Thumbnail photo by Ken Lund via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License Curry County commissioners took the advice of their director of operations Wednesday and finalized an agreement with the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, which will provide third-party oversight to their finances. Ted Fitzgerald compared the services RVCOG can offer Curry County to the services it received when it worked with the Lane Council of Governments following a ransomware attack in 2023. The county did just hire a new employee in its finance department and the department is getting stronger, Fitzgerald said, but he still wanted professional oversight “to make sure we’re doing things right.” “The different specialties that exist within the Rogue Valley Council of Governments will be able to help us on a variety of levels,” he told commissioners. “I think it’s going to be a thing [where] we learn how much we need them as we go along, but I want to be sure that we really give it a good chance because every time we have reached out for help from outside entities we’ve gotten it.” The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement between Curry County and RVCOG. According to the agreement, RVCOG staff will help administer and manage the county’s budgetary, financial and internal controls as well as ensure that its budget and financial processes are in compliance with federal state and local regulations. RVCOG staff will advise Fitzgerald on maintenance of the county’s restricted, special revenue, capital improvement and contingency funds and assist with monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports. RVCOG will also offer an assessment on the county’s financial practices, provide day-to-day oversight if needed and “review and enhance” its accounts charts, general ledger and financial management systems for accuracy and efficiency. Curry County will be charged an hourly rate of $75.82 for an RVCOG accounting specialist, $95.58 for a senior accountant, $122.77 an hour for a finance director, according to the contract. Curry County will also reimburse RVCOG for mileage as well as supplies and materials costs incurred. The Board of Commissioners’ approval comes about two days after it adopted the county’s 2025-26 budget with help from Eugene-based certified public accountant Eric Kytola. Chairman Jay Trost described the RVCOG agreement as a long-term plan for the county’s finances. “One of the things that has been a problem — I guess it’s all about how you view it — but since the departure of Gary Short in 2016-17 we’ve just had a lot of revolving doors around finance, which makes things pretty difficult and everybody always brings in a new system that fits the way they do things,” Trost said. “The Rogue Valley Council of Governments has been around for a long time serving several different municipalities. We tried to get three bids. This was the most considerable bid in terms of [being] financially prudent.” Trost said RVCOG already serves Jackson and Josephine counties. Though LCOG helped Curry County get back on its feet following the ransomware attack that crippled its servers about two years ago, Trost said it’s not taking on new clients. Curry County is also in a different place financially than it was back in 2023, Trost added. “There were a lot of missing pieces when they stepped in,” he said of LCOG. “I think they had a very triage approach where this is a very maintenance approach.” Fitzgerald echoed Trost’s sentiments that LCOG was valuable to Curry County getting over the hack, but said he was looking for a more day-to-day management approach to the county’s finances.