Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer

The natural resources plan created by the sheriff and a group he deputized will not be one of the items on the May ballot for local electors.

Grant County Circuit Court Judge William D. Cramer Jr. ruled Jan. 26 that the prospective petition for the local initiative failed to meet the requirements of the Oregon Constitution and ordered the county clerk to decertify the petition and remove it from the ballot.

Prairie City resident Frances Preston said she filed the petition on behalf of the Grant County Coordination Committee, a group deputized by Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer to create the Grant County, Oregon Public Lands Natural Resources Plan last year. The plan was not adopted by the county commissioners. The petition sought to adopt the plan and invoke coordination with the U.S. Forest Service.

Cramer ruled the plan did not meet constitutional requirements to include the full text of the proposed law — because the full text of the unofficial resources plan was not included — and to only concern one subject. Further, he ruled the initiative was administrative in nature, whereas only legislative matters are subject to the initiative process.

Preston said it was her first time filing a petition, and she plans to use what she learned to pursue the petition again for the November ballot.

“It’s all fair,” she said. “It was a learning experience. I already have a rewrite I was prepared to submit, but there wasn’t going to be enough time.”

County residents King Williams and Mark Webb challenged the initiative, which sent the matter to the judge to review.

Williams said voters would not have known what they were voting for because the text of the natural resources plan was not included. He said he is not opposed to many of the items included in the plan created by Preston and others. He said, however, the county already has an adopted plan in place, and any changes should be made through a public process involving hearings and community input.

Cramer noted the challenges also brought up points that “may be well taken” about whether the plan, even if it had been adopted by voters, would have been legally enforceable. He said those points, however, were beyond the scope of his review.

The committee deputized by Palmer to create the plan includes Todd, Elaine and Mike Smith; Brooks Smith; Judy Kerr; Billie Jo and Terry George; Dave Traylor; Roger McKinley; Jim Sproul; and Preston.