Metro Council President Tom Hughes announced two new appointments to the on Thursday, less than two months after he said he wanted to revisit MPAC appointments.
The committee, which advises the Metro Council on issues of regional importance and consists mostly of elected officials, has three citizen representatives, one from each county.
The two new appointees are Maxine Fitzpatrick, executive director of Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc., and Bob Grover, president of Hillsboro-based Pacific Landscape Management.
Wilda Parks, an executive at the North Clackamas Chamber of Commerce, was re-appointed to represent Clackamas County on MPAC.
Hughes said Fitzpatrick, Multnomah County's new representative, was strongly recommended by Councilor Rex Burkholder and the Coalition of Communities of Color. She'd worked with Metro on its efforts to secure a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to study the region's housing inventory.
"She represents communities that have been underrepresented. She worked in the HUD grant process. So she's got some background – she doesn't come to it cold," Hughes said. "If MPAC takes up affordable housing, it's good expertise."
On the westside, Bob Grover fell down Idiot Creek Falls and landed on MPAC.
Grover was the consensus choice to be the citizen representative in a Dec. 29, 2011, letter from seven Washington County mayors.
Shortly after the letter was sent, though, he suffered life-threatening injuries on an ill-fated hike near Idiot Creek Falls, in Tillamook County. He has been recovering for weeks after spending 10 days in the intensive care unit at Legacy Emanuel hospital.
Hughes said he's known Grover for many years, and thinks his familiarity with the issues addressed at MPAC will benefit Washington County.
"He sat next to me in planning commission meetings for five years," Hughes said. "Bob will not be shy about speaking up and is relatively knowledgeable."
Grover said his political opinions are consistent with those of Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey, who first approached him about the job. He said his experience on Hillsboro's planning commission, and as a small business owner, shape the way he'll look at issues.
"I have an understanding on how things work, and how multiple agencies work together to make sure we get the right thing done," he said.
Grover was also a contributor to Hughes' 2010 campaign, donating $1,500, according to state records. The campaign raised more than $500,000; Hughes said the appointment had nothing to do with campaign contributions.
"I never heard Bob express an interest in doing it until the mayors put his name forward," Hughes said. Grover said he didn't talk to Hughes about the opening until well after the idea had been floated by Willey last December.
"I have no 'quid' for my 'pro quo,'" Hughes said. "I'm just looking for someone who understands the issues."
When Hughes announced in January that he was going to re-consider the MPAC citizen representatives, the notion that the appointee should be supported by the county's elected officials was blasted by some in Washington County.
Washington County Commissioner Greg Malinowski compared it to Soviet Ukraine having a vote in the United Nations, independent of the USSR, during the Cold War. And Grover's MPAC predecessor, Nathalie Darcy, said having an MPAC representative who votes with the mayors is redundant.
But Hughes thinks the citizen representative should reflect the voice of a county's residents – and those residents' voices are expressed through who they elect to positions of leadership.
"If you're looking for somebody who represents the people, the way that you find that out, for the most part, is you get elected to something," Hughes said. But, since MPAC citizen representatives are appointed, not elected, "the people who get elected have a key role in who those people are going to be," he said.
Hughes said he plans on putting the MPAC appointments on a two-year cycle, looking at the three MPAC citizen representative alternates next year. Per the Metro charter, the Metro Council President picks the citizen representatives to MPAC.
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