Watershed council members elected to participate in the watershed council association. Present for the discussion were Senator Cliff Trow, Representative Kelly Worth, OWEB Deputy Director Ken Bierly and OWEB Willamette coordinator Vivienne Torgeson. All agreed that having a unified presence in Salem was imperative. Rep. Wirth was adamant about the importance of council members having a presence in Salem as well.
The council will be part of the formation process for the association and will remain involved after that process as long as it also meets the goals of the watershed council. Some questions raised included how the councils will be represented (the council prefers not to be represented by a lobbyist, rather the members would like to see a link to Salem which notifies councils when its appropriate to visit Salem and make a case for the council on a particular issue. Others were very concerned about the availability of Volunteers for trips to Salem when its necessary. Often there is little warning when a hearing is scheduled. The majority of the members felt it would be in our best interest to be present and participate in the formation of the association in order to ensure that our issues were considered. Most council members agreed that if the association took a turn the council was not in favor of that we could choose to remove ourselves from the association at any time. The council also agreed that we do not have any available funds to support a staff person for the association at this time.
The meeting adjourned at 9PM after an interesting and thought provoking discussion, consensus was called and reached.
Welcome to Tom Murphy the new member of the watershed council steering committee!! Tom is former director for the Corvallis EPA office and a landowner in the watershed. His expertise in group processes, and watershed related issues will benefit the council greatly!