PRIMARY ELECTION – MAY 2024 – Tillamook County Pioneer’s QUESTIONS FOR THE CANDIDATES: Tillamook County Board of Commissioners Position #2

It’s an election year – and the primary election is coming up May 21st. There are several important positions on the primary ballot, including two Tillamook County Board of Commissioners. We’ll hear from the two candidates for Position #2 below.

Here again is the link to the AAUW Candidate’s Forum that was held on Sunday April 21st.

Paul Fournier – Tillamook County Board of Commissioners Position #2

Why did you decide to run for office? I decided to run for County Commissioner because I was concerned with the direction the BOCC was taking the county. We are in desperate need of new revenue streams, more investment in our county infrastructure and roads, stable funding for public safety, and increased availability of middle income and workforce housing. Additionally, I consider running for County Commissioner a continuation of my 29 years of public service to Tillamook County as a first responder.
What specific goals do you have if you are elected? In addition to what I’ve already stated, I have goals of ending the boom and bust economy by increasing revenue, removing barriers to the building of new housing and be better at supporting small businesses — with the goal of encouraging economic growth. It is my intention to leave Tillamook County in better shape when I conclude my term.
What is your experience in preparing and evaluating public policy? Being on the frontline of enforcing public policy for more than two decades, provides me with a unique perspective. Public policy is much more than words on paper, it is something that is lived everyday by our citizens. I think it’s time that our public policy is shaped more by the people, rather than by the politicians.
Who are your top five campaign finance donors? What is your relationship with them? I am the top financial donor to my campaign. Every other contributor is either a friend or an immediate family member. All of my campaign donors are listed on my candidate committee page (Vote for Paul 2024) on the Oregon Secretary of State website, and can viewed by anyone. I have not accepted any campaign contributions from any political action committees, special interest groups or political parties. I am a non-partisan, grassroots candidate and my campaign is funded by myself, my family, and my friends.
There are many divisive issues facing our communities, and the divide is becoming greater. How would you bridge these differences and how do you resolve conflicts? I am the only Tillamook County Commissioner Candidate that is a registered unaffiliated/independent voter — and as such, I believe I am in the best possible position to be able to bring this community together during these divisive times. As a Police Officer for more than two decades, mediation between parties with different viewpoints and resolving conflicts was a daily occurrence. I am a professionally trained listener and creative problem solver. I also appreciate that our County Commissioner positions are non-partisan. If elected, It would be my duty and honor to serve all of the citizens of Tillamook County regardless of political ideology.
Please provide a “SWOT” analysis of Tillamook County – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.

Strengths – We are very fortunate in Tillamook County for the high quality of life that we have here. We are rich in natural resources, have hardworking local residents, and our beaches, rivers, bays and forests attract people from around the world. And those folks come here and spend millions of dollars each year — which helps residents, the county coffers and businesses alike. Our communities are actively involved in solving food-security issues, preparedness and emergency response to disasters and we have a very strong sense of community.

Weaknesses – After decades of neglect, we now have a deteriorating transportation infrastructure — especially our culverts, bridges and roads. Our wastewater and drinking water infrastructure is proving to be inadequate for necessary middle-income housing needs and economic growth. We rank 34th out of the 36 Oregon counties for available childcare, with less than ten slots for every 100 children under 13. Nearly 50% of households in our county are in financial hardship – meaning they have annual incomes below what is needed to cover basic costs of living. Many of our county’s skilled workers are paid salaries that are below market value — which makes recruitment and retention of good employees difficult. This is exacerbated by the fact that our fastest growing population is 65+ and our county has a labor force (age 16-plus) participation rate that is much less than the state average.

Opportunities – We are fortunate to have excellent career and technical education programs at our local high schools and community college that are teaching our young adults valuable, in-demand skills for well-paying careers in their own county. The vibrant visitor economy offers many employment options and opportunities for a larger customer base for local small businesses. The visitor industry can also provide much more needed revenue to our general fund. We should continue to fight to keep our working forests harvestable — Not only for the jobs created importance to our local economy, but also for the renewable building materials that are created.

Threats – Unmitigated tourism-related growth, wildfires, a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and tsunami, FEMA Bi-Op plan, increasing lawsuits related to Endangered Species Act, reduction in timber harvest and revenue, increased fishing regulations, capping of growth and increased regulation within the dairy industry, infrastructure failure, lack of support for public safety — are just a few of the threats I believe are facing Tillamook County.

As a pragmatic optimist, I am confident that I can lead Tillamook County through our current obstacles and issues, and help us to emerge stronger, safer, secure and more prosperous than we currently are. Please vote for Paul Fournier for Tillamook County Commissioner, Position 2.

Darcy Jones – Tillamook County Board of Commissioners Position #2

Hi. This is Darcy Jones I hope its OK to just send this like I am. First let me say that your questions are excellent; I can really make the points I want to make.

I decided to run because I see a huge lack of affordable housing and a complete disconnect between builders and the dept of community development. For instance, a builder developer in Beaver wanted to build duplexs instead of houses and the only answer was no. This would have been approved in Dallas in a newyork second. I have been a licensed general contractor for 32 years and I have worked in Salem, Dallas, Polk County, Yamhill county and Sheridan, and I have never been treated as rudely as I have been treated at Tillamook. I have done some expensive developements in Tillamook county I have created at least 150, million dollars worth of taxable property in Tillamook county so I think I should get some respect from that building Dept.

Question two: I understand that position 2 is directly in charge of the dept. of community development and I would institute some major changes I would put a timeline on responding to permit applications and GHR reports. I would put a stop to unnecessary GHR reports and other unnecessary reports and holdups.

I would put a stop to being told to bring something in, only to be told to bring something else in that was never mentioned before. You can never build a cheaper house if your building dept purposely makes it cost more. A housing contractor I worked for told me that the interest on the building loan was costing him between 20 to 40 thousand dollars per house because of holdups in permits between 7 to 9 months.

I would like to encourage new small businesses to create opportunities for our children and more revenue for the county.

I would like to persuade the fish and game dept to allow hatchboxes again so we could build up our fish runs to have more guide trips to bring more revenue to our county.

I would like to go after the state forestry to live up to the contract when we gave them title to our land in the Tillamook burn.

I would like to persuade our district attorney to stop this revolving door for criminals and drug addicts. You can’t help a drug addict unless you force them to dry out first you can do this by putting them in jail and then they won’t be stealing my tools and fuel just to get high again.

I would like to find a way to provide stable funding for our road dept.

I would look at our zoning overlays and try to create more developable property. Only 2.3% of Tillamook county is zoned for development. I see a lot of unproductive farm and timberland or small farm wood lot that could be utilized better to create multi-family housing units, industrial land or just plain houses.

question 3

I have 16 years’ experience on school boards in Nestucca valley. A school boards main function is to watch the money. I found out that I am a die hard fiscal conservative when it comes to the budget

question 4

Again I have 16 years experience on Nestucca valley school boards we reviewed our entire policy book at least once and some policies multiple times in that span of years

Question 5

I am moving slowly in that dept Robert Fultz who I went to school with and have worked for on numerous occasions donated a thousand dollars. He owns numerous properties in Neskowin and PC. Mike Herbel donated 300 dollars; I have worked on his properties in Neskowin. I also loaned my committee 5 thousand dollars

question 6

I would tell people to think about the other point of view then I would assess the problem and try to come to a mutual agreement to all parties if that doesnt work than we make a decision and hope it works out

Question 7

We have beautiful beaches views and sporting opportunities lots of tourist attractions. We have the cheese factory and a large profitable dairy community We have a lot of timber and timber related businesses WE have great rivers and fishing crabbing clamming opportunities.

We have very poor planning for future development; we have a serious lack of worker housing and low income housing; we have a problem with homelessness and drug abuse.

Our sheriffs dept has a serious lack of support from our dist. attorney that leads to a revolving door for crime; our road dept has no stable funding.

We need to increase tourist oriented business. We have to establish areas and opportunities for cheaper housing.

The biggest threat facing us is being out voted by the urban centers in our state. This is why our forest revenue is being taken away and our fishing is threatened. I think we should hire a publicist to get our message out to the rest of the state. I think we should join Jewell school dist in their law suit just to bring attention to the forest issue.