Seasoned incumbent faces two opponents in run for third term

Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch is running for a third four-year term against two challengers for the East Lane District 5 seat.

Jake Pelroy, a consultant and former legislative staffer, and Bob Zybach, a former forestry contractor, are both running for the seat, hoping to represent the district, which includes parts of west Eugene and the cities of Cottage Grove, Creswell, Oakridge, Lowell, Westfir, Coburg and unincorporated communities in the McKenzie River valley.

The vast district has challenges unlike any other in Lane County. The Holiday Farm Fire burned through thousands of acres in 2020, and communities in the McKenzie River valley are still rebuilding homes and businesses.

County commissioners participate in policy work on a variety of fronts, including waste management, economic development, housing and health and human services. They do not set city ordinances and policies, yet also work on broad regional issues that affect residents who live in cities and unincorporated Lane County.

They also interact with federal and state lawmakers who set policies and allocate funding that flows into the county’s budget for a variety of needs and services, including public health, housing and transportation.

Commissioners set the county’s budget, which currently amounts to about $128 million in the general fund, deciding how to spend available funding and where to expand or cut services — including health care clinics, county law enforcement, and county roads and parks projects.

County commissioner positions are nonpartisan and are paid an annual salary of $114,026. The candidate who receives more than half of all votes cast May 19 will be declared the winner. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff election in November.

Lookout Eugene-Springfield interviewed all three candidates about the race and what they would bring to the role.

Here’s a look at what they had to say:

Heather Buch Buch said her priorities for another term include public safety, housing production and affordability, and access and affordability to health care.

For health care, that means continued advocacy for vital needs even as the federal administration cuts programs, Buch said, adding that the county needs to target areas that have gaps in service. The planned Lane Stabilization Center for people experiencing mental health and addiction crises is an example of this work, Buch said.

“It’s really important to me to see that through to fruition and continue to target those gap-service areas,” Buch said, stressing these are all nonpartisan, critical needs for the region.

Buch said she has a collaborative approach and wants to “work across the aisle in order to move the most urgent items from the county forward.”

For example, affordable housing needs to be a regional endeavor, Buch said, with a variety of solutions that reach people based on their needs. That work can include tools like accessory dwelling units, community land trusts and working with different organizations like Homes for Good, the county’s housing agency.

Lane County is in the midst of considering potential ways to raise money for public safety. It’s possible that a proposal would go to voters in 2027 seeking additional revenue, such as through a levy or payroll tax, though the county is planning to do more outreach to gauge public interest.

Buch said she looks forward to talking with the community about public safety needs and hearing what people think. In 2020 and 2021, Buch said she worked to allocate more funding for additional patrol.

“So I have a record of supporting expansion and patrol, and we need to do a lot more,” Buch said.

Buch said she’s also in favor of programs that can divert people out of the criminal justice system and give them help to turn around their lives. One example is the county’s deflection program, which helps people facing an arrest for low-level misdemeanor drug possession avoid court charges and receive treatment, housing and counseling instead.

Before becoming a commissioner, Buch ran a real estate business and worked on affordable housing projects with St. Vincent DePaul Society of Lane County.

Buch, currently the board’s vice chair, chaired the five-member board in 2020. That same year, global and local disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic, hit the county hard, especially in her district. Later that year, the Holiday Farm Fire, one of the Labor Day fires across the state, scorched rural areas of her district. As the chair that year, Buch often participated in weekly press briefings.

“I deeply feel as an East Lane county commissioner, you have to have a strong experience in emergency management,” Buch said.

Buch added: “That gave me a lot of trial by fire, deep emergency management experience that I think is really critical for this role.”

Buch also draws from her personal experiences. Her parents divorced, and Buch, as a child, experienced housing instability in rural Lane County as she moved around with her family. Those experiences in a working-class family remind her of the housing challenges residents face.

Jake Pelroy Pelroy said the county needs to adequately fund public safety and show the public that the county is carefully spending available tax resources.

“I think it’s unacceptable that we have three deputies on patrol in our county at any given time,” Pelroy said.

Pelroy runs a consulting firm, Pelroy & Associates, which works on public affairs and campaigns, often for Republican or conservative candidates. He also was a legislative staffer for former state Sen. Bill Hansell, a Republican from Athena. As a Marine, Pelroy worked in the intelligence field on deployments to the Middle East.

Lane County is planning to do outreach with the public and consider options to potentially put forward to voters in 2027, such as a tax district or payroll tax for public safety. Pelroy said the county has to build trust with voters, as it did when the county proposed and passed its jail levy in 2013.

In contrast, Pelroy said the $11 million in estimated costs for the county’s proposed CleanLane recycling project is an example of “misplaced priorities.” The estimated costs for that project represent half of the county’s need for $22 million to pay for more deputies to cover rural areas, Pelroy said.

Pelroy said that the county could eliminate the recycling project to find the money for public safety. Beyond that, he said the county needs to consider the bigger picture: looking at ways to spur economic development that will raise money.

On that front, Pelroy said he supports the federal efforts to reshape the resource management plan so that more timber is harvested. Pelroy said more timber can be cut in a sustainable way and open up more pathways for economic development in the county.

Pelroy said Lane County needs to be more welcoming toward development overall, including land use. Pelroy said he’s heard repeated concerns from residents about the length of time the county takes to complete procedural work to get sites approved, including months to get legal lot verifications.

Pelroy said he would pursue recommendations the county received in a 2024 report about the county’s application processes for affordable housing. The report, which the county received after hiring consultants, made recommendations to help affordable housing projects move through the permitting process more quickly.

He also said the county needs to be more accountable. For example, the county commissioners directly hire three county employees: the administrator, the county counsel and the performance auditor. The county hasn’t had a performance auditor since 2019, when the position became vacant.

Pelroy said he would connect people to the right agency, regardless of whether it’s the county or another area of government.

“If you’ve got a problem, and you come to me, and it turns out it’s a state government issue, I want to make sure that you are connected up with the right people,” Pelory said. “The district is huge, but I want to make sure that everyone has access to me.”

Bob Zybach Zybach, a former reforestation contractor, sees potential for economic growth in the forests of Lane County.

Zybach wants the county to support and pursue policies that will lead to forest management practices that will bring back more jobs in forestry, with sustainable and increased timber harvesting.

Most of the policymaking work is done on the federal level, through the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Forest Service. Lane County commissioners, however, have opportunities to weigh in on issues, such as the Trump administration’s plans to revamp the natural resource management plan and increase timber harvesting.

Zybach said he’s running out of “frustration,” noting that wildfire danger continues to increase.

“We don’t address the problem,” he said. “It’s the most significant problem I think we’ve got in Lane County, the combination of wildfire risk and wildfire reality, toxic smoke, dead wildlife, ugly landscapes and the results.”

But Zybach stressed that he’s not a single-issue candidate focused only on forestry. Instead, he said, forestry and sustainable management is tied to other issues, including funding for schools and roads, economic growth and wildfire prevention.

“Some people say it’s one issue, forestry,” he said. “No, it’s education, it’s roads, it’s jobs, it’s clean air, it’s old growth, it’s biodiversity. Those are what I’m running on. Most of our land is O&C (lands) and national forest, and it’s been grossly mismanaged, not because of people in charge now, but because of the litigation and regulations that have been developed and enforced.”

With a doctoral degree from Oregon State University’s environmental sciences program, Zybach said he has an educated approach to forest management. He also believes his experience and education give him an edge in environmental debates.

“The tree-huggers can’t say ‘science tells us,’ because, as a scientist, I can usually crack them pretty quickly,” Zybach said.

Zybach believes Lane County can marshal its natural resources to spur economic development and revenue growth. The status quo, he said, is a missed opportunity.

“We used to have good schools and good roads and good police, and now we don’t,” he said. “And we’ve got a bunch of ugly hillside rotting away that represent billions of dollars of jobs and income and housing, and we’re just, like, wasting it.”

He believes his experience in forestry can help the county accomplish that.

“Mostly what I bring is a lifelong experience, knowledge and capability of understanding how to save our old growth, how to train people to work in the woods, what jobs need to be done, and how to make money for our schools and our roads,” he said. “And the fact that we haven’t done that for 30 years would put me ahead.”

At 77, Zybach said he’s only interested in running for one term.

“I have no interest in being a career politician,” he said.

Lane County Board of Commissioners candidate Heather Buch is the incumbent, running for her third term in the East Lane District 5 seat. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA Name : Heather Buch

Age : 50

Residence : Spencer Creek area

Education : Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Seattle University, 2002.

Occupation : County commissioner, former real estate business owner and special projects director at St. Vincent DePaul Society of Lane County.

Prior elected experience : Elected as county commissioner in 2018 and 2022.

Family status: Married, one daughter

Lane County Board of Commissioners candidate Jake Pelroy is running for the East Lane District 5 seat. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA Name : Jake Pelroy

Age : 40

Residence : Eugene

Education : Bachelor’s degree in general social science, specializing in applied economics, business and society, University of Oregon, 2014.

Occupation : Owner, Pelroy & Associates, a firm that provides advice on campaigns and public affairs. Also owns KDP Properties, a vacation rental business.

Prior elected experience : None

Family status: Married, two sons

Lane County Board of Commissioners candidate Bob Zybach is running for the East Lane District 5 seat. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA Name : Bob Zybach

Age : 77

Residence : Creswell

Education : Doctoral multi-disciplinary degree in forest sciences from Oregon State University’s environmental sciences program, 2003. Master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on forest ecology, cultural anthropology and historical archaeology, 1999. Bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University in cultural resources management, 1991.

Occupation : Former reforestation contractor, writer and researcher

Prior elected experience : None

Family status: Two adult sons

Seasoned incumbent faces two opponents in run for third term

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