I have called Grants Pass and Josephine County home since 1977. I graduated from GP High School, spent several years in the timber industry, and then furthered my education and worked in the Josephine County Juvenile Justice department for nearly 27 years. I have always worked for what is best for our county and felt compelled to file recall petitions for county commissioners Chris Barnett and Andreas Blech back on August 25th because of extreme damage they are causing to our county.
We are on track to bring these two recall measures before all voters of Josephine County. But please come out and sign these petitions to help make sure everyone gets to vote, because there is only about one week left to gather signatures before the deadline.
The 200-word maximum you are given for the recall petition language only scratches the surface of describing the damage these two commissioners are causing. It will take years to recover from their actions, but we can stop the critical bleeding if we act quickly. See restorejoco.com for some of the major concerns.
Commissioners Barnett and Blech have responded to the recall petitions by blaming a couple political groups for funding and organizing this effort that have absolutely nothing to do with it. One group they blamed doesn’t even have a bank account and the other group had a membership vote and voted not to take a position on the recall. When facts are pointed out to the Commissioners, they have only doubled down on their false statements.
Commissioners Barnett and Blech collaborated on a 3-page “whitepaper” which they issued a little over a month ago, attempting a rebuttal of the recall petition points against them. This whitepaper contained countless false statements, and much of it merely blamed this recall on a political group that is not at all involved.
I had never even heard of the political groups they are blaming for this recall until after I gathered a large group of concerned local citizens and filed the recall petitions. The truth is, the majority of individuals leading different parts of this campaign are registered republicans or conservatives. But this is a nonpartisan political effort. We are a group of community leaders that like me just want what is best for our County government and see the damage being done by our commissioners.
Commissioners Barnett and Blech in their rebuttals have either ignored the concerns or misrepresented the truth. And when citizens request answers either in weekly business sessions or by public records requests, Commissioners often refuse to answer or address the concerns. Commissioner Barnett preaches “Unity in the Community” in most public meetings lately, then his various personally owned and operated “News” pages on Facebook put out negative hit pieces on any community individuals that express concerns.
Here is a small sample of the many community concerns that Commissioners Barnett and Blech still haven’t addressed after months of concerned citizens speaking out:
1) Attempt to pay an unqualified County staff member a compensation package of $388,000 per year
2) Firing two department directors right after last year’s commissioners were found to have bullied and retaliated against these directors according to an internal investigation by a third party, likely incurring million $ lawsuits
3) Illegally withholding public records in several public records requests
4) Bullying anyone critical of their decision making (both employees and citizens)
5) Blaming the recall effort on organizations that have nothing to do with it
6) Huge cost incurred in offering an employee voluntary resignation program and no transparency on how many of those positions have been or will be refilled
7) Several employee terminations and promotions done illegally behind closed doors without taking actions in a public meeting of Commissioners as required by law and policies
8) Several crony employee appointments or promotions made without following law and policy on filling new or open positions
I have recently offered to debate the two commissioners regarding the recall petition points. Like most community concerns lately, the Commissioners have not responded.
Any citizens that share our concerns, please come visit the Restore Jo Co office in downtown Grants Pass in the next 7 days to sign the recall petition. We are at 123 SE K Street in Grants Pass (between 6th and 7th Streets) and are open M-F 9am to 6pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm.