Ranked Voting Revisions: The Corvallis City Council will look at an ordinance at their March 20 meeting that would adopt all suggested changes to the current ranked voting system. Benton County voters approved the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) system in November of 2016, the City of Corvallis followed suit and adopted the same system in January of 2022.
However…
“Following the Benton County Records and Elections Division’s experience of using the RCV method for the Corvallis Mayor and the Ward 9 Councilor races in the 2022 general election, county staff developed revisions to the original RCV implementation rules to clarify processes and better align with voting software parameters,” said Alex Downing, Corvallis City Recorder.
The changes include defining continuing ballots and winning threshold, adding clarity to the way an automatic recount is determined, and allowing single-round batch elimination of RCV candidates that are mathematically unable to win.
If this ordinance passes unanimously at the Monday meeting, city staff has prepared a resolution, which would adopt Benton County’s now updated ranked choice voting rules.
Remember That Food Hub Project: Another item on the March 20 Corvallis City Council meeting agenda is approving funds needed in order to move forward with the development of the South Corvallis Food Hub Project.
On Dec. 2, 2021, Benton County was awarded $550,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, and the City subsequently requested Senator Sara Gelser-Blouin lobby for an additional $50,000 in matching funds for some research.
“The proposal submitted to the Senator was for a study to identify gaps in the local food and beverage supply system and use the findings from the study to inform the creation of a food hub in South Corvallis,” said Kathryn Duvall, Economic Development and Climate Program Specialist.
So, at the Dec. 19, 2022 council meeting a resolution to accept those matching funds from Benton County was approved.
Of course, the request being for matching funds, means actually allocating funds that will match.
“In order for the contract to be signed with the county and the funds to be released, $50,000 of matching funds must be appropriated to the Food Hub Project budget,” said Duvall.
So, there will be a resolution at this upcoming Monday Council meeting to do that, which would then allow the grant dollars to move from the Economic Development Office’s recurring budget in order to kick start the project.
Trash Talks: The Benton County Talks Trash workgroup is asking for the public’s feedback
on the current workgroup recommendations ahead of the final report that will be released on
April 3.
“It is important for Benton County to work with the broader community on a long-term strategy for solid waste and disposal,” said Benton County Commissioner Pat Malone.
The public survey went live at noon on Thursday and will remain open until March 22. There will also be a public meeting held on March 23. For more information you can visit https://www.co.benton.or.us/boc/page/benton-county-asks-public-talk-trash-and-future-solid-waste or email: pioinfo@bentoncountyor.gov.
By Jennifer Williams
