Crawford

Seth Crawford announced this week that he plans to run for a second term on the Crook County Court.

Crawford, 35, said that despite the economic challenges that have faced the county in recent years, county government is moving in the right direction. Between a combination of furlough days and spending from reserve funds, the county has largely maintained its services, he said.

“We’re running really lean; we have people there that are working really hard for the county,” Crawford said Friday.

Crawford said he expects the court will spend a great deal of time working on long-term financial planning in the coming years, preparing the county for future investments in infrastructure or new hires in understaffed departments.

The undersized Crook County Jail is one example of where the county needs to look closely at long-term financial considerations, Crawford said. While constructing a new, larger jail would most likely be done through a bond measure approved by local voters, keeping the jail running would be an ongoing financial obligation.

“Right now, we’re letting people out of jail way too fast; they’re not accountable for what they do,” he said. “That needs to change, but we also need to find the most efficient way to do that.”

Crawford said Crook County needs to make itself more attractive to younger people. The arrival of the Facebook and Apple data centers and jobs associated with both have helped, he said, but the county population is disproportionately tilted toward retirees.

Crook County can and should continue to recruit additional data centers, Crawford said.

He said site selectors he’s talked to said the combination of infrastructure, favorable climate and tax breaks for qualifying businesses makes Crook County a top-five location for companies seeking to build a data center in the United States.

The demand, Crawford said, is only going to grow.

“Every day, every text, every picture, every time you use Siri, you’re adding more data to the pile,” he said. “Every time you post on Facebook, you’re adding more data to the pile, and that data needs to be stored somewhere.”

Crawford said he’s also been working on developing a system of multipurpose trails in the Prineville area. Once completed, the trail system should nearly encircle the city with spur trails leading up in to the rimrock and other high points, Crawford said, providing roughly 30 miles of trail within five miles of town.

After losing a campaign for the commission in 2008, Crawford beat out sitting commissioner Lynn Lundquist in the 2010 Republican primary, then went on to defeat Democrat Mike Mohan in November.

No other candidates have filed for the seat.