Washington County to ask Metro for limits on committee scope and city voting weight in SHS overhaul

Washington County staff briefed commissioners on Metro’s proposed ordinance to combine existing supportive housing services oversight bodies into a single regional committee and sought board input on a suggested letter of testimony.

Karen Doyle, senior government relations manager, and Molly Rogers, director of housing services, summarized changes in committee composition, including increasing non‑elected leaders and adding a non‑voting philanthropy seat. Staff noted Metro had adopted verbal amendments increasing the number of non‑elected voting seats.

Commissioners voiced broad support for many of Metro’s changes but raised consistent concerns: that city voting positions should not outnumber county votes across the three counties; that the committee’s scope should not be expanded unilaterally by Metro beyond existing intergovernmental agreement (IGA) responsibilities; and that Metro should apply geographic distribution across Metro Council seats. "We remain concerned that the city vote outweighs the county vote, and we do not think that that is appropriate," a county speaker summarized for the board. Staff said Metro plans onboarding in February–March and committee launch in April and offered to draft a letter with four priority points (thank you, city/county vote parity, no scope creep without IGA process, and limited acceptable implementation responsibilities). The board asked staff to circulate the draft for review before submission to Metro.