LA GRANDE — A germ of an idea several years ago is bearing fruit this summer.

Union County Commissioner Paul Anderes and Multnomah County District 2 Commissioner Susheela Jayapal hatched an idea five years ago to visit each other’s county in an effort to get a better understanding of what happens on the other side of the state. Jayapal visited Union County July 13-15, and Anderes is set to visit the Portland area in late August or early September.

The idea was born out of a conversation between the two commissioners when they met at the Association of Oregon Counties’ County College as brand-new commissioners.

“I learned a lot,” Jayapal said. “There are things we may never agree on, but there’s also common ground.”

During her visit, Jayapal — who has been commissioner since 2019 — toured more than a dozen sites around Union County, including a grass seed/alfalfa/canola farm, a third-generation cattle ranch and BillyBob’s, a small family-owned meat processor in Elgin. Jayapal also visited the Blue Mountain Rappel Base, La Grande Farmers Market, the Liberty Theatre restoration project and Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort.

“I’m just so very appreciative. I can only imagine how busy (her schedule) is and making the effort to get over here. It wasn’t an especially long visit but the questions and dialogue that we had were really positive,” Anderes said.

Anderes said the idea wasn’t supposed to take five years to come to fruition.

“COVID got in the way and then last summer or last year, she had two of her children get married and I had one of mine, so that kinda derailed the plan,” he said. “Finally, we were able to pull it off and it was really a good experience for me.”

Anderes said the pair had a simple goal when they initially discussed the idea.

“We really wanted to find out how counties that were so very different functioned and what the similarities were and how we handle things, how they handle things, even to the makeup of the county leadership is different from our county to Multnomah County,” he said.

Multnomah County has five commissioners with one serving as county chair who oversees and administers all county programs except those under the elected sheriff, auditor, district attorney and commissioners.

Union County has three elected commissioners — Anderes, Donna Beverage and Matt Scarfo.

Jayapal said the experience is a step forward in bringing the sides of the state closer together.

“There are real and difficult reasons for the urban-rural, east-west divide,” she said. “But if we can approach each other with genuine interest and honesty, we will find things we can work on together. And that will create a better, stronger Oregon.”

Anderes is eager to complete the return trip and see the challenges Multnomah County faces.

“It’s a tiny step but I think understanding our needs and our situation is critically important when I go there,” he said. “The things that I’m going to learn will be really beneficial for me to bring home to Union County.”

“There are real and difficult reasons for the urban-rural, east-west divide. But if we can approach each other with genuine interest and honesty, we will find things we can work on together. And that will create a better, stronger Oregon.”

— Multnomah County District 2 Commissioner Susheela Jayapal, during a July 2023 tour of Union County