It will take the City of Eugene years, maybe decades, to annex and take maintenance responsibility for all the roads in River Road and Santa Clara. In the meantime, only the Lane County Board of Commissioners can solve this issue by accepting our publicly-owned county Local Access Roads (LARs) into the County road system and taking on their maintenance.
But they won’t act unless they hear from a lot of us—over and over again. Emails help (instructions below), but testifying in person or virtually at a Board of Commissioners meeting is even more powerful.
This Guide Covers:
• When, where, and how to testify
• How to submit written testimony
• Suggested talking points
When to Testify
Public comment is usually accepted towards the beginning of Tuesday morning (9:00 am) meetings – but meetings aren’t held every Tuesday. Check the County’s calendar to be sure there is a meeting, and then check the Meetings page to confirm that Public Comment is on the agenda.
To hear about dates we’re organizing testimony, join our mailing list. Otherwise, any public comment date is a good one. The more often they hear from us, the better!
Where to Testify
In Person:
Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave. (Enter from Oak Street.) Doors open at 8:45 am. Sign up for public comment at the back of the room.
Virtually:
Register in advance using the link posted on the meetings page. A Zoom link will be emailed after you register.
How to Testify
• You usually have up to 3 minutes to speak. If there are a lot of speakers, they may reduce this, so also come with a 2 minute plan.
• You can read from notes or speak freely—either way is fine.
• A timer on the wall counts down your time.
• After in-person speakers, virtual participants speak.
• You may leave written materials with staff for the commissioners.
• Commissioner responses used to happen right after public comment but are now much later in the day, under “Comments and Remonstrance”—you can view them later in the video archive.
What to Say
Many of you know exactly what you want to say. Here are some suggestions for those who don’t:
- Personal stories are powerful – how this issue affects you or your neighbors.
- Include a call to action. For example: Please take maintenance responsibility for these roads by accepting our LARs into the County road system—without requiring they first be brought up to current standards for new roads. These roads should have been accepted decades ago.
Additional Points (use your own words):
- These are publicly owned county roads that are used by the public, and they should be maintained by the County.
- LAR homeowners pay the same transportation taxes (gas taxes and vehicle registration fees) as everyone else does, and deserve to have the same road maintenance service.
- There is nothing about most of these LARs that justifies treating them differently from County-maintained roads in our neighborhood – they look just like and function just like County-maintained roads in the neighborhood.
- We are not asking for immediate maintenance for all our LARs – we are asking that they be added to the County road system and their maintenance prioritized fairly according to function and condition along with all other County roads, so that they have a fair opportunity of receiving maintenance as funding is available.
- This is not a budget issue, it is a fairness issue. If these roads had been taken in decades ago as they should have been, the County would be facing the exact same budget shortfall that it currently is, it would be receiving the exact same funding that it currently is, and yet the County would be taking care of all of our roads to the best of its ability, without a thought to leaving some out to save money. Yes, adding 12 miles of LARs to the County’s 1400 miles will mean slightly less funding for other roads – but our tax dollars have been unfairly subsidizing those roads for decades.
- These roads can’t wait for the city to annex them years or decades from now.
Recent Testimony
We’re not experts at testifying, but we’re residents speaking out. Read or listen to our testimony: March 18 January 28.
Can’t Testify? Send an Email to the Commissioners
1. If we’re organizing testimony for a specific date: for your email to be part of the record for that meeting:
Email publiccomment@lanecountyor.gov by noon the day before the meeting. Use subject line: PUBLIC COMMENT FOR MEETING DATE MM/DD/YYYY
2. Send an email to the commissioners any time:
Email lcbcccom@lanecountyor.gov
Even though he’ll get your email to all the commissioners, I would also suggest emailing Ryan Ceniga, commissioner for most of River Road and Santa Clara directly, urging him to not just support our issue, but also work with the other commissioners to reach agreement. Ryan.Ceniga@lanecountyor.gov
We Have More Power Than We Think
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” — Alice Walker
“The power of the people is greater than the people in power.” — Wael Ghonim
Let’s make our voices heard.