Lane County, Peace Health and other community partners are combining to provide expanding resources to deal with behavioral health issues in the community. The Lane County Stabilization Center, and the Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital are being planned for areas near the existing PeaceHealth Riverbend campus to offer immediate support for behavioral health issues as well as inpatient and outpatient services to all residents of the area. Join City Club on February 6 to hear Britni D’Eliso, Lane County Health & Human Services, Behavioral Health Project Manager and Alicia Beymer, Chief Administrative Officer at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and learn about the development of these two facilities.

The Stabilization Center will offer 24/7 access for anyone in Lane County experiencing a behavioral health crisis via:

• Immediate triage and intake for care
• Person-centered behavioral health services
• Connections to specialty and/or long-term support organizations, schools, etc. can refer and provide warm handoff.
• Discharge with transportation and warm handoffs
• A place to connect with support for long term-healing

It will have the capacity to serve up to 42 individuals at one time.

The Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital will provide comprehensive inpatient behavioral health services for adolescent, adult and geriatric patients, as well as intensive outpatient treatment. Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital will replace PeaceHealth’s current 35-bed behavioral health unit located on the University District campus, nearly tripling capacity for behavioral health patients across the region. The current unit is designed to treat only the most acute adult psychiatric patients, meaning the new hospital will not just increase capacity, but expand services to many new patients. It is planned for completion in 2027.

Britni D’Eliso, Lane County Health & Human Services, Behavioral Health Project Manager. Britni has been working locally in the behavioral health field for over 10 years, primarily serving individuals who are navigating chronic and complex behavioral health conditions. She translates her experience as a therapist to maintaining a person center approach while working to address system wide barriers and believes the key to making impactful change is genuine collaboration.

 

 

Alicia Beymer, Chief Administrative Officer at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend has more than 25 years of varied experience serving Lane County with a demonstrated record of bringing stakeholders together to improve healthcare access to all and strong patient advocacy. She previously served as director of Home Care Services in the PeaceHealth Oregon network and has experience in risk management and as a regulatory consultant at PeaceHealth. Alicia first answered her calling as an advocate during the 10 years she worked at Lane Council of Governments—Senior and Disabled Services, where she spearheaded the quality improvement program, implemented the Medicare Part D program and served as an adult protective services worker protecting clients and safeguarding rights as a key investigator of abuse and neglect. Alicia earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Oregon and master’s degree in business administration from Northwest Christian (now Bushnell) University.

 

The program will be held at Roaring Rapids Pizza 4006 Franklin Boulevard in Glenwood. The program will be live in person and also broadcast over Zoom. It will be saved on the City Club You tube page for later viewing.

Natural areas are vital to our wellbeing. Spending time in nature is linked to both cognitive benefits and improvements in mood, mental health, and emotional wellbeing, according to the American psychologist Association. Not only are natural areas vital to us as humans, they are critical to providing habitat for plants and wildlife. Willamalane staff will share their experience implementing large restoration projects at various natural areas, including Thurston Hills Natural Area and Dorris Ranch, to improve conditions for both humans and wildlife. Staff will discuss some threats, such as wildfire, to our local natural areas and what Willamalane is doing to try and address them. You’ll hear about Willamalane’s efforts to balance habitat restoration work with recreation and creating fire resilient landscapes in Springfield.

Jackie Rochefort is the Planning and Natural Resource Manager for Willamalane Park and Recreation District.  Prior to her role with the district, she spent 24 years as the Park Planner for the City of Corvallis Parks and Recreation Department where she designed and managed the construction of almost all of their parks and trails.  In earlier years, she has had the great privilege of working with native plant communities at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and designing environment enclosures for primates at the San Diego Zoo. She has also served as an Adjunct Instructor At UO of where she got her Master of Landscape Architecture.

 

Join us for an engaging presentation by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Vonnie Mikkelsen, as she delivers an insightful overview of the state of the Chamber, the local business environment, and the broader business climate. This program will explore key trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping Springfield’s economy, as well as the Chamber’s ongoing efforts to foster business vitality and community growth. Gain valuable insights into how businesses and industries are navigating today’s landscape and what lies ahead for Springfield’s economic future. View the program on Zoom.

Vonnie is energized by the collective knowledge, resources & expertise she encounters every day in her work with Chamber members. A seasoned professional with a diverse set of tried and tested competencies, she understands first-hand the value of an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to helping businesses grow and succeed. An Oregonian with local roots, Vonnie earned a BA in Intl. Relations/PoliSci from Willamette University and spent 16 years living and working abroad. In addition to having served as E.D. for a Chamber in the Tampa Bay (FL) region, Vonnie has worked on World’s Fair promotions, in cable TV programming & acquisitions, and in association management. On her days off, you likely will find Vonnie hiking or biking along one of the many beautiful area riverfront trails or at the park enjoying the outdoors with her dogs.

With the holidays approaching, many of us are looking forward to seeing family and friends. This can also bring lively and sometimes heated debate on topics that family members and friends have opposing views. With the election wrapping up, this year may be a more stressful year for some. Dr. David Rettew, Medical Director of Lane County Behavioral Health, will share tips on how to deal with the stress and how to have a positive dialog with family and friends when there are opposing views. He’ll use his professional and personal experience from his own family gatherings to relate how you can provide your point of view and maintain healthy relationships.

David Rettew, MD is a child & adolescent psychiatrist who currently works as the Medical Director of Lane County Behavioral Health in Eugene, Oregon. He is also a clinical faculty member in the Psychiatry Department at OHSU. Before moving to Oregon in 2021, he worked as a tenured associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Vermont Medical Center and was Medical Director of the child and families division of the Vermont Department of Mental Health. He was also past president of the Vermont Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  Dr Rettew built and then acted as the first Training Director of UVM’s child psychiatry fellowship program.

He is the author of over 60 peer reviewed journal articles on a variety of mental health topics as well as two books, including Parenting Made Complicated: What Science Really Knows About the Greatest Debates of Early Childhood. He has served as the co-chair of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry’s (AACAP) Health Promotion and Prevention committee and was previously on their journal’s (JAACAP’s) editorial board. Dr. Rettew did his general psychiatry and child & adolescent training at Harvard Medical School within the combined Massachusetts General/McLean Hospital programs. Dr. Rettew writes a regular blog on Psychology Today that has over one and a half million views. 

The Lane County Board of Commissioners has referred to the November 5 ballot a proposal to create, in the Lane County Charter, an Independent Redistricting Commission. This commission would replace the Independent Redistricting Committee created and existing in Chapter 21 of the Lane Code. The full text of the ballot proposal is available at this link: Measure 20-362.

The current committee, which was active following the 2020 decennial federal census, consists of five members appointed by the commissioners and 10 members appointed by those five members.

The new commission, if created, would consist of 15 members selected at random by the County Clerk from a list of applicants who apply for the Commission. The proposed amendment does not contain any specific provisions which would assure that the pool of applicants was geographically diverse, even though the selection criteria to be used by the County Clerk does require geographical diversity. Among other things, the proposal would require that individuals must be registered voters in Lane County and could not:

• be candidates for or holders of federal, state, county or certain local offices;
• be a registered lobbyist;
• be paid congressional, legislative, or county employee.

The County Clerk, in making those selections, would be required to select three members (and one alternate) who currently reside in each existing commissioner district. The County Commissioners would not have a role in the selection of those individuals unless less than four individuals from a district apply. In such an event the Commissioners would select individuals to bring the total for each district to three members and one alternate.

The newly created commission would have not only the task of creating districts following the 2030 decennial census, but also would be required to create districts in adequate time so that new districts would be in place for the 2026 election. In performing this latter task, the Commission would rely on the data used to create the current districts, since no new data will be available until the census results are released sometime in 2031.

The decisions of the Commission with respect to districts, both for 2026 and for 2031 and thereafter would not be subject to review by the County Commissioners.

On September 19 Ryan Ceniga, Lane County Commissioner for the West Lane District, and Terry Parker, President of the Lane County League of Women Voters came to City Club to discuss the proposed charter amendment. Comm. Ceniga spoke in favor of the amendment and Ms. Parker spoke in opposition.

There were two major points at issue in the conversation: the nature of the independent commission and the need or desirability of conducting a redistricting out of cycle in 2026.

Comm. Ceniga said that the results of the 2021 redistricting were flawed in a number of ways, including the possibility that some rural residents might be effectively disenfranchised by a process which would allow for the City of Eugene to dominate the Board of Commissioners because of how the districts had been drawn. Ms. Parker said that because of the need to have districts with equal populations, and the fact that the population of the City of Eugene was so much larger than other areas, it had been necessary to include some portion of Eugene in each district to keep the size of each district within one percent of the mathematical amount of one-fifth of the total county population. Comm. Ceniga responded that it was not essential to stay within a one percent variance and that by allowing a variance of as much as five or ten percent, it would be possible to have some districts that had no portion of Eugene within them.

He also pointed to confusion which existed earlier this summer when a large grass fire occurred just west of Greenhill Road. He and his staff, and Lane County employees, responded to supporting efforts to control that fire but later discovered that the area was within the commission district which represented North Eugene.

Ms. Parker responded that the districts created in 2021 were not challenged at the time and have been in effect without objection. She said that while she was completely supportive of an independent commission to remove redistricting from politics as much as possible, since no new data existed to justify any changes in those districts, an out of cycle redistricting for the 2026 election was unnecessary, costly, and created a risk for political manipulation of the districts. Ms. Parker said that both the County Charter Review Committee and the Lane County elections office opposed this amendment.

Comm. Ceniga responded that this proposal incorporated all of the changes recommend by the Charter Review Committee except for the redistricting for the 2026 election and that redistricting in 2026 would not be particularly expensive since all the data already existed and only a minimal amount of staff time would be involved.

Ryan Ceniga is a lifelong Oregon resident.  He describes himself as “a blue-collar dad with deep roots in West Lane County”.  Ryan lives in the Junction City area with two kids in the public school system, where he serves on the Junction City School Board.

He has always given back to his community with his involvement in service groups, including the Junction City Lions Club, the Junction City Athletics Board and as a coach for his kids’ sports through the years.

 

 

 

 

Terry Parker is the president of the League of Women Voters of Lane County, a nonpartisan grassroots organization doing hands-on work to safeguard democracy through voter registration, education and advocacy.

When not navigating for the League, Terry sails the waters of British Columbia and is an avid knitter. She retired as Lane Transit District’s Accessible Services Manager in 2013.

 

Child care is a critical component of the basic infrastructure supporting our economy. The economic toll of the US child care crisis costs employers up to $3 billion a year and has amounted to $122 billion in lost earnings for working parents. For many parents – working mothers especially – lack of affordable, quality child care has forced many out of education and the workforce, fueled gender gaps, and kept workers in low-paying jobs. It will take all of us to tackle such an urgent need. In this program, we’ll share local data and highlight efforts in our community to increase access to quality, affordable child care.

Holly Mar-Conte serves as the Lane County Child Care Sector Strategist, housed at Onward Eugene, the economic development arm to the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. In this role, she supports child care providers, community based organizations, K-12 and higher education, government and elected officials, employers, parents and families to identify solutions to improve access to quality, affordable child care. She has over fifteen years of experience working in local and statewide early learning systems and holds a Masters in Planning, Public Policy and Management with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon.

The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) was awarded $4M in federal drought resiliency funds for recycled water development, by the Bureau of Reclamation this past May. The $4 million came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

Todd Miller, who serves as an Environmental Services Supervisor over the Planning and Policy Support group for the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC), will present on how the grant award will be used to upgrade existing infrastructure at the Eugene Springfield regional wastewater treatment plant for water filtering, disinfection, storage, and conveyance to deliver up to 1.3 million gallons of Class A recycled water per day for public works and industrial uses in our area.

Recycled water has a variety of applications that can help reduce the impacts on our rivers by providing water for landscaping, irrigation, and industrial processes that can consume high volumes of water or place strains on drinking water systems. The MWMC historically produces Class D recycled water, which is used to irrigate its poplar tree farm as part of its natural treatment system for wastewater. In 2023, the MWMC utilized more than 46 million gallons of Class D recycled water. Class A capabilities will allow the community to expand that use to virtually any other application not requiring potable water.

The mission of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission is to protect the community’s health and the environment by providing high-quality wastewater services to the Eugene Springfield metropolitan area in partnership with Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County. Local representatives from each regional partner–Lane County, and cities of Springfield and Eugene– serve on the Commission.

The MWMC has progressively explored opportunities to expand recycled water usage over the past 15 years. With the Bureau of Reclamation grant, the program is becoming a reality. Learn more information at https://mwmcpartners.org/capital-improvements/recycled-water/.

Now MWMC is entering an exciting new era of recycled water use by enhancing our capabilities to provide high-quality Class A recycled water to the community. Initial uses of Class A recycled water will demonstrate how this resource is useful to the construction industry and to maintaining our public green spaces. Demonstration projects will include sand and gravel operations, street tree watering, and irrigation of landscaping surrounding the wastewater treatment plant.

Todd Miller serves as an Environmental Services Supervisor over the Planning and Policy Support group for the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) and the City of Springfield’s Environmental Services Division of the Development & Public Works Department. In this role, he oversees planning-level efforts associated with the MWMC’s Capital Improvement Program, as well as several of the MWMC’s sustainability initiatives, which support the MWMC’s mission to protect the community’s health and the environment and vision to be recognized as a leader in protecting water quality through sustainable and fiscally responsible programs and practices.

Before beginning work for the City of Springfield and MWMC in 2007, Todd served as the Executive Director for the Siuslaw Watershed Council. He also was a geologist and hydrogeologist for consulting firms focused on groundwater, wetland, and soil contamination investigations and cleanup. Todd holds a BS in Biology-Geology from the University of Rochester and an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon.

Join the program on Zoom.