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Wednesday, September 30, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Henderson seeks second term as commissioner
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Phil Henderson believes
his track record as a Deschutes
County Commissioner should
earn him the votes for a sec-
ond term in Position #2. He
is running for re-election
November 3, against chal-
lenger Phil Chang.
Henderson cites his work
on resolving problems with a
new 911 radio system, efforts
to promote affordable hous-
ing, and forest management
as areas where his efforts
have given value to the citi-
zens of Deschutes County.
HOUSING
The commissioner
acknowledged that the Sisters
area and western Deschutes
County are different in
some ways from other areas
of Deschutes County. The
county owns little land in the
area, which takes leveraging
county lands for affordable
housing off the table here.
But Henderson believes his
approach to land use could
help Sisters provide for more
housing.
Henderson is an advocate
for allowing for more housing
in rural areas whose current
farm or forest zoning would
not allow for it 4 areas that
are <zoned one way and it9s
really not usable that way,= as
Henderson puts it.
<I think our land use sys-
tem is kind of archaic,= he
said.
He advocates for <allow-
ing rural residents to have
accessory dwellings.
Accessory dwelling units
would be a great place for
someone to rent out to some-
one who9s working in Sisters,
or a family member who
wants to live there,= he said.
He noted that the county
will play a major role in
helping the City of Sisters
to determine where and how
to expand its urban growth
boundary during the compre-
hensive plan update that is
just now getting underway.
<We need to have places
that people can live in and
own for less than $300,000,=
Henderson said. <Young peo-
ple are buying houses that are
really expensive.=
The commissioner does
not believe modification of
land-use policies will lead to
urban sprawl.
<Eighty percent of our
county is publicly owned
anyway, so we9re not going to
lose that feeling of openness,
of ruralness.=
LAW ENFORCEMENT
The commissioner is
pleased with the <good con-
tract= between the City of
Sisters and the Deschutes
County Sheriff 9s Office,
which provides for deputies
who serve only in the Sisters
area. He said the county is
committed to having a law-
enforcement presence that
is well-integrated into the
Sisters community, which
is evidenced by the county
purchasing the building that
houses the local sheriff 9s
substation.
Henderson says he does
not see a strong sentiment to
<defund the police= in Central
Oregon.
<I think we9re a pretty
strong law-and-order commu-
nity in Central Oregon,= he
said. <It seems like there are
different kinds of problems
in different places, and we
really haven9t seen the kind
of problems that have been
complained about and pro-
tested about in other places in
America.=
He acknowledged that
responding to mental-health-
related calls is a significant
aspect of law enforcement9s
challenges in 21st Century
America 4 and he thinks
Deschutes County is doing a
good job on that front.
<I think our sheriff has
been pretty progressive at
looking at the mental-health
aspect,= he said. <He also
pushed for mental-health ser-
vices in the jail.=
The Deschutes County
Stabilization Center 4
designed to provide short-
term assistance to people in
crisis who have been referred
to law enforcement or the
Emergency Department 4 is
slated to go to 24/7 service in
October.
While his opponent criti-
cizes the County9s hesitancy
to fund mental-health ser-
vices (see story, page 7),
Henderson is pleased with the
two-year grant funding they
secured for the Center.
<We were able to reduce
the budget significantly from
what they wanted to spend
initially, and we have the ser-
vices we need,= he said.
He said that it is impor-
tant to raise awareness of the
Stabilization Center so that it
is used appropriately.
<If it9s working, I9m not
against 24/7,= he said. <I9m
just cautious about making
sure we do it right and don9t
have people idle and that sort
of thing.=
WILDFIRE
The threat of wildfire
is ever-present in Sisters
Country 4 and feels even
more acute in the wake
of the catastrophic blazes
that destroyed communi-
ties on the west side of
the Cascades earlier this
month. Henderson holds
the County Commission9s
seat on the Deschutes Forest
Collaborative, pressing for
forest treatments to protect
communities in the wildland-
urban interface.
<I9d really like us to keep
doing what we9re doing 4
but do more of it,= he said.
<I9d be for as much as we can
get done.=
Henderson said that the
Oregon and other Western
congressional delegations
have not always presented a
united front in advocating for
more intensive management
of forests. And congressmen
and Senators from Eastern
states don9t understand the
perils and imperatives of
public land management in
the West. Earlier this month,
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden
said that the suffocating cloud
of smoke that inundated
Sisters and most of the rest
of the region is <debt coming
due= for decades of <lousy=
forest management.
<That is a huge break-
through,= Henderson said.
<We need to march
together,= he said. <County
commissioners can advocate
for that.=
Henderson has told The
Nugget that emphasis in
recent years has been on
changing smoke rules to
allow for more prescribed
burning in the springtime.
Areas that have been thinned
and burned have provided
fire breaks that materially
assisted firefighters in pro-
tecting Sisters from the 2012
Pole Creek Fire and the 2017
Milli Fire.
More prescribed burning
can be a tough sell to local
residents. Henderson isn9t
sure that will change, even
in the face of this year9s cata-
strophic blazes.
<I think it should, logi-
cally,= he said.
But Henderson noted that
locals pushed back on more
burning after the Milli Fire,
which inundated Sisters with
smoke for weeks and forced
the cancellation of the Sisters
Folk Festival.
<They were so sick of
smoke they were more sen-
sitive to it,= he said. <Lots
of smoke this year does not
make people want more
smoke next year.=
Henderson pointed to the
hiring of a second county
forester to work on creat-
ing fire-safe communities
and a doubling of FireFree
debris disposal days as con-
crete steps toward protecting
communities.
COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic
has disrupted government
functions, just as it has the
business and cultural life of
Central Oregon.
The county budget did
not takes as big a hit as was
anticipated when the crisis
began in March, as gas taxes
and transient room taxes held
up. Property taxes continue to
hold up as the area continues
to grow, though there may
be some impact if people
impacted by COVID-19 are
slow to pay their taxes.
Henderson says that he
is proud of the County9s
response to the pandemic.
<I think we9ve done a
tremendous job,= he said.
<We9re the seventh-largest
county in the state and we9re
18th in cases by population.
I think the people who live
here did a tremendous job&
For a very heavy commercial,
heavily-traveled area, we9ve
done very well.
He also cited the work
of County staff, whom he
regards as some of the best
contact tracers in the state.
The commissioner argues
that the county could have
done more to assist people
put under stress by the pan-
demic, but counties, he said,
<didn9t get our fair share of
the CARES ACT (funding).=
He argues that the State of
Oregon held onto a dispro-
portionate share of that fund-
ing for its own priorities.
<We9re on the ground; we
know what would help,= he
said.
He said that the county
attempted to assist with
childcare provision, business
assistance, and fee rebates for
restaurants.
<We did things that tried
to target certain entities and
needs,= he said. <We could
have done more if we had our
full allocation.=
Henderson said that
as the pandemic and its
impacts linger, the County
may be able to help events
and activities move forward
by providing space, includ-
ing the Deschutes County
Fairgrounds.
<We9ve got a lot of square
PHOTO PROVIDED
footage to spread people out
in,= he said. <We9re very sup-
portive of that 4 all the com-
missioners are.=
<I9m & concerned about
the long term,= he said. <That
this will just keep going like
it is.=
Henderson believes his
work has earned him a second
term and that his background
as a builder and an attorney is
an asset.
<I9ve contributed on so
many issues,= he said. <My
experience does help& I9m
not a perfect public servant
4 but I think I9m a good
one.=
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