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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2002)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, March 20, 2002 The INDEPENDENT Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Ver nonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Pub lishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429- 9410, e-mail: noni@ vernonia.com V/ ia /T ê ^ Easy to talk about saving $$; hard to do Commissioner Joe Corsiglia is frustrated with The INDEPENDENT because we paraphrased his ideas about saving money instead of printing them verbatim. He’s not alone. For someone who wants to save money, however, his response was puzzling. The letter that you see in the adjacent column (actually, we shortened that a lit tle bit, too) was written on a Monday, then typed, copied and collated with county labor and materials (about 80 copies x 3 pages, which included his original letter). The commissioner then drove to Vernonia, where he spent a day knocking on doors and going in stores to hand out this three-page packet. That didn’t save tax Corsiglia says views money and didn’t promote taxpayers’ interests. We have asked Commissioner Corsiglia how much misrepresented is being spent on administration for the regional pro grams and how much it has cost Columbia County. He To the Editor: I find it interesting that you says he can’t get the figures, then, when reminded that would not print my letter as they are public information, says he doesn’t have time. submitted to the Governor’s Time could be a factor but, when he is tarring a hearing, then you restate and statewide program for wasting money, he should pro reshape it in your own words. vide something more substantial than feathers; verifi The press is very good at twist ing things. I ask that you print able numbers would be a good place to start. my letter in full text along with Commissioner Corsiglia should use his undeniable this letter to the editor. energy and expressed desire to save money by apply You may not agree with me ing some oversight to problems within county govern on this issue but many do and ment. For instance, the commissioners know that very deserve better reporting. First, the Commissioners write letters little is being done on county roads and that county on county letterhead on a con parks are closed a lot of the time. These are areas that stant basis. Tony Hyde testifies need both attention and creative administration. in Salem, in front of committee At one time, Commissioners had individual responsi quite often as well, yet you see bility for specific county departments. Several years no need to seek further infor mation on those testimonies or ago, they turned that responsibility over to department other letters from this office. heads...a method that could work with adequate over We tend to allow each other lat sight. Over the years, however, the commissioners itude unless we state that we have been less and less involved in administration, and are speaking on behalf of the County Board. We also talk to it shows. citizen groups in the same Perhaps it is time for the Board of Commissioners to manner. return to the old method of running county government. I agree with you that all the Under that method, when something goes wrong in a projects you listed have been department, the commissioner in charge takes heat. helped by regional funding and Now that’s a real incentive to operate in a responsible I have no intent to see that lev el of funding discontinue. What fashion. I am sDeakina to involves the total accumulation of overhead that is involved in the Regional Strategies program. This in volves a statewide machine of bureaucrats, administrators, of fices, meetings, mileage, lunches and lost time for ail those who must travel, all charged off to the taxpayer and lottery funds before any money ever hits Columbia County. The decisions on who are awarded grants and funding is done with very little citizen input. If all that money were prorat ed to the counties involved, and I don’t mean metropolitan counties, there might well be twice as much money available to rural investment. That is the type of fat that Oregon needs to cut from its budget as I sug gest. The public is tired of seeing tax money tunneled through bureaucracy before half of it comes back. I totally support money com ing to C olum bia County without all the bureau cracy. The $470,000 you reflect in your article is representative of many years of allotment yet you don’t say it that way or show the cumulative cost in tax and lottery dollars it takes to deliver it. There is no reason why counties would not be able to deliver the same monies without the state taking their big cut to operate these pro grams. This is not the only pro gram that continues to create bureaucracy in the State of Oregon. Perhaps the message in my letter of testim ony could be clearer. I w ill continue to oppose government bureaucracy and inefficiency. I will also continue to promote direct allocation to counties to avoid that bureau cracy. The State is broke and it does need fixing. Sincerely, Joe Corsiglia Columbia County Commissioner Ed. note: This is how Commis sioner Corsiglia’s view was pre sented in the Feb. 20, 2002, INDE PENDENT. “Corsiglia based his suggestion on what he feels is un necessary overhead...” (page 1). “...a recommendation by Columbia County Commissioner Joe Cor siglia that the Regional Strate- gies/Rural Investment program be eliminated and the money sent di rectly to each county. Corsiglia thinks this would save money by eliminating administrative costs.” (Opinion, page 2).
