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Board asks staff to study civic-assembly and lower-cost options for forming commissioner-districting committee
Summary
Commissioners asked staff to return with cost and timeline estimates for a civic-assembly-style selection process and lower-cost alternatives (postcards/online application, in-house facilitation) before deciding how to form a districting committee for potential ballot placement.
Deschutes County commissioners on April 16 directed staff to investigate options and costs for forming a citizen committee to draw commissioner districts, including a civic-assembly-style sortition and lower-cost alternatives, and to return with concrete cost and timeline estimates.
County staff presented three broad options: a locally appointed committee, a Home Rule Charter–style appointment mix, and a civic assembly (deliberative, sortition-based selection of representative citizens). Commissioners expressed interest in representative, nonpartisan citizen selection but also warned that a full civic assembly process used elsewhere had high costs and logistical demands.
Staff and county clerk Steve Dennison discussed practical questions like committee size (the staff memo noted common sizes between 11 and 19 members), meeting length, facilitation and potential costs for mailings or postcards to solicit applications. Commissioners asked staff to cost two primary paths: (1) a lower-cost outreach and sortition process using postcards/QR code and in-house facilitation or trained students, and (2) a larger civic assembly process with professional facilitation and mailed applications, which carries higher expense.
Commissioners emphasized the need to avoid rushing the process for an early ballot placement and to ensure representative participation across the county’s precincts. Several commissioners recommended pursuing more information about facilitator costs, mailer options (postcard versus full mail packet), and whether local colleges or trained students could help with facilitation as a cost-saving measure.
Staff will return with comparative cost estimates, timeline options and recommended next steps. The board also flagged other process questions for future sessions, including whether to adopt four districts plus an at-large chair or five single-member districts; commissioners did not make final decisions on districting structure at the meeting.
