[0:00] Uh, good morning everybody. It's Wednesday, August 19th at 9:00 a.m.

[0:04] Justin, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance?

[0:09] I >> allegiance to the flag of the United

[0:11] States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under

[0:16] God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:24] » All right. Uh, any public comment before we get started?

[0:42] There we go. Commissioners, for the record, Justin Alderman, managing editor

[0:46] at the Primeville Review. Um, just because this has been a matter I know

[0:51] you guys have spoke um publicly during meetings on, I felt it was uh um

[0:56] appropriate to at least raise this question. um during a meeting. Uh and

[1:00] since you guys have a late schedule, I figured you could spare a couple

[1:03] minutes. Um but I did just want to ask if the commissioners uh would want to

[1:07] address ongoing concerns regarding your efforts um to seek information on some

[1:14] controversy involving uh the vector control district. Um obviously it's a

[1:18] supple special district but as I think we know and has been the continuing uh

[1:23] reality since uh you started your efforts in December uh you do have

[1:26] oversight authority and uh bear I I imagine some responsibility in uh the

[1:32] affairs of the vector control district. Um, we our publication became aware that

[1:36] your county manager once again sent a letter on August 7th to the vector

[1:42] control district after it again for apparently the third time has ignored

[1:46] requests um from the board of commissioners. Um, so I just didn't know

[1:50] and wanted to see if you uh wanted to provide us and and the public maybe just

[1:55] your general thoughts and comments on where we're at the process and and the

[1:59] fact that you it seems shocking. Not only are we having difficulties getting

[2:02] information and records and repeatedly having to petition the district attorney

[2:05] for records, uh, but it's shocking that a board of county commissioners over 8

[2:09] months has basically gotten nothing under this public body that you have

[2:13] oversight and and again bear some of that responsibility. So, we felt it is

[2:17] appropriate to make sure you had an opportunity to provide some comment and

[2:20] maybe share your current position and feelings uh with the public. Thank you.

[2:25] » Sure. Uh, Will and I talked uh yesterday. Um, can we speak about next

[2:29] week? >> Yeah.

[2:32] » So, I think uh I I asked Will to put something on the agenda for next week to

[2:37] uh talk to the rest of the board about uh I think it's time to request a third

[2:43] party go in to uh just do a deep dive in all their stuff. Uh I think I've been

[2:49] pretty clear throughout the process. I think for the meat of their job of

[2:54] getting rid of um mosquitoes, they do a really well

[2:59] really good job, but they have a lot of work to do on the nuts and bolts of the

[3:04] organization and public records and and you know interacting with different

[3:09] government and the press and public and different people. And so I think we've

[3:16] given them ample chances to independently work on that. And I'd like

[3:20] to see uh a third party go in there and uh just do a deep dive and and help them

[3:26] to understand the processes that they're missing.

[3:33] » Commissioner Herick, did you have any >> I just agree. I agree with Seth, I

[3:37] guess. So I'm not going to be redundant, but yes.

[3:40] » Thank you.

[3:44] » Did you have a question? >> Well, I

[3:46] » you got to come to the mic and tell your name and rank and serial number. right

[3:50] now. It's >> how old I am.

[3:53] » No, I mean, >> we don't need your age.

[3:55] » We don't need to know. We don't need to know you're 25 years old.

[3:57] » Thank you very much. 45, actually. Um, hi, I'm uh Lori and Maximum and I live

[4:04] up at Iron Horse. Um, I just had a question about um I was driving to work

[4:10] yesterday morning and they still have that elk crossing sign there. And a

[4:15] couple weeks ago I was driving into work and um where that new brick building is

[4:23] that the new solar farm has, they've just built that new kind of brick

[4:26] building there on the left. It was shortly past that, maybe, you know,

[4:30] eighth of a mile or so, there was a group of elk, um, kind of back on the

[4:35] left hand side of the road. I don't know, maybe five, six, seven of them.

[4:38] And it it got me thinking now, is this going to be their where they think

[4:43] they're crossing now? I just have never really gotten an answer on where are the

[4:47] elks crossing now? They obviously haven't disappeared, but I mean they

[4:51] kind of have, but was a new route created for them or or what's going on

[4:57] with them? So, back oh gosh, I don't know how many

[5:01] years before you, Will, they tried to do a wildlife plan in Crook County and it

[5:07] got all the way up to the finality of it and unfortunately OD uh FNW vetoed it.

[5:14] So, we have a very antiquated wildlife map for our county and that is

[5:21] one of the things that they're trying to do with this goal five and they're

[5:24] having the planning meetings and trying to update. That is one of the things

[5:28] they're trying to do is to get that wildlife done. So yes, there were elk

[5:32] that went through where the elk sign is that we did take into consideration with

[5:37] the solar farms migration that we knew of. But again, without anything firmly

[5:42] written down, it's pretty hard to just say, hey, elk go through there. So that

[5:48] is one of the reasons that goal five is very dearly needed and why we're going

[5:54] to be working on it and that will be a really important aspect of it. Um,

[5:59] » but they don't know. They don't read signs. They go where they want. And you

[6:02] also have >> Well, I know that, but I'm saying people

[6:05] that are driving. I've seen that sign for 20 years. And now it's like, well,

[6:08] why is it even there, you know? >> But you also have to understand we've

[6:11] had fires. So now you're going to see a totally different migration pattern just

[6:16] because that Yeah. That this is way before the fires began that this has

[6:21] been going on. Um, so what needs to happen to bring to attention that with

[6:27] this next solar farm that's getting ready to go up? I mean, now, you know,

[6:32] there's a group of elk there now. Are they thinking, well, maybe this is where

[6:35] we'll go? Well, no, now we're going to wipe that one out for him, too. I mean,

[6:38] who's taking into consideration? >> That should have been taken into

[6:40] consideration in the staff report and ODF andW should have weighed in on it.

[6:45] So, if that has been passed and it's done, that should be if you go back to

[6:49] that staff report, that should all have been taken into consideration. I can't

[6:52] tell you off the cuff what what was done, but yeah.

[6:55] » Right. Right. So, I guess bottom line, they're just on their own kind of. I

[7:03] mean, there's not a whole lot we can't obviously about the solar farms. So, and

[7:06] bring their lives back. Well, not really because that was part So when you do a

[7:11] staff report and you do an application, you have all the various agencies weigh

[7:16] in and ODFNW would have been an important aspect of that because they

[7:21] would have taken into that consideration. There is a problem in the

[7:25] fact that we didn't solidify that wildlife map. I'm not going to say there

[7:29] isn't, but that should have been. And so if we looked up that solar farm, we

[7:34] looked up that staff report, that would have all been taken care of and there

[7:38] would have been a mitigation. Some of the mitigation that was done on some of

[7:42] the solar farms was money that went to Aspen Valley Ranch that preserved

[7:48] property and developed water for mu deer. I know that was part of it. Some

[7:53] of the mitigation was with the prongghorn. We did ramps so if they were

[7:57] in the solar farm, they would be able to escape. I can't tell you all the

[8:00] different mitigations, but each solar farm was taken separately and was done

[8:05] and it was done under the advice of ODFNW.

[8:09] » Okay. So, it's done. There's nothing any

[8:14] » I'd have to look up the staff report to tell you. But if that solar farm is

[8:18] approved, it was taken into consideration. And yes, there was a

[8:21] mitigation. >> I guess I'm I'm just curious when this

[8:23] was all going on. Where's all the animal lovers out there? I mean, were there to

[8:28] me this is like a big red, wow, this is huge. Were there not people out there

[8:33] that were questioning? >> I think that's one of the biggest

[8:37] problems with the process, right? Uh people don't really get excited until

[8:42] after they see it go up because I would have loved to have the input that I've

[8:48] gotten from the community since in meetings when the decisions were being

[8:52] made and and fortunately or unfortunately

[8:56] that's how the Oregon lands use process works. Once you have an approval, you

[9:01] have an approval, which I I see value to a lot of things in that because you need

[9:06] to have certainty in in all aspects of land use, not just solar, but

[9:11] whatever you're doing, if you're building a house and then you pour a,

[9:15] you know, a foundation and then they come back, well, I don't want a house

[9:18] here. And you go, well, you know, I've already paid for a contractor to do all

[9:21] this. So, you need to have certainty, but it's very difficult. And I I think

[9:26] we work very hard to get as many people here as possible to input, but unless

[9:32] people come and talk about their issues, it's it's very difficult for us as

[9:36] elected officials to just say, >> you know, we need the public to be part

[9:42] of that process. And and during that time, people weren't passionate about

[9:46] it. >> Nobody showed up.

[9:47] » Nobody showed up. Zero people in the meetings.

[9:51] » Were you advertising on the front page of the newspaper? And we were we maybe

[9:55] not the front page, but we were we were making it very clear that these things

[9:59] were going on. >> Okay.

[10:00] » On a on a consistent basis. And we have agendas that we send out to hundreds.

[10:05] What do you think? >> How many What do you think? Is it even a

[10:09] thousand? Maybe thousand. >> So in the classified ad part, if you

[10:12] look, it will say there's a planning commission meeting coming up. I I get

[10:16] it. I get what you're saying. and we do notify the property owners and we do

[10:21] take into consideration large parcels and so we go above the state law to get

[10:26] those people but in 2019 nobody cared nobody showed up you did that and I

[10:33] always say it wrong that ESSE is that it is that

[10:36] » analysis >> okay so whatever the analysis was and on

[10:39] social there was no one here so we did we did we did the best that we could

[10:46] » with what we had because there's boxes to check and again on wildlife. Yes,

[10:52] that was taken into consideration and ODFNW was present and we did what we

[10:56] could do >> within the state laws that we're allowed

[10:59] to that's the other thing is we aren't allowed to really go outside of I guess

[11:04] will could probably talk better to this but I don't want to misspeak but you

[11:09] know there's a process in land use that's complicated but very well spelled

[11:14] out that you have to follow in order to approve or deny something.

[11:21] And >> so without public being here,

[11:23] » yeah, >> you can't you don't like it. That isn't

[11:27] a reason. You have to have reason for pro and reason for negative. And so

[11:32] again, if just because I say I don't like them is not that's not it's what's

[11:37] presented to you and what's presented to you if it checks the box and it matches

[11:42] all that and it matches the and you do the mitigation that you can you are you

[11:47] have to go through otherwise what happens is it's appealed and it goes to

[11:51] luba and it would be deni or it would be passed through you would be because you

[11:56] just can't do that. This isn't a personality contest. This is a pres

[12:00] presentation of business facts basically,

[12:02] » right? Was there um so there wasn't a group of animal activists out there that

[12:08] got involved? >> There was nobody here.

[12:10] » Nobody. >> Nobody.

[12:13] » Okay. Well, to me that means that gets to the point that things need to get on

[12:19] the newspaper. I'm sorry. I know that everyone's on the internet, but a lot of

[12:23] people aren't. I grab the newspaper every single week. And um and I'm not,

[12:29] you know, there's a lot of people, a lot of older people that live in this

[12:32] community >> and I just don't do the whole social

[12:35] internet thing. I'm too old for it and I'm not going to start it now. And um so

[12:40] I just, you know, that's kind of unfortunate that that happened because I

[12:44] I just don't think that the communication could have been done a

[12:49] little bit differently to grab some attention from others. So um that's my

[12:53] comment. Are there any other pending um permits out there for more solar farms

[13:00] that you guys are looking at or that you're aware of?

[13:04] » Nothing that I'm aware of that is on the board's agenda. I'd need to double check

[13:08] with our community development department to see if you have anything.

[13:11] » Yeah, I'd just be curious. >> Now, are you on the planning commission

[13:14] agenda, too? Because there's do we send out the planning to both or you should

[13:20] be getting those two. So, they should be coming to your emails of upcoming things

[13:24] on the planning. >> Yeah.

[13:28] » Um, is that the city of Prineville? >> No, that would be the county planning.

[13:32] » Oh. Oh. Oh, okay. I wasn't aware that there were two different I go to the

[13:36] city of Prineville planning,

[13:39] » but that's only things that are within city limits. When you're talking outside

[13:43] limit, you're talking Crook County Planning Commission.

[13:45] » Okay. >> That's a different body.

[13:47] » Okay. And they have meetings. >> Like I say, that's what I say. It is in

[13:50] the news. It is back in the classified. It'll say what's going on. If you look

[13:55] if you start looking, you're going to start seeing it

[13:57] » and and yes, it's a different entity, but if you if if they're sent out, I I

[14:02] mean, I was a planning commissioner, so obviously I got them, but yeah, they

[14:08] have >> check and make sure. Can you double

[14:10] check and make sure? >> I get I get all your stuff.

[14:13] » Yeah. >> Yeah, we can make sure you're on the

[14:16] planning side. It sounds like that's kind of where I need to maybe

[14:20] » that's more being proactive.

[14:23] » Yes, exactly. >> Instead of reactive.

[14:25] » That is your that would be your your parcels because you're outside of that

[14:29] city limit line. >> That's great. Thank you. That is great

[14:32] information. I appreciate it. >> No problem at all. We appreciate you

[14:35] coming every day. >> Yeah.

[14:38] » All right. Anybody online from the public that would like to public

[14:43] publicly input

[14:47] By the way, Commissioner, I have to also remind people how they get unmuted.

[14:53] » We have to unmute them. >> Well, I know, but when you say anybody

[14:56] wants to comment, I don't think people always know how and it's not super easy

[14:59] if you're mobile. >> Um, just as a FYI,

[15:02] » I agree with you. >> Is so should we have them do we have

[15:05] them raise a hand? Raise your hand sometimes

[15:08] » or comment in the chat. >> You have two options.

[15:15] Okay, great. Um, we will move on to the consent agenda.

[15:20] » Okay, I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

[15:26] » I second. >> Okay.

[15:28] » Any discussion? >> No. Everything is clear and that

[15:31] everyone should understand the order number 2026-37

[15:35] of the distribution of the funds. So, no, no discussion.

[15:41] All those in favor >> I

[15:43] » prophet I >> discussion

[15:48] » what I

[15:51] » I don't think there is any discussion that's good [laughter]

[15:54] » I mean should I just say it >> say discussion

[15:57] » discussion none scheduled >> none [laughter]

[16:02] discuss okay >> manager's report this one thank you

[16:09] » and I really don't have anything at all. I guess I mean the only thing I guess I

[16:14] do have is no appointed me to be a second vice president on the payments

[16:21] for public lands. So evidently I must have done a good job for SRS and PILT.

[16:25] So there you go. >> Perfect. Uh on September or sorry August

[16:33] 27th from 2 to 4 p.m. uh Congressman Cliff Ben will be in town talking about

[16:39] uh firefighting techniques, prevention and postfire recovery

[16:45] and resources for that recovery. Um, and so hopefully we can get as many people

[16:50] there that have been uh had losses and want to talk about um possible

[16:56] prevention like managing our forests and different things so that he can take

[17:00] that back to Washington DC and uh you know try and try and improve some of

[17:05] that stuff >> and it will be at Barnes.

[17:08] » Thank you. Barnes Elementary.

[17:12] All right. Um

[17:16] uh that wraps up the commissioner updates. Uh

[17:20] oh. Uh have you joined county college yet?

[17:24] » Yeah. >> Okay. Well, uh we also have uh county

[17:28] college uh is starting next two weeks from now on uh Wednesday the 2nd.

[17:35] And we're really excited. We have some really good applicants for the thing,

[17:39] but we could always use more if there's uh anybody online or in the room that

[17:43] would be interested and please share it with friends and neighbors and we'd like

[17:47] to really get as many people there as possible.

[17:50] » Feel like a second. >> Yes.

[17:52] » Yeah, we had to tweak it because we had a a big uh meeting come up for the power

[17:57] lines. I guess that'd be another good one to bring up that we have a Pacific.

[18:03] » It was the third. It got bounced back to the second.

[18:11] » Okay. >> If you miss one, you just won't be able

[18:15] to become the uh uh you know, validictorian.

[18:22] » But besides that, you're fine. [laughter]

[18:27] » Is it a Zoom? Can you zoom into >> I don't think it's

[18:29] » We don't have Zoom opportunity. >> That's okay.

[18:35] It's from It's It's me and Will talking. So, you hear enough of us talking, so

[18:39] you should be >> And I just real That's my daughter's

[18:42] birthday. [clears throat] >> Well, it's just me talking.

[18:44] » Might just be. [laughter] >> So, see, even Will's going to be

[18:51] » Yeah. Me and Brianna will take care of it.

[18:55] [laughter]

[19:00] » Yeah. And so, you'll have all the information. You can go back. Okay.

[19:10] » The county board of commissioners.

[19:14] » The county board of commissioners will now meet in executive session under OS

[19:17] 1926602E to conduct deliberations purchase

[19:21] designated by the governing body to negotiate real property transactions.

[19:25] Representatives of the news media designated staff shall be allowed to

[19:28] attend the executive session. All the members of the audience are asked to

[19:30] leave the representatives of the news media specifically directed none

[19:33] reported on any deliberations during the executive session except to state the

[19:36] general sub the sessions previously announced. No decision may be made in

[19:40] executive session. At the end of the executive session, return to open

[19:42] session. Welcome the audience back into the room. The K County Board of

[19:45] Commissioners will now leave executive session under RS1926602E

[19:50] [clears throat] to conduct deliberations with persons designated by the governing

[19:53] body to negotiate real property transactions. Representatives of the

[19:57] news media and designated staff were allowed to attend the executive session.

[20:01] All other me all other members of the audience are asked to leave the room.

[20:04] Representatives of the news media specifically directed not to report in

[20:08] any deliberations during the executive session except to state the general

[20:11] subject of the session as previously announced. No decision was made in

[20:15] executive session. We will we have now returned to open session and welcome the

[20:18] audience back into the room.

[20:24] » [clears throat]

[20:27] » Commissioners, what I think I heard in the inductive session is that no

[20:30] decisions to be made today. Uh we'll gather more information and bring this

[20:34] back for future deliberations. >> Okay,

[20:37] » sounds good. Um

[20:43] » motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjourn.

[20:45] » I make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second.

[20:49] » Really screws up my cadence when there's only two of us. No, it it does kind of

[20:54] doesn't it kind of almost doesn't seem right, but just be thankful there's not

[20:57] five of us. So there you go. >> Sure. Okay. Uh

[21:01] » all those in fa or any discussion? >> We don't need to discuss this.

[21:04] » All those in favor I Okay.

Crook County Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting August 19, 2026

Transcript