By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
It was as informal as could be for a hearing before the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
In a small room in the Yachats Commons on Monday night, a commission member and two staffers heard from Karin Radtke why she and her husband, Hans, want to be annexed into the Lane Community College district.
The unusual request – the commission has had only one other in the past five years – involves a long sliver of Lane County where it borders Lincoln County and remote sections of the Lincoln County and Alsea school districts.
The state commission oversees the coordination of Oregon community college programs and their relationship to four-year colleges and universities.
The Radtkes have lived along Tenmile Creek six miles south of Yachats for 48 years. For years they’ve wanted to vote in issues involving Lane Community College, which is based in Eugene but has a small outpost in Florence.
“We’ve been married for 52 years,” Karin Radtke told HECC Commissioner Enrique Farrera. “We don’t agree on everything … but on this one we do.”
Karin Radtke said only recently did they realize they were not paying any taxes to any community college district – Lane to the south or Oregon Coast Community College to the north — “and therefore we could not vote on LCC measures.”
“It must have been an oversight,” she said. “We’d like people in this area to belong and pay their fair share.”
If the commission and 2020 Legislature allows LCC to annex the area, property owners will also begin paying taxes to the college district – about 62 cents per $1,000 assessed property value — or $155 a year for property valued at $250,000.
Being in the district would also allow residents to take classes at lower rates.
Lane Community College is not opposed to the annexation. Brett Rowlett, the college’s director of public affairs, told the commission that the college was formed 55 years ago by voters and believes in “a process led by the people.”
“We’re eager to welcome them,” said Rowlett, but stressing that the Radtke’s effort “is not driven by the college.”
The Radtke’s tried to get annexed into the community college district by going directly to the Oregon Legislature, but were unsuccessful. So they gathered the signatures of 23 registered voters in the area – there are just 133 – and petitioned the coordinating commission to be added to the LCC district.
If anyone opposes the idea, they have until Oct. 10 to collect signatures of 5 percent of the voters in the area – just seven – to force an election.
The Salem-based commission will also take comments on the proposal until Oct. 10. Its staff will make a report and the full commission will decide whether to recommend to the Legislature to proceed.
If the commission votes no, then the effort is dead, Farrera said.
Farrera complimented Karin Radtke at the close of the hearing, which lasted just 20 minutes.
“People like you are really passionate about education,” he said.
