CRPUD Floating Homes Annexation Vote to Be Held in May

February 23, 2017 – Columbia River People’s Utility District customers who reside in floating homes that sit outside the PUD’s political boundary in Multnomah Channel will vote on annexing into the district in May. The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution on February 23, 2017, calling for annexation measures to be placed on the ballots in Columbia and Multnomah Counties for the May 16, 2017, election.

CRPUD Board President Jake Carter and Director Rob Mathers represented the PUD during the hearing before Multnomah County. Board President Carter provided background information and answered questions from the commissioners.

“By approving this resolution today, you can set in motion the election process to help provide these customers with representation on the CRPUD Board,” Carter said to the commissioners.

Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, whose district includes the affected Multnomah County customers, noted that it appeared that voters in the area were supportive of the annexation effort.

“Thank you for being here today and presenting,” Meieran said. “To me it does seem to be just a matter of fairness and appropriate representation. The residents are in my district, and it does seem to be what the residents want.”

With the passage of the resolution, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners will send ballot titles and explanatory statements to the Elections Departments for Columbia and Multnomah Counties. Under state law, when a special district proposes annexation of territory in two counties, the county with the highest assessed value of the property to be annexed is required to pass resolutions calling for the annexation. In this case, Multnomah County had the higher assessed value, and therefore passed the resolution calling for the annexations in both counties. Each county will now send its own ballots to its electors.