QuickTake:

The board selected a new chair and vice chair to run its meetings. The leadership roles offer the elected officials a bit more visibility, but no pay increase.

Lane County Commissioner Ryan Ceniga is the new chair of the five-member board of commissioners. 

Commissioners unanimously picked Ceniga for the role Tuesday, Jan. 6. Ceniga, who previously was the board’s vice chair, succeeds Commissioner David Loveall, who was chair for the past year. 

The chair runs meetings and guides the flow of questions and discussions. The chair and vice chair also set the agendas for board meetings.

It’s a leadership role, but the chair’s influence is limited. While the chair is a voting member of the board, the position doesn’t come with any additional power to sway the votes of other commissioners.

Commissioners pick a new chair on a rotating basis each January. 

In an interview afterward, Ceniga said he looks forward to working collaboratively with his colleagues as they tackle a daunting workload.

“I want to run efficient meetings in a timely manner and get to work,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do here in Lane County, and I don’t want to get bogged down in other things other than the work we need to do.”

Among the top issues: Commissioners face tight finances as they plan the next budget in a landscape with limited federal and state funding, even as the county relies on that money for services that include homeless shelters, housing and health care for vulnerable residents.

Ceniga, first elected in 2022, represents the District 1 seat that covers western Lane County, including Florence, Veneta and Junction City. 

Ceniga lives in the Junction City area and has worked as a farmer, a water distribution manager for Eugene Water & Electric Board and a diesel technician.

The board also unanimously picked Commissioner Heather Buch as vice chair. Buch represents District 5, which includes parts of southwest Eugene and primarily eastern Lane County communities, such as Cottage Grove, Creswell, Oakridge, Lowell, Westfir, the McKenzie River valley, and Coburg.

“We have a lot of challenges that we’re going to have to navigate this year and not a lot of resources to address them all,” Buch said.

Buch was elected to her first term in 2018 and reelected in 2022.

County commissioners are nonpartisan elected officials. They are paid an annual salary of $114,026. Commissioners who serve in leadership roles on the board don’t get any extra money for that work.

Ceniga, Buch and Loveall are all up for election this year, and all of them are running for reelection.

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.