Merle Comfort speaks at a candidate forum at the Catherine Creek Community Center in Union on March 21, 2024. Comfort is one of nine candidates running for Union County commissioner in the upcoming primary election.

LA GRANDE — Creating dental crowns is a process requiring patience and good judgment, something Merle Comfort knows firsthand.

The La Grande man helped make thousands of dental crowns by hand during the 43 years he worked for his family’s Comfort Dental Lab, which closed in November 2022. Today, Comfort is a candidate for another position that also requires patience and judgment — a spot on the Union County Board of Commissioners.

Comfort is one of nine candidates for Position 3 on the Union County Board of Commissioners. The candidates are seeking to succeed Donna Beverage who is completing her eighth year as commissioner and cannot run for reelection because of term limits Union County voters approved several years ago. 

Comfort, who now is a truck driver for RD Mac, Inc., is perhaps best known for his work as a member of the La Grande School Board. Comfort is completing his 25th year on the school board, having served two stints, from 1991-1999 and from mid-2007 to the present. Comfort is also a board member for InterMountain Education Service District, which provides services to school districts in Union, Baker, Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Comfort’s work for the La Grande and InterMountain ESD boards has not gone unnoticed. In 2017, he was named school board member of the year by the Oregon School Boards Association.

Comfort believes his years on the school board would serve him well if elected, in part because of experience it has provided him in working with many government agencies.

“I think I could hit the ground running,” he said.

Issues he would focus on as a county commissioner include securing funding for a proposed $3 million water and sewage project at the Union County Fairgrounds. Reaching its goal would allow the Union County Fair Association to connect its water and sewer lines with the city of La Grande’s systems, install underground lines at the fairground and build two large restrooms with eight stalls, including one restroom with showers.

He said it is important the fairgrounds be maintained because the improved facilities would help Union County draw in more local events.

Comfort is also very concerned about Union County’s drug problem and the impact it is having on young people. He believes that one of the most important things that needs to be done is make sure first responders in the county continue to receive strong support, including fire departments, which also provide emergency medical services, and the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

“‘It is important that they have the tools they need, because they are on the front lines,” he said.

Comfort also said works needs to be done to help prevent drugs from coming into Union County.

“We need to put the brakes on this the best way we can,” he said.

Comfort said another issue he would want to focus on is the housing shortage in Union County and how it is driving up the cost. He said steps taken to address this issue he is impressed with include the new Tiger House project at La Grande High School. Students in a construction class at the high school are building a 2,000-square-foot two-story townhouse duplex that will be sold to Grande Ronde Hospital, which will use the duplex to provide temporary housing for new employees.

Money from the sale of this and future Tiger Houses will be used to fund future projects, all to be built by high school students with the help of GCT Land Management, of La Grande.

“It definitely will not solve the housing problem but it is a step in the right direction,” Comfort said.

The candidate is not taking a position on the Greater Idaho movement, which is pushing to have Idaho’s border moved west into Eastern Oregon. It has arisen largely because many people in Eastern Oregon do not believe their voices are being heard by legislators on the west side of the state. Comfort said he needs to have more information before he takes a stand.

He said Ballot Measure 31-101 which Union County voters approved in 2020 and requires the Union County Board of Commissioners to meet three times a year to discuss the Greater Idaho movement, may prove to be helpful.

“We need to talk so that we can constructively explore this issue,” Comfort said.

“I think I could hit the ground running.”

— Merle Comfort, candidate for Union County commissioner

This is one of a series of stories on the nine candidates vying for Position 3 on the Union County Board of Commissioners.

Age: 64

Residence: La Grande

Current occupation: Truck driver for RD Mac, Inc.

Relevant political or other experience: Comfort has served as a member of the La Grande School Board for a total of almost 25 years and as a member of the InterMountain Education Service District Board since 2010.

Family: Merle Comfort and his wife, Deanna, have six relatives who live in Union County.