ENTERPRISE — Five candidates for Position 1 on the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners gave a packed Cloverleaf Hall reasons to vote for them — or not — and Commissioner Susan Roberts provided some of her insights as to why she should be reelected to Position 2 during a candidates forum Sunday, April 28, in Enterprise.

Roberts’ opponent, David Hembd, did not appear.

Here are highlights of what the candidates said:

Susan Roberts

Roberts, however, responded to comments made by some of the Position 1 candidates, particularly on roads and natural resources.

She is the commissioner who most closely oversees the Road Department and as such, is coping with the failure of the federal government to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools funding, which provides about $1 million to the county — 75% for the county and 25% for schools. SRS was established in the 1990s to replace funding counties across the nation received from timber sales.The bulk of the county’s share goes toward the Road Department, Roberts has said in the past.

Although the program will send $1,082,694 to Wallowa County this year, it has not been reauthorized for next year and beyond, meaning a $1 million hit for the county in its 2024-25 budget year.

Roberts said she’s been preparing for that.

“So what I’ve been doing with roads is purchasing all the equipment they would need.”

But the department is considerably less staffed than in previous years. She said that 20-30 years ago it had 22 people. Now it’s down to about eight.

But even with the smaller crew, she said, the county is still working to keep the roads maintained.

“It will not be done overnight,” she said. “It takes time.”

The commissioners also are working on a new forest plan with other state and federal agencies to hopefully improve management both for timber production and fire prevention. She said she’s working with Commissioner Todd Nash to prevent more wilderness area being designated in the county.

“We’ve got plenty in Wallowa County,” Roberts said. “We’ve got more wilderness than any other county in the state.”

Speaking earlier in the forum, the five candidates for Position 1 spoke about their background and qualifications.

David Brandt

David Brandt emphasized his experience doing business in the county for the past 20 years.

“During that time, I learned to love this county,” he said. “This county is a wonderful place to live. The people here are fantastic. And the values here are values that I cherish, you know, the world, county environment, the great outdoors. All of those things contribute to making this place a wonderful place to live.”

He also stressed the importance of being good stewards of the county’s natural resources.

“In order for the county to thrive, it has to be able to use and develop its natural resources,” Brandt said, “and that so many times the state and federal government get in the way of us being able to develop those and use those as individuals and I would work and fight to keep those rights here locally in the county.”

He’s also kept abreast of local issues of planning and economic development.

He said he would work to try to ease the county’s housing crunch, but noted that state regulations regarding rental units have “made it harder on housing and renters in the county and I would work hard to try and develop a good solution for those.”

Devin Patton

Candidate Devin Patton emphasized his experience both as a rancher and his deep Wallowa County roots.

Patton noted that after graduating from Joseph High School and the University of Idaho — where he received a degree in agricultural economics — he did like many young in the county do, and left.

“There really isn’t a lot of obvious economic opportunity for people to look at them and say, yep, I can go home and do that,” Patton said. “So I pursued career aspirations elsewhere. And when my wife and I really started to evaluate where we wanted to be when we started thinking about a growing family … we realized that there was really nowhere else that we wanted to be, but here in this county with these values, where we feel like we could safely raise our kids with our values and be around a parenting support system.”

Patton hopes to promote a business-friendly environment that builds a healthy economic future for the younger generation.

“I’ve got four (kids) and I don’t want them to become another group of our most valuable export, which is our young people who leave,” he said.

Patton also encouraged the protection of the county’s natural resources, which he called “our foundation.”

Lisa Collier

Joseph Mayor Lisa Collier emphasized her experience in government and education. She works for the InterMountain Education Service District teaching preschool and special-needs children who are 3-5 years old.

“I’ve been involved on the frontline of many initiatives and home projects here, including infrastructure replacement, beautification protection, grant writing, revisiting and updating ordinances, completing the city budget several times as well as serving on the past county road board and past county budget,” Collier said. “Additionally, I serve with the Joseph Education Foundation Board and I’m currently serving on the Enterprise Education Foundation Board … I’ve been serving our county for years in a variety of roles.”

She’s also been active attending city council, school board and Board of County Commissioners meetings to better inform herself of issues the commissioners face. If elected, she plans to resign both from her teaching position and already has announced plans to leave her post as mayor of Joseph.

“If I am elected to this position, it will be my job day in and day out it will be my priority by myself, second (only) to my family,” Collier said.

Angelika Dietrich-Garoutte

Angelika Dietrich-Garoutte is another rancher running for the commission seat. She also serves as the webmaster for Wallowa County.

“The most inspiring reason to run for public office is the chance to impact issues I deeply care about and will our county as an elected official I can, to a certain degree shape policy, allocate resources and create beneficial changes for all of us in our community,” she said.

As webmaster for the county, she has had experience working with the commissioners to extend connectivity between the public and the county.

Dietrich-Garoutte said it’s a variety of economic ventures that will improve the county.

“Sustainable farming, ranching and timber practices as well as protecting managing soil water wildlife habitat are essential not only for the environment today, but for future generations to come,” she said. “The success of small businesses in Wallowa County not only depends on the support of our local community, but also on the influx of tourists since the timber industry’s reduction.”

She said a strong working relationship between the county government other municipalities and agencies can benefit all parties. “It’s no longer just about spending money wisely,” she said. “Today’s financial success in county government requires both smart spending in securing funding from traditional sources and innovative grant opportunities to meet all of the government’s needs.”

John Amond

John Amond emphasized that he’s a registered independent and votes for the candidate rather than a party.

“I have listened to what people said,” Among said. “People telling me over and over we love the county. We love the way it is. We love living here. We don’t want it to change. I don’t want it to change.”

So, he said, he would do “everything I can do to preserve the values, the scenery,the people and not change this county anyway that doesn’t need to change. He touted his corporate background with IBM and his experience running his own as preparing him for the work of budgeting and planning.

He said the process of balancing available resources with available funds “calls for thinking outside the box. The optimist sees the glass as half full, the pessimist sees the glass half-empty. I see it as a glass that can be refilled.”