11.03.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:41 am by jeancowan
By Gail Kimberling Of the News-Times
Just 62 votes separated incumbent State Representative Alan Brown and his challenger, outgoing Lincoln County Commissioner Jean Cowan, late Tuesday night with 99 percent of the votes counted.
After trailing for most of the evening, Brown edged ahead shortly after 11:30 p.m. with 11,494 votes (49.98 percent) compared to Cowan’s 11,432 (49.71 percent).
Earlier, Cowan had been ahead by more than 100 votes. While recognizing her election was not a sure thing, Cowan was tentatively happy Monday night - but unhappy with the negative tone of the race she and Brown just ran.
“I hope it wasn’t the ads,” she said, when asked if the tone of the campaign had determined the apparent outcome of the race. “My hope is that people shared my concerns about our unmet needs in this state - our challenges in education and health care - and that my experience in local government was really important. But,” she added, “remember, it’s not a done deal at this point.”
Her prediction came true just an hour later, when the Lincoln County Clerk’s office release updated figures.
House District 10 also comprises a small portion of Polk County, where the race between Brown and Cowan wad dead even - with 244 votes for each candidate as of midnight.
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10.15.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:43 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
Jean Cowan, Democratic candidate for the District 10 seat in the State House of Representatives, met with Dan Gardner, Oregon State Labor Commissioner, on Monday to discuss the state of labor in Oregon.
Cowan expressed her opposition to the outsourcing of jobs from Oregon to other countries and states, and noted the need to protect Oregon’s existing jobs and stimulate the creation of new private sector employment.
In an effort to stimulate private sector job growth, Cowan pledged to “back small and independent businesses with loans, provide more training to prepare workers for new jobs, and improve public facilities.”
Addressing the role of public infrastructure, Cowan stressed the helpful role of government in business growth, saying, “A first rate public infrastructure creates growth because businesses thrive in safe communities with good roads, attractive public places, and quality public education.” She also pledged to “improve publicly owned facilities and create an environment where Oregon businesses can thrive.”
The importance of maintaining a “clean and sober workforce” was also a topic of conversation, and Cowan committed to continue the crackdown on methamphetamine dealers and users.
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09.29.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:29 am by jeancowan
By Joel Gallob Of the News-Times
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Jan Cowan, the Democratic candidate for State Representative from Lincoln County, was joined by former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts in a question and answer session with some 25 local seniors at the Apple Peddler restaurant in Newport on Monday. Cowan said her experience working as an Emergency Medical technician, as a Lincoln County Commissioner most involved with health care and seniors’ issues, and with state legislators on those and other concerns, has made her well-qualified for the state office. “We need people in Salem who understand health care,” she said. Roberts, supporting Cowan’s candidacy, recalled, “When I was governor we finally got Oregon Health Plan approved, and I demanded the funds from the legislature.” (Photo by Joel Gallob) |
Jean Cowan, the Democratic candidate for the State House of Representatives from Lincoln County (District 10), this week endorsed a plan by the Oregon House Democrats to make prescription drugs more affordable for all Oregonians.
Cowan was joined on Monday by former Governor Barbara Roberts, who shepherded the Oregon Health Plan through the state legislature and the federal waiver process, at a question-and-answer session with some two dozen seniors and others, held at the Apple Peddler restaurant in Newport. Both Cowan and Roberts supported the House Democratic plan.
The state House Democrats are calling for two initiatives to cut the spiraling costs of prescription medicines.
One is to use enhanced pool purchasing to slow the rise in drug prices. The legislature should “expand the state purchasing pool for bulk prescription drugs to include more people - businesses and individuals who lack drug coverage,” said Haley Greer, campaign spokesperson for Cowan. Cowan pledged to lower the income limits for participation, or remove them completely, lower the age requirement, and include disabled people in the purchasing pool.
A second element was to “encourage use of lower-cost generic drugs by broadening use of Oregon’s ‘evidence-based’ research process.” That, Greer stated, “enables consumers to buy economical and medically effective generic drugs as alternatives to costly ‘blockbuster’ drugs.”
“Oregon has pioneered a way to use commonly prescribed drugs,” said Cowan, in reference to that third element, “employing an online reference system for doctors and patients. Let’s make the most of it.
“The health care crisis in this state is complicated and dire,” said Cowan. “We need people in the legislature with a broad view of the state’s system, especially in rural areas.”
Cowan worked as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician in Elgin, Ore., and when ambulance service there was threatened, she took over the organization and maintained 24-hour per day staffing with only four volunteers, she said. Cowan has been a medical assistant and office manager in Elgin and then at the Toledo clinic, and served on the Oregon Health Council as it developed the original structure of the Oregon Health Plan.
“This plan by the Oregon House Democrats is a good step forward,” said Cowan, “and I will work hard to implement it once I am elected.”
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08.18.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:36 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
Cowan vows to provide better education, better jobs and a better Oregon
Jean Cowan, Democratic candidate for House District 10, announces the opening of her campaign headquarters in Newport. The office, located at 914 SW Coast Hwy, Suite 312, will be the center of operations for the Cowan campaign.
A grand opening will take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20.
Cowan, a native Oregonian and a Lincoln County Commissioner for the past 12 years, hopes to use both her city and county experience to provide the people of District 10 with a true voice in Salem. Cowan’s goal in this campaign is to bring ideas and issues to the forefront that matter to the people in this district.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to introduce my two energetic campaign field organizers, Peter Markgraf and Haley Greer, to the public,” Cowan said. “Haley comes to us as a member of the EMILY’s List Campaign Corps. We invite anyone interested to stop by and find out what’s happening with the Cowan for State Representative Campaign.”
The phone number for the office is 265-2871.
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07.16.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:08 am by jeancowan
By Joel Gallob Of the News-Times
The Lincoln County Commissioners this week discussed Lincoln County’s preparations for, and ability to response to, the kind of natural disaster - a major local earthquake and/or tsunami - that, for a little while Monday morning, many here thought might be coming. Generally, all three commissioners said, the county is prepared. Commissioner Jean Cowan, in particular, also disputed the News-Times editorial on the subject.
Communications
Cowan said that she “took the call from the University of Washington” (along with Palmer, Alaska, an information collating center for the regional web of seismographs and other sensors) “as soon as we knew” of the event. Further, Cowan said, she was “in touch with our designated emergency broadcast system (EBS) station, KNPT, in about three minutes. I was on the phone to people at the radio station, and (County Emergency Manager) Jim Hawley was in contact with Dave Miller,” owner of the station.
“To suggest that emergency planning is not in place,” she said, “is not correct.”
The News-Times editorial had reported a brief faxed press release from the county commissioners’ office arrived more than an hour after the event.
“The information on the press release,” Cowan said, “was the information that we knew. And it was what people needed to know - that a tsunami was not coming,” Cowan said.
That first notice came from the commissioners’ office, not Hawley, in part because he and his assistant were at a meeting at the time, and in part because County Counsel Wayne Belmont is the county’s public information officer.
But, Cowan continued, the key communications mechanism in such an event is not the print media, but radio.
Hawley recounted he contacted KNPT radio - the station designated as the EBS station in Lincoln County - via “direct radio communication” because “the phone lines were jammed” with people calling his office for information. He reiterated his plea from Monday that people not tie up critical telephone lines, and make use of their radios instead - or go to the county website. (That site is at www.co.lincoln.or.us)
But there was a bit of a problem with the county’s web page design, it turned out. Hawley said he received calls from several people who, reading that website, stopped at the higher link to information about an earlier quake near Seattle. They did not scroll down to the next entry, which had information about this week’s quake.
The Weather Service in Portland usually does not give out information on quakes below magnitude six, Hawley said. This time, however, with a near-5 quake in tourist season, “they did give out the information,” on the radio.
If there is a tsunami heading for the Oregon coast, Cowan continued, it could either come from a distant quake, providing several hours lead time, or from the offshore subduction zone - which would give only minutes after the shaking stops for people to get to high ground.
“If the ground starts shaking,” said Cowan, “should go uphill.”
Water and food
But, Cowan said, “we can’t do everything for everybody. That is why people, families, businesses, should have plans in place. People need to be able to take care of themselves for 24 or 48 hours with water and food, and have emergency contacts known,” so they can contact one family member to get word to others without tying up the phone lines.
When asked about pre-positioning quantities of water at designated uphill shelters like the Waldport Elementary School, Cowan said it would be up to the families to take care of themselves and include bottled water in their emergency plans. “It’s difficult to pre-position large supplies of water and keep them fresh and potable,” she said.
“That is one thing we do not have on hand - water and food,” agreed Hawley. But people can drink rain water, in a pinch, and hot water from the water heating tank in each home, he said.
The water issue, Cowan said, is “one reason we have an emergency plan in place - to declare a disaster quickly and request assistance directly from the governor. A declaration frees up other government help, like the National Guard and their tanker trucks.
“This is a good time,” she continued, “to review all of that.” And, she added, to remind one’s family of the basic rule: “duck, cover and hold” - meaning, if one is indoors, to get away from windows and glass, duck under protection, and cover one’s head or hold onto a door frame for protection from falling materials.
Risk of isolation
Commissioner Terry Thompson warned “there are some small areas between the bridges, and when I was on the (American) Red Cross board, about three years ago, we identified some of them. But we did not have any services for it. We do have a plan,” he said, referring to the county and to the Red Cross, “and some equipment and some shelters. But the areas between the bridges could be cut off. It would be good to have blankets and things” in small communities likely to be isolated by collapsed bridges, he said Wednesday.
Hawley responded his office does work with the fire services in the county, and the Red Cross has blankets for such emergencies. “They have a stockpile at the Commons in Yachats,” he said. “They put it together for the event of a wildfire.”
Backup power
As part of Lincoln County’s emergency planning, Hawley said, “we have generators at four schools” around the county.
Cowan said “the courthouse is not in danger (from a tsunami), it’s not low enough.” Still, she continued, “we do have backup power in place … for the key offices.” That includes Hawley’s office and the commissioner’s offices. LinCom, too, and the other 9-1-1 centers (in Toledo and Lincoln City) also have backup power. Some time, ago, she recalled, the county provided backup power to the radio station during a natural disaster.
The commissioners’ hearing room, where they meet each Wednesday, added Hawley, is wired and set up to become an emergency operations center, with extra phone connections and other communications links.
Hawley, though, added, “If there was a really big quake, say 8.8 (on the Richter scale), 200 miles off (shore), the damage here and across the coast would be very substantial. The courthouse would not be able to be used as an emergency operations center.”
But the courthouse is not the only available operations center, Hawley said. There is also the LinCom office, and the 9-1-1 dispatch centers in Toledo and Lincoln City.
The fact that major funding required for a seismic retrofit of the courthouse is unavailable, added Cowan, is “part of the reason why we relocated the LinCom and 9-1-1 dispatch. We wanted to be sure it’s in a building that meets the seismic standards” set only after the courthouse was built.
Also, Hawley said, “we’re adding a mobile center. That vehicle is now being retrofitted to include a generator, radio, and U.S. Coast Guard radio communications. With the Sheriff’s Department Command Vehicle and this, you could have an emergency operating center.”
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03.10.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:26 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
Lincoln County Commissioner Jean Cowan announced on Tuesday her candidacy for the District 10 seat in the Oregon House of Representatives. She is a Democrat.
“My decision was not an easy one, but one I reached only after a great deal of thought and soul searching,” Cowan said. “I have entered into this race because I believe we need to have a conversation…about the Oregon we want to see our children and grandchildren enjoy. Their education, their health and safety, and the jobs to support them - that’s what is important to me.”
Cowan had earlier announced her intention not to seek reelection to a fourth term as county commissioner, and had been expected to retire from public life.
Cowan moved with her family to Newport 17 years ago. In 1992, she was elected to the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners. She serves on statewide and local advisory boards and commissions.
“My experience at the local government level, both city and county, will serve our district well in Salem. I look forward to the opportunity to explore with the citizens of House District 10 our collective vision and desires,” Cowan said.
Cowan is a lifelong Oregonian, born and raised in Astoria. In the early 1980s, she served on the city council and then as mayor of Elgin in Union County, where she also helped revive the volunteer ambulance service and instructed Emergency Medical Technician, First Responder, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation classes.
In 1988, Cowan was a member of then Governor Neil Goldschmidt’s School Funding Tax Force, and participated in the League of Women Voters’ statewide study of educational funding.
In 1995, she was awarded the Outstanding Service Award from the Association of Oregon Counties in recognition of “outstanding service and leadership.” In 1996, she was named Transit Advocate of the Year by the Oregon Public Transportation Association.
Cowan has a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Marylhurst College.
Cowan’s husband, Patrick Cowan, recently left retirement to work as interim superintendent of the Lincoln County School District. The Cowans, who live in Newport, have two adult children.
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02.26.04
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:20 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
The Lincoln County commissioners, especially Jean Cowan, raised a number of questions Wednesday about the recommendations it received for elderly and disabled transportation funding from its Special Transportation Advisory Committee.
Cowan focused on the combination of a “shortfall in the (Lincoln County Transit District) request” and the major increase in funding recommended for the other applicant for whom funding was proposed, the Senior Companion program.
And she noted that despite the committee’s earlier identified need of a centralized dispatch, by funding Senior Companions at a higher amount, the transit district would be unable to proceed on a centralized dispatch project.
The commissioners also reviewed the unallocated funds that appear likely to be available next year.
According to a memo presented the commissioners by Bridget Dix, chairperson of the transportation committee and head of the Community Partnership Team, about $21,000 is estimated for cash carryover funds. That was the figure provided by county budget officer Jim Weider.
Based on Weider’s recommendations, the Special Transportation Advisory Committee allocated that cash carryover to provide $2,513 toward further efforts at transit coordination among Linn, Lincoln and Benton counties, and $15,000 in operating funds for the Community Partnership Team.
It would also mean carrying forward $486 in materials and services, $100 in personal services, and up to $3,000 in unallocated funds from the outgoing fiscal year.
In order to be able to expend it in the coming fiscal year, Weider explained that the funds need to be budgeted as carry-forward for the coming year, even if the actual sums carried forward are less than currently projected. One month remains of the current fiscal year.
Commissioner Don Lindly said that if the cash carryover remains, some if not all could be shifted to help Lincoln County Transit provide a combined dispatch service. Currently, both the transit district and the Community Partnership Team have part-time dispatchers, a situation the committee found to be duplicating itself and inefficient.
Cowan asked whether the $15,000cash carryover from the partnership team budget was to go for coordinating dispatch services.
“Not originally,” said Dix.
Committee proposals
For the coming fiscal year, the county will have $89,130 in state special transit funds to distribute.
The committee had been asked for $62,000 by the transit district, and for $44,850 by Senior Companions, a program sponsored by Lincoln Council on Aging. The committee recommended $53,000 for the transit district and $36,130 for Senior Companions.
Cowan said Wednesday that the committee recommendation gave Senior Companions a $16,000 increase from its previous fiscal year’s allocation of state special transit funds, but a minimal rise in funding for the transit district, which provides bus service throughout the county.
The current fiscal year’s Senior Companion funding from those state funds had been $20,130, although the non-profit had sought $42,250. This fiscal year, the county transit district was allocated $52,000 out of the $54,550 it had requested.
The transit district request included, according to coordinator Cynda Bruce, the same $52,000 from the previous year plus a 3.5 percent increase for gas costs and staff cost-of-living increases, as well as $8,500 toward a joint dispatch system she hoped to organize with the Community Partnership Team.
The total cost for a combined dispatch operation would be $12,000, Bruce said.
“So the recommended $53,000 would not cover your increased costs and let you also maintain operations?” Cowan asked.
“That’s correct,” said Bruce, adding that centralized dispatch is not included in that sum, either.
Last year, four other groups also applied for funds to the committee - the Community Partnership Team, the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, the Olalla Center for Children and Families, and West Coast Winds.
Given the large rise in funding for Senior Companions, Cowan asked what added services that program planned to provide.
Dix, as committee chairman, said the sum would provide increased mileage reimbursement for Senior Companion volunteers. “They now get paid at 25 cents per mile, and that’s less than some other programs can offer, especially considering the gas prices today,” she said.
Cowan responded that while the 25 cents per mile may be less than agencies pay their staff, “most other volunteer programs don’t reimburse volunteer mileage at all.”
“Some do, like RSVP, the Retired & Senior Volunteers program,” replied Dix. RSVP, like Senior Companions, is a program of the Lincoln Council on Aging.
RSVP Director Mike O’Donnell said Thursday that the non-profit program reimburses its volunteers at a rate of 15 cents per mile, up to a maximum of $25 per month.
Cowan also noted that eligibility for the Senior Companion service is based not on income levels but on need for assistance.
Dix said Senior Companion volunteers are generally of low income. “It’s part of the program to provide a small stipend to people, $2.50 an hour,” she said. “It’s not necessarily a requirement, and there are some volunteers who do not get a stipend. But the focus is to provide some compensation to low-income seniors” who help others as volunteers.
“That is absolutely correct,” added Commissioner Don Lindly. “To be a companion, unless you volunteer completely, you need to be in a low-income bracket. And 25 cents a mile does not cover the costs of operating your automobile.”
Cowan, however, reminded the group, “most other volunteers are not reimbursed.”
The dispatch question
Commissioner Karen Gerttula addressed the issue of a consolidated dispatch system that was part of the proposal from the transit district. It included a request for funds to enable it and the Community Partnership Team to merge dispatch operations, and thereby avoid duplication and save costs.
Such a proposal is expected to save $6,000 annually.
The transit district application stated that if it did not receive the full requested funding, the first piece to go would be the planned joint dispatch, so as not to impact any existing program.
Cowan asked what would happen with the Oregon Department of Human Resources-sponsored dispatch program of the Community Partnership Team.
“Then I’m up the creek with my dispatcher,” answered Dix.
“I offer dispatch services a few hours a day, but if we join with the Lincoln County district dispatch, there would be somebody there available all day, and make for better service. And there might be instances where somebody takes a ride one way, but physically can’t stand and wait three or four hours and so needs a ride back home the other way.”
Gerttula said Dix’s proposal made sense, and asked whether the transportation committee, which is chaired by Dix, had a “clear understanding of all this” when it made its funding recommendations.
“I think they did,” said Dix. “That centralized dispatch was made a priority because that was on the top of unmet needs” last year.
“So STAC made centralized dispatch a high priority yet did not recommend funds for that? That mystifies me,’ said Cowan.
“Me, too,” said Dix. “I think the recommendation was that other source(s) of funds be explored and if cuts need to be made, other services recently started, like the evening bus runs, be re-evaluated.”
“But that’s outside the authority of the committee,” noted Cowan. “This committee only provides recommendations for the use of special transit funds - not for operation of special transit.
“I have some concerns with this large increase for one program without any increase in its services given to those individuals,” Cowan continued. “I am also concerned about the mixed message, that we need to provide this (central dispatch) service but we are not providing the funds for it. They could probably offset some of these concerns by following Commissioner Lindly’s recommendation that non-allocated funds be dedicated to centralized dispatch.”
She said next year, funding could be at half the present amount. “That would mean increasing funding now and taking it back next year,” she said.
Dix said she would note the possible decrease next fiscal year in any award letter she sends to Senior Companions.
The commissioners took no action on the recommendations.
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03.13.02
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:38 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
Lincoln County Commissioner Jean Cowan attended this week’s board meeting of the Lincoln Council on Aging (LCOA) and directed her questions to issues of the council’s financial structure.
“I’m trying to understand the fiscal picture here, in more detail. What does it mean if Samaritan Health Systems would sponsor the Senior Companions program? What effect on the finances would it have?”
LCOA board chairman Frank Armstrong replied that “if Samaritan applies to sponsor the Senior Companions, and if it is accepted by the Corporation for National Service, then Samaritan would become responsible for the Senior Companions program…the space, phones, accounting and other things a sponsor is supposed to do.” That corporation helps finance and oversees the LCOA sponsored programs - Senior Companions, and Retired Senior and Volunteer Program.
“So, from your financial statement,” Cowan continued, ” Samaritan would become responsible for space, phones, accounting, but the $84,000 from the Corporation for National Service, and the money from the county and the cities, and the rest of the $177,000 total - would that still come into Senior Companions?”
Armstrong said it would.
“The National Service funds to Senior Companions and RSVP,” Cowan asked, “what would happen to that if one program is sponsored by Samaritan, (and) one still with LCOA?”
The funds, board member Helen Cleveland said, “would still come directly to the programs.”
“That’s typical around the state,” added Armstrong.
“Most sponsors sponsor one program,” said Marcie Parrish, director of the Senior Companions. Usually, she said, health-related programs like Senior Companions are sponsored by a health care organization. “It’s hard to get some grants,” she added, “because of being sponsored by the Council on Aging, which does not have large resources like a hospital or college.” She said she receives $84,000 in federal monies.
LCOA Board member Peggy Rariden asked why Senior Companions needed “nearly $200,000 for volunteers.” The current year budget is about $170,000; the previous year, it was about $190,000.
“I pay stipends,” replied Parrish, “and the feds just raised it by 10 cents. It may not seem like a lot, but it is when you add in stipends, meals (and several other expenses).”
“Senior Companions serves the elderly fragile,” added Cleveland, adding that most volunteers with RSVP don’t face the difficulties that involves, leading to a larger stipend to its volunteers than RSVP has for its.
LCOA board member Cynda Bruce asked how many volunteer companions Senior Companions now has. Susie McGregor, also a board member, replied there are 43 in Lincoln, Linn and Benton counties, of which 33 are in this county.
As of February, Parrish reported, there are 43 Companions, and 42 were actively providing services to 377 clients, involving 16,005 miles traveled by the companions.
They have separate budgets, said Parrish, “But basically it’s the same program. The money raised in Lincoln County stays in Lincoln County.”
Newport Police Chief Terry La Liberte, also an LCOA board member, asked, “Is LCOA trying to get rid of Senior Companions, or is Senior Companions trying to get rid of LCOA?”
“Senior Companions is looking for a sponsor with the resources to support it,” said Armstrong.
Cynda Bruce asked why the current split of funds received is 40 percent to Senior Companions, and 30 percent each to LCOA and to RSVP. “That isn’t equitable,” she said.
LCOA bookkeeper Elaine Lowe said that the split had been decided on in 1988 by the LCOA board. It was based, said Cleveland, mainly on the different costs the different groups experience. Senior Companions, agreed Parish, faces the largest costs.
Armstrong asked the board for permission to form a committee to look at the formula, and the board agreed. He appointed Bruce to chair it, and asked RSVP and Senior Companions to each select one representative to the new committee.
Commissioner Cowan turned to the end-of-year projections for the council. “At the end of this fiscal year,” she said, “from the financial statements, it appears LCOA has enough revenue in to cover your budgeted personnel expenses and operating expenses to date. And it appears that at the end of this fiscal year, LCOA is solvent. Is that correct?”
“It’s close,” said Lowe, “not by much.”
“But not with a loss,” asked Cowan. Lowe agreed.
Cowan then focused on the flu shots numbers. She said the budget had projected taking in $55,000 in revenues, and the expenses for it, including buying the vaccines, were $33,000. “You expected a profit of $21,500,” she said, “but in the actual numbers, you made about $9,000.”
The figures, agreed Lowe, showed a shortfall against the projected revenues, though not an actual loss from the flu shots program.
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11.24.01
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:42 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
The budget shortfall caused by the national and state recession will impact Lincoln and other counties, County Commissioner Jean Cowan said this week.
Cowan said Wednesday that she had just returned from “intense” sessions of the Association of Oregon Counties. She said county officials are preparing for an expected special session to be called by Governor John Kitzhaber to deal with the growing shortfall.
That shortfall had been estimated at $300 million several weeks ago, but now the figure has become “uncertain” as the economy continues to show signs of further contraction along with some evidence of new growth.
Two weeks ago, in an interview with the News-Times, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Roberts pegged the shortfall at $600 million.
Officials from around Oregon at the association meeting sought to coordinate efforts at maintaining important services by viewing them all, “local, state and federal, as a system, instead of going begging with one, two, three top priorities for funds,” Cowan said.
She noted that Kitzhaber has asked all state agencies to look at reductions of 2 to 10 percent, which “all rolls down to the local governments.”
At the same time, Cowan said, “there has been a lot of talk since Sept. 11 about the role of public health services in all kinds of emergency situations, not just this one. Here on the coast, our challenges are usually natural disasters, things like floods, and we are aware of the health implications of such events.”
Cowan has been an advocate of better funding for county-level and other public health services. Since Sept. 11, she has been joined in that view by a number of studies and national leaders who have urged better federal attention to a national public health system that has been allowed to slide for several decades.
But the current economic realities and the state budget shortfall aren’t changed by those improvements. “We’ll try to maintain service levels to our folks any way we can,” she concluded.
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10.20.99
Posted in Newport News Times at 7:32 am by jeancowan
Newport News Times
Two persons have filed for Lincoln County commissioner, Position 2.
Incumbent Jean Cowan has filed for reelection for a third term as a Democrat. Margaret Brunette has filed as a Republican.
Jean Cowan
Cowan said her main reason for seeking reelection is a sense of unfinished business.
In 1992, when Cowan first sought election, she said she brought a belief in the importance of communication and cooperation., and said this commitment has not changed.
“Today’s political climate asks those in public service to look closely at services which are being provided, and enhance efforts to avoid a duplication of service, no matter whether that activity is provided by federal, state, county or city governments,” Cowan said. “I remain committed to the challenge of finding ways to deliver a broad range of services in a collaborative and cost-effective manner.”
She noted that the current board of commissioners is united in a philosophy that strong communications, both internally and externally, are essential to effective county management. “Together, we have supported a team concept amongst county department heads and other elected officials, while striving to keep the public well informed about important issues facing county government,” she said.
Cowan’s primary areas of supervisory responsibility include health and human services, emergency services, veterans services, and transit. She said she is active in expanding the public recognition and development of a broader range of services to seniors, as well as a more comprehensive availability of health care options for all ages.
In 1996, she was named “Transit Advocate of the Year” by the Oregon Public Transportation Association.
Cowan is treasurer of the Association of Oregon Counties and is involved with other state activities in order to impact decisions that affect local government. In 1995, she received an “Outstanding Service Award” from the association. She currently serves on the Oregon Health Council, the Public Health Advisory Board, and the New Carissa Review Committee.
She was born and raised in Astoria, where she graduated from high school in 1965. She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Marylhurst College. She was a city councilor and mayor in Elgin.
Cowan and her husband, Pat, live in Newport. He is the principal at Siletz School; they have two married children, a son, Tavis, completing his medical residency in Minot, N.D., and a daughter, Tracy, pursuing a master’s degree in counseling at Oregon State University.
Margaret Brunette
Margaret “Margie” Brunette is a Toledo shopkeeper and Toledo Chamber of Commerce president.
She ran for county commissioner unsuccessfully last year.
“I have the same concerns this year as I’ve had before,” Brunette said. These include environmental, health care, transportation, and housing issues.
Brunette is also a member of the Disabled Services Advisory Committee, and said she has not made up her mind about the prospect of a disabled services/senior services office move from Newport to Toledo. “I’m in favor of whatever DSAC wants,” she said of the committee. “If it can improve the quality of life or keep people safe, it’s OK to make the move. If it hurts people, then it’s not good.”
She wants to see the Oregon Health Plan extended to small business owners, such as herself (she owns Margie B’s in Toledo). Health care prices, she said, “have got so high it puts us in the poor house. If we could make it available to business owners, it would have benefits across the board. If they bring us in, people who can afford to pay, it could ease the burden on other people.”
As to transportation, she wants to see Lincoln, Linn and Benton counties “talk with the Siletz council. They have a regular transit system in the tri-county area. They already have it set up for the casino.” That service is part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
Brunette also is concerned about finding ways to ensure adequate affordable housing in the county. “There’s got to be ways beside getting grants, that’s taxpayer money,” she said. “Duplex, triplex, two-story apartments, people could put them up in some spots, and reduce the cost per unit, and still respect the environment, not cut down all the trees on the hillside and have a landslide.”
She noted that west of U.S. Highway 101 isn’t the place to do it. “That takes away people’s views, access,” she said. “And it’s dangerous,” she added.
Brunette is married.
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