Board of County Commissioners August 19, 2007
Clackamas County
2051 Kaen Road
Oregon City, OR 97045

Dear Commissioners Schrader, Peterson and Kennemer,

I hereby submit my resignation from the Villages at Mt. Hood Board of Directors.

I find that my values and commitments to the Villages concept do not match those of the County Liaison. The recent actions on upgrading the Bylaws has brought, what I consider, less than honorable actions and roughshod trampling of the public trust.

I view that the covenant between the BCC and the Community, as embodied in the Bylaws and the Complete Communities Ordinance, has been made a sham by the actions of the County Liaison in collusion with some BOD member. Their attitude, actions, and statements that the
        "Bylaws are operational rules, not laws, not legally binding, you don't have to follow them."
and
         The BCC does not need to follow Ordinance 03-2007 2.10.060 - Paragraph C.
along with the County Liaison remaining silent as the Chairs of the BOD and subcommittees are lax on community meeting notice and going so far as to conceal planned agenda items from Directors.

I also view that the actions of County Liaison and some Directors have been to trample on the public trust that was essential in retaining support for the Villages. I am very disappointed in minimalist approach to community involvement endorsed by the County Liaison over the past year. As one BOD member gleefully noted, the County Liaison never seemed concerned about actually working hard to gain community involvement, only whether County Counsel thought the actions would skate by Oregon Public meeting laws.

In my opinion, the actions on the Bylaw were determined to railroad through changes without community input:

  1. changing from frequently and long announced "first reading" to a "vote for approval" a couple weeks before the meeting during the busy summer season,
  2. changing the Town Hall meeting date from the normal "3rd Saturday" to the 2nd Saturday at the same time as the community garage sale,
  3. County Liaison making substantive changes up to the day before the Town Hall Meeting,
  4. not following the BOD Resolutions on providing copies of the draft Policies and Procedures for the Town Hall to provide a complete solution,
  5. not following the BOD Resolutions on Community involvement,
  6. making the BOD a cloistered clique with removal only by the BOD, with no recourse for the community, on the day before the Town Hall, and
  7. not following the County Ordinance 2.10.060 C on amendment approval
would seem to confirm the worst fears of some community members.

I wish you luck with the experiment "villages and hamlets" but I can no long support the current implementation and will no longer volunteer my time for it.

Sincerely,

Susan Corwin