Union County posts May commissioner meeting schedule, public access details

Union County posted its May commissioner schedule May 4, setting a clear path for residents who want to track the county’s most consequential spring decisions before the board acts on spending and operations. The calendar puts two budget meetings on the board’s radar, May 19 at 4 p.m. and May 20 at 4 p.m., alongside regular commission meetings at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 20.

The county’s standing meeting schedule says regular Board of Commissioners meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at the Joseph Annex Building, 1106 K Avenue in La Grande. Public participation is available in person and through Zoom teleconference, and residents can also listen by phone or submit written comments by email. Written comments are due by 5 p.m. on the Monday before a meeting, a deadline that gives county staff and commissioners time to review public input before they meet.

That matters in Union County, where local government decisions carry outsized weight across a large rural area. The county says it had 26,196 residents in the 2020 Census, spans 2,038 square miles, and was established Oct. 14, 1864. With residents spread from La Grande to the county’s far reaches, remote access can be the difference between participating in the process and watching it from a distance. Memorial Day, May 25, is also listed as an office closure.

The budget sessions are the meetings to watch most closely. Union County’s FY 2025-26 proposed budget totaled $70,365,199 and was balanced across 48 funds, underscoring the scale of the financial decisions that move through the spring calendar. Last year’s budget committee work followed a familiar pattern, with meetings held May 20 and May 21, 2025, before the county moved from proposal to adopted budget.

The May schedule comes as county leadership, including Paul Anderes, Matt Scarfo, Jake Seavert, Shelley Burgess and Amanda Moore, continues the annual cycle of public meetings that shape day-to-day county operations. For residents following roads, public safety, solid waste, land use or broader county spending, the clearest opportunity to be heard this month arrives at the budget sessions on May 19 and May 20, when the numbers behind county priorities are put in public view.