Board of County Commissioners

Oath of Office 2009

Thank you to all of you who have come today because you care.  

It is a great honor to be sworn in today with all of our elected officials.  Welcome back to the Sheriff, our D.A. and Treasurer.  Welcome to our newly elected County Commissioners, Martha Schrader, Charlotte Lehan, Jim Bernard and Tax Assessor, Bob Vroman.  And special thanks to my husband and my mother for their support and patience.

Let me begin by thanking all the citizens and staff, maintenance, public safety, emergency, public information, and social service workers.  They worked tirelessly to protect the public’s safety and to keep the county and its businesses open through two states of emergency in less than three weeks.

We owe them a big thank you and round of applause. 

Eleanor Roosevelt once said universal human rights begin, “In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world.  Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. "

Eleanor Roosevelt’s words move us today as our community confronts the economic and personal challenges of hard times.  Tough times will test us but they should also embolden us.  

Let’s find new ways to work together across real and imagined boundaries.  Our citizens should expect nothing less from our new five-member board. 

The importance of county services in providing for basic human needs has never been more critical.  Economic hardship is producing suffering, hunger, homelessness, and unemployment on a scale most of us thought would never happen again.

County services are often the difference between life and death, between relative comfort and severe hardship. 

We all know people who have lost their jobs, health care, and even their homes.  The county did not cause these problems.  Still, we have an obligation to do our best to extend helping hands to people in need.  This means responding quickly to ease the burdens of crisis while asking our institutions, public and private, to work together to find new ways to give people the opportunities and tools for success. 

Let’s start today.  

There has been 20% increase in requests for help for food in Estacada.  Thriftway donated 4,500 lbs of food in response to the sudden surge of need in one small Clackamas County community.  Imagine the need across the county, the metro area, and the state. 

We are fortunate to have Oregon Food Bank and a network of 22 volunteer organizations in Clackamas County that make food boxes for those in need.  It’s time we all pitch in to help.  Please join me in a commitment to a county-wide campaign to help feed the hungry.  

There is a sign up sheet at door.  Give us your contact information.  Tell us if you belong to a church, Rotary, chamber, social service club, or business organization.  Then help us mobilize a partnership to make sure no one goes hungry in Clackamas County.  

Our county is an innovator and leader.  We take our responsibilities to sustain our quality of life, health, and safety seriously.  

In 2008, we put longstanding differences aside and solved our region’s wastewater problems.  We created a new library system, finalized new public transit options, and provided new stability for our agricultural extension services.

It’s now time to look forward.  We will find new ways to support economic growth and the expansion of living wage jobs together.  We will take steps to minimize our carbon footprint and make sure our water and air are clean and healthy.  We will make sure our public places, including the Trolley Trail, are places that express our best public values of shared access, quality, and safety.  We will remember that our youth and seniors are integral to our community and seek new ways to involve them in meaningful community enterprises.

The world as we know it has changed since Oregon was founded 150 years ago.  Yet, one thing hasn’t changed.  Oregon, and no place more than Clackamas County, is a place where people help people, neighbors look out for neighbors and where government still works.  

Tonight we commemorate the start of a new year and celebrate our democracy by swearing in newly elected officials. 

Tomorrow, the hard work begins.

Thank you for all you do and we look forward to working with you and taking care of each other.

Goodnight.