_{Thumbnail: Curry County Sheriff John Ward and his staff, Sgt. Synthia Westerman and Lt. Jeremy Krohn, met with the Board of Commissioners on Thursday to discuss the office’s budget. | Screenshot}

A nine-month long stalemate between the Curry County Board of Commissioners and the sheriff’s office seems to have thawed. But while both sides, including Sheriff John Ward, met in the same room Thursday to discuss the 2025-26 budget, their differences continue.

Still, Director of County Operations Ted Fitzgerald said he hopes that they can reach a compromise and decide what role each plays in county government without moving forward with the Board’s petition for a declaratory judgment.

“If we can just acknowledge and accept the role of each party … and realize that cohesion and working together between the two entities is necessary … we’ll be able to deliver services,” he told Redwood Voice Community News following Thursday’s budget workshop, which was the third time both sides met since conflict arose between them in September 2024. “We got to some of the fundamental questions today. We don’t have answers to them yet, but I think we’re on the way to getting them, and the sheriff’s office [has] their concerns that are valid.”

^{Thumbnail Photo by Paul Critz.}

A press release from the Del Norte Unified School District:

The Del Norte Unified School District (DNUSD) is moving forward with plans to build a new central kitchen that will enhance student nutrition services across the district. 

On June 5, the School Board approved a $400,000 contract for architectural and engineering services, officially launching the planning and design phase of this important infrastructure project.

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Tim Svenson, former Yamhill County sheriff and current OSSA executive director, said he initially wasn’t aware Hollinger was recording him during the presentation he gave at a recent Association of Oregon Counties County College training session. 

And though Svenson later gave Hollinger permission to report back to his Board some of the content of the Q/A, the OSSA executive director said the transcript Hollinger read into the record at the Board’s May 20 meeting was taken out of context.

“The transcription of the Q/A was done in a way to attempt to … show a theme where OSSA is supporting Curry County’s position with their argument they’re having down there with the sheriff,” Svenson told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “And OSSA as a whole has not taken a position on any of the things going on down there. Politics are local. It’s up to the sheriff to deal with that. We don’t get into those types of issues because it doesn’t affect the entire state.”