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Feb 27, 2024

NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF BALLOT TITLE

Notice is hereby given that on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, a measure election will be held in Curry County, Oregon. Notice is also given that an SEL 805 with a ballot title for a measure referred to by Curry County has been submitted to the County Clerk of Curry County on February 22, 2024.

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Jan 04, 2024

Press Release - Emergency Management

 
Curry Community Wildfire Protection Plan
1/4/2024
For Immediate Release

Curry County has contracted SWCA Environmental Consultants to develop a 2024 Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). A CWPP is a plan designed to identify and mitigate wildfire hazards to communities and infrastructure located in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), which is an area located between wildland and human development. The CWPP makes recommendations for hazardous fuels reduction, public outreach and education, structural ignitability reduction, and fire response capabilities.

In 2008, Curry County completed its first CWPP. The development of the County CWPP has facilitated collaboration among local, state, federal officials, and tribes, as well as non-governmental stakeholders and private citizens. The “2008 Curry County CWPP” reviews, verifies, and/or identifies potential new priority areas where mitigation measures are needed to protect irreplaceable life, property, and critical infrastructure in the County, from wildfire.

A CWPP is designed to assist Curry County and landowners in ensuring that a future catastrophic wildfire is avoided or mitigated by assessing areas at risk and recommending measures to decrease those risks. For many years Curry County and partners have been successful in planning and implementing many wildfire mitigation actions, including thousands of acres of hazardous fuel treatment projects on public and private land; organizing public outreach and education campaigns that focus on wildfire prevention and the importance of defensible space; and better preparing communities that are at high to extreme risk of wildfire by utilizing the Fire Adapted Community concepts. Much of this work has been achieved through interagency collaboration, working with communities and across ownership boundaries to develop landscape-level wildfire mitigation solutions. This CWPP effort builds upon that long history of collaboration.

The Planning Team is continuing to work together to review and revise the original CWPP to ensure the plan is applicable to the communities it is designed to serve. The goal is that all recommended projects are designed to greatly reduce wildfire risk to residents and ensure that communities can live safely in this fire-prone environment.

Now it is time to review, revise, and refocus previously proposed implementation measures to ensure that the Curry County CWPP remains active and effective. Additionally, we want to hear from you to understand how Curry County can better plan and prepare for potential wildfires in your community. We kindly ask you to complete this brief survey: https://arcg.is/1i1ie50. This spring, the public will be invited to provide feedback on the Draft Plan.

The CWPP will be a guiding document for fire and emergency managers, as well as agencies who manage land within Curry County. The CWPP is designed to serve County residents, and we encourage your interest and engagement in the process. For more information, please contact Curry County Emergency Management at curryoem@co.curry.or.us, or Vicky Amato, Project Manager, at vamato@swca.com or Matt Cook, Assistant Project Manager at matthew.cook@swca.com.

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May 05, 2023

Press Release - Update on Service Disruptions

Gold Beach, Oregon

On Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Curry County offices began to experience difficulty accessing internal documents.  IT was called and responded on-site immediately.  We determined that the Curry County server network was generally inaccessible. All County departments are affected.  We took prompt action to secure our network environment and engaged leading independent cybersecurity and digital forensics experts to assist with our response and investigation.

The County has confirmed that the affected servers were impacted by a ransomware attack.  The attack has been attributed to the Royal ransomware group.

We have reported the incident to relevant state and federal agencies.  A coordinated response team including state and federal experts will be assisting with our effort to securely restore the Curry County network.

In the meantime, many systems and data are temporarily inaccessible. County telephone service is uninterrupted, but email communications are not available at this time. The response team will be working around the clock to restore operations. At this time, we cannot estimate when full access and services will be restored. The County is prioritizing service returns to public safety and public-facing departments.

No part of the vote counting process or the integrity of the upcoming election has been impacted by this incident.

Updates will continue to be posted to co.curry.or.us. We appreciate your patience as we work to safely restore services.

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Mar 21, 2023

Arizona Slide Update as of March 16, 2023

The Arizona Slide MP (Mile Post) 312 is open to all traffic.
Image as of 3-16-23
Crews will flag vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic. Please travel at a slower rate of speed and watch for crew workers and flaggers.
Trip Check (and scroll down to US101 MP 312)
PLEASE do not take unfamiliar mountain routes that you have not traveled before that are not recommended by Law Enforcement Agencies or the Curry County Emergency Management Team

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Press Release - Update on Service Disruptions

The following is an update from the County Board of Commissioners on the work we are doing to recover from the April 26 ransomware attack:

The ransomware attack affected the county computer system. We still do not have the ability to use our computer network or devices, including staff email. We are asking the public to reach out to the county to confirm existing reservations, appointments and commitments as employees are unable to access calendars and contact lists.

Please know we are working to get our systems back online as quickly and safely as possible. At this time, we do not have an estimated time for service to be restored. Please contact us by phone or drop by in person so we can assist you. Our IT staff are working with computer experts to back up and recover our systems with assistance from Microsoft techs. We are making good progress every day, but it is a long, complex process. We must essentially rebuild our network from the ground up and implement multi-factor authentication for all devices. A methodical approach with appropriate security measures is key to recover from this incident and prevent future occurrences. 

We are pleased to report that the counting of votes for the May 16 election was not affected. We worked directly with the office of the Secretary of State to ensure systems were intact prior to counting and reporting votes. Results are available here: https://results.oregonvotes.gov/.

Our emergency dispatch system is in service. While some non-essential computer functions were affected, we remain capable of receiving 911 calls and dispatching emergency services. Do not hesitate to call for help when it is needed. 

We have had an emergency operation center (EOC) in place since May 4th, with emergency staff working directly with county leadership. The structure is similar to what we see during a major wildfire incident. In fact, most of the people currently staffing the EOC are from the Oregon Department of Forestry. Dozens of other personnel from other county, state and federal agencies have been involved. We are incredibly fortunate to have expert help as we work through this incident. 

All our offices remain open for business, although there are some functions we cannot perform until our computers are restored. The local real estate community has seen a specific impact because the county is not able to electronically file titles and other documents. We know it is frustrating to experience delays in the services we normally provide. If you have any questions, please contact 
us by phone or in person.

The state and federal investigation continues. Cyberattack investigations are complex and time consuming. We are not the only organization to be targeted for a ransomware attack like this; the information gleaned from this investigation will help inform other investigations, and vice versa.  Specific details about how the ransomware was introduced to our system and any demands for payment are not available for release at this stage in the investigation.

We have heard concerns about the security of information like tax records and other data. There is still a lot we are learning about the impact of this incident. We will provide information when we know more. In the meantime, experts suggest using a credit monitoring or similar application to watch for fraudulent activity. 

While incidents of this type move slowly, we are committed to keeping you informed.  Commissioner Brad Alcorn has provided live video updates via Facebook. A link to the latest video is available on the Curry County Government Facebook page. Watch for more updates in the future. We will also post service outage updates on the Curry County website: https://www.co.curry.or.us/.

Our leaders and staff thank everyone for their patience and support. We are a resilient community and will come out of this better and stronger. Please join us in thanking all the people who are working behind the scenes to help our community. 

Contact: Curry County Board of Commissioners Office, 541-247-3296.

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Press Release - Update on Service Disruptions

The following is an update from the County Board of Commissioners on the work we are doing to recover from the April 26th ransomware attack:  

The ransomware attack affected the county computer system. We still do not have the ability to use our computer network or devices, including staff email. We are asking the public to reach out to the county to confirm existing reservations, appointments and commitments as employees are unable access calendars and contact lists. Please be assured that we are working to get our systems back online as quickly and safely as possible. At this time, we do not have an estimated time for service to be restored. All our offices remain open for business, although there are some functions we cannot perform until our computers are restored.  Please contact us by phone or drop by in person so we can assist you.  

Our IT staff are working with experts to back up and recover our systems, and are receiving assistance from Microsoft techs. We are making good progress every day, but it is a long, complex process. Essentially, our network must be rebuilt from the ground up and multi-factor authentication must be implemented on all devices. A methodical approach with appropriate security measures is the key to recovery from this incident and will prevent future occurrences.  

We are pleased to report that the counting of votes for the May 16th election was not affected. We worked directly with the office of the Secretary of State to ensure systems were intact prior to counting and reporting votes. Results are available here: https://results.oregonvotes.gov/.  

Our emergency dispatch system is functioning. While some non-essential computer functions were affected, we remain capable of receiving 911 calls and dispatching emergency services. Do not hesitate to call for help when it is needed. 

We have had an emergency operation center (EOC) in place since May 4th, with emergency staff working directly with county leadership. The structure is similar to what we see during a major wildfire incident. In fact, most of the people currently staffing the EOC are from the Oregon Department of Forestry. Dozens of other personnel from other county, state and federal agencies have been involved. We are incredibly fortunate to have expert help as we work through this incident.

The county’s online database of deeds and other recorded instruments is not currently available. However, the County Clerk and Recording Office continues to record deeds and other records by hand. If you need a copy of a deed or other document that has previously been recorded, please contact them at (541) 247-3295 or stop by the office. 

We understand it is frustrating to experience delays in the services we normally provide. If you have any questions, please contact us by phone or in person.  

The state and federal investigation continues. Cyberattack investigations are complex and time-consuming. We are not the only organization to be targeted for a ransomware attack like this; the information gleaned from this investigation will help inform other investigations, and vice versa. Specific details about how the ransomware was introduced to our system and any demands for payment are not available for release at this stage in the investigation. 

We have heard concerns about the security of information like tax records and other data. There is still a lot we are learning about the impact of this incident. We will provide information when we know more. In the meantime, experts suggest using a credit monitoring or similar application to watch for fraudulent activity. 

While incidents of this type move slowly, we are committed to keeping you informed. Commissioner Brad Alcorn has provided live video updates via Facebook. A link to the latest video is available on the Curry County Government Facebook page. Watch for more updates in the future. We will also post service outage updates on the Curry County website: https://www.co.curry.or.us/. Our leaders and staff thank everyone for their patience and support.  

We are a resilient community and we will come out of this better and stronger. Please join us in thanking all the people who are working behind the scenes to help our community.  

Contact: Curry County Board of Commissioners Office, 541-247-3296 

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Press Release - Update on Service Disruptions

The following is an update from the County Board of Commissioners on the work we are doing to recover from the April 26th ransomware attack:  

The ransomware attack affected the county computer system. We still do not have the ability to use our computer network or devices, including staff email. We are asking the public to reach out to the county to confirm existing reservations, appointments and commitments as employees are unable access calendars and contact lists. Please be assured that we are working to get our systems back online as quickly and safely as possible. At this time, we do not have an estimated time for service to be restored. All our offices remain open for business, although there are some functions we cannot perform until our computers are restored.  Please contact us by phone or drop by in person so we can assist you.  

Our IT staff are working with experts to back up and recover our systems, and are receiving assistance from Microsoft techs. We are making good progress every day, but it is a long, complex process. Essentially, our network must be rebuilt from the ground up and multi-factor authentication must be implemented on all devices. A methodical approach with appropriate security measures is the key to recovery from this incident and will prevent future occurrences.  

We are pleased to report that the counting of votes for the May 16th election was not affected. We worked directly with the office of the Secretary of State to ensure systems were intact prior to counting and reporting votes. Results are available here: https://results.oregonvotes.gov/.  

Our emergency dispatch system is functioning. While some non-essential computer functions were affected, we remain capable of receiving 911 calls and dispatching emergency services. Do not hesitate to call for help when it is needed. 

We have had an emergency operation center (EOC) in place since May 4th, with emergency staff working directly with county leadership. The structure is similar to what we see during a major wildfire incident. In fact, most of the people currently staffing the EOC are from the Oregon Department of Forestry. Dozens of other personnel from other county, state and federal agencies have been involved. We are incredibly fortunate to have expert help as we work through this incident.

The county’s online database of deeds and other recorded instruments is not currently available. However, the County Clerk and Recording Office continues to record deeds and other records by hand. If you need a copy of a deed or other document that has previously been recorded, please contact them at (541) 247-3295 or stop by the office. 

We understand it is frustrating to experience delays in the services we normally provide. If you have any questions, please contact us by phone or in person.  

The state and federal investigation continues. Cyberattack investigations are complex and time-consuming. We are not the only organization to be targeted for a ransomware attack like this; the information gleaned from this investigation will help inform other investigations, and vice versa. Specific details about how the ransomware was introduced to our system and any demands for payment are not available for release at this stage in the investigation. 

We have heard concerns about the security of information like tax records and other data. There is still a lot we are learning about the impact of this incident. We will provide information when we know more. In the meantime, experts suggest using a credit monitoring or similar application to watch for fraudulent activity. 

While incidents of this type move slowly, we are committed to keeping you informed. Commissioner Brad Alcorn has provided live video updates via Facebook. A link to the latest video is available on the Curry County Government Facebook page. Watch for more updates in the future. We will also post service outage updates on the Curry County website: https://www.co.curry.or.us/. Our leaders and staff thank everyone for their patience and support.  

We are a resilient community and we will come out of this better and stronger. Please join us in thanking all the people who are working behind the scenes to help our community.  

Contact: Curry County Board of Commissioners Office, 541-247-3296 

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Press Release - Update on Service Disruptions

IT recovery efforts are ongoing, and the County has seen a significant increase in network stability. All forms of communications are currently in the process of being restored. Because some services are still being handled manually, we urge citizens who need to access County services to do so in person so that we are able to provide the best service.

During the preliminary recovery phase, dedicated IT professionals discovered a method allowing encrypted ransomware data to be transferred off of the County servers. As a result, IT is preparing to re-install applications on those servers and return them to working order. Additionally, discussions regarding software and server support licensing agreements are in their final stages.

With a special emphasis on the County’s mandated services (including the County Clerk, District Attorney and Sheriff’s Office), we have begun to distribute devices back to the hands of County employees and are hard at work restoring the full functionality of our email system. As part of our effort to maintain a strong and secure system once restoration is complete, an alternative antivirus solution has been implemented on County technology systems. 

Due to the severity and impact of the ransomware attack on the County and its effect on Curry County citizens, the Board of Commissioners has committed all remaining unallocated ARP funds towards addressing this cyber catastrophe. The goal of this effort is to bring essential services back to working order, and rebuild our technological infrastructure better than before, with a focus on security and efficiency for all.

Our emergency operations center is still active and continues to coordinate with numerous mutual aid resources from other Oregon counties as well as national disaster non-profit volunteers. For any questions, please contact (541) 247-3296.

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County Seeking Proposals for Animal Control Services

The County is seeking qualified individuals, organizations, or entities to provide animal control services on the County’s behalf.

These services include but are not limited to the enforcement of the animal regulations within the County Code, immediate response and dispatch at the discretion of the Curry County Sheriff’s Office, the care and placement of impounded animals, animal control services in all communities and unincorporated areas of the County, and the provision of the County Animal Shelter facility. 

More information about this invitation is available here.