Board set to vote on filling vacancy.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

They couldn't find common ground two weeks ago, so the Lane County commissioners will try again today to fill the vacant East Lane seat on the five-member panel until voters make their choice at the polls next year.

Board Chairman Peter Sorenson said Tuesday that he'll go into the early afternoon discussion "with some degree of optimism that we can come to a conclusion."

"My goal last time was to get people's first choices out on the table," and that resulted in a split decision that seemed insurmountable, Sorenson said. "This time, my goal is to identify second choices and see if that might result in three votes of support."

Two weeks ago, Sorenson and Bill Dwyer said Creswell attorney Martha Roberts would be their first choice among seven finalists to replace Tom Lininger, who resigned in mid-August - eight months into his four-year term - to take a faculty position at the University of Oregon Law School.

Bobby Green threw his support to Cottage Grove Mayor Gary Williams, while Anna Morrison said she preferred Pleasant Hill property owner/manager Gordon Howard but would accept Williams as an alternative.

The discussion ended, deadlocked at 2-2.

Green said Tuesday that he'll encourage the board to look at the remaining four candidates and see if one of them could gain approval.

Based on previous discussions, it appears that no one's first choice can get the necessary three votes, "so we need to see if (among) the second choices, someone can garner three votes," Green said.

That approach would mean choosing among Coburg Mayor Michael Dean, Oakridge Mayor Donald Hampton, Cottage Grove nonprofit executive Joachim Schulz, and investment officer and former state legislator Al King of Springfield.

Although Dwyer, in particular, has expressed unwillingness to appoint a current or former elected official to the position, Green said he hopes that criterion won't hold up a decision by the board.

"If we're really interested in giving the people of East Lane County the representation they deserve, we will choose someone who's an independent thinker - who doesn't necessarily see eye-to-eye with anyone else on the board - even if they already hold elected office," Green said. "Then everyone who's interested can run (in May), and the voters will decide."