Commissioners hear about plan to reward government cost-cutting

ALBANY — Retired businessman and former Albany City Councilman Rich Kellum told Linn County Commissioners about his plan to seed a non-profit organization with $400,000 to reward local people who offer up ideas on how to reduce government costs.

Kellum said his idea is in the early stages, but it would be open to people both government and non-government employees.

Kellum said at this point, he doesn’t know how much stipends would amount to.

Kellum said he is forming a 501 (c) 3, non-profit corporation.

“I hope this will encourage public agencies to look for savings,” Kellum said.

Kellum provided each commissioner with a list of questions about whether the county already has a system of accepting new ideas from staff; is there a system of rewards for pointing out cost saving opportunities; how much money should be awarded; how often should awards be made; should there be a management level cut-off for rewards?

Although the commissioners appreciated Kellum’s concept, they advised him that government employees cannot accept financial rewards due to Oregon ethics regulations.

Board Chair Roger Nyquist said Linn County operates with fiscal constraint in mind and that residents indicate approval or disapproval of how well that is being accomplished when they are asked to support a four-year Law Enforcement tax levy.

“And, if we have 1% that use poor decision making, it gets exposed by the media,” Nyquist said. “It’s a check on how government operates.”

In other business, the commissioners:

• Learned there were 35 building permits and 263 total permits issued in November. There were no building permits issued for single-family homes and three for manufactured homes. Eleven permits were issued for additions or alterations and three for accessory buildings. There were six commercial permits issued.
• Commissioners Nyquist and Sherrie Sprenger assigned their proxy votes to Commissioner Will Tucker for the Association of O & C Counties meeting to be held Dec. 13.
• Reappointed Judge Thomas McHill and Scott Cowgill to three-year terms on the Law Library Committee.
• Reappointed Darryl Dukes, Lynn Tylczak, Milt Moran and Paul Timm to four-year terms on the Linn County Parks & Recreation Commission.
• Approved a refund of $1,225 to Barndo Builders LLC from Environmental Health. The company applied and paid for duplicate permits by mistake.
• Announced that Commissioner Tucker will attend a meeting of the Sweet Home City Council on Tuesday evening and Commissioner Sprenger will attend a meeting of the Lebanon City Council on Wednesday evening to thank officials for their efforts to halt the drawdown of Green Peter Reservoir. The two cities filed lawsuits due to water quality issues to their drinking water resources caused by turbidity of water in the South Santiam River.
• Announced the Board of Commissioners will not meet the week of Dec. 23.

Media contact: Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer, 541-967-3825 or email apaul@co.linn.or.us.