Page 6
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Committee considers compensation for county elected officials
Are Josephine County’s
elected officials fairly com-
pensated, or are they overpaid?
That is one of many is-
sues being pondered by the
Elected Official Compensation
Committee. The four-member
body, charged with making
recommendations to the
county Budget Committee by
April 29, had its first meeting
Wednesday afternoon, March
31 at the county courthouse in
Grants Pass.
Committee members are
Sarah Moye, county Human
Resources director; Karen
Lange, city of Grants Pass
Human Resources director;
Jeff Wolf, a retired certified
public accountant; and chair-
man Dick Cottrill, a retired
human resources specialist.
Most of the county’s
elected officials were present
during the March 31 meeting,
including Treasurer John Har-
elson, Commissioner Sandi
Cassanelli, Clerk & Recorder
Art Harvey, Legal Counsel
Steve Rich, Assessor Connie
Roach, Surveyor Peter Allen
and District Attorney Stephen
Campbell.
In order to determine the
appropriateness of elected
officials’ compensation pack-
ages, the committee is relying
on data provided by the Asso-
ciation of Oregon Counties
(AOC). As such, Josephine
County officials’ salaries and
benefits are being compared to
those of their counterparts in
Benton, Coos, Douglas,
Klamath, Linn, Polk, Umatilla
and Yamhill counties.
Committee members dis-
cussed the difficulty in com-
paring the compensation levels
to persons performing similar
functions in the private sector.
Lange said that the city of
Grants Pass prepared a com-
pensation report two years
ago, but added that it was
“almost impossible” to obtain
salary and benefit information
from private sector employers.
Moye said that she sent
surveys to a few large, local
private sector firms last Octo-
ber seeking similar informa-
tion. She said that none of
those companies replied.
“You have a real difficult
time getting them to respond,”
Moye said.
Harvey asked that the
county’s elected officials be
eligible to receive a Cost-of
Living-Adjustment, just like
rank-and-file employees.
“If you’re not, you’re
falling behind,” Harvey said.
But Cassanelli suggested
that the county cut the salaries
of elected officials whose
compensation is above the
average of their counterparts in
the eight counties being com-
pared to Josephine.
Campbell pointed out that
comparing officials’ salaries
with private sector counter-
parts cuts both ways. He said
that he and Rich, as experi-
enced attorneys, would make
far more money in the private
sector.
The Oregon State Bar
conducts surveys among its
members, Campbell said,
which show that he and Rich
make about as much as attor-
neys first entering the profes-
sion.
Cassanelli countered that
Rich has the ability to make
money outside of his official
county duties. Rich has served
as legal counsel for the cities
of Rogue River and Gold Hill.
Another objection stated
by Cassanelli is the county
comparing itself to others with
higher tax rates that are in a
“better financial position.”
Harelson said that asking
elected officials to take a pay
Signs of the times: Candidates mark territory, make strides
(Continued from page 1)
chased 1,000 yard signs and
40 to 50 larger signs.
Tony Paulson is no
stranger to politics, having
served as Cave Junction’s
mayor and on the city council.
But he committed to buying
200 yard signs, and has placed
them throughout Grants Pass
and Illinois Valley.
Toler noted that during
this race, there have been “a
ton of illegal signs out there.”
“Pretty much every sign
you see by the highway, those
are all illegal signs,” he said.
Cave Junction City Re-
corder Jim Polk said that the
notice he sent to candidates
last month was prompted by
complaints about signs being
in the public right-of-way.
“It was identified that
there are candidate signs be-
ing placed in and around the
city in violation of the city of
Cave Junction’s municipal
code,” Polk wrote. “The city
encourages all citizens to be
active in the election process,
but wants to ensure a ‘level
playing field’ is available to
any candidate.”
The city’s municipal
code states that “not more
than one sign for each candi-
date or ballot measure shall
be placed on a single parcel
of land.” Signs must be
placed less than 15 feet from
the front curb or edge of the
pavement, and Polk warned
candidates in the letter that
any signs in the public right-
of-way will be removed.
Of course, signs can be
removed in other ways.
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Brown reported that as of the
end of March, he has lost
between 50 and 60. He said
that around 20 were lost in a
single night.
“I don’t know if the other
guys experienced the same
level that I did, because I had
more signs up than they did,”
Brown said.
He estimates that he lost
some 35 percent of his signs
during the 2008 campaign.
“I’m not complaining.
It’s part of the overhead of a
campaign,” Brown said.
“You can’t put a policeman
beside each sign. But it re-
flects a level of desperation
by somebody. It could be
other candidates and their
supporters. Some could be the
result of vandalism, where
people are pulling them up
and throwing them.”
Toler said that he lost
“around 10 to 20 percent” of
his signs in 2006. He said
some of that may have been
politically motivated.
“That’s all part of it, un-
fortunately,” Toler said. “But
some of it is people knocking
them down just to knock
them down and ripping them
up just to rip them up.”
Hare said that he hasn’t
lost many signs, but added
that it may be because he asks
property owners for permis-
sion before putting them up.
Toler said that he also asks
for permission, and is careful
to avoid placing signs in the
public right-of-way.
As the sun returns with
the spring season, the candi-
dates plan to ramp up efforts
to visit voters at their homes.
Toler already has been
canvassing neighborhoods in
Illinois Valley and Grants
Pass. He said that he will be
doing much more.
“You want to get out
there and do what you can to
try and knock on some doors
all throughout the county,”
Toler said. “There are a lot of
voters out there.”
Hare said he has thus far
canvassed in Grants Pass,
Williams and Cave Junction.
He also has held meet and
greet events at grange halls
and other facilities throughout
the county, and had smaller
event at supporters’ homes.
ing this public employee, this
was improper campaigning
— decided instead to encour-
age his political activity.”
The e-mail exchange
between Allaire and Cas-
sanelli, Gilbertson wrote,
might have been in violation
of Oregon Revised Statute
260.432. It states that a public
employee “may not promote
or oppose a candidate while
on the job during work hours;
prohibits any person to re-
quire a public employee to
promote or oppose a candi-
date while on the job during
work hours.”
But in a letter dated
March 25 and addressed to
Gilbertson, Carla Corbin, a
compliance specialist with the
Secretary of State’s office,
wrote that the complaint was
plans to be in front of all of
the post offices in the county
and at the Growers Market in
Grants Pass.
Toler said that when so-
liciting votes from the public,
a candidate must engage in a
sort of “balancing act.”
For example, Toler said,
if several candidates crowd in
front of a post office at the
same time to try and reach
out to residents, that can be
“highly irritating to people.”
“It starts having a
counter-effective effect on
voters,” he said. “You have to
try to respect their space.”
County ‘acted illegally’
(Continued from page 1)
court, so it’s highly unlikely
that they’ll look at it,” Burdis
said. “Hopefully, the county
doesn’t go in that direction.”
Ellis said that the county
is forming a team of represen-
tatives to “open up a dialogue
with AFSCME to see where
they’re coming from.”
“They called us first and
said they’d be willing to start
talking with us about some of
the issues in the court case,”
Ellis said. “I think that’s a
good first move.”
The county might have
to pay for the employees’
contributions to the Public
Employees Retirement Sys-
tem and union dues to AF-
SCME, among other ex-
penses.
Ellis said that the county
has “put some money aside”
in anticipation of the ruling.
He explained:
“While this was in litiga-
Sheriff’s complaint ...
(Continued from page 1)
Brown said that he has
canvassed in past elections,
and “plans to do quite a bit
more of it” once the weather
clears up.
“I will be doing a little of
it everywhere, but mostly in
Grants Pass,” Brown said.
“There are a lot of houses
close together. You have to
go where you can get to the
most people.”
When canvassing Grants
Pass, Brown is literally fol-
lowing the footsteps of his
father, who spent years on a
mail route as a postal carrier.
Brown said that he also
dismissed.
Corbin wrote that the e-
mails submitted by Gilbertson
as evidence against Allaire
and Cassanelli were dated
Feb. 3, Feb. 18 and Feb. 19.
Allaire did not file his candi-
dacy until March 3.
“Mr. Allaire was not a
candidate at the time the
emails were exchanged.
Therefore, insufficient in-
formation was provided to
begin an investigation into a
violation of ORS 260.432,”
Corbin wrote. “Without suf-
ficient information this
complaint is closed and the
Elections Division does not
intend to pursue this matter
further.”
Copies of Corbin’s letter
also were sent to Allaire and
Cassanelli.
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tion, we tried to comply with
those issues that we could
comply with. Now we just
have to go back and see what
we can do to satisfy the rest
of the complaints.
“But we don’t know ex-
actly what the cost is going to
be until we get into those ne-
gotiations.”
Burdis stated that he
hopes to see a positive resolu-
tion soon.
“The longer we wait to fix
it, the more it will cost the
citizens,” Burdis said. “I live in
Josephine County, and I don’t
want to see this drag out any
longer than it already has.”
Ellis had similar thoughts
on the matter.
“The county is looking
forward to getting this thing
over with and getting on to
bigger things, like our
budget,” Ellis said. “Right
now, we’re going to talk with
AFSCME to see if we can’t
settle this thing.”
cut would be a “big slap in the
face.”
“Don’t cut us back
again,” he said. “We’ve all
made sacrifices for the citizens
of Josephine County.”
Commissioner candidate
Dale Matthews also was pre-
sent. He asked what criteria
were used to select the eight
particular counties to which
Josephine is being compared.
Lange replied that it is
done by population. She said
that Lake Oswego is among
the cities that Grants Pass uses
in its own comparison criteria.
“That’s a pretty rich com-
munity,” Lange said.
Matthews suggested that
economic status or percentage
of the population below the
poverty line could be used for
comparative purposes.
“We aren’t precluded
from using other compara-
tors,” Moye said.
Wolf added that compari-
son to other counties “has to
be part of the mix.”
Harelson said that five
Southern Oregon counties and
one in the Willamette Valley
used to form the basis of com-
parison, but that the board of
county commissioners decided
to utilize data from AOC.
Cassanelli said that since
the county has a similar tax
rate to neighboring Curry
County, examining its figures
could be “beneficial to us.”
Cottrill said that all the
counties being compared have
a similar number of employ-
ees. Cassanelli said that those
counties probably have more
revenue than Josephine.
The Elected Official
Compensation Committee is
scheduled to hold its next
meeting Thursday, April 8 at 3
p.m. in Room 157 of the court-
house in Grants Pass.
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