Eugene weekly., July 14, 2011, Page 13, Image 13

for the purpose of diluting the voting strength of any
language or ethnic minority group.”
Districts these days are redrawn not by hand but with
software. The question arises of not only which software
will be used, but also whether that software, and the process
by which it is chosen, can refl ect bias.
Lane County has had issues in the past with
“gerrymandering,” a process named after Gov. Elbridge
Gerry of Massachusetts who, in 1812, reluctantly signed
into law a bill Republicans forced through the state’s
legislature that rearranged district lines to assure them an
advantage in the upcoming senatorial election. According to
Budget Committee and Redistricting Task Force committee
member Scott Bartlett, the commissioners’ districts in the
past have been drawn in to refl ect bias. He points to a map
to population numbers.” He said it saves money, staff time
and “allows for us to run hundreds of scenarios.”
Adding further tempest to the political redistricting
teapot was the revelation that Administrator Richardson had
authorized $5,000 and already purchased the Moonshadow
software. Richardson said, “The county has purchased the
software, which would allow us to use it for redistricting if
the board chooses to go in that direction.”
She said the current plan for the use of the software,
among other things, is to allow the community to come
in and use it to draw districts during one or more open
houses; allow the redistricting committee to use it, even if
LCOG is selected as the offi cial provider; and to allow the
Offi ce of County Counsel to very quickly determine if the
“fi nal” districts inadvertently create areas that appear to be
Last year, the board passed good public
policy to place solar panels on every rooftop
possible in Lane County to help promote
renewable energy and to save people and
businesses money. … (But), behind the
scenes, this policy has been sabotaged. …
Instead of making this shift up-front and at
a board meeting, they have worked with the
County Administrator Liane Richardson to
undermine this policy and destroy the work
— Rob Handy
from the 1991 redistricting that shows the North Eugene
commissioner district drawn in such a way it extended all
the way to south 18th Avenue.
Bartlett said in 2001 the district was redrawn to 11th
Avenue, which followed the North Eugene High School/
South Eugene High boundary. High schools, Bartlett said,
are a community of interest.
Some political-process watchers have speculated that
a more right-leaning County Commission might vote to
pull the west Eugene and Whiteaker precincts from the
North District and add them to South Eugene, making the
North a Republican electoral stronghold by yanking out
progressives and racially diverse neighborhoods and census
blocks.
The R-G reports that conservative Eugene City Councilor
Mike Clark is thinking about running against Handy for his
North Eugene seat. Clark’s recent effort to say the Pledge
of Allegiance at City Council meetings has been called an
attempt to build conservative media attention. Clark did not
respond to an EW request for an interview.
Lane County has historically used the nonpartisan
Lane Council of Governments (LCOG), and it uses Esri’s
ArcGIS (geographic information system) to redistrict.
Controversy began when Bozievich suggested the county
use Moonshadow Mobile, a Eugene-based internet software
company to redistrict.
Clark is vice president of Moonshadow.
“It bothers me that redistricting process is somehow
being linked to the political work being done by candidate
Mike Clark,” said Sorenson. He added that it’s important
the redistricting process not be tainted by partisan and
political tones.
Bozievich has high praise for Moonshadow; he calls it
“the bee’s knees.” He said he has a long history of working
with GIS software, and that Moonshadow would replace
a process that has become cumbersome. Bozievich said,
“Moonshadow allows a layman to draw new polygons
for districts and get immediate feedback on what it does
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disproportionate. “What took months to accomplish could
have been done in a day if we had this software,” she said.
Sorenson said he’s “troubled by the involvement of a
political candidate,” noting that Clark used Moonshadow
in his Eugene City Council campaign, and he’s concerned
about the process by which Moonshadow entered into the
county’s system.
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Process and politics might be what seems to be holding
up Lane County’s chance at $10 million in grants. The
county is currently “investigating” grants in its Community
and Economic Development Department (CEDD). The
issue appears not to be whether the programs are good and
will benefi t the county, but wording in board orders and, of
course, process.
On May 19, 2010, the board resolved and ordered that
it would give an $80,000 contract to Renewable Funding, a
group that provides administration, fi nancing and technology
services for clean energy programs to hundreds of cities and
counties across the nation.
In the same order, commissioners voted to give a
$50,000 contract to social justice advocate and renewable
and alternative energy consultant Joe Berney to develop job-
creating grants for energy effi ciency and renewable energy.
The order was part of an effort by the previous board, with
the aid of a U.S. Department of Energy grant, to create a
strategy to implement energy effi ciency, conservation
and renewable energy technologies on public buildings,
nonprofi ts and residential buildings. Part of that work was
associated with PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy)
fi nancing.
According to county documents, while PACE was
suspended on the federal level, the CEDD, in consultation
with then-county administrator Jeff Spartz, decided to keep
working on the energy effi ciency program. The board order’s
directive was focused on renewable energy and energy
effi ciency, which PACE called a “recommended strategy.”
Michael McKenzie-Bahr, who in April resigned in an
agreement with the county, said, “In the case of contracts
in community and economic development, scope of work
changes were approved in consultation with the county
administrator.”
McKenzie-Bahr added, “I am proud of the work I did
assisting local businesses and communities. The county
made a large investment in expanding the local green
economy.” Among the projects McKenzie-Bahr was
working on were efforts to bring a bioenergy park to the
county and making grants to popular local sustainable
businesses such as $100,000 to Arcimoto electric cars and
$100,000 to Ninkasi brewery.
Berney said his work for the county created the
opportunity to get up to $10 million in non-county resources.
This private capital and grant funds would fi nance the fi rst
year of a residential energy effi ciency and solar program to
create local jobs and reduce carbon emissions. The multi-
year program could expand each year.
According to county emails, Berney sent a copy of his
report to the commissioners and interim CEDD Director
Glenda Poling on June 1. As of press time, he had not
received a response.
A recent Register-Guard article looked at the issue,
calling it an “investigation” into Lane County’s CEDD and
into contracts such as those signed with Berney. Richardson
is quoted in the story as saying that “an investigation into
McKenzie-Bahr’s actions ‘began to reveal potential issues
implicating Commissioners Handy and (Pete) Sorenson.’”
McKenzie-Bahr said, “I do not know why she singled out
Commissioner Handy or Sorenson; I interacted with them
the same way I interacted with the other commissioners.”
EW obtained a copy of the release agreement
that McKenzie-Bahr signed with Lane County. “The
investigation into what the county initially labeled
‘misconduct’ has been terminated in regard to the
employee,” the document states.
When asked if an investigation into McKenzie-
Bahr is continuing, despite the contract stating that the
investigation was terminated, Richardson said via email
that the R-G reporter “uses the word ‘investigation.’ We are
doing an audit of the entire program. I have told him that
the investigation and the audit are the same thing and that
audit is a better characterization, but investigation keeps
showing up in the articles.”
According to the R-G article, Richardson had said,
“projects where the (county board) was not asked to give
direction, but instead individual commissioners were
pulled in and provided private briefi ngs while others had
no idea about the project.”
McKenzie-Bahr continued, “I made the commissioners
aware, before their vote to award the contracts, that the
contracts for Renewable Funding and Joe Berney did not
go before the economic development standing committee.
This fact can be verifi ed by watching the online video of
the board meeting.”
When asked if the board intended to continue work on
bringing energy effi ciency and renewable energy back to
Lane County, Bozievich said, “Frankly I can’t comment a
whole lot on that subject because it its under investigation.”
But when it comes to focusing on green, sustainable local
projects, he said, “As always the economy is about local
jobs; we wouldn’t be doing if it wasn’t about the local
economy. It kind of goes without saying.”
Bozievich said while he fi nds the word green
“overused,” he thinks the board will continue “to have an
eye for sustainable development.”
Handy said, “Last year, the board passed good public
policy to place solar panels on every rooftop possible in
Lane County to help promote renewable energy and to save
people and businesses money.” But, he continued, “behind
the scenes, this policy has been sabotaged.” Handy said,
“Instead of making this shift up-front and at a board
meeting, they have worked with the County Administrator
Liane Richardson to undermine this policy and destroy the
work.”
Commissioner Handy said, “I want there to be
transparency about this matter so that the public has all the
possible information and can see these political shenanigans
for what they are.”
ew
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 14, 2011
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