Counties want their powers back
By Terry Murry on Thursday, March 18th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – A letter that was originally written by Union County Emergency Manager J.B. Brock is now the rallying cry for the Eastern Oregon Counties Association. Umatilla County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the communication which, when all the signing is done, will be sent to Gov. Kate Brown.
The letter calls for Brown to turn the reins of governing the COVID-19 pandemic over to the counties.
“We want to take the guidelines that the state has given us and put them into practice and let the counties decide what we can and can’t do, much like the school districts,” Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer said.
Shaffer said that if the county was empowered to manage things, restaurants and bars would be up to higher than 25 percent occupancy by now because no major outbreaks have been reported at those establishments.
The member counties of the organization each must take action to approve signing the letter, which Umatilla County did Wednesday. Shafer said that also, other counties from outside the organization are learning about the letter and asking if they can support it as well.
The county has written many letters to both Brown and the Oregon Health Authority in the past.
“We’ve written several letters and have yet to hear a single syllable back on those letters, Shafer said.
He added that the lack of response will not deter the county from trying again.
“We have to try our best to let us have control of what happens in our county,” Shafer said. “In my opinion, we know better how to handle Umatilla County than somebody in Salem does.”
