Ranked Choice Voting: The Benton County Board of Commissioners approved revisions to the county’s ranked choice voting rules at their Feb. 21 meeting.
A major change voters within the county will notice is that candidates that are mathematically unable to win will no longer be involved in the final recount. The county hopes that this will save money by eliminating unnecessary recounts.
What this means is that the county approved the removal of an automatic recount for all candidates until there is a clear winner, as previously written. If one candidate has won over another there will not be a recount of the votes.
Benton County was the first in Oregon to enact a ranked choice voting system. Click here for more information.
New Stormwater Permit Requirements: Benton County will be making updates to its current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated code. On March 1, the county will update the Phase II requirements of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit (NPDES) issued by the EPA.
In a release from the county, the first modification is to Construction Site Runoff Control which will lower the threshold of ground disturbance which will require Benton County Erosion and Sediment Control permitting.
“The intent is to improve water quality overall so there is a lot less sediment in our water system because that is a real problem from an environmental perspective,” Benton County Commissioner Xan Augerot said. “Given our vision for the future, we know our community members really place a high premium on where we live in this beautiful part of the Willamette Valley. This change helps us tread more lightly on the environment as we grow our population in Benton County.”
The second modification addresses Post Construction Stormwater Management which will require projects that create more than ¼ acre of impervious surface to create a long-term stormwater treatment and detention plan.
County officials are working to coordinate community outreach in order to educate residents on what these changes will mean and the impact they will have. Learn more about Benton County code changes and how they might affect you for stormwater permitting.
By: Jennifer Williams
