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Seen a Rogue on
the loose?
The Multnomah County Commission is not the biggest bunch of scoundrels we've ever written about in this column, but its recent decision to scrap plans for a new jail near Delta Park raises troubling questions. Sheriff Dan Noelle also deserves some of the blame for an error that has cost the county $1.4 million. First, a bit of history: In August 1997, the commission (then made up of Beverly Stein, Gary Hansen, Sharron Kelley, Tanya Collier and Dan Saltzman) gave Noelle unanimous approval to buy the so-called Radio Tower site. This was 18 months after Mike Houck of the Audubon Society began warning the commission about the environmental sensitivity of the area, which is a wetland, and the difficulty of obtaining permits to fill it. Now, a year after giving unanimous approval, the new commission (Diane Linn and Lisa Naito have replaced Saltzman and Collier, who resigned to run for City Council) has halted the project. The top three reasons? The environmental sensitivity of the area, the cost of building on wetlands and the odds of obtaining the permits. The commission should have thought about this before authorizing Noelle to go ahead with the process. The fourth reason given by the commission--that the size of the facility is now smaller, so they may be able to find a different site--also rings hollow. Again, the commission should have nailed down the number of beds they were building before spending more than $1 million on a flawed site. Noelle should also take the heat for this boondoggle. Houck says the sheriff pushed the Citizen Siting Committee and county commissioners towards the Radio Tower site based on erroneous information about environmental issues. Whether he intentionally misinformed the committee or just didn't do his homework, Noelle shares responsibility for the $1 million loss.
originally published September 16, 1998
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