CORBETT, Ore. — Hard realities dogged the Columbia River Gorge Commission last week as it confronted the prospect of more deep budget cuts from the Washington and Oregon legislatures over the next two years.
Confronting multi-billion-dollar deficits in 2011-13, both legislatures have ordered the bistate panel to adopt new rules streamlining its operations if it hopes to win even barely adequate funding in the next biennium.
“Both states have said, ‘Tell us what you’re going to do to work with a smaller budget,’” said Jill Arens, the commission’s executive director, during a break in the panel’s Tuesday meeting at the Corbett fire hall. Arens has spent the past several weeks shuttling between Salem, Ore., and Olympia in an effort to protect the commission’s budget and address legislators’ demands.
In November, the commission voted to close its offices in White Salmon on Fridays to save money.
In response to lawmakers’ demands, the commission’s staff attorney, Jeff Litwak, drew up a long list of proposed rule changes aimed at reducing the staff workload, especially for the planning staff, which is down by two-thirds, to just 1.5 planners. Litwak himself is essentially volunteering his time with the commission this year while teaching law full time.
Under one proposed change, staff members no longer would have to produce a report to the commission each time they resolve a minor violation of a scenic area rule. Instead, they’d focus on trying to correct the violations.
Another change would get rid of the deadlines planners face for reviewing applications to change the boundaries of urban areas. Instead, they’d fit those applications around their other tasks.
A third proposal would change the way the commission amends the management plan for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, allowing it to consider minor amendments while sitting as a legislative panel rather than as a “quasi-judicial” body.
The difference is that while acting as a legislative body, commissioners can have unrestricted discussions with the parties involved, whereas when the commission is wearing its “quasi-judicial” hat, it must make its decisions from the evidence presented in formal hearings.
Another rule change would encourage the parties in appeals to file their documents electronically and let the commission charge appellants for the cost of duplicating, filing and serving papers on commissioners and other interested parties.
Former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts, a member of the commission, said at Tuesday’s hearing that time is of the essence in adopting the new rules while legislators are still writing their budgets.
“The states are looking at how each commission is trying to be more efficient,” she said. “We need to be able to confirm with the legislatures that this is what we are doing. We are making these changes for the purpose of efficiency.”
But the environmental group Friends of the Columbia Gorge said some of the proposed rule changes go too far, putting decision-making in the hands of the staff rather than the appointed 13-member commission and potentially limiting the public’s ability to be involved.
For example, Friends, which has appealed many land-use decisions made by Gorge counties and the Gorge Commission, has a big problem with charging appellants for paperwork on appeals.
“Assessing the costs against an appellant would discourage appeals from members of the public who may be adversely affected by the decision, but lack the resources to pay for the cost of the record,” Friends attorney Gary Kahn told the commission. Those costs, he said, could be “enormous.”
Commissioners delayed a decision on the rule changes until their March 8 meeting, at which time they will also take additional testimony. Written public comment will be accepted through Thursday.
Budget uncertainties also are cramping the Vital Signs Indicator Project, the commission’s top priority. It’s the first-ever attempt to measure the health of the scenic area, from the quality of vistas at scenic viewpoints to the effect of ambient light on the night sky, and from the fragmentation of wildlife habitat to water quality in Gorge streams, using objective, science-based standards.
Michele Dailey, the Vital Signs Indicator staff person heading the project, said her work will continue but is limited “given our dwindling staff and resources.”
“We have certain data we need, such as high-resolution satellite imagery, that is very expensive,” she told commissioners. “One of our priorities is to find funding for this satellite imagery.”
Access to improved technology would allow her to better analyze images that reveal changes in forest cover, wildlife habitat, and unforested areas in the scenic area over time, Dailey said. The commission has an opportunity to purchase satellite imagery from one company for a bargain price of $3,000, she said, adding, “Even $3,000 is above our capability at this point.”
With so few resources, Dailey is exploring grants or other options to fund the project.
Arens said the Oregon Legislature is asking all agencies to submit proposals for 25 percent cuts in their budgets by mid-February. Under the bistate compact that governs the Gorge Commission, each state must contribute an identical amount of money for its operations.
Before the latest round of cuts, the commission was getting $750,000 annually in operating revenue — $375,000 from each state. But Arens said that in the latest budget proposals, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed to give the commission $906,000 for the entire biennium; Oregon is offering $847,000.
There is a silver lining in the budget cuts and agency consolidations, Arens said. The Washington Legislature is likely to place the Gorge Commission budget within the budget of the Department of Ecology.
It won’t change how the commission operates, she said, “but it gives us more resources.”
