The Deschutes County Commission voted to appoint Bend consultant Bruce Barrett, of Bend, to the budget committee in a meeting on Monday.

In his application, Barrett wrote that he has extensive experience with budgets, financial models and bank presentations. A Central Oregon native, Barrett has a MBA from Marylhurst University, a Bachelor of Science from Linfield College and an associate degree from Central Oregon Community College. The three-person county budget committee is responsible for proposing the county’s budget each year. The county commission can adjust the budget committee’s proposal and later formally adopts the budget.

In other business:

* The commission approved a new contract for the Des-chutes County Sheriff’s Employee Association. The three-year contract will run through 2009 and includes a 4 percent cost of living increase, along with a few other changes.

* Commissioners voted to provide legal representation to former sheriff’s deputies Michael Malloy and Mark James Rietmann, in a lawsuit against the men and Deschutes County. Vicky and Jesse Parrott have sued the county for $3 million, alleging the deputies carried out a three-year campaign of retaliation against them, after Jesse Parrott reported Malloy sexually abused two teenage girls and Rietmann violated Oregon sexual harassment laws.

* Commissioners held a first reading of an ordinance to exempt homes in the La Pine Newberry neighborhood from the county’s solar setback rule. The rule bans homes from shadowing the south-facing walls of neighboring houses.