Clean-air board appointment follows state law and counsel's advice.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Jim Johnson For The Register-Guard

On May 9, The Register-Guard printed a guest viewpoint by Becky Riley and David Monk. The headline was `Eugene shorted on clean-air board.'

The column raised questions about how the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority board of directors is addressing a board membership issue under Oregon law. As the interim director of LRAPA, I'd like to respond.

The LRAPA board currently consists of seven members. State law specifies how many board members each jurisdiction is entitled to. The board includes four elected officials - one each from Lane County, Eugene, Springfield and one shared between Cottage Grove and Oakridge. Eugene gets two more positions because of language in the law that provides extra seats on the board based on population.

As you can see, that's six positions. The law then says that a seventh position is added to create an odd number of members. The six board members appoint this `at-large' position.

We are now at a point where the population in Eugene has increased enough to require another board member to be appointed by the Eugene City Council. The authors state in their guest viewpoint that `the board should ask the current at-large member to resign' and allow the new Eugene appointment to assume the seventh board position.

Because the law firm providing advice to LRAPA is also the firm under contract to the city of Eugene, the firm has correctly bowed out from giving advice to LRAPA on this matter. Earlier this year, the board hired an independent, third-party municipal law specialist to provide answers to questions related to the interpretation of state law language covering board membership.

The advice the LRAPA board has received is considerably different than that suggested by Riley and Monk. Our municipal law specialist has pointed out that there is no language in the law that either suggests or requires the seventh `at-large' position be vacated and replaced in favor of a new Eugene appointment.

State law allows the board to consist of up to nine members. Because Eugene can now appoint a new board member based on increased population, this adds a new eighth position - it doesn't replace the seventh position. The new position creates an even number of board members, so another `at-large' position is required; that would bring the total board membership to nine allowed by law.

The authors state that, `The agency is playing fast and loose with the state law that defines composition of a regional air board.' Nothing could be further from the truth.

The board has carefully considered the matter, has asked for legal advice from its attorney, and is following that advice.

Former Eugene City Manager Jim Johnson is interim director of the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority.