Just one contested county commissioner race will be on the Lane County ballot this fall: East Lane County incumbent Heather Buch is facing challenger Jake Pelroy.
East Lane is the geographically largest county commission district, and includes the edge of Eugene, Coburg, Cottage Grove, Oakridge and a vast swath of unincorporated area, including the McKenzie River corridor east of Springfield.
Both candidates say one of their top priorities is housing, although they approach the issue differently.
Pelroy is a Marine veteran who’s never held public office. But he’s been around politics for years as a consultant advising conservative campaigns and has worked as legislative staffer in Salem. He’s also the president of the Lane County Garbage Association, which has been fighting a project that raised garbage fees to pay for a waste diversion project. Buch supports that project.
Housing
If elected, Pelroy said he would focus on hiring a performance auditor, a position that’s been vacant for years. He said that person could address problems the county has delivering services, including long wait times in the land management division.
"I hear it all the time, people that have issues doing an expansion on their home, putting in an ADU, businesses that want to expand,” Pelroy said. “It just takes so long to get anything done."
Pelroy also argued that Lane County has been a barrier to rebuilding after the Holiday Farm Fire and other counties have been able to make more progress, faster in recovering from fire disasters.
He said the county should implement the recommendations of a 2024 report on barriers to building at the Land Management Division. The report urged commissioners to make a swath of changes including making more assistance available to applicants to help them avoid common mistakes and avoiding unnecessary fees.
Buch’s professional background is in real-estate and affordable housing. She’s seeking her third term as county commissioner.
Buch said she’s supported efforts to increase the pipeline of affordable housing, including the county’s landbanking program and its affordable housing action plan.
She said the most effective way the county can boost housing is by coming alongside cities and unincorporated communities and helping them resolve zoning or infrastructure problems.
"We know that in the long term, cities are likely going to be the ones that build the most new housing for people, but the county has a role," Buch said.
Buch said she previously voted to waive fees for those rebuilding from the Holiday Farm Fire and also voted to rezone Blue River, which is unincorporated, in hopes of adding capacity for more housing.
She said some land use rules that frustrate local builders are actually state laws, and said she planned to use her platform as a county commissioner to advocate for state lawmakers to modernize Oregon’s codes.
Public safety
Both candidates said they are concerned about Lane County’s struggling public safety system, especially the limited patrol in rural areas. On a typical day, just three deputies and a supervisor are available to patrol the county’s vast swath of unincorporated areas.
Pelroy said it's clear the public doesn’t support the funding ideas a county taskforce created, such as a payroll tax or special taxing district.
He argued the commissioners should put their energy into restoring timber revenues, which subsidized Oregon’s local governments for years.
“It’s not coming out of our pockets,” Pelroy said. “It’s coming out of the resources that we have.”
Recent changes in federal policy have given some counties a small bump in revenue, but Lane County has not yet seen those benefits.
Buch said she’s previously been focused on increasing prevention programs at Lane County, and said she has in the past voted to allocate county resources to keep rural patrols.
When asked what solution she supported to address Lane County’s strained public safety system, Buch said she would like to have more conversations with the community.
“What would it mean to have expanded patrols and is that something the community wants right now?” Buch said. “I think those kinds of conversations are important and I’ve been proud to support the public safety system as a whole.”
The candidates also disagreed on what they see as the most pressing challenges facing the board of county commissioners.
Pelroy argued Buch hasn’t kept her focus on her district and votes too often with Laurie Trieger, a progressive commissioner who represents South Eugene. He said county commission races are nonpartisan and commissioners should focus on doing the basics well.
"I've been able to make my case to people because they've had issues and they're frustrated they can't get the services that they need,” Pelroy said. “Those other places in the state, they can get those services."
Buch said in the face of federal cuts, Lane County needs an experienced commissioner willing to stand up for the region’s safety net and Medicaid.
"They are reducing means in which people can get healthcare access,” Buch said. “As a local community it is so important that we elect people that are going to fight back."
Campaign finance
The race to represent Lane County is more expensive than a typical local government election, approaching a million dollars between the two campaigns.
According to Oregon’s online campaign finance database, Pelroy started this year with about $29,500 in the bank. Since the start of the year, he’s raised an additional $484,000.
The two donors that have contributed the most to Pelroy’s campaign are Kathleen Jones-McCann, a former timber executive who’s been in the news lately for a land use conflict with the county, and PAC Community Action Network.
In the primary, Jones-McCann donated close to $58,000 to Pelroy’s campaign. In the general election, two companies she is listed as manager of–according to state records–gave an additional $50,000 to Pelroy. Those companies are Gerking Ranch LLC and Weiser River Paradise LLC.
The Community Action Network PAC has mostly given to conservative campaigns over the years, including donations to Commissioners David Loveall and Ryan Ceniga, who were both on the May ballot.
The PAC’s biggest donors this year are connected to the building and lumber industry, including Goshen Forest Productions LLC, Sierra Pacific Industries and Rosboro Building Better. That PAC donated $66,000 to Pelroy’s campaign.
Buch started the year with about $72,000 in the bank. Since then she’s raised an additional $342,000.
The single biggest contributions to Buch’s campaign this cycle is the Democratic Partly of Lane County, which has given roughly $21,000 in total, most of which was in-kind support. Other notable supporters include former state Rep. Phil Barnhart, who donated $12,000 to Buch's campaign.
Previously Buch received significant support from the real estate industry including Eugene REALTORS for Community PAC and the Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee. She's also consistently been supported by unions, including donations from the chapter of AFSCME that represents many of Lane County’s employees, according to state records
