Apr. 28—LA GRANDE — Lisa Hill believes she has a good firsthand understanding of the challenges local business owners face, a grasp, she said, that would serve her well if elected to a position on the Union County Board of Commissioners.
Hill has owned and operated a commercial office building in La Grande since 1994, one with five tenants who are all women entrepreneurs in the health care field. She credits this experience with giving her an understanding of the challenges faced by local property and business owners. Hill is eager to put what she has learned from this experience to good use as a county commissioner.
"I want to help all of our businesses prosper and experience success," Hill said.
Business background
Hill, who grew up in La Grande, is a graduate of La Grande High School and Western Business College in Portland. She left La Grande in the early 1970s and moved to the Portland area where she worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation for three years. Later she worked for two real estate development firms for a total of five years in Seattle, Washington, and then was employed in the mortgage banking business for five years in Southern California.
Hill returned to La Grande in 1991. Her experience in Union County, in addition to her private business work, includes a second stint with ODOT from 2010 to 2018, where she served in an executive support role for the agency's District 5 and Area 5 managers.
The candidate believes that through her experience with ODOT she developed skills that would guide her as a county commissioner. She explained that during her tenure with ODOT she helped intergovernmental agencies and the business sector come together and complete projects that benefited communities, businesses, agriculture and schools.
Hill said she filed to run for a position on the Union County Board of Commissioners not only because she believes she has the necessary background and skills but also because there is a need for community members to lead.
"I believe that in the times we are living in it is important to step up, help where I can, and use my strengths to benefit my community," she said.
Accessible meetings
Hill wants to make it easier for people to attend meetings of the Union County Board of Commissioners. She said if elected she would strive to have the board conduct one of its two regular monthly meetings in the evening. Presently both of the county's twice-a-month meetings begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday in the Joseph Building in La Grande.
Hill would also like to see the board conduct one of its meetings every three months in a Union County town outside La Grande, to make the board even more accessible to the public.