Citizens, elected officials, friends:

Thank you for coming to hear the state of Lane County.

First I would like to recognize the other elected officials and public servants in the audience who are also responsible for the wellbeing of our county.

I want to thank the Elmira High School Choir even though they had to cancel due road conditions in the outlying areas of the district like Walton and Noti. I would also like to thank Tanna Stafford from Junction City High School for providing that stirring rendition of our national anthem and the Veneta Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall for presenting the colors.

I specifically asked for veterans to present the colors to highlight our progress in serving veterans over the last year. Commissioner Farr began that effort as chair in 2014 when he joined with mayors Piercy and Lundberg for Operation 365 - an ambitious effort to house 365 veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in a single year. That is an effort that our Board supports, along with a renewed focus on identifying long-term solutions to poverty and homelessness.

I am proud to say that although we are still putting the numbers together, it appears that Commissioner Farr, Mayor Piercy and Mayor Lundberg have been successful in that ambition and we are on target to achieve our goal. Congratulations to you and your partners!

I began 2015 by announcing that it would be a year focused on resilience. Resilience is defined as "the capacity or ability to recover from, or adjust easily to, disaster, misfortune or change."

Most people think of infrastructure like bridges and roads when they think of resilience, especially after the publicity of the New Yorker article on the Oregon Resilience Plan and the pending Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami. Resilience is more than that. It is also about organizational and financial systems that have the capacity to withstand upheaval and uncertainty. It is about building a diverse economy that will weather downturns in a single sector. It is about developing a sense of community, so that folks will be ready to care for one another if times turn difficult.

Lane County has continued to build resilience throughout 2015. Our citizens and staff have worked together improving systems, implementing innovative ideas, working collaboratively, and strengthening our community.

I have already mentioned the collaborative effort between the County, the City of Eugene and the City of Springfield in housing veterans so that they are more prepared to deal with the change that life after service brings. Our Veterans Service Officers in Health and Human Services also provided service to 5,113 clients, 833 of those clients were served by our rural outreach in the cities of Florence, Cottage Grove and Oakridge. Our Veterans Service Officers connected their clients to new benefits valued at almost nine ($9) million dollars annually and one-time retroactive compensation of seven ($7) million dollars in Fiscal Year 14/15. The total compensation and payments received the federal fiscal year of 2014 for all veterans and their families in Lane County was over one hundred forty million dollars ($140 million) - the highest of any county in Oregon!

Let me repeat that, after reminding everyone that Lane County is fourth in population in Oregon and the largest county has more than twice our population. Lane County has the highest compensation and benefits for our veterans of any county in Oregon!

In Lane County we work hard for those that served our country so they receive the benefits they have earned and to lead a more resilient and fulfilling life.

I would like to ask all of the veterans and active duty personnel present to please stand so that we can thank you one more time for your service to our country.

A healthy community is also more resilient and Lane County along with our partners at Trillium did much in 2015 to improve access to health care for our most vulnerable citizens. We opened our sixth primary care clinic, less than 18 months after opening our fifth clinic. The Delta Oaks Clinic provides space for six primary care providers and will co-locate a behavior health specialist - continuing our efforts to integrate mental health services with physical health services. County staff was able to go from concept and grant award to opening in less than eight months, on time and under budget!

Our Health and Human Services Department continues to expand behavioral health services and integrate them into not only our physical health system but also into our criminal justice system. This year the Board approved the Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice System Plan that provides a blueprint to intervene and provide mental health services as early as possible to those in the criminal justice system and get them the treatment needed rather than house them at greater expense in our jail or the state prison system.

The Public Safety Coordinating Council and the Board approved a budget and grant applications under the new Oregon Justice Reinvestment Act to provide mental health and addiction treatment diversion programs to those involved in the criminal justice system as well as re-entry programs that will prevent recidivism.

Our continued efforts to improve mental health outreach and to divert those suffering from illness from our criminal justice system will decrease costs and help these citizens to more productive lives.

Lane County also expanded services to those with developmental disabilities and their families in 2015 through the new state-wide "K" plan. We added 12 new staff and began a new program to assist in the transition of developmentally disabled teenagers to more independent adult life styles. By preparing them for a changing world, we lower the risk of clients becoming un-housed and help prevent long-term costs.

Speaking of housing, the Board of Commissioners moved forward with the establishment of the new Poverty and Homelessness Board, on which Commissioner Farr is our representative. This new collaborative group of partners is looking for practical solutions to these issues. Lane County has been assisting with providing locations for the Nightingale Health Sanctuary's temporary rest stops and is also providing one of two locations for the overnight camping pilot program recently approved by the City of Eugene. In addition, we are working towards the creation of a new Housing First facility with our partners to give those that need to deal with the causes of homelessness a safe place to receive treatment and counseling services and to provide that stability and resilience to move on to permanent housing.

Lane County has been able to do this work by leveraging state and federal funding, as well as grants. A great example is the pending opening of a new shelter for teens in the foster care system who are at risk of homelessness or incarceration. This shelter pilot started as an idea presented by staff to the Board and was adopted as a legislative priority by the Board. Our staff and Board members successfully lobbied in Salem and $250,000 of directed spending was allocated for the pilot. I would like to especially thank Val Hoyle, Floyd Prozanski and Nancy Nathanson for their efforts.

We then we worked with a local non-profit, Looking Glass, to provide the best program at a reasonable cost. Now, we may be able to avoid the higher cost of future homeless adults by preventing these teens from spending nights on the streets.

There is a well-documented correlation between teenage and adult homelessness. If a teenager spends more than two weeks on the streets, they are more than 80 percent likely to be chronically homeless as an adult. It therefore makes sense to do everything in our power to prevent minors from spending that "15th night" on the streets. This pilot shelter is also an example of our efforts to intervene before children and teenagers become homeless or at-risk adults - preserving their opportunity for a bright future and reducing the need for services.

I don't have enough time to touch on all of the good work Lane County staff and our partners do to assist our most vulnerable citizens. I hope you can appreciate how these efforts to improve the health, both physical and mental, of all citizens will build their capacity to deal with change and how it will reduce future costs, to not only our safety net programs, but also to our criminal justice system.

The Public Health staff showed their resilience in dealing with the meningitis outbreak at the University of Oregon: Setting up an incident command structure, gathering accurate data, coordinating with state, federal and university authorities, providing factual information to the public and then setting up vaccination clinics. They showed how to deal with an unexpected adverse situation in a professional manner through preparation and training. Preparation and training is how I hope we can prepare the entire organization and our citizens for adversity.

Lane County has also been working on organizational resilience in many ways, including building trust through openness with our citizens. One of the ways we are doing that is by providing a third party review of our organization and publicizing the results for all to see. In January, the Board and the Sheriff released the first annual audit of the jail levy. The audit showed that the funds collected had been spent exactly as promised and that the Board met the commitment to maintain sufficient matching General Funds - as promised - to maintain 256 local jail beds, slightly more than the minimum 255 promised.

Sheriff Trapp did not stop there. In September, the Sheriff's Office was able to open 41 additional local jail beds. Greatly reducing the number of capacity based releases from the jail and making sure that NO Measure 11 violent offenders were released based on jail capacity for the entire year. Keeping Lane County safer from violent criminals as promised.

The Sheriff also hired a new medical services contractor for the jail through a public and open process. The new contract is providing expanded mental health evaluation and services to those brought to the jail. In addition, the new contractor will work in cooperation with our Behavioral Health staff to determine the proper placement of those with mental health issues. Providing early diversion and treatment and avoiding more costly in-jail services.

The Board also hired an independent performance auditor and set up an audit committee. Commissioners Leiken and Farr have been our representatives helping to guide this new effort. One of the auditor's first tasks was to perform a risk assessment of the County's programs to determine where the greatest risks lie and to guide a work plan to deal with the highest risk first. 2016 will see the results of the first major performance audits and these will be made available to the public so that they can see how Lane County is working to utilize public funds effectively and efficiently.

In 2015, a process to develop policies for large events in our parks - initiated through the efforts of Commissioner Stewart - was completed. This was a very public process that utilized a citizen task force made up of interested stakeholders who put in countless hours drafting such a strong set of recommendations that they were adopted by the Board of Commissioners unanimously! It was a transparent and collaborative process that helped build trust for future processes and one we hope to duplicate in moving ahead next year with the update of our Parks Master Plan.

Building trust is also about understanding our differences, and treating people with compassion and equity. Commissioner Sorenson championed our efforts to develop a new equity and human rights plan that will support and improve our human rights work in our organization and the community. This effort will build our capacity for cultural competency and help the County and our citizens embrace our ever-changing community in an inclusive manner.

We also prepared another balanced budget during a time of many funding uncertainties. The budget was adopted in a public process by the Budget Committee and then by the Board. Once again our financial staff did a superb job of preparing the budget documents and again received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Financial Officers Association. An award Lane County has received for nine out of the last ten years - and the year we did not get it was because we did not submit because of staff reductions that year. In addition, the County has also received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, also from Government Financial Officers Association, for our Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (also known as the external audit) each year since 2003.

The annual third party financial audit of our prior year's budget came in without any significant findings. In fact, our auditors have listed Lane County as a "low risk" audit for six years in a row. The citizens can trust our financial records and budget documents as being both accurate and truthful and representing an organization built on sound financial practices.

Looking ahead to 2016, we know this will be a year of great financial challenges for Lane County as we face the end of federal timber harvest replacement funding and have to survive on the meager funding from the actual harvest receipts. We have known this was coming for some time and our staff has been preparing the County for this adversity through many cost saving programs they have thought up, initiated and carried out.

In 2015 our Human Resources and financial staff moved the County to a self-insured system for health insurance. This change is projected to reduce costs to the County by approximately $2 million in the first year. This is on top of the savings achieved by gradually moving all of our employees to two common health insurance plans.

In cooperation with our two Public Works bargaining groups, a new set of health insurance plans was implemented for new hires in those two groups and in our non-represented group. Those plans provide for greater cost sharing and will help us avoid the threat of the 40 percent "Cadillac" tax under the Affordable Care Act.

County Counsel and Human Resources staff focused on aggressively managing our worker's compensation caseload and claims. Outstanding losses were reduced by $923,000 from 2013 to 2015. New claims filed in 2014 were down 38 percent from 2010 and costs in 2014 were down 14 percent from 2013. More importantly, employees are returning to work faster to provide the services our citizens’ desire.

In addition, we offered our employees a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program that was approved for 31 employees with net savings of $500,000!

Our capital projects and Information Services managers worked together to modernize our County's data center. The result was a reduction in energy use of up to 69 percent and an estimated annual savings of $26,000. This improved our resilience in two ways: the newer server system is not only faster and higher capacity but much more reliable and the reduction in annual costs helps the organization deal with financial stress.

Commissioner Leiken and Assessor Cowles promoted collaboration with six other neighboring counties, to better deal with preparing accurate tax rolls with reduced resources. That collaboration formed the Southwest Oregon Assessment and Taxation Coalition. The coalition received a $345,000 grant from the Oregon Legislature to pool resources and streamline efforts. The effort is focusing on the collection of business personal property taxes through a shared database. Lane County saved $190,000 this year and is projecting a 5-year return of $950,000. Providing needed revenue to help deal with the anticipated financial hard times to come.

Lane County also leveraged grant funding to stretch our ability to provide services and facilities for our citizens. We leveraged $144,000 in grants to restore and reopen Archie Knowles Campground providing future outdoor recreation opportunities and an economic lift to the rural retailers in nearby Mapleton.

Another federal grant allowed for the completion of the Row River Trail safety improvements and underpass. Providing a safe active recreation activity for families and improving an already nationally famous rails-to-trails conversion near Cottage Grove.

These are just few examples of how we leverage our resources.

We also have saved resources by using innovated technologies to extend the life of facilities. Our Waste Management folks implemented a new method of compaction at our Short Mountain Landfill that will extend the estimated life of the facility FIFTY YEARS! Pushing far into the future the costly need for a new solid waste disposal site.

Another way to prepare for hard times is to diversify and grow our economy. Our Community and Economic Development staff did that very successfully in 2015. The most recent examples are the announcements that Avago Technologies and Winnebago Industries have purchased facilities in Lane County for expansions.

Over the last two years, the Board of Commissioners has provided $1.1 million in financial support to 20 businesses, primarily existing Lane County businesses, from Video Lottery Funds. This strategic investment helped to create or retain over 1,000 jobs at a cost of less than $1200/job. Most of these jobs were in traded sector companies and provided wages that exceed the average wage in Lane County.

The Board also supported a grant to the Oregon RAIN Program (Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network) to expand its efforts to grow local entrepreneurs in rural communities. This is in addition to the two Hatfield Fellows recruited from the University of Oregon and specifically assigned to support businesses in the Florence and McKenzie River areas.

The Community and Economic Development Department also partnered with Lane Workforce Partnership to create a Regional Innovation Training Program to grow and retain innovative talent in Lane County and to align with the area's Regional Prosperity Plan. Since November of 2014, the fund has awarded over $185,000 to local businesses and organizations providing critical and innovative training opportunities for Lane County citizens.

Economic diversity also depends on having lands available to take advantage of economic opportunities. The Goshen Regional Employment and Transition Plan will provide for the redevelopment on underutilized rural industrial lands for employment opportunities. Commissioner Stewart originally envisioned this concept and with the assistance of our Land Management staff obtained the approval of the Goal 14 exception by the State in 2015. The open and transparent process took over four years and was recognized by the American Planning Association in October to receive the award of “Professional Achievement in Planning.”

In 2015, Lane County again partnered with the City of Eugene and the City of Springfield and the Pacific Northwest Manufacturing Partnership of Oregon and Southwest Washington to obtain both state and federal recognition as one of 24 regional manufacturing partnerships nationwide. The goal of the partnership is to further advance the region’s focus on advanced manufacturing in the wood products industry and our reputation for innovation.

In another collaborative effort, Lane County, the City of Eugene, the Eugene Water and Electric Board, and the University of Oregon are working with the Lane County Farmers Market and the Saturday Market Boards to assess the feasibility of developing a public market in downtown Eugene. This study will be a key piece in determining the next steps in this effort.

Our efforts on the public market also align well with our Community Health Improvement Plan strategy of improving nutrition through the expansion of access to fresh produce and also with the Regional Prosperity Plan goal of expanding the local food sector of our economy.

Staying on the subject of downtown Eugene, the designated county seat, Lane County completed a study of our future court facilities space needs. Armed with this information, the County is prepared to work collaboratively with the City and other governmental agencies about the future of the civic heart of our county seat. We will look forward to providing an efficient built environment to house government services that enhances downtown.

As you can see, Lane County worked hard in 2015 to build resilience and it is a good thing as we look forward to 2016. Many challenges face Lane County this coming year, not the least of which is a projected budget deficit due to the end of federal timber harvest replacement funds and a return to actual harvest receipts.

We are also facing the same unknowns that the Oregon Legislature will face. Such as the diminishing reimbursements over the next several years for Medicaid recipients as set out in the Affordable Care Act.

The rising cost of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System is also a challenge, but that is one area where we have worked to create resilience.

When the legislature passed PERS reform in 2013, our financial, legal and Human Resources staff recommended to the Board that we set aside the projected savings in a reserve account because of the potential for those reforms to be overturned in the courts. In addition, that same staff had bonded some of our PERS liability when interest rates were low and nearly fully funded our liability.

This higher level of funding directly impacts the rate that Lane County is charged to cover PERS expenses for our employees.  While other public employers in Oregon, with less than 80 percent of their PERS liability funded, saw their rates raise by as much as 6 percentage points in FY 15-16, Lane County experienced an increase of just 1.8 percentage points for the same time period.  If we had experienced a 6 percentage point increase, it would have cost Lane County an additional $3.3 million dollars annually.  This cost avoidance, along with the reserve set aside to help pay for future employer rate increases provides greater financial stability for Lane County into the foreseeable future.

Knowing how well Lane County prepared for PERS and how innovative our staff and our citizens are, I am confident we can take on another year of building resilience and then continue practicing it as we deal with change together.

We can provide housing and services to our most vulnerable and treat our veterans with the respect and dignity they deserve.

We can keep Lane County healthy and safe by adding 41 more local beds to our jail while integrating mental health and addiction treatment into our criminal justice system.

We can build a vibrant community by diversifying our economy and building our understanding of each other while respecting our differences.

We can harden our infrastructure against disaster whether physical like a bridge or organizational like doing business in open, transparent and innovative ways.

It will take all of us to achieve these goals. Working collaboratively. Being open to different perspectives. Using our intellect. Even taking responsibility for our own homes and families.

Yes, Lane County is resilient. And in 2016, we can make Lane County the best place to live, work and play!

Thank You!