Lane County elections heat up: Race is on for two available commission seats

Voters in the Eugene area will pick their representatives on the Lane County Board of Commissioners in the May 21 election. Both "Eugene" seats on the board are contested this election, with the two incumbent commissioners each facing a challenger.

For both races, the Register-Guard interviewed the incumbents first and then the challengers. As the challengers raised specific complaints about the incumbents, the Register-Guard gave the incumbents a chance to respond.

District 3

Laurie Trieger

Laurie Trieger was elected to the board of commissioners in 2020 after working in the nonprofit sector. Trieger expressed pride in projects from her first term, including the Lane County stabilization center, waste processing facility, Measure 110 reform implementation, and a desire to see those through with a second term.

Trieger defended the county's record on homelessness services given their resources. She said the primary focus is prevention and rehousing.

"We know the shorter the duration of homelessness, the less likely it is to become chronic or repeated," Trieger said.

Trieger also highlighted the county's work on shelter, such as the River Avenue navigation center.

Child care is also a priority for Trieger, and she said she helped create the county child care sector strategist position and a subsidy for county employees to access child care.

Trieger said she supports housing, but in and near urban growth boundaries. "The city is where the services are," she said. "It's much more affordable to build where those pieces are already in place."

Trieger said the county's helped encourage housing by providing assistance to smaller cities and that she's supported development by advocating for resources such as in the state housing package and for the rules removing single-family exclusive zones and parking requirements.

Grace Widdicombe

Grace Widdicombe is a Eugene house flipper who's criticized Trieger, especially on land use.

"I want to represent the landowners of Lane County," she said.

Widdicombe said she's increased Lane County's housing supply by fixing and selling houses that would otherwise be unsellable or inhabitable, but she feels the county is making this harder and she's running to address this.

"We're behind on building for the future, something like 40,000 houses," Widdicombe said. "The solution to that is streamlining land-use policies."

Widdicombe objected to Trieger's vote against loosening floodway development regulations, and Lane County's permit wait times, which she said have gotten worse in her time house flipping.

"Now Eugene is great, Springfield is okay, Lane County is impossible. So something's happened," Widdicombe said. "I would say it has something to do with Eugene becoming very focused on building housing. … But Lane County is not. It's just the culture of it."

Widdicombe also criticized Trieger's handling of the University District hospital closure, saying she would have shown more cooperation toward PeaceHealth and offered to provide them with resources they need to stay open. Other priorities include advocating for vocational education in Lane County high schools and reversing the county's votes on the IMERF waste processor and Emeralds stadium.

Trieger's response

On Widdicombe's criticisms, Trieger defended the county's permitting office: "Saying it's easier to get a permit in the city than out is totally apples and oranges" because of the different land use laws, she said. And her handling of the hospital closure: "I didn't have an opportunity to do anything in advance of the closure because they did not make it known until they announced it."

District 4

Pat Farr is the swing vote of the board of commissioners. During their interviews with the Register-Guard, Farr and Zach Mulholland disagreed on how bipartisan his record was. According to Lane County’s meeting minutes, since January 2023 the board had 16 3-2 votes, Farr cast five votes with liberal commissioners Trieger and Heather Buch and 11 with conservative commissioners David Loveall and Ryan Ceniga.

With Trieger and Buch, Farr voted to pass the board's hate and bias response policy, build the IMERF waste processor and raise commissioner pay. Most of Farr's votes with Loveall and Ceniga were on land use (but he voted with each side on points of the county's erosion prevention code). He also voted with them on appointments and to rejoin the pro-timber Association of O&C counties.

Pat Farr

Farr is the longest-serving Lane County commissioner, a position he's held since 2013. He’s also been on the state legislature, Eugene City Council and Bethel School Board.

Farr highlighted accomplishments from his first three terms. "Look at the positive direction that we're going in public safety … housing and homelessness and … how we coordinate with the cities," he said. "We've opened three community health centers."

On homelessness, Farr cited the county exceeding its All-In goals on preventing homelessness, rehousing people and adding shelter. "We don't have extra general fund money to kick around,” he said. “We do the very best that we can with the pass-through money."

On land use, Farr said he wants to avoid making housing more expensive and while he opposes dense growth outside the UGB, he supports “more efficiently” using rural residential land while balancing open space and following existing state land use laws.

On his swing vote, Farr said on any issue he looks at the pros and cons and votes for proposals he believes have more benefits than costs, and that “some of the issues that I have spent most of my time on are Health and Human Services related,” he said, such as health care, behavioral health and homelessness services.

Zach Mulholland

Zach Mulholland is a member of the Lane Community College board and an environmental consultant with Beyond Toxics, who's promoting himself as a commissioner who will be consistently liberal.

"I'm going to be a strong voice for democratic values. Pro-environment, pro-labor, pro-renter," Mulholland said. He also highlighted his endorsements from the Democratic Party of Lane County, League of Conservation Voters, Springfield-Eugene Tenants Alliance and some of the unions representing Lane County employees.

A priority of this was the environment. While Farr voted for the IMERF, Mulholland said he lobbied for it, and that as commissioner he would push for environmental measures such as expanding EV charging and helping Lane County residents access the federal rebates for energy-efficient appliances.

He criticized Farr's votes in favor of the Old Hazeldell Quarry, to rejoin the Association of O&C Counties, to loosen floodway development restrictions, and not recuse himself from a board of commissioner land use case where the applicant is a donor. "Three of his top donors are on the list of the top polluters in Eugene."

Other priorities Mulholland mentioned included expanding Eugene's renter protections county-wide, establishing a first-time homebuyer program, giving renters first dibs when the home they're renting is sold, and a bond measure for homelessness services and affordable housing.

Farr's response

On the land use application in question, Farr said that the applicant has also contributed to Trieger and Buch and t that more broadly he's capable of making fair decisions involving his donors. "Campaign contributions are not related to my (or anyone else’s) decisions on quasi-judicial matters and policy decisions," he said.

Farr also pointed out that the endorsements among county employees are split. While Mulholland has AFSCME. Farr has the Lane County Public Works Association and Peace Officer Association.

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on X @alanfryetorres.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Election 2024: Lane County board of commissioners candidates