getting enough sleep as of late?
Not whining. Just reporting the facts. I hope I’m not censored. I’m not sure my contacts at the ACLU would like that.
Mark is already at the other local blog whining about “being moderated”.
Whiney ass weak men parading around for all the world to see, they so badly need to “be somebody”. Sadly, they never will.
No self respect at all.
Injection of the truth? Really? Maybe Daniel should try that with his own reporting. You have to wonder what the world is so worried about that now they are monitoring this Blog! This is just too funny.
But hey, Daniel says the report deserves some scrutiny. Maybe that’s why he’s doing his reading here. God only knows that scrutiny of the structural advisory committee won’t come from the world!
Hey Daniel, did you know an ethics complaint was filed against the committee? Stick around; you may learn something. Hell, you may even learn what you should be reporting about!
Yes, Daniel, some consideration please. Injection of truth is a painful thing. When they fall, illusions fall hard. Tread lightly.
First off, any report that begins with we have a “clear bias” and follows that up with the “details” would render the report “meaningless” has obvious problems but I had Dr Fischer do an analysis below
http://mgx.com/blogs/2011/12/01/analysis-of-structure-committees-findings-and-conclusions/
and I followed up here http://mgx.com/blogs/2011/12/01/nonfeasance-misfeasance-and-malfeasance/
Hello Daniel, are you being paid by the World (9:30 am on a Thursday) to come on a volunteer, citizen blog and attempt to discredit the moderator?
If ONLY you had some influence with Clark. We might have something other than a PR machine for a local paper.
Talk about needing correction.
Be careful Daniel, you are young and just starting your career. Give that some thought please. If you are doing this at the behest of your employer, then you’ve already given up professionalism as a part of your career.
A little honesty is sorely needed.
Sorry I meant to say an attendee at Tuesday and Wednesday night’s meeting*. Not Thursday.
As an attendee at both Tuesday’s meeting and Thursday’s joint structure-governance committee, I think it would be useful to clarify:
– Main has concerns about the entire report. Your wording seems to imply that the committee sent The World a specific set of misleading information. Also, Main never called the entire committee incompetent, he suggested it was hijacked by one or two members.
– Your wording also seems to imply the committee disseminated the document to the entire state of Oregon. The World’s coverage was syndicated by other Oregon newspapers (something I wasn’t aware of until Tuesday’s meeting). I don’t think anyone predicted that would happen and so I think your wording is misleading.
– Curry County’s situation was frequently raised as a specter of where Coos was headed, but I don’t recall ever hearing “months away”. Is it fair to attribute this kind of information to unnamed witnesses? The legislature’s taskforce and the commissioner’s themselves have identified that Coos County could be in Curry County’s situation sometime after 2014.
– Al Pettit made several points about how a chief executive could improve efficiency. If anything, it seemed to be the recurring topic of the meeting. Whether one agrees with the points or not, I don’t think it would be fair to say that he did not try to demonstrate how such a position would help the county.
The report deserves to be closely scrutinized, especially considering it is from a panel of citizens, but I would like to hear your thoughts on the bigger points the report examines. Is it worth debating whether the county needs a CEO? Is the IT network not working well? Should some parks be closed in winter?
Maybe you have already addressed these issues. I try to keep up with the blog when I can, so if I missed these posts please direct me towards them.
Kind regards,
Dan.