Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger Alleges 30‑Year‑Old Sexual Harassment During Heated April 7 Board Meeting

What began as a public comment about garbage collection rates at the Lane County Board of Commissioners meeting April 7 ended with Commissioner Laurie Trieger publicly accusing a retired businessman of sexually harassing her three decades ago, as the man walked out while she was still speaking.

Ruben Garcia addressed the board to criticize the CleanLane program and a roughly 30-percent rate increase, directing his comments at Commissioners Heather Buch, Trieger, and Pat Farr. But Garcia had also approached Trieger in the lobby before the meeting and, in her account, "presumed it was OK to hug me," which she refused.

When it came time to respond from the dais, Trieger did not let the lobby encounter pass. "Forgive me in advance if I cannot contain my emotions," she told Garcia. "I have held in for 30 years the fact that you sexually harassed me when I worked for your company." Garcia left the room as she spoke.

Trieger, who said she would not normally call out a public commenter by name, framed her decision to do so as speaking "for every woman in this organization and in this community." The weight of that framing landed against a striking backdrop: she and Buch are only the sixth and seventh women, respectively, ever to have served on the Lane County Board of Commissioners, in a county established in 1851.

The meeting at the Lane County Public Service Building on East 8th Avenue came during a period of significant internal turbulence on the five-member board. On March 3, Trieger, Buch, and Farr voted to censure Commissioner David Loveall; Chair Ryan Ceniga voted no and Loveall abstained. Seventeen days later, Loveall filed a 35-page federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eugene against Lane County, County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky, and all three commissioners who backed the censure, Trieger among them.

Trieger has represented District 3, covering South Eugene, since January 2021, and has lived in the district since 1987. Before her election, she spent more than 25 years working across Lane County's nonprofit sector, including at FOOD for Lane County, Sponsors Inc., Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, and Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth. Her current term runs through December 31, 2028.