Oregon’s ‘very best’ county lobbyist Alex Cuyler retires, shares parting advice

Presenter: Among those retiring from public service in 2024, Lane County’s Intergovernmental Relations manager. At his last commissioners’ meeting April 30, Alex Cuyler:

Alex Cuyler (Lane County intergovernmental relations): Alex Cuyler, your Intergovernmental Relations manager here…

You know, I think we’re entering a really interesting time in the Oregon Legislature. Lane County has a unique opportunity with the new Speaker of the House, Rep. Julie Fahey. And we’ve got some big issues in here, but this might be a time to really lift up some big issues and at least see if there’s any interest in beginning some of those conversations.

[00:00:36] And I speak, of course, to property tax reform. A tough issue but it’s an opportunity (I think) for counties to really work collaboratively. And one of the things that I will say on my way out here is, we’ve got a number of issues that we’ve done that are really specific to Lane County, but there’s other issues that are really important to the family of counties.

[00:00:59] And as one of the larger counties, I think it is incumbent upon Lane County to really participate in and build those statewide collaborations and really help move the needle. So I’m afraid you’re going to really see the need for it as you enter into this next budget conversation, as are all counties.

[00:01:17] Presenter: Alex Cuyler, listing some of Lane County’s priorities heading into the next legislative session.

[00:01:23] Alex Cuyler (Lane County intergovernmental relations): Repurposing of an existing bond revenue for Lane County Courthouse Replacement Project. This is going way back, but if you recall, we had three different tranches of funding for the replacement project of the courthouse, and one of them was a $5 million bond that the state of Oregon did sell. We’re not sure exactly of where those dollars sit. They don’t sit with us, but we believe they’re at the judicial department. Perhaps there’s a way to repurpose those dollars to be used for improvements in the circuit court.

[00:01:55] We did suggest a priority to increase the flexibility for local transient lodging tax revenues, and there were a number of bills over the last couple of sessions, either trying to address increases to the statewide transient lodging tax or make amendments to the local transient lodging tax, particularly in the realm of public safety services, emergency preparation services. And we continue to struggle with like how we’re going to roll out a really robust 24/7/365 mobile crisis intervention team service.

[00:02:29] That might be a vehicle for some of those dollars that, hopefully, the industry could get behind. I think you can see there’s sometimes a real nexus between those kinds of things. So this gives staff a little bit of leeway to go research that issue and see work with some of those proponents of, or initiators of those bills from the past couple of sessions and see if there is traction to get some more energy behind them.

[00:02:58] And then finally continuing to build on the NACo (National Association of Counties) resolution and a bill that came out of legislature in ’21 on behavioral health parity. And I think it’s a really fascinating tool. It’s a tool that ultimately insurance companies sort of bear the brunt of in terms of reimbursements to providers, but it’s both a federal and a state tool to make sure that behavioral health costs are treated the same as medical and surgical costs, that sort of line up.

[00:03:31] So a good example, I think, is comparing the stabilization center to an emergency room.

[00:03:36] And that’s sort of what we’re proposing, is that we try to get at least an analysis going at the state level between those two kinds of services to make sure that reimbursements for a stabilization center would be the same as reimbursements or at least on par with reimbursements for an emergency department. And that’s going to be, you know, a pretty big lift.

[00:03:59] And I think I’ll stop there and see if you have any questions.

[00:04:04] Presenter: Commissioner Pat Farr.

[00:04:05] Commissioner Pat Farr: You mentioned a transient lodging tax (TLT). For those who may be listening that’s, we generate that through room taxes typically not paid by Lane County residents, typically paid by people who are visiting Lane County. We don’t have a sales tax in Oregon but we do have a room tax here in Lane County.

[00:04:24] As you know, we’re very restricted to how we can spend that, and we spend it very judiciously. We give a little bit to the Lane Historical Society, the museum, give an awful lot, a lot, the lion’s share of it, to Travel Lane County to do their work, and they do it admirably through the distribution that we give to them. We give some of it, of course, back to the cities where the lodging actually is located. But a lot of it, we get to choose how to use it on tourism.

[00:04:48] What you’re talking about, Alex, in the new legislation is expanding lodging taxes’ use, not beyond tourism, but maybe bettering the definition of what tourism actually is.

[00:04:59] Now sometimes we consider bonding room taxes for years and years to come, but I prefer to use it as we generate it and you mentioned one particular area that really is a part of tourism. People who visit Lane County expect it to be a safe place to be. They expect people to adhere to speed limits, they expect to have a sheriff’s deputy response if the sheriff’s deputy is called by somebody who’s out in the county who’s visiting Lane County.

[00:05:26] So to me, tourism and public safety go hand in hand, so it’s a natural that we ask the legislature to help us re-identify some of the TLT that we, Transient Lodging Tax that we collect here in Lane County, and its little sibling, the car rental tax, much smaller, but a similar sort of tax that we do, we gather in, and we here who live in Lane County, typically don’t pay it.

[00:05:48] Now when I camp at Siuslaw Marina, I pay a little bit, but generally it’s people who come from out of the county, even out of the country and out of the state, who don’t pay a sales tax in Oregon, but they do give us money to operate, not in a real general fund, in a very limited general fund. I’m really in favor of that, Alex.

[00:06:04] And as we move forward in the legislature in the next year, let’s take a look at TLT, what we can do with it in order to make Lane County a safer place for people to visit. Looking forward to that.

[00:06:13] Presenter: Alex Cuyler.

[00:06:14] Alex Cuyler (Lane County intergovernmental relations): What we really wanted to do is give staff free rein to go work on exploring the potential, and we recognized that transient lodging tax is highly protected by the Lodging Association in Salem.

[00:06:27] And so we really felt like it was the best tactic to come to you first to get this as a priority so that nobody’s blindsided by the fact that we’re going to start making some phone calls. And we’re going to start working with the people who have introduced bills in the past couple of sessions and see if they’ve got plans and working with the Lodging Association, if we can engage with them

[00:06:47] So I think this one you’ll continue to hear about it. But again, this is just to get us going in that conversation, not necessarily resulting in Lane County saying, ‘Okay, we’re going to go get a bill written.’ I mean again, I think you know if I can say anything about my career, it’s the importance of building collaborations in Salem and not just going alone up there.

[00:07:12] Presenter: Commissioner Ryan Ceniga:

[00:07:13] Commissioner Ryan Ceniga: With funding being a hot topic, is now a good time to elevate the prioritization of unfunded mandates? I’m looking at this from coming from city government and being on the Junction City School Board. I mean, every time we see something come down the pipeline, the number one question is: How long are they going to fund it?

[00:07:37] Presenter: Speaking with the commissioners April 30, Lane County Intergovernmental Relations Manager Alex Cuyler.

[00:07:44] Alex Cuyler (Lane County intergovernmental relations): Commissioner Ceniga, we had really dug into the issue of county-mandated services and tried to identify potentially where they exist in statute.

[00:07:54] I mean the question of unfunded mandate is a big one. Mobile crisis intervention team—when they passed that we thought about it, because there really wasn’t, hasn’t been a good source of funding identified. The 988 tax has a little bit of language that speaks to the potential use of that money, but only if there’s a surplus, which we doubt there will be from the actual provision of the 988 service.

[00:08:21] I will say that, when you start talking about it, particularly in Salem with respect to a piece of legislation, you have to balance whether this is going to be viewed as obstinance by the counties or a potential for dialogue about how to get something better funded.

[00:08:37] Presenter: Linn County successfully challenged a state mandate requiring sick pay. Alex Cuyler:

[00:08:43] Alex Cuyler (Lane County intergovernmental relations): Linn County successfully did challenge, so there are some people who have a lot of expertise about the unfunded mandate. Rob Bovett, who was county counsel at the Association of Oregon Counties, used to talk about unfunded mandates quite a bit. The attorney who tried the Linn County case might be a resource for further discussions.

[00:09:04] But my recommendation is try to be as collaborative as possible to avoid a situation that results in an actual lawsuit against the state. You know, that could be an uncomfortable position but there are those who would argue, ‘Well, that’s the place for it to happen is to have a court decide whether something meets the letter of the law, which is in the Constitution.’ I mean, it’s not that difficult to do that analysis.

[00:09:30] And I will say that for every bill, you know, Legislative Fiscal Office (LFO) typically reaches out to the Association of Oregon Counties and asks for a fiscal impact statement. And, you know, it has been the case where counties have submitted information back to LFO saying, ‘Yeah, this is an unfunded mandate,’ or, ‘This will have severe implications.’

[00:09:53] But the Association of Oregon Counties I think is a place to bring that conversation up. They used to have a document about unfunded mandates or county mandates. And I think Steve Adams has done a phenomenal job of continuing to get interns into our policy division and that could be a really good research project for somebody.

[00:10:14] The intern we have currently is doing a whole statutory search on immunity, indemnification, insurance issues so that we actually have that body of research to be able to use in future testimony about this issue that we’ve talked about for the last couple years about risk shift and where do immunities exist and where don’t they. So it would be a nice document to have, I think, in the hip pocket for the county.

[00:10:41] …One of the things I’m really going to miss about this job is just knowing what’s happening, the pulse of the county, you know, the heartbeat of the board. And I just really, really, really have enjoyed every minute of this career. I couldn’t have wished for a better career.

[00:10:58] Presenter: Commissioner Heather Buch:

[00:11:00] Commissioner Heather Buch: On a personal note, I will very much miss seeing you around the office and being able to drop in and talk to you about whatever upcoming issue is prevalent and what we’re working on in the legislative section. You’ve been here a lot longer than I have. You have a great body of work that you will be leaving behind that we are able to build upon.

[00:11:23] You’ve been so passionate about each and every subject you go up but the way that you work with people—I’ve never really seen in somebody else. You’re able to work with people of all different, you know, political pendulums and personalities. And there’s a lot of big personalities—you got personalities here on this board, but certainly when you’re in the state legislature there is so much going on, I can’t imagine how you have done your job the way that you have for so long, And I certainly have appreciated working with you all these years and it’s super sad to see you go. But I want to wish you a huge congratulations and a well-due retirement.

[00:12:11] Presenter: Commissioner Pat Farr:

[00:12:12] Commissioner Pat Farr: You know, I was a state rep and I spent time in the legislature and I viewed who were the best of all the lobbyists that presented to the representatives and in the committees.

[00:12:23] And through the years, what has happened with Alex Cuyler is he’s become the very best, the most proficient, the most efficient, and the most convincing as a lobbyist. Because what he does, he not only tells our side of the issue, but he also tells what the opposite side would be and gives the representative and/or the committee a chance to look at both sides.

[00:12:43] And that way they understand that what Mr. Cuyler is presenting, he’s analyzed it thoroughly, and his presentation is more complete in that respect.

[00:12:51] If you see Alex Cuyler in front of our Mental Health Advisory Committee—which is one of our statutory committees, a very, very important committee that provides input to the Board of Commissioners and is required by law—they hang on every single word that Alex Cuyler has.

[00:13:05] Two or three times a year, Alex will be asked to make a presentation there and you can see the excitement in their eyes when Alex is the presenter. And they usually give him 20 minutes and they usually keep him for an hour. That’s the effect that Mr. Cuyler has had and will be missing once you leave, Alex.

[00:13:21] You’ve been a true blessing to me and to all around. Thank you for your service through the years.

[00:13:27] Presenter: Commissioner Ryan Ceniga.

[00:13:28] Commissioner Ryan Ceniga: My only regret is I didn’t get to work with you longer. You could bury anybody in this room with knowledge and information but you have an amazing way of explaining that and giving people just enough and getting them down that path and then you could go on that path forever.

[00:13:46] I could go talk to you about a farm cafe bill before lunch, come back after lunch and talk about our federally qualified health centers and it’s it truly is amazing. And I’ve talked to Director Adams about this: There is no Alex 2.0. I know that, I’ve wrapped my mind around it. We’re not going to get another Alex, but we’ve got to do our best to get someone that as Commissioner Buch was saying, can work with these dynamic differences, if you will. And you navigate that flawlessly every time.

[00:14:19] I had an absolute blast being back in D.C. with you on the United Front trip. Alex walks through Salem, I’ve said this before, he’s like a celebrity. ‘Alex!’ Everybody wants to come and talk to him. It’s just like when you’re in a meeting with him and it’s the same way at the federal level. You’ve touched a lot of lives in this job you’ve done. So thank you.

[00:14:39] Presenter: Commissioner David Loveall.

[00:14:41] Commissioner David Loveall: Alex, you’re just one of those unique individuals that obviously just can’t be replaced, everybody is saying that. I love the fact that I could come into your office and relate to you immediately. I regret that we’ve only had a year and a half, but I loved walking into your office and seeing the sea of stacks of paper. And somehow you knew archeologically of where that was in the stack and could pull it right out. And that’s how I organize stuff. So I knew you and I were going to get along great.

[00:15:06] But… I think the thing I want to say that I want to be brief about too and poignant as well is there’s been thousands of books written about leadership, a thousand books written about servitude. And my favorite book tells me this. It says, ‘Anyone who wants to be great must be able to first be a servant.’

[00:15:23] And I think, Alex, you’ve typified that. You are a true servant of the county. You’re a true servant of humanity. You’re a true servant of your fellow staff members and you work tirelessly to be a servant for the greater good.

[00:15:36] And there’s no greater compliment that I could pay anyone but someone who’s been the fantastic leader that you have, the heralded leader that you have, the respected leader that you have, it’s because you’re willing to stick your neck out and serve.

[00:15:49] So I pray that you also do the same kind of servant to your recreational time coming forward and that you just have a great time. We love you and thank you for your service.

[00:15:57] Presenter: Commissioner Laurie Trieger:

[00:16:01] Commissioner Laurie Trieger: Echoing all of that and what was said before, what I’ve seen in you and always appreciated is: You’re not just an influencer, but you’re a trusted educator. And as I often say in the advocacy world, right: ‘The process is the outcome.’ So even when the vote doesn’t go our way, the process shifted because you helped sort of people see and understand and guided them through and gave them some information that they might use in the future or back in their own community if you’re talking with, you know, at an AOC meeting or at one of these advisory boards.

[00:16:30] So I don’t think any of us could ever fully comprehend or appreciate the influence you’ve had on really good policy that centers public service and what is best for communities and for county governments in particular. So thank you for that.

[00:16:44] And this is our county covered bridge encased in glass and it says: ‘Alex Cuyler. In appreciation of 16 years of service with Lane County.’ And so I will come down and present that to you and then invite my colleagues to join me for a brief photo and then we’ll get back to business.

[00:17:06] Presenter: Among local public servants retiring in 2024, Alex Cuyler. His parting advice: Collaborate with other Oregon counties on property tax reform, start discussions on allowing use of the transient lodging tax for public safety, and start thinking of the stabilization center as an emergency room.