Votes at a glance: Crook County board approves grants, appointments, goals and executive-session directions
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Summary
At its March 4 meeting the Crook County Board of Commissioners approved the acceptance of behavioral-health grant funding, appointed a planning commissioner, adopted FY27 goals and priorities, approved a local drought declaration request for an irrigation district, authorized letters of intent for a real-property negotiation and authorized staff to enter third‑party mediation; several items were uncontested.
Crook County commissioners on March 4 approved a series of routine and administrative actions, including grant paperwork, an appointment to the planning commission, formal adoption of the board’s FY27 goals and authorization of follow-up steps from an executive session.
Karen Boyce, lieutenant with the sheriff’s office, asked the board to sign documents accepting the second half of a behavioral-health collection grant already awarded to the county. "We've already been awarded the grant," Boyce said; a commissioner moved and the board approved the signature action to accept the remaining funds for the program (transcript reference: BHD27-05 as stated during the meeting).
John Isler, community development director, presented Order 2026-08 recommending a regular appointment to Planning Commission position 7. The planning commission recommended Monte Kurtz; transcript uses inconsistent spellings for that appointee in the motion language (the packet recommendation is Monte Kurtz and the record also references "Bonnie Kurtz" and "Monty"). The board voted to appoint the recommended candidate after discussion and a roll-call-style response was recorded in the meeting.
County manager Will Van Vachter presented a restatement of the board’s six FY27 goals and priorities and asked the board to formally adopt them for use in budget planning; the motion to adopt the goals was seconded and approved.
A commissioner presented Order 2026-10, a resolution and order seeking a local drought declaration related to irrigation district conditions after receiving a request from the Deschutes Basin Board of Control and data from the Ochoco Irrigation District. The commissioner disclosed membership on the irrigation-district board and asked county legal counsel whether participation in the vote presented a conflict; the county attorney advised that, based on the discussion in the meeting, a conflict was not apparent. The resolution was moved, seconded and approved in open session.
After a closed executive session on negotiations involving real property and exempt records, county legal counsel recommended motions to move forward: approve the letters of intent discussed in the executive session and authorize staff to participate in third‑party mediation under parameters reviewed behind closed doors. Both recommendations were moved, seconded and approved in open session.
The meeting also recorded a $500 community-partner sponsorship the commissioners approved to support a "Restoring Hope" community luncheon hosted by Best Care, the county's contracted mental-health provider.
Documents and order numbers presented during the meeting include Order 2026-08 (planning commission appointment) and Order/Resolution 2026-10 (drought declaration). The meeting record contains multiple short-form references and a small number of inconsistent name spellings for an appointee; those inconsistencies are noted in the public minutes and packet materials.
