This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE 6/16/05

Klamath Falls is going to remain a divided city for a long time.
A little bill was slipped through the Legislature a few days ago that practically ensured that fact.
It was House Bill 2484 which is now before the Governor, and he indicated he will sign it.
What does the bill do?
Well, it eliminates the prospect for a city to surround an area and then annex it outright. There was always the possibility that the city of Klamath Falls would eventually surround most of the suburban area, and thus could annex it.
The bill makes clear that annexation can only proceed when both areas approve it by majority vote. That is the city must approve the area to be annexed, and the people in that area must also vote to be annexed.
It’s surprising that introducing and passage of the bill has not had more publicity. The bill was aimed at three cities.....Beaverton, Tigard and Klamath Falls specifically.
The report on it indicated that it had been introduced by a group that apparently did not want to be annexed to one of the three cities.
Locally, we had the incident some time back when the city manager segregated the suburban area into six areas...and asked for an annexation vote in each area......something that resulted in all areas denying possible annexation.
Now....let’s look at both sides of the picture.
From the city standpoint.....in most instances they represent the commercial area of the community and their streets and other areas such as parks, etc., are used by both residents and non residents, and thus the cost of the upkeep should be shared jointly.
From the suburban resident standpoint....there is great hostility toward a number of the ordinances and the actions of the city as well as a tax differential if they chose to join the city.
So....now that surrounding and automatic annexation is out...what and how can the community ever become united. Uniting the area into one city of about 40 or 50,000 has been the goal for many, many years.
A number of studies have been done over the years on consolidation, but all, including the most recent 2002 study have remained on the shelf.
There is one occurrence, however, which must be avoided...and that is the formation of the suburban area into another city. That would only duplicate and bring additional problems to the area.
It may be a long time before another serious consolidation effort is launched to unite the two areas....but, in my mind, there is one thing that can be done now that would assure better coordination of the two areas..
I would suggest that since half of Klamath Falls is run by the city, and the other half by the county....that there be organized a coordinating committee with a representative from the City Council and the Commissioners that would meet frequently and tackle mutual problems of the area.
At present about the only meeting of the two groups is when there is a critical issue....and since the city is run by both groups it seems to me that such a coordinating committee is a must.
In the meantime, it’s strange that such an annexation bill would have been passed without any publicity.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.