NEMCCA Board Meets with Commssioner Wheeler

Keeping the Communication Lines Open

The NEMCCA Board met with Multnomah County Commissioner Chair, Ted Wheeler, and our local Commissioner, Lonnie Roberts on Thurs., May 22, 2008. The NEMCCA Board has wanted to make contact with the County Commissioner Chair for sometime to introduce ourselves and to create a working relationship on issues that affect our Corbett community.

Resource Officer / Police Protection

Of utmost importance in our meeting was the subject of restoring the school resource officer to our Corbett Schools. This item has been included in the county budget at this time. The new title is "Community Resource Officer", as this officer will also serve the community as a whole in the time that he spends in Corbett. On safety issues, Commissioner Wheeler emphasized that it is important for us to contact all of the county commissioners with our concerns. He stated that persistence in contact and attending meetings does get their attention. Also, we need to stay in contact with the new Multnomah County Sheriff, Bob Skipper, who will be taking over that position on July 1st. The concerns of increasing crime taking place in the Columbia River Gorge area as a whole was discussed. It is a real possibility that the Gorge will have an even greater influx of visitors this year with the high gas prices and people staying closer to home. Some of the possibilities of funding increased police protection included checking to see if hotel/motel taxes are available for tourism related transportation issues and checking on Federal dedicated funds for the Columbia River Gorge Protected Area to see if there is a source of money that could be applied for for police protection in the Gorge.

Bicycle Issues

Bicycle safety is an ever increasing problem in the Corbett area. For everyone's information, we emphasized that the NEMCCA Board has put forward a lot of effort to meet with ODOT and other government agencies to enforce bicycle safety. We have also had a lot of contact with various bicycle organizations to work with them and pass the need of safety issues back to their members. Commissioner Wheeler said that increased signage was one thing the county could consider to encourage bicycle safety. Several other possibilities to emphasize safety were also discussed. It was a very productive meeting with issues and solutions well received on each side. Commissioner Wheeler encouraged meetings like this one to keep the levels of communication open and to work together to make all of our neighborhoods better. If you would like to contact Commissioner Wheeler or any of the other Commissioners, please click on the Multnomah County link on the home page.