Klamath County green-lights planning to host CourseArc SummerEx; staff requests $50,000 earmark

Daniel Towery, a patrol sergeant with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s Search and Rescue (SAR) coordinator, asked the Klamath County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 21 to approve planning to host CourseArc’s SummerEx training and to earmark funds so organizers do not need to seek repeated approvals for incremental purchases.

CourseArc — described in the meeting packet as a multicounty collaboration among Northern California and Southern Oregon search-and-rescue teams — runs a four-day event (two principal training days) that Towery said provides advanced skills training such as rope rescue, wilderness CPR and mission coordination. “We train together as a course hour unit. That way, when we are called to assist on one of these... we’re not meeting these people for the first time,” Towery told the commissioners.

Towery said Jackson County reported spending about $67,000 to host the event and asked the board to earmark up to $50,000 so the county can make deposits (for tents, site fees or other upfront costs) without returning to the board for each expenditure. Monica, the sheriff’s office budget manager, told the board the SAR fund has available material-and-services balance and that the budget rolls over annually: “Unless there is a catastrophic event for our SAR team, the only thing that affects it is just the material services…there’s probably the amount of money in the budget to earmark for SummerEx.”

Commissioners expressed consistent support for hosting. One commissioner said, “It is our turn,” noting neighboring counties have hosted the event in recent years. Another suggested using the county-owned Spence Mountain as a primary site to reduce rental costs; commissioners and staff also discussed the possibility of billing the nine partner counties for portions of the event and seeking Title III federal reimbursements when training occurs on federal land.

Towery and staff cited existing intercounty billing as a revenue source: Jackson County billed the other members roughly $23,000 last year, Towery said, and Klamath County paid about $3,000 for one recent event. He said that pattern suggests some of the requested funds would be recovered from partner counties after the event.

The board did not take a formal recorded vote on an ordinance or budget amendment during the meeting. After discussion, a commissioner told staff, “K? K. You have approval. Move on forward,” indicating informal authorization to proceed with planning. Towery said he will return with further details as planning and budgeting progress.

If the county proceeds, staff said the likely funding mix will include the county SAR fund, reimbursements billed to participating CourseArc counties, potential Title III federal reimbursements for activities on federal land, and possible vendor sponsorships. Staff also noted the event could bring several hundred search-and-rescue participants to Klamath County, which could have modest local economic benefits for lodging and restaurants.

Board direction at the meeting was limited to planning approval and a request for staff to return with more detailed budget and site proposals; no binding budget appropriation was adopted at this meeting.