Childrens Trust of Lincoln County Main Page
The Children’s Trust of Lincoln County (CTLC) is announcing its citizen Fund Distribution Committee so that voters will know who will be deciding on the distribution of the tax levy dollars to children’s programs. Pictured from left to right are Simms Buckley, a CTLC Board Member, Dr. Jennifer Wrazen, the West County Fund Distribution Committee Representative, and Patti Littlehales, Chair of the Children’s Trust Board of Directors.
WE’VE SELECTED THE FUND DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE!
Voters want to know WHO will be deciding on the distribution of the tax levy dollars, so the CTLC Board solicited applications, interviewed applicants, and has selected the committee.
The Fund Distribution Committee will review the grant requests from children’s programs and determine where the money will be spent. It has seven members. Each of the four County regions has a citizen representative. There is also an at-large citizen representative. One CTLC Board member plus a County designee complete the Committee.
The Fund Distribution Committee members are: Lou Boudreau, Cari Boyd, Susan Woodruff, Karen Gerttula, Dr. Jennifer Wrazen, Brenda Brown, and Janice Riessbeck.
Louis (Lou) Boudreau, from Gleneden Beach, will serve in the At-Large position. He has lived in Lincoln County for 9 years. He was a manager at Procter & Gamble for 34 years and has also been a trainer for professionals in human relations and team building skills. His careful analysis of the CTLC financial plans and processes has already given a significant boost to the Children’s Trust. He has served as a Scout Master, on the Board of the Salishan Leaseholders Association, is an active member of his church Parish Council, and was a member of the Oregon Coast Chapter of Stand for Children – the group that initiated the idea of the Children’s Trust of Lincoln County. Lou has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida.
Cari Boyd will serve as the North County representative on the Committee. She has lived in Lincoln County for 15 years. Her professional background is in law enforcement and she has been employed by the Oregon State Police since 1997. She has served as a patrol trooper and detective, and is currently the Patrol Sergeant for the Newport Area Command. Her children attend Taft Elementary School where she has been president of the parent group for three years. She is also vice-president of the Oregon State Police Fallen Trooper Foundation. Cari has a BS in Sociology from Oregon State University and a MS in Information Systems from the University of Phoenix.
Susan Woodruff will serve as the South County representative on the Committee. She has lived in Waldport for 19 years and is currently serving her second term as its mayor. Her professional background is in business. She has co-owned five family businesses, in consulting and transportation, three of them concurrently. She and her husband operated McKinley’s Marina & RV Park for five years, after retiring to Waldport. Susan began her public service career on the Waldport Planning Commission, and subsequently served on the City Council, Lincoln County’s Solid Waste Advisory & Sustainability Committee, the New Waldport High School Steering Committee, the LinComm Budget Committee, Lincoln County Vegetation Management Advisory Committee, and served as treasurer of the Kids Committee for passing the recent school bond. In addition to being mayor, she is a long-time member and treasurer of Lincoln County’s Economic Development Alliance, a Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital board member, and is co-chair of all Rural Tourism Studio activities in South Lincoln County. Susan attended the University of Colorado, graduated from Parks School of Business in Portland, and has an A.A. from Santa Rosa Junior College.
Karen Gerttula, from Toledo, will serve in the East County position. She has lived in Lincoln County for 40 years. Her professional background includes teaching plus appointed and then elected political offices. She has served on the Toledo Planning Commission and as a City Councilor. She also served as a Lincoln County Commissioner for four years. As a volunteer, she designed and initiated the CASA program in our county, providing court appointed volunteers as mentors to foster children. Since 2000, she has been a board member of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Charitable Contributions Committee – a role that will make her a wonderful asset to the CTLC Fund Distribution Committee. Karen has a BA from the University of Oregon, with work in Humanities and Social Sciences/Language Arts and Education.
Dr. Jennifer Wrazen will represent West County on the Committee. She has lived in Lincoln County for over 13 years. Dr. Wrazen is a pediatrician at the Samaritan Health Services Waldport Clinic. From 2000 to 2011, she was also the medical examiner at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Lincoln County, which brought her face-to-face with the serious problems confronting our children and families. She has continued to actively support abused children as a volunteer board member of the Center. She also serves as a teacher for the High School Youth Program at her church, and, as an active parent, she has volunteered with the Newport Swim Team, at Newport school activities, and with youth baseball. In addition, her children have been involved in youth soccer, karate and music programs. Dr. Wrazen has a BA in Biology from Cornell University. She received her M.D. from the SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and her Pediatric Residency was at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland.
Brenda Brown, the CTLC Board of Directors representative, has resided in East County for 41 years. She was a founding member of the Central Coast Chapter of Stand for Children. She was the owner/operator of the Cubs Cave for many years before selling it to spend time with her husband and children. Subsequently, she has been employed in insurance accounting and billing for medical offices and has recently retired from the finance department of the City of Toledo. Her public service has included membership on a variety of budget committees, Toledo Jr/Sr High School Site Council and the Lincoln County School District Board of Directors. She received her BA in History and Political Science from the State University of New York, Geneseo.
Janice Riessbeck is the Lincoln County Finance Director and has lived in Newport for five years. She will serve as the County Designee on the Committee. Janice has been in the Finance Director position for Lincoln County for the past 3 ½ years and was the Finance Director for the City of Newport during the previous 2 years. Prior to coming to Newport she worked in government finance for the Oregon cities of Florence and Cottage Grove. Janice has a BA in Business Administration and Accounting from Linfield College.
WHAT IS THE CHILDREN’S TRUST OF LINCOLN COUNTY?
The mission of the Children’s Trust of Lincoln County is to preserve and promote the well being of Lincoln County’s children and communities. This will be done through the distribution of a dedicated county fund devoted exclusively to providing grants for children’s programs throughout the County. The Trust will be funded by a 5-year property tax levy of 19 cents per $1,000 of assessed value ($38 per year for a $200,000 home), which will raise approximately $1.2 million per year to sustain and expand programs that benefit all of our children including: Early Childhood Education and Childcare; Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention; and Outside-of-School Child Development, which includes after school and summer programs, tutoring, mentoring, the arts, athletics, nutrition, mental health and substance abuse programs for children and youth.
Thank you for visiting childrenstrustoflincolncounty.org.
