Below are my full answers to the questions asked by the Daily Courier. They limited our response to 50 words, so here is the full versions.
1. What services, if any, do you think are the most important that Josephine County government provides? Public Safety, Community Development/Planning, and Public Health. However, without the assessor’s office, the Treasurer’s Office, the Surveyor, and the county Clerk, those services wouldn’t get very far. We need the surveyor to assist with county development and planning, the county clerk to record, the assessor to calculate property values and assess taxes, and the treasurer to collect the taxes. Ultimately, these all operate as one local government and are necessary, but without safety, security, and our health, people would not want to live, work, or develop businesses here.
2. Do you believe Josephine County government spending can be cut, and if so, what specifically would you cut? Yes, we can look at administrative overhead and duplication by focusing on positions or functions that don’t directly support public safety, roads, or essential services. By consolidating roles where possible and using shared services with neighboring counties, the state, or federal agencies, we may be able to reduce costs. I would then look for areas we can reduce consulting and contract spending. Many times, work being done by outside consultants can either be done in-house or tightened up a bit.
I would also audit under performing programs, looking for anything that isn’t producing measurable results. If found, they should be restructured or eliminated. We should also take a hard look at internal processes that waste time and money and adjust those processes accordingly. We do need to remember that many of our departments are funded by pass through dollars, grants, and/or fees. Most of these departments already have tight budgets and do not use any general fund support.
Please know, that when you hear candidates say they will cut taxes, there are only a couple taxes that are controlled by the Commissioners, those are the service districts. Our general fund tax of 58 cents per $1000 assessed value, is controlled by measure 5 and measure 50 that were passed back in the mid 90’s. Special Districts have their own elected boards and are not controlled by the County Commissioners. School Districts, Fire Districts, the Library District, and other special districts are all taxing districts that are outside of the Commissioner’s control. Commissioners cannot control the collection of those taxes.
3. The county has over 400 employees. Do you have any management experience? Do you think it’s important? Yes, I have past Management and Leadership experience. In the fire service, we have a term known as “Span of Control” – Commissioners only need to oversee the Department Heads and Directors, not their employees. Commissioners should not Micro Manage those departments. Also, the Elected Officials, such as the Assessor, Clerk, Sheriff, Treasurer, Surveyor, and Legal Counsel are independently elected officials, not day-to-day subordinates of the County Commissioners. Therefore, the fact there is 400 plus employees is irrelevant.
4. How would you respond to public criticism of your decisions? Well, definitely not like the last guy. I feel that I respond very well to criticism. I listen to what others say, take it into consideration, analyze it, and if I made a mistake, I own it. I am in no way a perfect person, but I do know how to learn from my mistakes and how to correct my wrongs.
5. Do you support the Josephine Community Library District? Yes
6. What can Josephine County government do to encourage economic development? Be specific. I believe we need to focus on practical steps that actually make it easier to do business here in Josephine County. We could implement a 60-day permit guarantee for most applications, a single point of contact at the county, and upfront pre-application meetings so people aren’t guessing their way through the process. That will likely take more staffing in our planning department, but if we’re serious about economic development, it’s something we have to do.
We also need to identify and pre-zone 200 to 300 acres of job-ready land, get infrastructure in place, and use the flexibility we have under the Oregon DLCD (Department of Land Conservation and Development) to move projects forward instead of slowing them down. At the same time, we should be targeting infrastructure investments by aggressively pursuing grants through Business Oregon.
On top of that, we need to support the people already here. Creating a small business liaison can help cut through red tape, and by working with Rogue Community College, we can build apprenticeship programs that match real jobs. If we do this in coordination with Jackson County, we can compete as a region and actually close deals that bring jobs into our community.
7. How would you advocate for the interests of Josephine County residents and businesses to the Oregon Legislature? I would build working relationships with our local delegation and key committee members before session starts. This includes regular communication with legislators, making sure they hear directly from the county. In order to have a louder voice, I would build coalitions with other rural counties. If we have something like a Rural County Caucus, we would have a much stronger voice. I’d actively work through groups like the Association of Oregon Counties to align priorities and push unified positions on funding, wildfire response, and rural infrastructure. The counties will need to bring data, statistics like budget impacts, service gaps, and economic data. We will also need real stories from residents, business owners, and first responders. Having these testimonies in combination with data makes it harder to dismiss.