What are Quiring’s 2019 priorities?

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Clark County Council Chair Eileen Quiring isn’t new to county government, though now her expanded role representing citizens has kept her on her toes in the first few weeks.

“I would say it’s a lot busier,” Quiring remarked, speaking with The Reflector during an interview on Clark County Focus, a monthly program featuring Clark County Councilors on CVTV. Quiring won a close election last year for the at-large chair position, having previously served as councilor for District 4.

Quiring’s career-long championing of making efficient use of taxpayer funds would continue in her role as chair, she said, something that would be affected by the county’s recent switch to annual budgeting. She likened Clark County Manager Shawn Henessee’s budget proposal to that of the governor’s own request for the state that goes to the legislative body — in the case of the governor the state legislature, and for the county the Clark County Council — for them to make changes and approve the final document.

For the first annual budget completed last year Henessee, who started at the end of July, was playing catchup to get together his proposal, though Quiring said for this year the executive planned on going through department revenues and expenses “line by line,” something the councilor was “very supportive” of.

Quiring and the rest of the council will also be looking at recommendations from the county Corrections Facility Advisory Commission that would be made in May “at the latest,” she said. Quiring also talked priorities the council has for state lawmaking this year. The first she mentioned was getting needed funds for development along the Discovery Corridor, land flanking Interstate 5 especially focused around the Clark County Fairgrounds exit at 179th Street.

Quiring said that generally, the county’s lawmakers at the state level were “very cooperative” in addressing local needs. One issue she’d like to see addressed was sales tax “leakage” from people in Clark County shopping across the Columbia River due to Oregon’s lack of the tax.

“It’s been an ongoing problem. It’s almost something that we have to live with,” Quiring remarked.

The new council chair also addressed the perennial issue of bridges and tolls. Following Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent statements on an Interstate 5 bridge replacement Quiring said she was “very disappointed” with the governor’s insistence on light rail for any project.

“Most everybody here was kind of in agreement that (bridge replacement) didn’t have to require light rail,” Quiring said. She went on to say the metropolitan area wasn’t big enough to require the rapid transit mode, pointing to places like Washington, D.C., and Boston where the infrastructure made sense.

“If I-5 bridge is going to be replaced, we need to immediately be planning when the other (bridges) are going to happen,” Quiring said, referencing local sentiment on additional crossings over the Columbia River being a priority, in some cases moreso than replacing the current bridge.



“But it doesn’t seem like we’re going to have the political will to do that,” she acquiesced.

Quiring also responded to recent news from the Federal Highway Administration regarding tolling on I-5 and Interstate 205. The federal agency asked for more information on Oregon’s scheme but said that the plan was “likely eligible” to move forward.

Quiring noted that any tolls were several years down the line, adding that what was planned for I-205 wasn’t as much a concern as I-5 given the former’s tolls would be fairly far south and would eventually lead to additional lanes.

The I-5 tolls, which would be on all lanes from Going Street to Multnomah Boulevard, were of greater concern for the councilor. 

“It’s so congested now that I don’t think that people are taking these unnecessary trips during rush hour,” Quiring said. She was more open to having a tolled express lane as opposed to the whole of the thoroughfare.

With tolls farther down the line, Quiring said it gave the county time to put more jobs on this side of the river.

“Economic development is really high on my list,” Quiring said, adding that this year the county hopes to hire someone to serve as an “economic development liaison” to help facilitate that group.

That position could be done in a national search, similar to how they found Henessee. She hoped the individual would help in some of the ways that the Columbia River Economic Development Council has in identifying the types of incentives that would attract industry to Clark County.

“We can place a certain type of emphasis on the businesses that we want to come here,” Quiring said.