ODOT Director Kristopher Stickler addresses concerns over Eastern Oregon service cutbacks
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, November 28th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
EASTERN OREGON – Recently, Elkhorn Media Group published a copy of a letter penned by House District 58 Representative Bobby Levy, in cooperation with other Oregon senators, representatives, and Eastern Oregon county commissioners, expressing concerns over ODOT’s planned winter service cutbacks as they relate to region 5 (Eastern Oregon). This letter was addressed to ODOT’s director, Kristopher Stickler. After reaching out to ODOT Region 5 staff, a copy of Stickler’s response to this initial letter was provided. Stickler’s response, in full, is as follows:
“Dear Representative Levy, and members of the Oregon Legislature and County Commissions,
Thank you for your October 23rd letter and for taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns regarding ODOT’s winter maintenance reductions. I appreciate your thoughtful leadership and our mutual goals of building and maintaining a safe, accessible, and reliable transportation for Oregonians across the state.
I and every employee at the Oregon Department of Transportation take seriously our role as stewards and caretakers of Oregon’s roadways; like you, I am deeply concerned about the impacts our structural funding challenges will have on our ability to continue delivering a high level of service to communities across the state. ODOT employees are integral parts of their communities and, like each of us, have a deep sense of duty and responsibility to those they serve. Service reductions – whether in rural or urban Oregon – are the last thing we want to implement.
Unfortunately, the funding available to ODOT to perform maintenance work (graffiti removal, litter cleanup, patching potholes, painting fog lines, etc.) can no longer keep up with the cost of providing these services. While historical revenues from gas tax flatten and the cost of materials and staff increase, the overall amount of funds available for this work is not sufficient to maintain current levels of service. As we identified this trend years ago, we’ve worked over the past several years to reduce our costs and stretch our limited dollars as far as possible in order to avoid customer service impacts as long as we could. Unfortunately, we are now at a moment where we cannot reduce costs any further or stretch dollars farther; instead, in order to meet our available resources, we have made difficult decisions that will result in reduced maintenance service across the state.
Historically when available funding fluctuates, each ODOT Region receives an equal share (or cut). Notably, based on our overall guiding principles in this decision-making, we decided against an equal cut across all ODOT regions. Instead, Region 5 (Eastern Oregon) had a smaller budget reduction target due in large part to the importance of winter operations. While these budget reductions impacted all ODOT Regions, a specific effort was made to minimize the budget impacts in eastern Oregon in order to preserve greater service.
While developing the operations and maintenance cost savings options in eastern Oregon, ODOT staff presented the budget issue, required savings needed, and options being considered at both the Northeast Area and Southeast Area Commissions on Transportation. We heard clearly from regional and local officials that winter maintenance and preservation of rest area operations on US 20 in Deschutes, Lake, and Harney Counties should be prioritized and protected to the maximum extent possible.
As you know, ODOT’s budget is complex and finding the right balance of budget adjustments is difficult. Tradeoffs between personnel, equipment, materials, and activities were considered to create $6 million in savings in eastern Oregon. Priorities around minimum crew sizes in rural areas, meeting standards for safety, and winter level of service were used in determining where those savings could or could not occur. In light of the past few weeks, it is clear more conversation is needed to ensure shared understanding of how we got here, what is within our discretion to adjust, why we’ve had to make these difficult choices, and exactly how we’ve done that. Of course, conversations must also occur about long-term solutions to address this structural problem.
ODOT is working closely with Governor Kotek’s office to identify potential supplemental, one-time infusion of funds for urgent legislative consideration aimed at restoring services to the extent possible. While a one-time infusion is only a short-term solution and could only restore limited service, it could help minimize the immediate impacts of these budget reductions. Any service restoration, even partial, will prioritize safety for Oregonians using our transportation system in all parts of the state.
I welcome your partnership and appreciate any future opportunities to utilize your interest, expertise, and deep community connections to engage others in this important conversation.
Finally, I truly appreciate the spirit of your letter. We share a passion for a safe, accessible, and reliable transportation system and know how critically important one is, especially to eastern Oregon. Cuts are not taken lightly and our crews will always strive to do the best they can with the resources they have. I look forward to our ongoing partnership to ensure we can continue to deliver the services Oregonians depend on and deserve.
Sincerely,
Kristopher W. Strickler
Director
CC: Governor Tina Kotek, Geoff Huntington, Kelly Brooks, Courtney Crowell, Curt Melcher, Debbie Colbert, Douglas Woodcock
Lindsay Baker, Leah Horner, Travis Brouwer, Mac Lynde, Ken Patterson”
Keep in mind that the date the letter was penned is not conducive to the date Elkhorn Media Group was provided a copy. Also keep in mind that, as noted both by Stickler and as previously discussed with Region 5 director Ken Patterson, the service cutbacks are not unique to Eastern Oregon and will go into effect across all ODOT service regions.
