The Lane County Board of County Commissioners approved three separate motions on July 9 to be voted on July 16, each containing a repeal that would modify the county’s Home Rule Charter — as suggested by the Charter Review Committee (CRC), which has been meeting since November 2022.

The Home Rule Charter, according to County Commissioner Heather Buch, is basically the county’s constitution outlining how the government can or can’t operate. 

“The county charter is really important in how we run business in the county,” she says.

Some of the motions recommended by the CRC include repealing a cap on income tax because the county doesn’t collect such a tax. Another removes guidelines about how East Alton Baker park should be utilized, since the county sold it to the city several years ago, and the final motion gets rid of a county spending limitation that is superseded by state laws governing how counties spend their money.

The county commissioners will meet on July 16 to vote on each motion, as well as to discuss three amendments from the CRC. The commission previously held public hearings June 26 and July 9 on the proposed changes.

The three amendments include extending the CRC’s operational timeframe from one to two years, changing county district names to only district numerals and enshrining the Independent Redistricting Committee within the county charter rather than county code. 

Moving it into the charter prevents county commissioners from changing it without a public vote.

Alongside the three amendments from CRC, a private law firm, Harrang Long — representing Stanton F. Long, one of its former partners — submitted two of its own ideas in a May 24 letter.

The motions include a different layout of the already existing Independent Redistricting Committee, called the Citizens Redistricting Committee, that makes membership selection random from a pool of 50 applicants vetted by the county commissioners. Currently the board selects the first five redistricting committee members, who then pick the next 10.

The second — referred to as “housekeeping” — suggests a newly redrawn district five years before new census data is available.

As previously reported by Eugene Weekly, critics of these suggestions — specifically the second “housekeeping” motion —  are calling it “gerrymandering” because an outlined district map would “pack” all democratic voters within the southern Eugene district.

“That is gerrymandering because of stuff I don’t understand, frankly,” says William F. Gary, former Oregon deputy attorney general and lawyer representing Long. “Giving the traditional names to the districts rather than numbers somehow is a trick.”

In Gary’s proposal, the district names would remain as is. Modified district descriptions would reflect new district boundaries.

Gary says he has been around public policy for more than a little while, and admits that anyone who sticks their toe in the water is going to draw criticism from someone.

While receiving ire from many public commenters for submitting this towards the end of the CRC process, Gary argues that it’s important for citizens to add their input into public policy whenever applicable.

“Anyone that wants to at any time can propose an amendment to the charter,” he says.

Commissioner Chair Laurie Trieger says that’s not up for debate. Anyone can petition their government at any time for any reason.

“This attorney is asking for us on his behalf, to refer something to voters that we haven’t vetted,” she says. “If he wants something to go directly to voters, as he’s written it, he should get out there and create a petition to collect the signatures.

“We’re not there to be a pass-through for somebody else’s ideas,” she says. “It would not be responsible for the Board of County Commissioners to refer something to the voters that the board hasn’t ensured our organization has vetted and assessed its viability.”

On June 4, the two conservative county commissioners, Ryan Ceniga and David Loveall, as well as Pat Farr, who calls himself a moderate, approved the private law firm’s suggestions to be read alongside the CRC’s recommendations before they’ve been vetted by county counsel.

During the two prior public hearings, many community members came forward to voice their concerns that these changes were skipping the necessary processes and slipped under the door without necessary input from county counsel and the CRC.

Former Eugene city councilor Claire Syrett voiced her concerns about the private law firm’s suggestions, asking the board to “stand by the citizen-informed CRC recommendations.”

Former Independent Redistricting Committee and CRC member Stefan Ostrach says that Long never showed any prior interest and that this is “way outside the process.”

Since 2022, the CRC held opportunities for any interested party to submit public comments.

According to Buch, every amendment from the CRC and Harrang Long will be deliberated on and considered at the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, July 16.

If passed, the motions will make their way to the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

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