On Jan. 6, Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger delivered the annual State of the County address.
January 2024: Historic ice storm
Trieger recalled last year’s historic ice storm that left many county residents without power and many schools, businesses and roads closed.
“It was almost a year ago that we had a historic ice storm,” Trieger said. “As the local emergency management entity, … we activated the County Emergency Operations Center to address the impacts of that storm … (coordinating) across multiple (government) entities and community groups … (and) staffing and access of Community Resource centers in Springfield, Creswell and Cottage Grove ensuring individuals who are without power had basic supplies and charging access for phones, medical equipment and other devices.”
Lane County Board Chair David Loveall, who represents Springfield on the commission, said the historic storm was one of the most significant challenges that the county faced last year.
“[It was] significant challenge. I was down at the Egan Warming Center (a) couple (of) nights [during the storm] in Springfield seeing firsthand [the] challenges we (faced),” Loveall said in an interview with The Daily Emerald. “We didn’t really know about it before [because] we always [saw] the Egan Warming Center as a place … [for] homeless folks, but what we discovered was there (were) elderly people that were struggling with power outages and single moms that (were) struggling.”
Holliday Fire recovery efforts
Trieger touted progress made on recovery from the Holiday Farm Fire. The 2020 wildfire destroyed much of Blue River, an unincorporated Lane County community on Oregon State Route 126 halfway between Eugene and Sisters.
While she acknowledged that recovery efforts from the 2020 fire have been slow and “frustratingly difficult,” Trieger said the county has made considerable progress.
Key achievements include a new library and fire station in Blue River and a $1.3 million agreement with McKenzie Valley Long-Term Recovery Group for rapid housing for low-income seniors and people with disabilities fire survivors, she said.
Behavioral Health
Like much of Oregon, which lags behind most of the nation in addressing mental health, Lane County faces significant challenges in addressing behavioral health, particularly for youth.
According to a 2022 county survey, 20% of parents and guardians who tried to get counseling for their children were unable to get it.
Trieger called behavioral health a “great concern” to everyone on the Lane County Board of Commissioners.
Already, the county has launched a Mobile Crisis Response Team that officials say aims to keep people in their homes rather than a hospital or faculty.
And this year, Trieger said, the county is launching a Behavioral Health Stabilization Center in Springfield.
“I think [the new center] (will be) awesome because our mental health capacity in Lane County, from my direct experience with my family losing my son to suicide, is in a real crisis,” Loveall, the county board chair, said.
County officials say the new center will help ease the strain on emergency rooms by providing specialized care for people experiencing mental health crises, allowing people to receive treatment at the center instead of a hospital. The center could free up to “two hallways” at county hospitals, Project Manager Britni D’Eliso said in a video played during Trieger’s speech.
Budget gap
Largely absent from Trieger’s speech was any mention of the county’s million budget gap.
While she acknowledged “ever diminishing resources and continued rising costs,” she did not mention a budget gap or deficit in her speech.
Loveall, the county board chair, said the county currently faces a $10 million budget deficit. The deficit is primarily caused by declining timber tax revenue and state mandates that the county does not receive enough funding from the state for, he said.
“The county has been mandated to do a lot of services [by the state] and with very little or no funds … the (real) hamstrung [here] is just the way the [county’s] finances work,” Loveall said.
Editor’s note: On campus, the University Health Services provides free counseling for all students and an After-Hours Support and Crisis Line at 541-346-3227. Off campus, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available via phone or text at 988 or online at 988lifeline.org.
