The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners will try again tomorrow, Thursday, April 2, to reach a decision on whether to allow Riverbend Landfill to expand.
A decision was originally expected a week ago, but questions about the propriety of ex parte contacts with individual Commissioners sidetracked that process. Those questions focused on Chair Allen Springer's extensive contacts with Waste Management employees on matters tangential to the landfill and Commissioner Stan Primozich's conversation with an appraisor whose opinions on the devaluing impact of the landfill on the price of adjacent lands had already been entered into the record.
Whether the Commissioners' earlier unnoticed visits to the landfill itself (singly, but with some participation by WM personnel) violated County rules has also been raised.
In addition, the News-Register newspaper has been trying to obtain copies of correspondence between Commissioners and County Counsel about ex parte contact law. The paper wants to learn whether that legal advice has been consistent and whether Commissioners have been following it.
Last week the Board decided to give all parties an opportunity to "rebut" "charges" of improper contact. Expansion opponents have questioned whether that is the proper way to cure problems they believe are interwoven into the entire expansion decision process.
The Board hearing is scheduled for 10:00 AM in Room 32, basement of the Courthouse, 5th and Evans in McMinnville. Last week, Chair Springer felt it necessary to ask the Sheriff's office to deploy deputies to monitor the meeting room. Perhaps he fears an ex parte outbreak.
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