Choose Your Future
First published in the Central Oregonian, Prineville, Oregon, October 2008
The county court system is a very old system of county government in this country. A colonial import, it was at one time the system used by all of Oregon’s counties. Today, the system is retained by nine Oregon counties, all of the eastern. Oregon’s other 36 counties have switched to the more familiar system known as a “board of commissioners”
There is little difference between a county court and a board of commissioners other than the name. Their primary function is legislative. The courts themselves have no judicial powers. The key difference is in the office of county judge, a position within the court.
The county judge chairs the county court when it sits as a legislative panel. The judge also acts as a county administrator between sessions of the court, although he doesn’t have individual authority to hire and fire without the court’s consent. What the county judge doesn’t do is wear a black robe and pound a gavel. That function is the prerogative of circuit court judges.
Because the county judge has no judicial responsibility, he or she does not need to need to be an attorney. I am not an attorney, nor was my predecessor nor his predecessor nor his predecessor nor his predecessor. I don’t know of any of the county judges who have ever been attorneys at least in this century.
In the frontier days, the judge was simply someone from the community who could read and write and had a reasonable head for business and understanding of civics. It couldn’t be limited to an attorney because there weren’t enough attorneys to go around. Today, some citizens are confused by archaic references to county judges and county courts. To resolve the confusion, simply think of these positions as a board of commissioners and a county commission chair. In that light, the roles of these bodies became much more clear.
There are two candidates for county judge on the ballot this November. Democrat Kim Kambak is facing off against Republican Mike McCabe for county judge. Democrat Arleen Curths is facing off against Republican Ken Fahlgren for commissioner. I list them in alphabetical order. The listing should not be read as my preference. I do not endorse as a matter of policy.
The choice you make in these races is not inconsequential. Crook County faces some big issues in coming years. The county has a large budget and administers of significant services. Crook County serves over 25,000 citizens both within and outside the city limits. It collects nearly $6 million in property taxes and must raise nearly $24 million in fees and grants from other governments to keep services running. It has reserves of around $30 million which can be saved or squandered as the county court directs. Some 200 employees and their families depend on the court for employment, while 300-plus volunteers have to be recruited and appointed to fill various board, commission and committee positions essential government services.
None of these roles are well defined in the Oregon Constitution, Oregon statutes or in county ordinances. There are no job descriptions for these positions, and there is no legal authority to impose a job description on an elected official accountable only to the voters. Rather, the roles of the county judge and the county commissioners have evolved through tradition and are adjusted by various courts to meet the demands of the times and the personalities sitting on any given county court.
Despite the flexibility of the position, there are some common attributes that distinguish “good “county court member. “Good” members have common sense, the ability to work hard, a basic understanding of budgets and management of people, a basic concept of civics and how governments work at various levels, the ability to gauge the pulse of the community and the ability to make wise decisions about the community’s future. It is also helpful if individual court members can work well as a team since the court collectively is responsible for the community’s future.
An overlooked but equally important quality of the position is stamina. It can be great fun to be a court member. More often, it is not. Round-trips to Salem or Portland leaving at 6 a.m. and returning at 6 p.m. or even later can wear out the most vigorous court member, and when you get home, chores, family obligations, and community obligations and in the case of the part-time commissioners the demands of other employment still have to be addressed. The job is not for the frail or the faint of heart.
The ability to communicate matters enormously. The county judge and the county commissioners must be able to explain their positions to the public, sometimes in heated environments. If you are afraid of the media, this is not a job for you. You will be quoted—and eventually misquoted or quoted out of context. Civic groups want to hear from you occasionally and so do policymakers in Salem and even Washington, D.C. How you speak and present yourself—intelligently, grammatically and professionally—will in part determine how policymakers view the residents of Crook County.
But maybe the most important component of the job is the ability to multi-task and work on multiple projects at once. As the supervising authority for 30 distinct departments, counties have to provide more than 50 discreet functions within those departments. Staff and volunteers as well as citizens and taxpayers, other governments, media, outside interest groups, and sometimes natural forces such as fire, flood or landslide create a never ending kaleidoscope of activity, each piece of which must be minutely examined and understood in order to understand how it fits into the whole picture. This is not a job for someone who is not a quick study.
The choice of the next county judge and the next county commissioner will deeply impact your life, whether you know it now or not. Your decision should be based on more than popularity or a name-recognition contest. Take some time now before your ballot arrives and get to know the candidates, all of whom are eager to talk to you. Find out where they stand and how they think and how well they will fit into this job. Your future—our future—in Crook County very much depends on your choice.
The county court system is a very old system of county government in this country. A colonial import, it was at one time the system used by all of Oregon’s counties. Today, the system is retained by nine Oregon counties, all of the eastern. Oregon’s other 36 counties have switched to the more familiar system known as a “board of commissioners”
There is little difference between a county court and a board of commissioners other than the name. Their primary function is legislative. The courts themselves have no judicial powers. The key difference is in the office of county judge, a position within the court.
The county judge chairs the county court when it sits as a legislative panel. The judge also acts as a county administrator between sessions of the court, although he doesn’t have individual authority to hire and fire without the court’s consent. What the county judge doesn’t do is wear a black robe and pound a gavel. That function is the prerogative of circuit court judges.
Because the county judge has no judicial responsibility, he or she does not need to need to be an attorney. I am not an attorney, nor was my predecessor nor his predecessor nor his predecessor nor his predecessor. I don’t know of any of the county judges who have ever been attorneys at least in this century.
In the frontier days, the judge was simply someone from the community who could read and write and had a reasonable head for business and understanding of civics. It couldn’t be limited to an attorney because there weren’t enough attorneys to go around. Today, some citizens are confused by archaic references to county judges and county courts. To resolve the confusion, simply think of these positions as a board of commissioners and a county commission chair. In that light, the roles of these bodies became much more clear.
There are two candidates for county judge on the ballot this November. Democrat Kim Kambak is facing off against Republican Mike McCabe for county judge. Democrat Arleen Curths is facing off against Republican Ken Fahlgren for commissioner. I list them in alphabetical order. The listing should not be read as my preference. I do not endorse as a matter of policy.
The choice you make in these races is not inconsequential. Crook County faces some big issues in coming years. The county has a large budget and administers of significant services. Crook County serves over 25,000 citizens both within and outside the city limits. It collects nearly $6 million in property taxes and must raise nearly $24 million in fees and grants from other governments to keep services running. It has reserves of around $30 million which can be saved or squandered as the county court directs. Some 200 employees and their families depend on the court for employment, while 300-plus volunteers have to be recruited and appointed to fill various board, commission and committee positions essential government services.
None of these roles are well defined in the Oregon Constitution, Oregon statutes or in county ordinances. There are no job descriptions for these positions, and there is no legal authority to impose a job description on an elected official accountable only to the voters. Rather, the roles of the county judge and the county commissioners have evolved through tradition and are adjusted by various courts to meet the demands of the times and the personalities sitting on any given county court.
Despite the flexibility of the position, there are some common attributes that distinguish “good “county court member. “Good” members have common sense, the ability to work hard, a basic understanding of budgets and management of people, a basic concept of civics and how governments work at various levels, the ability to gauge the pulse of the community and the ability to make wise decisions about the community’s future. It is also helpful if individual court members can work well as a team since the court collectively is responsible for the community’s future.
An overlooked but equally important quality of the position is stamina. It can be great fun to be a court member. More often, it is not. Round-trips to Salem or Portland leaving at 6 a.m. and returning at 6 p.m. or even later can wear out the most vigorous court member, and when you get home, chores, family obligations, and community obligations and in the case of the part-time commissioners the demands of other employment still have to be addressed. The job is not for the frail or the faint of heart.
The ability to communicate matters enormously. The county judge and the county commissioners must be able to explain their positions to the public, sometimes in heated environments. If you are afraid of the media, this is not a job for you. You will be quoted—and eventually misquoted or quoted out of context. Civic groups want to hear from you occasionally and so do policymakers in Salem and even Washington, D.C. How you speak and present yourself—intelligently, grammatically and professionally—will in part determine how policymakers view the residents of Crook County.
But maybe the most important component of the job is the ability to multi-task and work on multiple projects at once. As the supervising authority for 30 distinct departments, counties have to provide more than 50 discreet functions within those departments. Staff and volunteers as well as citizens and taxpayers, other governments, media, outside interest groups, and sometimes natural forces such as fire, flood or landslide create a never ending kaleidoscope of activity, each piece of which must be minutely examined and understood in order to understand how it fits into the whole picture. This is not a job for someone who is not a quick study.
The choice of the next county judge and the next county commissioner will deeply impact your life, whether you know it now or not. Your decision should be based on more than popularity or a name-recognition contest. Take some time now before your ballot arrives and get to know the candidates, all of whom are eager to talk to you. Find out where they stand and how they think and how well they will fit into this job. Your future—our future—in Crook County very much depends on your choice.
posted by Scott Cooper | 12:04 AM
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