Berschauer, King face off at Yamhill County candidate forum

A May 2 forum featured two candidates vying for election to Position 2 on the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners — Lindsay Berschauer and Bubba King — and drew a packed audience to a small amphitheater on the campus of George Fox University.

Fellow candidate David Wall did not attend the forum, presented by the George Fox Civility Project, Newberg City Club and Newberg/Dundee United as Neighbors. It was the organizations’ third candidate forum in the past two years.

The event also included two individuals running unchallenged for other county government posts — district attorney candidate Kate Lynch and sheriff candidate Sam Elliott — who spoke briefly on their qualifications for office.

The goal of the event, Civility Project Director Ron Mock said in anticipation of the event was simple: “(We) want the forum to accomplish two things — give voters a chance to see the candidates in person and hear their views and promote civil conversation about the issues we face in local politics.”

And the evening was indeed civil, the format relaxed as Berschauer and King took turns responding to questions from the three presenters, rather than debate the issues (the questions are paraphrased).

What does it look like when the commissioner and county department heads work together, and does it matter whether that department head is elected or appointed?

“Having a toxic work environment is scary, and I think that you turn people away, turn talent away and it’s important to have a mutual respect between the commissioners and elected officials or heads of the department,” King said. “That’s essentially my style of leadership, is being relational and watching what you do, how do you do it, learning from you because … I’m not a doctor or I’m not a sheriff. I didn’t go to lawyer school. To me it’s important that I get to watch you, and when you come up against problems that it is my role to help you.”

Berschauer said she has a advantage over her opponent because she has been a liaison with elected county officials for several years and that they are elected in their own right and are accountable to the public just like the commissioners. The difference, she added, is that the commissioners control the budget and the department heads have to come to the commission and say, “Hey, this is what we need, this is the policy direction we’re going in and ultimately it’s up to us as commissioners to put our stamp on it and say, you know, this is how we’re going to move forward. … Our job as commissioners is to really oversee and make sure the policies can match the budget.”

Should the overall county budget increase and, if so, by how much? Where should the additional money come from and where should it be spent? Or should the budget decrease? If so, by how much and where should cuts be made?

Berschauer responded that the county budget increases every year, typically 3-4%, in response to increases in personnel and program costs. She also remarked that the county’s taxing rate has not increased in more than 25 years and that has “forced the commissioners to be very conservative, to budget conservatively and be focused on our highest priorities.”

She added that during her time in office the board of commissioners has turned away from seeking and accepting grant money as a means of funding county government. Arguing that grants are short term and not sustainable, she added that as a result programs and personnel may need to be cut later if funded with grants.

“So, we’re not using one-time funds, we’re not using grant funds,” she said. “That means next year, when the personnel costs exceed our revenue, again, we are on a better footing, we’re not having to make massive cuts and just cut services that are really key to the community.”

King said the county’s budget is one place where he disagrees with his counterpart, as he believes they should go after grant funding. He recalled talking to striking county employees last summer who said they were already stretched thin and that they were doing the jobs of more than one person. The hope during the strike, employees told him, was that the county would hire more people to spread out the workload.

“Well, those jobs aren’t coming now,” due to the recent budget cuts, he remarked.

County employees also told him that jobs in Yamhill County can be a steppingstone to positions outside the county, where they may be compensated better.

“That’s expensive for us to train people, right, and so I think with investing into money, investing into our public health department it is important because we can better serve those people that (Berschauer) was talking about...,” King said. “The most at-risk people, the most vulnerable people in our community.”

He concluded that while it’s true that grants come with strings, those strings are designed to ensure accountability to make sure they are being used for what they were intended for.

“And it’s my intent to find the money to be able to go after resources and get it into the hands of public health and get it into the hands of the sheriff and the DA and the people that serve these communities,” he said. “Because that’s our money, that’s tax dollars that we (paid) and its being made back available to us and that’s very important to me.”

What are you doing in your campaign and, if elected into office, to make it easier for people who disagree to work together and turn their disagreements into resources for better ideas about policies and programs?

King commented that he’ll talk to anybody and went as far as calling Bershauer’s supporters to chat with them about the issues. He related the story about how he and his business supported the new candidates for the Newberg school board and that Mayor Bill Rosacker did not, yet they found common ground and have been able to work together.

“You’re allowed to support somebody else — I think that that’s great,” he said. “You’re an American, you get to make your own decisions and who you want to vote for. But the difference is that when we’re done, whoever wins, we go back to work, right? And there’s no animosity and there’s not vindictiveness.”

Berschauer said even though the commission is a nonpartisan body it doesn’t mean “we don’t have a strong sense of values and that taxpayers deserve to know what those values are.”

“How am I going to vote on an important land use issue?” she said. “How am I going to vote when it comes to growing the size of government? How am I going to vote when it comes to picking one side over another?”

She added that her “strong values” are why so many community leaders have supported her in the past, despite what is often seen as a penchant for decisiveness on her part.

“I think in reality it’s a very small group of people that are pushing this narrative that there’s division, that there’s dysfunction in the county,” Berschauer said. “That’s not the vast majority of us. The vast majority of us are willing to listen to both sides. We’re willing to debate in a healthy way.”

What are the most pressing issues in the county and what should be done to address them?

Berschauer responded that issues of mental health, addiction and isolation experienced by youth and others following the pandemic will require the county’s attention in the future. She pointed to the recent passage of House Bill 4002 in the Legislature, which recriminalizes possession of some illicit drugs and bolsters funding for addiction treatment programs.

“But we don’t have it yet, so we really need to be laser focused on using the finite resources that we do have and expanding those services,” she said, adding that the county has received more than $1.5 million in opioid settlement funds and will continue to for 15 years, which will help in the effort to address the aforementioned issues.

She bemoaned the fact that some counties have used the settlement money to fund existing services, while theirs and others are saying they want to expand services, but they’re not going to supplant.

“That means that we are going to be looking at expanding and partnering with the community on a sobering center or a residential treatment center, or both, right? They can work in tandem,” she said.

King related his father’s struggles with addiction, first to drugs and then to gambling, before he got some help and turned things around.

“(Society says) we’re to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps,” he said. “I think sometimes we need somebody to give us the bootstraps, right? And that’s what happened to my dad. ... and that’s because somebody showed him mercy.”What’s your approach to transportation in the county, including maintenance and construction?King characterized the county’s transit system as inadequate, confusing and not well advertised. He added that, as he sees it, the county has two options: get creative on how transportation works going to and from neighboring communities or offer solutions within each community.

Berschauer touted the county’s part in opening the first phase of the Newberg-Dundee bypass and explained how the county’s public works director focuses on the highest-need areas and matches revenue for a multi-year plan in the future. She added that the county must also focus on repairing its aging bridges, but highlighted what she characterized as a robust transit system, the Dial-A-Ride program, the installation of new bus stops, a pilot project for transporting people to other cities and increase connectivity.

How can the county best balance the interests of landowners and the people coming to the county seeking recreational opportunities?

Berschauer recounted that she was elected based on her opposition to the Yamhelas Westsider Trail plan and the conduct of the county in implementing the plan to erect it.

“And they took grants out, they bought the property and they had this rolling forward, and yet the property owners that live adjacent to the trail were not informed of it until the county was literally building bridges that were supposed to be part of the trail,” she said. “In my opinion that’s government overreach; that was a huge misstep. And clearly, as you’ve seen play out, the farmers that live adjacent to the trail had to sue the county, it went through the LUBA process and, as it turns out, you can’t just do anything you want recreationally if it has an impact to private property rights.

“And this is such a critical issue because private property rights are literally one of the basis of our constitution freedoms. If you erode your private property rights, you erode your overall freedom and your individual liberty.”

Berschauer explained that as the commission is in charge of land use decisions, they face some tough cases, but that the commission is generally “very pro-development. We want to stimulate the economy in Yamhill County, but we have to remember that at the end of the day it’s about protecting private property rights.”

King concurred that private property rights are important and opined that he doesn’t see a path forward for the Yamhelas Westsider Trail.

“I would rather focus on projects that have real life to it. … I think that trail was part of some of that division that we have today, because both sides felt wronged,” he said.

He would rather concentrate, he said, on cleaning up the Yamhill River and examining a proposal for 20 miles of bike trails outside of Carlton.

“These things have real possibilities and there’s a lot less contention,” he said. “But when we’re going to do this, and I think this is important and I think from the sins of the past, is inviting those neighbors to the table first to help make that plan so that way we don’t waste the county money in building bridges or funding things and all of sudden we’re in a mess, right?”What are your personal goals for the coming term as commissioner?King said he would concentrate on restoring full funding for the county’s public health department and the services they provide.

“I want to help those workers, I want to help those most vulnerable in our county,” he said. “This is an overwhelming threat across every community, is addiction, is homelessness, mental health, all of the buckets, right? So, it will be my priority to find these resources.”

Berschauer again pointed to reforms brought about by HB 4002 and said the county has been a leader in the state administering drug courts and other programs. She will seek to expand services like Provoking Hope and a recovery business in Newberg and locate a sobering center in the county, get it funded and add more residential treatment beds.

She added that she wants to ensure the county remains a livable place to be and that it continues to attract people who have moved here because the board of commissioners is fighting for people’s rights and liberties and against additional bureaucracy.

“I intend to carry those forward into my next term,” she said.