From left, Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone, Patti Adair, and Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney, at right, listen as Ed Barbeau answers a question during a commission candidate debate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 10 Barrel's eastside location in Bend. (Joe Kline/Bulletin photo)

Four Republican candidates vying for two seats on the Deschutes County Commission took questions on spending, land use, housing and marijuana during a debate hosted by the Bend Chamber of Commerce at 10 Barrel Brewing’s east-side pub Tuesday.

Commission Chairman Tony DeBone is facing off against Tumalo pizza shop owner Ed Barbeau for Position 1. Three-term commission incumbent Tammy Baney is facing Deschutes County Republican Party Chairwoman Patti Adair for Position 3. The incumbents emphasized their accomplishments in office while the challengers criticized how the current commission handled finances, marijuana and police radios.

Two Democrats — Redmond planning commission Chairman James Cook and Bend resident Amy Lowes, a business consultant — are running unopposed in their primaries and did not participate in the debate.

DeBone said his goal is to keep the county running in a “cost-effective fashion,” growing services, including the community development department, to keep pace with population growth. Public safety, which he said includes the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, the county jail and mental health services, is his top spending priority, but the county also needs to plan for the future of solid waste — Knott Landfill is expected to be full by 2029. His opponent, Barbeau, said he’d want to buy a new, working police radio system. Barbeau has made reported problems with the new radio system used by local law enforcement a key issue in his campaign.

Baney said the county provides public safety, planning for infrastructure and transportation planning and critical services — including veteran’s services and public health — for the county’s most vulnerable residents. She said she wants to make sure the county avoids taking more in property taxes than it needs — the county cut its property tax rate by $0.03 in 2017 — then look for ways to enhance needed services, including funding a planned sobering station.

“I would look for ways in which we could first and foremost not take more than we need, and look for gaps,” she said.

Adair said she wants to focus spending on schools and improving Central Oregon’s high school graduation rate. School districts, not the county commission, control school budgets.

Adair, who opposes marijuana, said rural residents should have been allowed to opt out of marijuana legalization. She said the county needs to hire additional full-time employees to enforce marijuana regulations, and when allowed to ask Baney a question, asked what she thought of marijuana as a gateway drug.

“We didn’t have any enforcement for those in the rural community who were dealing with cannabis operations,” Adair said.

Baney and DeBone both said they were happy with the work the county did to regulate recreational marijuana growing operations and continued fine-tuning of those regulations.

“I’m very proud of the reasonable land use (regulations) we put in place,” DeBone said. “I’m pleased with being able to shed light on a legal industry.”

Barbeau avoided answering a question from DeBone about whether he advocated for marijuana or was against allowing it, saying his stance didn’t matter because the issue was already settled.

“You’re the architect of the system we’ve got right now,” Barbeau said. “You said it wasn’t perfect.”

When it came to meeting housing demands and facilitating growth, Baney and DeBone agreed that the county’s role is working with cities on their urban expansion and working with the state to address mapping errors that prohibit development on unfarmable land incorrectly labeled as high-value farm land. They said they had the experience and relationships at the state level to advocate for Central Oregon on land-use issues.

Barbeau agreed that the county should work on zoning problems and said it could encourage development by reducing developer fees. Adair said allowing accessory dwelling units in rural areas would alleviate the housing crisis and criticized Baney for spending several days a month in Salem because of her work on statewide boards, including the Oregon Transportation Commission, which she chairs.

Tuesday’s debate was delayed for about 30 minutes after an audience member collapsed and needed to be taken from the room on a stretcher.

The primary will be held May 15.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160; jshumway@bendbulletin.com