Tatom

When ballots arrive later this month, Deschutes County voters will be asked to decide whether to expand the county’s governing board from three commissioners to five. This question comes in the form of Measure 9-173, thanks to a citizen’s initiative spearheaded by Bend resident and local business owner John Heylin.

I’ve heard Heylin make his pitch in person, and I’ve read his written arguments in the voter’s pamphlet and in this newspaper. Among many compelling reasons to support expansion, the most salient is that just two commissioners compose a majority, and decisions impacting hundreds of thousands of people and costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars should be made by more than two people.

In fact, these decisions are most often made by a single person: Patti Adair.

As anyone who has been following the board of commissioners over the past few years can tell you, Tony Debone and Phil Chang frequently stake out opposing positions on major issues. To some extent, this is ideological; Chang, a Democrat, generally opposes new development outside urban growth boundaries and supports increased spending on programs that benefit our county’s less fortunate residents, while Debone, a Republican, tends to support development in the rural county and opposes social programs.

One might assume that, because she is also a Republican, Adair would vote in lockstep with Debone along party lines. After all, Adair has a reputation as a partisan ideologue based on her previous roles as chair of the Deschutes Republicans and Central Oregon coordinator for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. She won election to the board after successfully challenging moderate Tammy Baney in the 2018 Republican primary. But Adair’s MAGA reputation belies her actual voting record. In her nearly six years on the board, Adair has voted with Chang almost as often as she has voted with Debone.

Two recent decisions by the Deschutes County board of commissioners illustrates Adair’s outsized power as the board’s swing vote. On July 29, commissioners were presented with a plan for a managed homeless camp east of Redmond, which would provide an alternative location for the many people camping illegally on 137 acres the county hopes to exchange with the Department of State Lands for land adjacent to the fairgrounds (DSL has insisted the swap is contingent on removal of the campers). True to form, Commissioner Debone opposed the plan, preferring a less intensive model, while Commissioner Chang supported it. Ultimately, Commissioner Adair voted with Chang in support of the managed camp.

A week later, the board was presented with a proposal to develop a campground on a 500-acre tract of land between Bend and Redmond. Specifically, the question put to commissioner was whether county staff could apply for a grant from Oregon State Parks that would have paid half the cost of developing a conceptual plan for such a campground. In contrast to the managed camp, this would be a recreational campground where campers would pay fees. After an initial capital investment to develop the facilities, the site could eventually become a source of revenue for the county. Again, the decision was split 2-1, but this time Adair sided with Debone in voting no. Her reason? “A 50% match doesn’t excite me.”

Of course, expanding the board of commissioners to five members doesn’t guarantee an end to split votes. It’s possible we would continue to see important matters decided by a narrow majority of 3-2, with one commissioner casting the deciding vote. But given that county commissioner is now a non-partisan office, there’s reason to hope we’ll elect more pragmatic leaders willing to seek compromise and consensus.

But one thing is certain: If voters do not pass Measure 9-173, Deschutes County and it’s $700 million budget will continue to be ruled by the whims of a single individual.

Oliver Tatom is a registered nurse. He lives in rural Deschutes County.

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