Tigard looks to withdraw from Metzger, Bull Mt. CPOs

Unhappy with their representation with the two Community Participation Organizations they belong to, the city is hoping to form their own

By Geoff Pursinger

The Times, Dec 25, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

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It wasn’t long ago that Tigard wanted Bull Mountain to consider the big “A” word — annexation.

Now, it looks like Washington County’s third largest city wants nothing to do with the unincorporated area.

The city has asked Washington County to remove Tigard from the area’s two community participation organizations — CPO 4B and CPO 4M, the CPOs which handle county-level issues for the areas of Bull Mountain and Metzger — because the issues that affect unincorporated Washington County are not relevant to Tigard residents, according to a letter written to the county in September by Tigard Mayor Craig Dirksen.

“After the whole annexation thing, we talked about it and decided that (being involved with CPO 4B and CPO 4M) wasn’t a good thing to do,” said Sydney Webb, Tigard city councilor who spearheaded the idea to sever ties with the CPOs. “I was out at the (Washington County administration offices) and heard CPO 4B saying that Tigard was not a good place to get services from. And I thought, they’re representing 4B, they’re not representing the citizens of Tigard.”

In the letter to the county, Dirksen asked that the parts of Tigard currently served by CPO 4B and 4M become their own organization, CPO 4T.

“This isn’t unheard of,” said City Councilor Gretchen Buehner.

The cities of Beaverton and King City also created their own community participation organizations. King City created CPO 4K, and Beaverton established Neighborhood Association Committees, which better deal with issues related to specific communities — similar to Tigard’s Neighborhood Networks program which divides Tigard in 13 distinct neighborhoods.

But while Beaverton and King City’s decisions to form their own communities has been met with great success, CPO 4B vice-chair Lisa Hamilton-Treick isn’t sure that that’s the best thing for Tigard to do.

“The difference between Beaverton’s and Tigard’s public involvement process is huge,” Hamilton-Treick said. While Beaverton’s neighborhood committees are open to anyone to participate in, Tigard’s Neighborhood Networks program is not, she said.

“They only meet once a year, and the people in the process are hand-selected by the mayor and a member of the city council.”

Also, Hamilton-Treick said, only three of the Tigard’s 13 neighborhoods “are even semi-off-the-ground.”

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