Washington County News August 2025
OAO Resolution modifies county equity policy to preserve funding
Washington County receives approximately $135 million in federal funding, about 6.75% of the total $2 billion annual county budget. The majority goes to housing and human services programs.
Since the start of the Trump administration, the County Administration Office (CAO) and the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) have been monitoring the potential effect of Trump’s Executive Orders that threaten to freeze or cancel funding to jurisdictions that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principals. They were advised by legal staff that they had to do something in response or lose critical federal support.
As part of the CAO effort, a search of county documents found over 15,000 “hits” for “federally disfavored terms.” By April the county had transitioned away from referring to DEI, instead calling it Access and Opportunity.
With a new fiscal year beginning July 1, there was pressure to act. The initial proposal, brought to the board on June 15, would have completely rescinded the 2020 DEI Resolution & Order (R&O). Commissioners Fai, Treece, and Snider voted against it in hopes of finding a less drastic approach.
CAO proposed that the county could postpone signing some of the threatened grants by using emergency funds to maintain affected services. Then, with a revised policy statement in place, the funds could be recovered because the contracts are retroactive once signed. This gave the board a little more time to act.
CAO contracted with Espousal Strategies, a public affairs consulting company, to craft an alternative strategy. Because of the short timeline, community outreach efforts were limited to working with the Advisory Council on Racial Equity (ACRE), and some of the Community-Based Organizations that receive pass-through federal funding. Key county staff were consulted. Board members worked throughout June and July with those groups and with CAO to find a compromise.
The board passed R&O 25-52 during the July 22 BCC meeting. It reaffirms state and federal laws that “prohibit discrimination and establish fairness and equality of access and opportunity as a foundational legal principle.” What this means in practice is that the county is affirming that none of its policies or actions can favor any particular group.
With that in place, the county begins the work of modifying and evolving the county Strategic Plan, dozens of pages on the website, and language in various work agreements with partner agencies.
The July 22 Board meeting was extremely contentious. Some around the county have misinterpreted the board stance, accusing the BCC of abandoning people of color and being complicit in federal immigration actions. As we noted in the July issue, Oregon is a sanctuary state and the Sheriff’s Office will not assist in ICE actions.
Pam Treece, our District 2 Commissioner, said, “The situation the Trump Administration put us in—and the timeline they required—is abhorrent. Let me be very clear: the federal government is cruel and is currently weaponizing the resources we need to support our community to advance their racist political agenda.
“The 2020 equity resolution was one of the very first priorities I worked on after taking office…The federal aid at risk in this situation provides critical aid to our residents—from housing to the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program—and other basic community needs. The loss of these services would be incredibly disruptive and harmful for our most vulnerable at a time of economic insecurity.”
“Given the constraints placed on us from the federal government, I feel we’ve been able to reach the best place possible with this resolution. I will continue to work together to build local resiliency and find new ways to protect our vulnerable communities and our communities of color moving forward, including the possibility of litigation. This is a fight we are going to need to continue together into the future.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson just announced an executive order directing city agencies to complete a similar effort to comply with federal grant requirements. Wilson wrote that complying with federal anti-discrimination laws as they will be interpreted under President Donald Trump “means that City programs and services cannot give preference to groups with ‘protected-class status’ based on characteristics such as race or gender,” in most cases.
You can read through the presentation from the July 22 meeting to get the full picture of the background, considerations, and process involved in the decision.
Boards & Commissions
County government relies on the volunteer services of community members to advise them on a range of topics. There are open positions on a number of these groups. If you’re interested in learning more about Washington County government, have time to volunteer, and have an interest or expertise to share, learn more here. Topics include garbage & recycling, urban roads, sheriff, aging and veterans, and housing. Deadline to apply is September 2.
Credit rating
Washington County received the highest rating level of “Aaa” from Moody’s in June, in advance of the county’s issuance of full faith and credit bonds to raise $150 million in proceeds to fund projects through the county’s long-standing Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program.
In describing the county’s total outstanding debt, including the new bond issuance, Moody’s stated that “the county’s sound financial position will remain stable because of the county’s sophisticated and conservative fiscal management, which will overcome some budgetary pressures related to limitations on property tax revenue growth and decrease in revenues such as the expiration of the Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) agreements.”
