This May, Democratic voters will choose their candidate for the Benton County Board of Commissioner’s Position 1.
The incumbent, Pat Malone, is facing a challenger, John Wilson, who’s criticized his handling of the Coffin Butte landfill.
Both of the candidates say they want to avoid raising taxes on residents and want to improve waste management practices in the county.
Benton County Commissioners are elected by voters countywide. No Republican has filed for the race.
Pat Malone
Pat Malone, a tree farmer, is vying for his third term in office. He said he wants to build more bike paths and move towards fully staffing the county’s Crisis Center.
He also wants to strengthen the county’s relationship with Oregon State University.
“We both have serious challenges with what the federal government's up to,” said Malone.
Malone said he spends much of his time preparing for the eventual closure of Coffin Butte.
Last year, Gov. Tina Kotek selected Malone to lead a state task force on municipal solid waste management in the Willamette Valley.
“The solid waste keeps coming. And we have to plan ahead,” said Malone. “Ten years in for what we have facing us, to have the infrastructure in place, it’s a heavy lift.”
Malone drew some pushback last November when he voted to approve an expansion of Coffin Butte, despite community concerns over odor and pollution risks.
He later changed his vote after the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced it was taking enforcement action against the landfill’s owners.
Malone told KLCC he was just following the land use process, which limited his ability to communicate with the public about the application.
“I did my best to follow the rules, took public testimony seriously,” said Malone. “But I also needed to look at the recommendations that were coming to us from our planning division, and we hired outside experts to guide us through this complicated process.”
Malone has endorsements from U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who previously represented the Corvallis area in the Oregon House. One of Malone’s fellow commissioners, Nancy Wyse, is also backing him.
As of April 29, Malone had raised more than $10,000 this election cycle.
John Wilson
John Wilson is an Adair Village City Councilor who was on Benton County’s Planning Commission when it unanimously rejected the landfill expansion application.
Wilson said Malone’s voting record on the landfill was part of the motivation to run. He said it signals that the incumbent isn’t fully listening to his constituents.
He said he wants to be reachable, and he’ll push to hold some County Commission meetings in the evening so more people can attend.
“I hope to be able to serve in a capacity that I'm listening to the community and coming to where they're at and not imposing expectations about where I think they need to be,” said Wilson.
Wilson said he’d like to see more alternative energy projects and electrified buses. He serves on the Corvallis-Area Metropolitan Planning Organization alongside Malone.
But at the same time, Malone said the failure of a county bond measure in 2023 shows that increasing the tax burden on residents isn’t the right answer.
“The residents spoke resoundingly that they want the county to look for streams of revenue,” said Wilson, “but to look towards the state and maybe the federal government.”
Wilson has proposed allowing accessory dwellings in rural areas, to give multigenerational families more options for housing. But he said he’ll consider the concerns he’s heard from residents that big developers could abuse that process.
So far, Wilson has drawn endorsements from The Oregon League of Conservation Voters and Corvallis Mayor Charles Maughan.
Benton County Commissioner Gabe Shepherd, who voted against the landfill expansion in November, has also voiced his support.
As of April 29, Wilson had raised more than $12,000 this election cycle.
