Government decisions with long-term impacts require oversight, and public meetings are a vital tool for building trust between officials and the communities they serve—including RVers.
However, one such meeting, which could have directly benefited those affected, was canceled. The reason? Public officials were unable to rent the meeting venue because their government-issued credit card had been restricted to a $1 spending limit.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Portland District, Oregon, oversees several recreational areas. Included are the Cottage Grove and Dorena reservoirs. Pine Meadows Campground on Cottage Grove Lake has nearly 100 sites, several on the lake shore. Schwarz Campground below Dorena Lake offers several dozen individual and double sites, and a half-dozen group sites.
The Corps recently invited the local communities to public meetings to help provide input on future planning for the management of both reservoirs. “Three in-person public meetings are being held in the cities of Springfield, Creswell, and Cottage Grove, Oregon,” the Corps published in a media release. Meeting participants will hear about the draft 2025 Master Plan (MP) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for Cottage Grove and Dorena reservoirs. They’ll have the opportunity to make their views known. A virtual meeting is scheduled, but comments won’t be allowed.
“We hope to see a strong turnout from the local community to provide input on the long-term management of lands around Cottage Grove and Dorena reservoirs,” said Dustin Bengtson, deputy operations project manager. “All of our resources are managed to maximize public benefit and preserve resources for future generations. The public’s input is necessary to help us determine the best approach for both objectives.”
But then came more news.
“Due to Executive Order 14222, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District (USACE) has canceled one previously scheduled public meeting for the Cottage Grove and Dorena Lakes Master Plan (MP).” Why?
Army Corps explains the cancellation after we said “don’t get it”
Canceled – The following meeting has been canceled pursuant to Executive Order 14222 and resulting suspension of certain government expenditures.
Thursday • March 13, 2025 • 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Creswell Middle School, Cafeteria
655 West Oregon Avenue, Creswell, OR 97426
We looked up “Executive Order 14222.” Try as we could, we couldn’t parse out of the nearly 1,400-word order just how a public meeting cancellation ensures, “Government spending is transparent and Government employees are accountable to the American public.” So we asked the Army Corps.
The meeting canceled was at a middle school in Creswell, Oregon. Kerry Solan, a media relations speaker for the Portland District’s Army Corps’ office, emailed this reply:
“Creswell was a venue that required payment to cover the space and the Creswell personnel who would support hosting us at that location.
“The executive order froze government credit cards, which prevented us from being able to pay for the venue.”
It may not seem like much. Those interested ones in Creswell could hop in the car and drive nine to 14 miles farther and take in a different public meeting. Provided they had the time, and the other meetings meshed with their schedule. But for those who call out for more government transparency, a credit card freeze seems to make transparency opaque.
More articles you might like
- RVers, if you see purple paint on trees, stay away
- Has ‘greedflation’ taken over RV campgrounds?
- $245 a night at a KOA—Where will it end??
- Child dies from electrocution from touching the family RV
- Why Moose and Elks lodges are the way to go for RVers
- RV inspector’s picks: 3 best RV brands for travel trailers
##RVT1201b
Ii’s only going to get worse
Without a doubt. Now ‘they’ want to turn public land into housing projects.
Unfortunately this appears to be another “hair on fire” article on getting government accountability and transparency under control. This too will pass when all the chaff falls out. The USACOE most certainly has a budget they have to live by – I doubt their funds are totally frozen and are based on credit cards issued to individuals. Would you give a credit card to your neighbor for their use…. Hmmm. Some bias is showing in this article.
It’s nothing like giving a credit card to a neighbor. The COE is a government entity. Though they may be top heavy in some areas. The cutbacks are going to hurt needed improvements.
Trimming with a chainsaw is not the answer!
Hi Bob: Yes, I concur with your chainsaw comment. While it is long past due to end some of these giveaway programs and lack of spending control by gov’t agencies, I would like to see a more moderated approach to fixing this mess. Chainsawing just leads to more resentment and unemployment as well. If an agency head won’t address their activities with substantial cuts, then we need new mgmt level people who will.
I agree for the most part, but having come from decades in a big corporation, that can have many “gov’t like” attributes, I can tell you that NO ONE ever volunteers to cut budget $. In addition, if you “ask” them to come forward with “X” amount of cuts, the first thing they volunteer is mission critical impacts they know can’t be cut. Human nature.
In the end, headcount targets are given as well as mandatory discretionary cuts and freezes, like NO travel except directly client revenue producing.
I agree that individual cabinet secretaries or other top level leaders should be the final decision makers, and I think that is the case now.
But ripping the bandaid off is often the less traumatic Bob. A week wondering if you have a job beats walking on eggshells for months.
Just hold the meeting outside at one of your campgrounds….for free.
Most vendors aren’t going to wait months to receive a check cut by the Fed. Gov’t (which is what it takes). Especially for small purchases. And the Gov’t just couldn’t process that many checks. The card isn’t necessarily issued to individuals – they could be issued to an office or a district.
I have a common sense idea, have the public meetings at a Group Picnic Shelter in one or more of the COE Parks. Plenty of parking and no credit card needed to reserve.
What? A no cost option? Blasphemy.
✌️😎
Well I looked up the weather report for Creswell. Cold, windy, rainy. I don’t know if the campgrounds are open, but public meetings require open restrooms and electricity. There are displays, and papers people can take with them. There could be over 100 people attending a meeting. I don’t know if you ever have held a public meeting like this, but I have. No way it could be done outside, and I’ve never seen a picnic shelter that would work for something like this. And the reason they hold them in winter/spring, is during the summer the staff is busy staffing the park/facilities, and the public has more time to attend meetings.
Looks like they had their meeting at another location only 14 miles away.
Blasphemy!!!!
There’s no way? Really? There are outdoor concerts all the time with thousands of people in all kinds of weather.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! I thought that the $1 limit was on discretionary spending. That is, permission to spend more requires prior authorization. So, if this is correct, then the real underlying reason is a failure to apply sufficently ahead of the scheduled public meeting to allow time to receive permission to pay for the venue. Have a great day and safe travels!
It’s hard to apply ahead of time for authorization (which in the government normally takes months) when the freeze occurs a day or week before the event.
We had to apply for authorization as a matter of course, Bill. Authorization then took days or weeks. Maybe our agency (U.S. Energy Information Adminstration) was different. Safe travels!
Sounds like a great candidate for a Zoom meeting. Gov should advertise it as an environmentally protective change to appease the antis.
Much ado about nothing. From the article: “It may not seem like much. Those interested ones in Creswell could hop in the car and drive nine to 14 miles farther and take in a different public meeting”
Public input has, for a LONG time, also been input via mail, and more recently by tele or video conferences.
Some people just think government spending doesn’t matter. We have printing presses, right? Keep doing things that cost way more money, but could also be accomplished with less spending.
Much of our citizenry has zero concept of just how bad the U.S. fiscal situation is. Frankly, it’s going to take more than spending cuts. If this nation is serious about debt reduction, opening wallets MUST also happen. But, what politician wants to run on that platform…regardless of party affiliation?
Russ & Tina, will you ever report a balanced article on this topic of cuts?
As a former federal employee who arranged and paid (with gov’t credit card) for facilities to hold seminars, I never had to pay for a ‘public’ facility. Schools, colleges, community buildings were all free. If we rented a hotel conference center then those we had to pay for. There are many ways to save money. Then again I thought back then (25+ years ago) that all federal agencies could cut 10% of their budget and never miss a beat.