Lane County Board Selects Ryan Ceniga Chair, Heather Buch Vice Chair

The Lane County Board of Commissioners voted on Jan. 6 to appoint Ryan Ceniga as chair for 2026, handing him responsibility for running commission meetings, helping set agendas and representing the county publicly. Heather Buch, who represents East Lane County, was chosen as vice chair and will resume a leadership role she has held previously.

Ceniga, a resident of the Junction City area and a member of the Junction City School Board, thanked outgoing Chair David Loveall for his service and said he planned to run meetings that are "positive [and] effective." The chairmanship places Ceniga in a position to influence which issues rise to the top of the board’s agenda, from budget priorities to public services and local infrastructure decisions that affect neighborhoods across Lane County.

Board dynamics are likely to shape how quickly and decisively those priorities move forward. Ceniga has frequently voted the same way as Loveall, a pattern the notes say sometimes put him at odds with the board’s three other commissioners. Ceniga acknowledged that divergence is part of democratic representation, saying, "We will not always agree and vote the same way, and that's okay. This is why we are here and why we have been elected by our districts. Lane County is as diverse as any, and that’s one of the many reasons I love it here."

Buch framed her return to leadership in pragmatic terms, noting both constraints and opportunities facing the county. "We have significant challenges ahead of us as we navigate a need for more services during a time of shrinking resources," she said, adding that there is opportunity to "work together to overcome those challenges and come out stronger on the other side." Her vice chair role will involve supporting Ceniga in steering deliberations and helping to broker consensus amid limited fiscal room.

For Lane County residents, the new leadership means changes in emphasis rather than wholesale shifts of power. The chair sets meeting tone and agenda priorities, which affects how quickly issues such as public safety, social services, road maintenance and education matters reach decision points. Ceniga’s dual role on the county board and a local school board may give him particular insight into education and community-level needs, while the highlighted resource constraints suggest the board will face difficult trade-offs in 2026.

As the board moves into the new year under Ceniga and Buch, residents can expect an emphasis on collaborative meetings and efforts to stretch shrinking resources, even as commissioners navigate inevitable policy disagreements that reflect a diverse county electorate.