Commissioner Fred Messerle’s competence to serve as a commissioner was brought into question during the last BOC meeting after he made several errors that included preparing to vote on a resolution supporting HB 4019, the O&C Trust Conservation and Jobs Act, without knowing what was in the bill. After hearing public testimony and even after Commissioner Main read from a section of the bill dealing with the Coos Bay Wagon Road lands, Messerle stated the bill was separate from the CBWR. It isn’t obvious on the video but there were audible gasps from around the room as people realized he was set to vote on a matter he didn’t understand.

Messerle also incorrectly claimed that a contingency fund for the solid waste department was a dedicated fund to be used for the eventual closure of the facility. This false statement was even more surprising because Messerle has himself voted twice in favor of using money from that fund for repairs and the purchase of the metal shaker equipment at the Beaver Hill Disposal Site.

Randy Sanne was kind enough to explain how the solid waste department budget actually works in the video. As a citizen it is pretty astonishing to witness how three individuals with little or no understanding of government budgets can disrupt a department with a long history of operating in the black in such a short period of time. If they have mismanaged this department, how many others are in trouble as well?

When Bob Main and Cam Parry performed their infamous do-over deliberation to pick Fred Messerle to replace Nikki Whitty, (while Messerle was seated in the commissioner’s chair), Main said that he picked Messerle over the other candidates because “he just gets it”. Gasp!

To Messerle’s credit he did acknowledge that he misspoke about the percentage of land in Coos County controlled by the federal government. He said 50% the real number is 20% according to the Coos County Assessor.