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Lane County keeps going, despite challenges of COVID, wildfires

Lane County Board Chair Joe Berney delivers the State of the County address.
Lane County webcast
Lane County Board Chair Joe Berney delivers the State of the County address.

Lane County has been through a tough couple of years with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Holiday Farm Fire of September 2020. In his State of the County address Monday, Commission Chair Joe Berney expressed gratitude for health care, and other frontline workers, who have saved lives. He also referenced the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. capitol last year.

“The job of nonpartisan government is not to be distracted by noise, which there has been some of, but to focus on solutions, on results that make life as good as possible for as many as possible,” Berney said. “Throughout, I have been consistently reminded of the wartime quote by Winston Churchill, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep on going.’”

Berney said there’s more hope for 2022 as the county continues to recover. He said he wants to make sure services are accessible to everyone. And, he mentioned that this year the county’s first public shelter for those experiencing homelessness is set to open.

Commissioner Pat Farr will take over as Chair of the Board of Lane County Commissioners. Laurie Trieger is Vice Chair.

Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.