>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

“A roaring success.”

That’s how Union County Commissioner Colleen MacLeod described the maiden assembly of the Oregon Rural Congress, held August 21-22 in Cascade Locks.

“I’ve had dozens of e-mails from people (who attended) saying, ‘Wow!” she said.

The congress, which MacLeod helped organize through her position in the Eastern Oregon Rural Alliance, aimed at compiling practical suggestions from a variety of rural leaders and stakeholders on how to better make their voices heard in the state capitol and beyond.

MacLeod said even more people attended than organizers expected, with many registering at the door. Attendees, who included a number of Union and Wallowa county officials, hailed from every corner of the state, from the coast to the desert.

Participants spent Thursday in round-table discussions, focusing on the four major topics of this first congress: natural resources, economic development, telecommunications and human services.

On Friday, the entire group convened to strategize potential solutions to some of the perceived challenges within those subjects. MacLeod said some prevailing themes included more local control of decision-making, restoring regional funding sources and securing mental health services in rural parts of the state.

She has more than 250 completed issue/solutions sheets, which were handed out to the discussion groups.

Eventually, organizers hope to aggregate the congress’s output with other policy ideas suggested at EORA forums, and present a “rural report” to legislators at the state and federal levels.

MacLeod said there’s already talk about a second rural congress, perhaps sooner than later. After all, the Cascade Locks event only scratched the surface of the perceived urban/rural divide.

“We knew we weren’t going to solve all the world’s problems,” as MacLeod put it.

At future gatherings, she hoped other topics like transportation and finance would get some airplay.

The intent is to make the congress an annual event, with rotating locations.