Morrow County commissioners adopt FY 2026 budget, approve several administrative actions and water project application

Morrow County commissioners on X approved the county—s fiscal year 2026 budget, took a series of administrative votes and authorized staff moves on multiple planning, public-safety and water projects during a regularly scheduled meeting.

The board adopted the FY 2026 budget and made related appropriations after a public hearing held as part of the meeting. Commissioners also approved a FY 2025 supplemental budget designed to cover limited unanticipated payroll and other minor needs. Both actions were taken by formal resolution.

Beyond the budget, the board took action on routine and near-term operational items: it adopted an updated county combined public health all-hazards emergency preparedness plan with staff directions to remove or generalize now-expired federal pandemic program references and to add a missing citation; it approved an amendment to the county—s 2024 ambulance service plan revising the response-time map to shorter, clearer bands (including an 8- and 15-minute band in parts of the county and a 45-minute band for frontier areas); it approved a transit civil-rights (Title VI) appendix for county transit operations (with a minor wording correction); and it approved two short overlap hires (a two-month overlap for the fair manager position and a one-month overlap for a justice court clerk) to permit on-the-job training during staff transitions.

On payroll and procurement governance, the board discussed an invoice that staff flagged as inconsistent with the county procurement policy (several smaller orders that had been split to stay under formal procurement thresholds). The county finance department reported that auditors are now asking for full disclosure of such matters; commissioners discussed strengthening front-end controls and instructions for departments and supported steps to create clearer desk-level guidance while awaiting an upgraded enterprise resource plan (ERP) that will enable stronger automated purchase-order controls. The board nevertheless voted to pay the specific vendor invoice presented at the meeting.

Public works and planning matters included: a presentation from planning staff on multiple items (vacancy on the Planning Commission, temporary conditional use permits for trucking businesses, renewable-energy project coordination and new state solar siting rules), and updates on the West Glen (Greater WestGlen) drinking-water roadmap, which is an EPA-funded effort to study extending municipal water service to areas with high nitrate levels. Planning staff and county administration reported the July 1 community open house for WestGlen outreach and said work remains to clarify costs and funding paths.

County staff also briefed the board on a large, multiagency transportation planning effort for the Tower Road interchange near Biggs Junction; planners said the full interchange reconstruction could cost many tens of millions of dollars and that phased approaches will be evaluated.

On a project funded through congressionally-directed spending, the board authorized staff to apply for a phase-2 federal appropriation that would support development of an additional municipal well and related distribution improvements for the city of Irrigon to help address local nitrate contamination in private and small public systems. The application would require an intergovernmental agreement if the county receives the funds.

Finally, the board authorized staff to send a joint letter of opposition to House Bill 2725, which county leaders said would single out a small number of counties for treatment different from other Oregon counties. Commissioners asked staff to coordinate testimony with neighboring counties if the bill moves in Salem.

What the board did not decide at the meeting: public-works staff raised a tree-removal request on Miller Road (a county right-of-way the county does not maintain), seeking direction on whether the county should undertake a single-project resolution or declare an emergency to remove about 20 large hazardous trees. Commissioners directed staff to return with a resolution and more background, and no tree removal was authorized at the meeting.

The meeting included a progress briefing from consultant MGT on a countywide classification and compensation study. MGT reported it had collected job questionnaires from employees, completed market-survey data collection from peer jurisdictions, and planned an administrative review to translate job-evaluation scores and market results into a classification plan and recommended pay ranges. Commissioners and staff emphasized that study results are recommendations for future budget cycles and do not guarantee immediate pay changes.

Votes at a glance: - Adopted FY 2026 budget and made appropriations (Resolution R202506) — Outcome: approved - Adopted FY 2025 supplemental budget (Resolution R202507) — Outcome: approved - Adopted combined public-health all-hazards emergency preparedness plan (with edits requested by commissioners) — Outcome: approved - Approved payment of the flagged vendor invoice (payable amount presented at meeting) — Outcome: approved - Approved two out-of-cycle overlap positions: fair manager (two months) and justice court clerk (one month) — Outcome: approved - Approved amendment No.1 to the 2024 Morrow County Ambulance Service plan (revised response-time bands) — Outcome: approved - Approved Morrow County Public Transit Title VI appendix (minor wording correction) — Outcome: approved - Approved joint opposition letter to HB 2725 and authorized staff to send it to legislators — Outcome: approved - Authorized submission of the congressionally-directed spending application to support an additional municipal well and distribution infrastructure in Irrigon — Outcome: approved

Next steps and context: county staff will finalize the edits to the public-health plan before filing with Oregon Health Authority, prepare a draft resolution and additional background for Miller Road tree removal if commissioners want to proceed, and continue the WestGlen outreach schedule (public open house July 1 and additional meetings later in summer). The classification and compensation study will return recommendations to administration for consideration in the next budget cycle. The county will coordinate with neighboring counties on testimony related to HB 2725 if the legislation advances.

The meeting record shows public comment was opened for the budget hearings; no members of the public testified during those hearings. The board closed the public hearings before taking votes on the budget items. The meeting concluded with routine correspondence and commissioner reports.