By Austin De Dios
oregonlive.com
MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Ore. — The already heightened tensions among the nonpartisan members of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners reached a boiling point Thursday.
Commissioner Sharon Meieran , who has been Chair Jessica Vega Pederson’s fiercest critic, accused her colleague of prioritizing “contract compliance” over saving lives in a meeting about negotiations with the county’s slow ambulance provider.
It marked the latest escalation of a rift between the two politicians that has steadily grown since Vega Pederson defeated Meieran in the 2022 race for county chair.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Meieran said during Thursday’s meeting. “I guess you haven’t ever said that you are prioritizing saving lives.”
“You are lying,” Vega Pederson interjected.
Adding fuel to the fire, Meieran mocked Vega Pederson in a since-deleted post on X later Thursday night, inventing a fake conversation between Vega Pederson and all of “Multnomah County,” where the county calls for help and Vega Pederson puts them on “hold” for a year. In Meieran’s story, the county “expires” due to the wait.
Meieran said she felt the post was fine, but took it down because the tone wasn’t serious enough for the situation.
The unusually coarse post alludes to Meieran’s repeated requests over the last year and a half for the county to lower ambulance staffing requirements to speed up response times by its chronically slow ambulance provider, AMR. After four months of mediation with AMR, Vega Pederson and county officials agreed Wednesday night to do just that, with caveats.
Meieran said the dispute was not personal, but a matter of policy. She said she’s grown frustrated from what she says is a lack of urgency from the chair’s office and the county to address key problems around public safety, homelessness and drug addiction.
“If this was a personality thing, I think Jessica and I would have resolved this a long time ago,” Meieran said. “What this is about is motivation and what we are both trying to accomplish.”
Vega Pederson described her colleague’s conduct as “embarrassing and inappropriate” for an elected official.
“I am always happy to engage in productive policy discussions about things that matter to our community, but Commissioner Meieran prefers to engage in petty, personal character attacks,” Vega Pederson said in a statement to The Oregonian /OregonLive. “Her diatribes, constant misstatements, and misinformation about facts or the motives of myself or other board members online or in the boardroom are harming this county and creating a hostile environment for all of us.”
Meieran repeatedly pushed the chair to drop the county’s requirement to have two paramedics on every ambulance, which AMR claims is contributing to its slow response times as the nation faces a paramedic shortage. Vega Pederson was hesitant to make the change, saying she wanted to confer with health experts before making a decision and go through the proper procedures to make contract alterations.
Some health officials have said that having two paramedics, who are more highly trained than EMTs, aboard an ambulance is important in life-threatening situations. Cities like Boston and Houston also deploy two-paramedic ambulances, as does King County where Seattle is located.
But after spending four months in mediation with AMR, Vega Pederson and county officials reached an agreement Wednesday that would allow for a staffing change like Meieran had pushed for. The deal would still require AMR to staff at least 20 of its 34 to 44 ambulances on the road daily with two paramedics and set other benchmarks for the company to meet to waive its $7.1 million in fines for slow response times.
Vega Pederson said the mediation was necessary to find a compromise with the company on staffing changes and to make sure ambulance response improved while also holding AMR accountable and not “further destabilizing” the emergency medical system.
Ambulance staffing is not the only issue the two have disagreed on in recent months. In June, when the county solidified its nearly $4 billion financial plan, Meieran was the lone no vote on its approval. She said at the time that the county was “badly flailing without a plan.” She proposed seven amendments to the budget, but all were struck down.
Meieran was also the only one to vote down a new homelessness abatement contract between Portland and Multnomah County officials, brokered between Vega Pederson and Mayor Ted Wheeler and brought to both governments for approval. She proposed an amendment then, too, which was also voted down.
“It is a flawed plan from beginning to end, based on a flawed foundation with flawed deliverables,” Meieran said during a meeting on the homelessness abatement contract. “I wish that there was a way to express how disappointed I am.”
The fervent disagreement from Meieran has manifested into what seems like an irreparable divide between her and Vega Pederson , insiders say. Meieran said she doesn’t feel like their relationship is beyond repair, but agreed that their policy approaches often put them at odds.
After eight years on the board, Meieran will depart in January due to term limits. At that time, the direction of politics and policy on the board will be altered as three new commissioners join the governing body.
Meieran is scheduled to be absent from all board meetings in August, according to an email sent by her staff. She said she will instead use that time to focus on final projects for the county that she wants to finish before leaving office, including designing a better plan for behavioral health services, substance use disorder policy work and a micro-village housing proposal.
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