The Josephine County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday started the process of forming a rural fire protection district -- and it will continue next week.
Following citizen testimony in a public hearing on the first reading of the order, the Board voted 2-0 to continue the hearing until next Wednesday. Commissioner Andreas Blech was absent.
The Applegate Valley Fire District requested that the boundaries of the proposed fire district be redrawn due to affected properties that are within seven miles of its station in Applegate. There were also several questions posed by citizens that the Board was not prepared to answer. Commissioner Herman Baertschiger made a motion to continue the hearing until next week so a map of the rural fire district can be finalized and made available to the public. Board Chair John West agreed.
In other business, the Board continued its effort to purge unnecessary and outdated chapters of the Josephine County Code. Three brief public hearings were held on ordinances to repeal chapters related to property forfeiture, golf carts and septic tank sludge disposal and then approved by the Commissioners, with the second readings and final approvals scheduled for November 6th.
During the public comment period, numerous supporters of the original Pipe Fork property sale chastised the Board for bundling several Williams area properties for a closed-bid auction. Some accused the Commissioners of being disingenuous with them on the original Pipe Fork sale proposal and stated they believed the Board was punishing them for questioning their reasoning for canceling the transaction.
Board Vice-Chair Baertschiger defended the decision, stating that County Forestry Director Dave Streeter came up with the plan to divest all timber parcels in the Williams area and use the money to purchase more suitable forested lands in other locations of Josephine County.
