Washington County delays overhaul of community participation program after public pushback
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Summary
After hours of presentation and public comment, the Board of Commissioners voted 3–2 to postpone action on a resolution to restructure Community Participation Organizations (CPOs) and transfer CCI responsibilities to the Planning Commission, moving the item to the Jan. 27 consent agenda for further review.
Chair Harrington opened a public hearing on a proposed restructuring of the county's community participation program, which would consolidate CPOs into four district-based groups and transfer responsibilities for the Committee for Community Involvement (CCI) to the Planning Commission.
County staff said the proposal is intended to modernize engagement, align land-use responsibilities with subject-matter expertise and address budget and open-meetings constraints. A staff timeline would keep existing CPO and CCI meetings through March while internal transition planning occurs, and launch a new model in September 2026.
Longtime community participants pushed back. Bruce Bartlett, who said he had chaired the CCI for the last four years, asked the board to correct a scrivener's error in the resolution and consider repealing the earlier ordinance (R&O 80-108) in full rather than only the specified section. Ayla Hoffler told the board she was "opposed to this transitioning and restructuring on so many levels," saying the proposal would "dissolve local-level choice" and replace grassroots, elected neighborhood participation with appointed structures. Mary Manso asked the board to include best practices and clearer public-facing names during the transition so residents would understand the change.
Deputy County Counsel Courtney Duke Dreesen confirmed the packet contained a scrivener's error (80-198 should read 80-108) and said the resolution as drafted correctly directs repeal only of section 2(a) of R&O 80-108; staff indicated they would continue reviewing county documents and could return with further adjustments.
Commissioners debated whether to slow the timeline and hold an evening hearing to broaden participation. Commissioner Fai moved to postpone action on the resolution and return it to the Jan. 27 evening meeting, and to place the item on that meeting's consent agenda; after amendment the motion passed 3–2. Chair Harrington said staff will make the scrivener corrections and return a clean document for the board's January 27 meeting.
The public record of the hearing and the board's decision leaves open further edits to the resolution and implementation details; the item will return to the board on Jan. 27 with the staff-directed corrections and the naming/implementation questions still unresolved.
