Board Unanimous in Workshop Decisions, Others to be made at Future WBS
The Board of County Commissioners made unanimous decisions during today's workshop, with more to be considered at future Weekly Business Sessions. Southern Oregon Sanitation's Kerby Transfer Station's potential 20% rate increase, a quitclaim deed for the sale of land at Winona Road, and a fee change request for community development will be decided on during March 11th's evening Weekly Business Session. At their next workshop, the board will consider a renegotiation of the Dimmick Campus property offer and the Finance department's fine-tuned Economic Development Application Process. A petition to withdraw from the Josephine Community Library will be considered at a future business session. During today's workshop, the board approved having the Information Technology department move forward with a Public Information Officer position, and moved unanimously to accept the purchase of property on New Hope Road, a ground lease offer for 1798 SE N Street, and a quitclaim deed execution for the 12,100 Redwood Highway property.
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Non-Bargaining Motion Passes at City Council Workshop
A motion to have a hired professional gather information and provide pain point alleviation for the Non-bargaining compensation schedule passed during today's City Council workshop. A presentation to potentially adjust the Non-bargaining Compensation and Classification was brought to the board. Full implementation has already been included in the current budget for these market and equity adjustments in order to recruit and retain quality employees. The council previously approved a 3.02% Cost of Living Adjustment to the current salary schedule. The council was then presented with a 90% of Taskforce Recommendation Option that could be applied to the current schedule. 13 positions would see a reduction of their maximum pay at the tenth step of the schedule, impacting 21 employees. 14 employees would be placed at a higher step than their current step to avoid a pay reduction. Options and risks were presented to the council. The 90% option would be cheaper and resolve legal pain points, but not recruitment and retention pain points.
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Gold Hill Man Arrested, Lodged in Lane County for Luring a Minor, Online Exploitation
A Gold Hill man was arrested by multiple law enforcement agencies for Luring a Minor and Online Sexual Exploitation. Beginning in September 2025, Kaleb John Francis Altman, 25, contacted and began interacting with a juvenile female who was actually a Eugene Police Department (EPD) detective investigating internet crimes against children. On February 25th, a Violent Crimes detective drove to Medford and met with Jackson County Sheriff’s Office detectives to collaborate on the case. A team of Eugene Police, Jackson County Sheriff's deputies, the Oregon Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Medford Police detectives arrested Altman without incident as he arrived to his workplace in Medford. He was transported by the EPD detective to Eugene and lodged at the Lane County Jail for Luring a Minor and Online Sexual Corruption of a Child in the Second Degree.
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