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Wednesday's Curry County Board of Commissioners meeting

Previously:

• Curry County Sets Rules For Homeless Camping Just Before State Law Takes Effect

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Curry County’s Code Enforcement Department has been “essentially shut down” after officials realized its staff lacked the proper training and authority to do their jobs.

It’s a situation Director of Operations and County Counsel Ted Fitzgerald hopes to rectify by Aug. 1, though he can’t guarantee that he’ll have the right person hired and trained by then. Code enforcement staff are currently just taking animal control calls from the public, Fitzgerald told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Thursday, though that may soon change too.

“I really think that’s a specific discipline all by itself,” he said of animal control. “And I think it should be handled by people that are committed to doing that and aren’t having to be interrupted and having to completely change their mindset eight times a day.”

On Wednesday, the Curry County Board of Commissioners authorized Fitzgerald to draft a request for proposals to outsource animal control to a third party. It’s one of the fundamental services Code Enforcement provides, he said, but it may be more cost effective if a private entity or nonprofit handled those tasks.

Both Fitzgerald and Commissioner Brad Alcorn said they envisioned a restructured Code Enforcement Department that would take on tasks related to new camping restrictions Alcorn and his colleagues approved last week.

Another code enforcement officers would be assigned to addressing building and planning code violations, Alcorn said.

“The thought is to separate those out, put them under the proper umbrellas, give them the proper training and authorization and make code enforcement as effective as possible,” Alcorn said. “If taking animal control off their plate because we have limited resources would be cost effective, then that might be a good option. This is to focus on that one piece, look at what the needs of the community are and then develop that around those needs.”

Under the Curry County Code, an enforcement officer is “the county sheriff, a deputy sheriff or a person designated by Board order to be an enforcement officer and issue citations for violations under the Code Enforcement division.”

Only an enforcement officer can issue citations, according to the Curry County municipal code.

Historically, the Curry County Code Enforcement Department had been staffed by someone who was professional, a problem solver and who was properly trained, Fitzgerald said.

Now Code Enforcement’s sole occupation is responding to animal control calls, Fitzgerald said. He estimates they receive about 25 calls per month.

Fitzgerald had no response when asked if the lack of training and current staff’s status of not being sworn officers was an oversight. However, he said, county officials want to get the department’s reorganization right.

“With any kind of interaction with law enforcement I have, I like to make sure it’s with the best and most well-trained law enforcement person I can get,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got a duty to provide these services, but I’m not going to provide them unless I can provide them professionally. I’m not going to be sending people out with a carte blanche to do what they interpret the job to be.”

Fitzgerald said if a potential code enforcement officer has the right attitude but doesn’t have the experience, officials could send them to neighboring counties to shadow their code enforcement officers and “see how other successful organizations do it.”

Alcorn said he didn’t want to settle for just anyone.

“I think, specifically (related to) the code enforcement position that relates to our new ordinance we passed — the individual who’s going to be enforcing those ordinances — we need to be careful who we hire,” he said. “If we can get the right guy in there, we can really make a difference.”

Wednesday’s discussion comes after the Board of Commissioners on June 28 prohibited camping on public property between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The hours were part of new regulations to ensure the county’s compliance with Oregon House Bill 3115, which set restrictions on how municipalities can enforce anti-camping laws.

Approved in 2021, HB 3115 was Oregon’s response to Martin V. Boise, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 2019 ruling governing sleeping on public property. It required counties to enact policies recognizing the “social nature of the problem of homeless individuals camping on public property” and regulations that are “objectively reasonable.”

On Wednesday, Curry County resident Mary Rowe chastised commissioners for their stance on camping. She said she became displaced about two months ago when her landlord decided that all his tenants needed to vacate their property. She said she’s been threatened, verbally and physically abused, have had to go to the hospital and have had her things stolen or thrown away.

Rowe said she’s also been denied public services and has often been at the mercy of the elements. She said she’s met other elders who are sick and are struggling with homelessness.

“In response to HB 3115 and State Statute 195.500, which call for reasonable times for tents to be put up and taken down in the most humane treatment — that’s a quote from the State Statute — the four of you chose the cruelest possible times, which will not even permit eight hours of sleep,” she said. “And you made several untrue, prejudiced, discriminatory, classist and hateful statements about people experiencing homelessness. Like the Nazis, who blamed their economic problems on the Jewish people, you blamed our housing crisis on our citizens who have been displaced due to this declared emergency.”

Toward the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Board Chairman John Herzog acknowledged Rowe’s comments, but, he said, he thinks other homeless people are responsible for the theft she spoke of.

“Is there honor amongst thieves? I don’t think so,” Herzog said. “Not that they’re all thieves, I’m not saying that. I’m not good at speaking to this because anything I say will be misinterpreted, but when the State of Oregon allows laws to be put in place that are not legal federal laws, this is the problem we run into.”

Herzog also brought Oregon’s legalization of marijuana into the conversation and potential inability for those who partake to find a job because they can’t pass a drug test.

“The mixed message we’re sending our young workforce — all of the workforce — is absolutely bizarre to me,” he said.

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