Benton County Commissioner Gabe Shepherd will hold two town halls Saturday with stops in Summit and Philomath as part of an annual countywide tour.
The Summit town hall is set for 11:30 a.m. at Summit Grange Hall. Lincoln County Commissioner Walter Chuck will join Shepherd for that meeting. Shepherd will then head to Philomath for a 3:30 p.m. town hall at the Philomath Museum where Philomath mayor Christopher McMorran is expected to join him.
“Typically I talk for about 10-ish minutes, probably 15 in Philomath because the mayor will be joining me,” Shepherd said. “I share about the work that I’ve been doing in my cities and the mayor will share a little bit about the work that his city is doing. And then we have about 45 to 50 minutes for open questions and just discussion.”
This is the second year Shepherd has held a series of town halls across the county. He said his commitment is to hold a town hall in every city each year, along with stops in rural, unincorporated communities.
“Alsea I’ve dedicated one (town hall) a year to because they are our most remote unincorporated community that has its own culture and identity that is separate from any of our other cities,” said Shepherd, who chatted with those community members at this year’s event on July 11. “And then I want to rotate around some of our rural town halls. Last year I was in Wren, and this year I’m going to be in Alpine and Summit, and so I’m going to keep rotating around in grange halls or wherever they’ll have me.”
Shepherd said his stop in Wren last year showed him how removed some rural residents feel from county government.
“For places like Wren … there was a disconnect about not being involved in county processes or knowing what’s going on really well, so that’s what I’m kind of going to be expecting from Summit,” he said. “When we heard back from people out there, they were kind of confused about why a town hall because they said nobody’s ever come out here in the last who knows — I think they said two decades at least.
“I want to build an expectation that the county is going to be out where the people are and engaging with people where they live, not requiring them to come in,” he added.
In Philomath, Shepherd said having the mayor on hand helps sort out which issues fall under city versus county responsibility.
“It’s not always easy to distinguish what’s a county issue versus a city issue versus a school district issue,” he said. “So just to have the mayor there to help answer those types of questions. I’m sure we’ll probably hear about the fees for the city. We’ll probably hear a little bit about county-owned roads within city limits that have come up a few times. Those are the things that I would more expect from Philomath.”
Among the topics Shepherd said he’s eager to highlight this summer is a push to allow accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, on rural residential land.
“There’s areas outside of Philomath — not quite in Wren, but west of Philomath and out in Blodgett and Summit — that could qualify for accessory dwelling units,” he said. “And I know that this has been a big issue for folks out there, like wanting to be able to have the kids inherit the property while the folks stay there, or any very similar story.”
Shepherd also expects to discuss his work as chair of the Community Services Consortium board, an organization that is navigating budget challenges, along with other topics that tend to vary by community.
“I never try to hide anything, but I like to focus on things that are going to be more important to where people are,” he said. “Like in Corvallis, I feel like the courthouse is going to be a bigger issue than out in Monroe.”
Shepherd said he documents feedback from each town hall and follows up on questions he can’t answer on the spot.
“Last year, I wrote up a report and I submitted it at a public meeting, gave it to the other commissioners, wrote up all the details that I heard from folks, the feedback, the questions, the answers,” he said. “Typically, if I don’t have the answer to a question, which I’ll be honest, is often, I get down the person’s email, take it back, connect with staff, get answers, and try and get back to them in a reasonable time period.”
Shepherd has already held town halls this summer in Corvallis and Alsea. After this weekend’s stops in Summit and Philomath, he’ll head to Adair Village and North Albany on July 26, then Monroe and Alpine on Aug. 8.
