The Josephine County Board of Commissioners is facing recall petitions targeting two of its three members: Chris Barnett and Andreas Blech. The petitions, filed at the Josephine County Clerk’s office Aug. 25, allege that the commissioners have lost the faith and trust of community members.
Chief petitioner Jim Goodwin said the political action committee Restore JoCo's distrust of Barnett and Blech stems from a single issue.
In March, Barnett voted to grant Blech authority to make “organizational, administrative and personnel decisions” without board approval for 90 days. That decision allowed Blech to make changes to the county government, such as laying off staff without a vote.
“All of those decisions, personnel decisions with department heads and other staff, were made behind closed doors,” Goodwin said. “Those decisions should be made by a majority vote of the board.”
Fellow commissioner Ron Smith voted alongside the other two to grant Blech the temporary authority. Goodwin said the decision to recall only Barnett and Blech came down to timing.
“It’s so time-intensive and such a short time period to gather the signatures that we strategically decided to go for two out of the three,” Goodwin said. “The worst two out of the three, if you will.”
Petitioners must gather 6,445 valid signatures for each petition by Nov. 24 to move forward with special recall elections for Barnett and Blech.
The petition also cites Barnett's January vote to terminate the lease with the Josephine Community Library District Grants Pass branch, his support for a voluntary employee resignation program, a $3.2 million judgment in an Oregon Supreme Court case against his company for elder abuse and his refusal to answer public questions.
Barnett posted on Facebook on Aug. 25, thanking people for the “overwhelming support of true Americans who want their commissioners to keep doing great things in Josephine County.”
“Unfortunately, there are some bad actors trying to hurt good elected leaders,” Barnett wrote in a separate post.
The petition against Blech also cites the same voluntary employee resignation program, an alleged attempt to raise a county employee's salary without board input and his treatment of people during public meetings as other reasons for recall.
Blech has yet to make a public comment on the recall efforts.
