Rust hopes for a quieter year in 78
Meetings should run smoothly
By JANE LEHMAN
Of the Emerald
Lane County commissioner’s
meetings should run more
smoothly this year compared to
1977, believes Jerry Rust, the
newly elected chairman of the
commissioner’s board.
Rust criticized fellow commis
sioner Archie Weinstein last week
during an Emerald interview for
contributing to “a considerable
waste of time” while chairing the
commissioner meetings last year.
Rust says that he will carry
through with Weinstein’s original
promise of a “no frills” style of
leadership this year.
In the past year, the county
commissioner meetings have fre
quently turned into verbal sparring
matches between Weinstein and
either Rust or commissioner Bob
past, is a collective responsibility.
The board has the power and au
thority to set rules and proce
dures."
Even though Rust admits to the
problem, he feels it has been
blown out of proportion by the
news media.
“In some instances there has
been an unfair portrayal of the
board by various elements of the
media. Ninety-five percent of the
time it has been business as
usual. But the remaining five per
cent gets the play,” he em
phasizes.
But, as he admits, “Archie is
very quotable, but we don’t need a
stand-up comedian as board
chairman. Board business can be
amusing once in a while but we’re
affecting people’s lives, pocket
books and environment.
Rust says the meetings he has
“I don’t expect to be in a position
of rapping the gavel and stymy
ing the exchange of ideas. A
commissioner is elected to speak
his mind. I hope to guide discus
sion toward the issue.”
At the same time, Rust does not
want to see too much structure
enter into debates.
“I’d like to see discussion as
free from formal encumberments
as possible," he says.
The 2-1 vote against Weinstein
is another phenomenan that has
characterized board decisions.
Occasionally Rust and Wood
have decided the issues, with
Weinstein abstaining.
A check of the records of
“short" minutes kept on the meet
ings indicates that durjng the
months of October through De
cember Weinstein cast the lone
dissenting vote 16 times, while
abstaining 11 times. The rest of
the board votes, with the excep
tion of two negative Wood ballots,
were unanimous.
Rust says that he and Wood do
not intentionally align themselves
in a coalition block. _
“I don’t look at Archie or Bob
when-1 vote. It is my vote based
just on the merits of the issue. I try
to work for concensus, especially
with a three member body since it
adds creditability to our deci
sions.”
Despite Weinstein’s apparent
‘Archie is quotable, but we don’t need
a stand-up comedian as board chairman’
Wood. However, Weinstein alone
cannot be blamed for the be
havior, said Rust.
“This is by no means derogat
ory toward Archie Weinstein as
chairman,” Rust says. “This,
which has been a problem in the
conducted so far have been with
out incident. But, he adds, nothing
controversial has come up on the
agenda so far. If such an issue
does arise, Rust says he has defi
nite ideas on how to handle the
matter.
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philosophical break with the other
two commissioners, Rust finds
that “Archie has been a tremend
ous political ally,” on some issues,
namely the county reorganization
plan and a move to change the
county’s central purchasing prac
tices.
In looking at the vote split, Rust
observes that the devisiveness
has been over land-use planning
issues. Rust explains the differ
ences in terms of interpretation of
the board’s duties.
“The board serves as a court in
the case of land-use appeals on
county planning commission de
cisions. When a citizen appeals to
us, Archie’s never voted to turn
him down. He feels property rights
are more important than the law. I
take my quasi-judicial role very
seriously. Archie doesn’t under
stand his quasi-judicial function.”
Rust hastens to add, though,
that Weinstein has a legitimate
point in challenging county ordi
nances or the state legislation
concerning the land planning. But,
he says, the way to effect the
change is by changing the original
law.
Rust has come in for some criti
cism during his first year in office
for allegedly failing to follow
through on innovative ideas he
proposed during his campaign.
Rust strongly disagrees with that
assessment of his work and points
to a host of accomplishments to
back his stand.
Rust is especially proud of
creating an Office of Appropriate
Technology for the county. He
also cites innovations in slash
waste management, embracing
the concept of honor farming, and
various economic development
moves ranging from encouraging
fish farming to examining com
munity development corpora
tions.
According to Rust, the board
has also instigated a practice of
methane gas generation in old
garbage dumps, found new uses
for scrap iron and pushed the use
of hard woods, which normally go
to waste.
"I’ve put some item on nearly
every week’s agenda and always
brought up items for new busi
ness,” he said in defense of his
reputation for innovation.
Rust is happy to see the expan
sion of the board of commission
ers to five positions beginning
January 1979. The process to de
cide on the new commissioners
starts with the May primary. The
position that is currently Wood's
seat will be phased out when his
term expires.
Rust was initially against the
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