County salaries and gingerbread poop cookies

A salary of $175,656 for embattled County Administrator Liane Richardson and $166,400 for County Counsel-to-be Stephen Dingle (his contract has not been voted on). Those are the salaries on the table for Richardson and Dingle if proposed raises go through, according to The Register-Guard in a story Jan. 24. Materials related to the upcoming votes are available here on the county’s website.

That’s about $40,000 in raises at a time when the county is strapped for cash, irate readers point out on the R-G‘s page and in Letters to the Editor EW is already receiving. Ironically the Lane County Board of Commissioner’s vote on the raise is the same day as a public hearing on a possible public safety tax, according to the agenda.

As EW reported this week, the county is facing a possible legal case from former attorney Marc Kardell as well as a suit from activist Alley Valkyrie on constitutional grounds after Richardson closed the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza to protest for several days and barred protests after 11 pm. Richardson and Dingle have also barred Valkyrie from entering the county building. After the closure and Richardson alleged protesters had defecated in county planters, another protest was held at the plaza Jan. 7 and 21 more people were arrested. During the protest, gingerbread Liane Richardson cookies holding a raisin were handed out. You can guess from the picture what the raisin signifies …

Photo courtesy Louise Prévost, the baker

Those interested in making comments to the county, either about the proposed raises or about the public safety proposal should attend the County Commissioners’ meeting during the 1:30 pm public comment period and the 5:30 pm public safety hearing, also on Tuesday Jan. 29, at Harris Hall. For more details, see the agenda. No idea if the commission is interested in more creative cookie-baking.