THE DALLES — With the sudden passing of Commissioner Phillip Brady on May 19, county leadership has been thrust into a decision-making process on how to fill the board’s third seat for the remaining months of Brady’s term.
At the July 1 county board meeting, Commission Chair Scott Hege and Commissioner Jeff Justesen opted to defer their decision until the July 15 meeting.
The State of Oregon allows sitting county board members to determine their own procedure for appointing a new member to fill out a vacated seat, allowing Justesen and Hege to choose from a range of options.
Hanging over these choices is the short duration left in Brady’s first term and the single advancing primary candidate in November’s election. Brady leaves behind not only his current seat, but the lead in the May primary, making Mike Urness the sole candidate for this position on the November ballot.
Hege said he feels appointing a third commissioner is not urgent.
“I will say that in terms of how it's going, it's going fine. It's clearly a little more work on both Jeff and I,” he said, noting that many of the board positions he and Justesen have stepped into filling in for Brady are roles they have held in previous years.
At last month’s county board meeting June 17, County Administrator Tyler Stone introduced five viable pathways forward.
The Hybrid or Full-term Caretaker Approach
After a 14-day application window, the commissioners would appoint a temporary "caretaker" to fill the seat. This person would either resign upon the certification of the November elections and the board would appoint the election winner to immediately replace the caretaker (Hybrid Caretaker), or resign at the end of Brady’s term and the election winner would begin at their regularly scheduled appointment time of Jan. 1 (Full-term Caretaker).
Stone noted that this option protects the board’s quorum and ability to meet, should another of the commissioners become unable to attend a meeting in the summer and fall. However, this plan requires more administrative costs with selecting and onboarding a new commissioner, only to repeat this onboarding labor with the newly elected commissioner a few months later.
Hege acknowledged that some effort could be spared if a previous commissioner were to apply.
“Most of the past commissioners have all kind of raised their hand, said, ‘Hey, if you need me, I'm willing to step in,’ and that may be a viable option,” said he at the June 17 board meeting.
At the same time, Hege expressed hesitation to add a new person to the board solely for the sake of quorum.
“To me, that maybe isn't the best use of anything, money and everything else,” he said.
Justesen opined during the July 1 meeting that the timing for this option has potentially passed, saying “by time we direct staff, by time we get those [applications] back, by time we circulate them, it's going to be even deeper into the term, and there's six months left of this year.”
Leave vacant until election
In this third pathway, the board would pass a resolution declaring the seat vacant until voters choose a new board member in November, who would be immediately appointed following election certification.
This option risks potential deadlock if during a summer or fall meeting the two remaining commissioners disagree on a vote. Justesen also expressed concern that if something were to happen to him or Hege, the county board would lose the power to nominate someone.
“The biggest battle in my mind is what kind of risk are we putting the county at?” he said at the June 17 meeting.
As for attendance, Hege said he wasn’t worried about missing a meeting or even clashing with Justesen over a vote.
“In my almost 16 years on the commission, generally we've been pretty aligned, so I think generally we're okay,” said Hege.
Immediate direct appointment by nomination
Like the hybrid and full-term caretaker approaches, this path would install a temporary commissioner to fulfill Brady’s term only instead of an application window, the commissioners would nominate potential appointees during a public meeting, deliberate and then vote on one.
While this is the most expedient way to temporarily fill Position 3, this could face voting hurdles if current commissioners only voted for their own nominated candidate. It would also incur the same additional administrative costs of onboarding a temporary commissioner.
Direct appointment of advancing primary candidate
The fifth and final pathway suggested skipping nomination processes and installing Urness, who earned 35% of the vote in May and was the only candidate to advance to the November ballot under Oregon law.
This appointment would have significant influence in the November election, granting Urness the benefits of incumbency status in November and potentially impacting a write-in campaign.
This option was not entertained during the meeting, signalling that the commissioners were potentially less inclined to consider this path at the time of the meeting.
Invoking Commissioner Brady
At the June 17 meeting, Stacie Coleman, an ESD board member and friend of Brady, thanked the board for their proclamation at the beginning of the month remembering Brady’s service to the county, and asked the board to consider appointing a caretaker who aligns with Brady’s stances and vision for governance.
“I hope that you'll give serious consideration to those people that Phil's wife, Mary Jo, feels strongly Phil would have approved of, and take Phil into consideration in that decision making,” Coleman said.
Hege and Justesen said at the July 1 meeting that they would pursue more conversations with supports through the Association of Oregon Counties with the intent to make a decision at the next board meeting, scheduled July 15.
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