Wednesday, May 6, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
Multiple candidates seek commission seat
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Phil Henderson will seek to
keep his seat on the Deschutes
County Board of Commis-
sioners next November.
Democratic party voters
will choose who his rival will
be for the seat in the May 19
primary. Phil Chang, Greg
Bryant and Ron Boozell are
vying for the nomination.
Henderson, a Republican,
has held the seat since his
election in November 2016.
He told The Nugget that, for
the foreseeable future, the
commissioners are going to
be thoroughly absorbed in
response to and recovery from
the impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic.
<It has identified, I think, a
need in our county to have a
more rapid ability to respond
to a health situation,= he said.
The economic fallout of
the shutdown enacted to slow
the spread of the disease can9t
be fully calculated yet, but it
is sure to be severe 4 perhaps
representing a blow equal to
or greater than the recession
that slammed the region a
decade ago.
<I don9t know if we9re
back to 2008-09 or not,= he
said.
The economy will affect
everything from land use to
wildfire mitigation, he said.
Henderson pointed to impor-
tant strides on the wildfire
defense front, where he serves
on the Deschutes Collabora-
tive Forest Council. He noted
that the prescribed burning
program designed to provide
community protection has
been put in abeyance due to
the pandemic. He said that
Sisters needs to see more
acres treated in order to main-
tain protection.
Henderson acknowledged
that housing 4 especially
workforce housing 4 has
become an acute issue in the
Sisters area.
<I support expanding the
urban growth boundary when
it9s necessary,= he said. <in
general, there9s a shortage of
housing in Deschutes County.
For so many people, it9s unaf-
fordable. We9ve got to open
that up.=
Henderson, who has a
background as a builder, said
he also supports modifying
requirements regarding non-
resource rural land to allow
for different uses and some
housing uses.
<The whole prosperity of
our county has a foundation
in that we9re interspersed with
farms and housing,= he said.
<I believe in that.=
Phil Chang helped cre-
ate the Deschutes Collabora-
tive Forest Project and served
for several years as Senator
Jeff Merkeley9s field repre-
sentative in Central Oregon.
The long-time Bend resident
said that he is running for
the Deschutes County Board
of Commissioners because
<it9s a place where I thought
I could plug in my experience
and do some good.=
Chang has a strong inter-
est in issues around managing
growth.
< I f w e d o n 9t g r o w
well, housing availability
decreases, traffic gets worse,
we lose our wildlife and our
quality of life decreases,= he
said.
Chang believes in land-
efficient, pedestrian-and-bike-
friendly mixed-use develop-
ment, which he believes is
applicable (and happening) in
Sisters. He thinks that the cur-
rent commission is interested
in challenging state land-use
laws, which he thinks is a
mistake.
<Allowing more rural sub-
divisions is not the way to
go,= he said.
Chang sees transportation
as a significant issue for the
Sisters community, especially
for seniors.
<The county has not made
meaningful investments in
the Cascades East transit sys-
tem,= he said. <I believe that
if we9re going to have good
mass transit connectivity
throughout Central Oregon,
the county is going to have to
step up and make it happen.=
Chang believes that the
county needs to invest more
in services for members of the
community 4 and that those
investments are cost-effective
in the long run.
<I think you can be fiscally
responsible, but you can also
be fiscally strategic,= he said.
Chang acknowledged that
the financial impacts both on
the economy and on govern-
ment budgets will have a sig-
nificant impact on what can
and should be done over the
next commissioner9s term of
office.
Greg Bryant moved to
Bend seven years ago to
retire. As vice president of
the Deschutes River Woods
Homeowners Association, he
has attended many commis-
sion meetings and he said he
<didn9t necessarily like the
direction they were going, so
I decided to throw my hat in
the ring.=
Bryant is particularly con-
cerned with accelerating wild-
fire protection activities.
<They do a great job of
keeping the fire fuels down,
but I think that9s got to be
done more because, with
climate change, I think we9re
going to have drier summers
and less water,= he said.
Bryant said he is also
keenly interested in trans-
portation issues, though he
indicated that he does not
have specific knowledge of
the transportation situation in
the west county. He acknowl-
edged that there is tension
between the desire to move
traffic through the Highway
20 corridor and the desire of
Sisters businesses to get that
traffic to stop here and shop
and dine.
Bryant believes his pro-
fessional background as an
accountant would be help-
ful to the county in mak-
ing county departments as
efficient as possible, as the
county faces the potential for
a deep fiscal crisis due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
<I9ve been through reces-
sions,= he noted.
Candidate Ron Boozell
declined a phone interview
with The Nugget.
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