Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Executive Session topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Josephine County commissioners declare potential conflicts, move to executive session on legal and property matters
Summary
At a March 24, 2025 county administrative workshop, commissioners briefly declared possible conflicts of interest and convened an executive session to receive legal counsel on a pending court case, a county-owned property at 210 Tacoma and communications facilities at 500 Northwest Sixth Street.
The Josephine County Board of Commissioners met March 24, 2025, and after brief conflict-of-interest declarations announced it would convene an executive session to receive legal counsel on three items, including a pending court case and two matters involving county property and communications facilities.
Commissioner Smith said, “There could there could possibly be a conflict of interest,” and later said he would “declare that there could possibly be one” because he is a resident. Commissioner Barnett identified himself as “a taxpayer, veteran and a business owner in Josephine County,” and said, “Could be a conflict of interest, but looking over the agenda today, I don't see any conflicts.” Those remarks occurred during the agenda item for declaration of potential conflicts of interest.
The board moved next to a legal-counseling update and announced it would go into executive session. The chair identified three agenda subjects to be discussed in closed session: (1a) a court case captioned John West v. Rhianne Engles, listed in the transcript as Case No. 24CB55538; (2) county real property described in the transcript as 210 Tacoma; and (3) communications facilities located at 500 Northwest Sixth Street. The board cited the authority for closing the session under the Oregon Revised Statutes governing executive sessions (ORS 192.660(2)), as stated in the meeting notice.
The board told the public that accredited representatives of the news media and designated staff would be allowed to attend the executive session but were “specifically directed not to report on or otherwise disclose any of the deliberations or anything said about these subjects during the executive session except to state the general subject of the session as previously announced.” The meeting record also notes that “No decision may be made in the executive session.”
Before the board left open session, a staff member instructed that recording devices be turned off: “The recorder and all recording devices, including cell phones will now be turned off at 01:33PM.” The board then moved into the executive session as announced.
No formal votes, motions with movers/seconders, or decisions were recorded in the open-session excerpt of the transcript. The matters listed for executive session will be discussed in closed session under the cited statutory authority; any formal action, if taken, would be recorded after the board returns to open session or in subsequent minutes.
