IN THE COUNTY COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF GRANT

Access the County Court Agenda and approved Minutes on the Commissioner’s page at www.gcoregonlive2.com

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

Pursuant to notice made to the newspaper of general circulation throughout Grant County, the radio station, county website, and e-mail distribution list, a regular meeting of the County Court was held at the County Courthouse in Canyon City OR.

9:00 am — Call to Order. Present were Judge Scott W. Myers, Commissioners Chris B. Labhart and Boyd Britton, Secretary Mary Ferrioli, Jim Sproul, Brooks Smith, Alan Hickerson, Billie Jo George, Judy Kerr, Frances Preston, Josh Walker, Doug Ferguson and Mark Majors. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States flag. The invocation was given by Mark Majors.

AGENDA. MSP: Britton/Myers — to accept the agenda as presented

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Labhart attended a Regional Community Advisory Council meeting in Ontario on Monday and met with Eastern Oregon Regional Solutions Coordinator Scott Fairley yesterday. Thursday he’ll attend a Health Policy Board meeting in Wilsonville. Monday Labhart has an Oregon Health Policy meeting in Pendleton and will participate in Court Secretary interviews Tuesday.

Britton attended a BAER Team meeting last Thursday. He reported on a SEACT / Rural Alliance meeting at the Burns-Piaute Indian Reservation that he co-chaired Monday. Last night he attended the Wildfire Aid meeting with state and federal agencies at the high school in John Day organized by Senator Ron Wyden’s office.

Myers attended a BAER Team meeting last Thursday. Monday he had a 7 am meeting at Old West FCU to talk about the process for disbursement of fire relief funds. Yesterday he was at Dixie Mountain with the Road Department to migrate antennas from the broken tower to our new 40 ft. tower. He attended the public Wildfire Aid meeting last night with state and federal agencies at the high school.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the September 23 minutes as amended

ROAD PLOWING. Road Master Alan Hickerson discussed a plan he developed with Shane Giffin (ODOT) to deal with vegetation destruction in the Canyon Creek and Vance Creek drainages. It was proposed that 24 miles of Forest Road 16 would be plowed from Seneca to CR 62 (Summit Prairie) as a low priority road. Hickerson said the crew had plowed that road years ago and now we have the crew to do it again. However, if 395 South were to washout or have a landslide then ODOT would plow Forest Road 16 and the county would go back to plowing only county roads. Hickerson added, if 395 South were to close, it would only be for possibly 2 days and the county and ODOT would be ready for it. If approved, Hickerson plane to talk about this with JC Oliver and the Snowballers. Josh Walker (City of Seneca Manager Recorder) was present to encourage approval of this plan. MSP: Labhart/Myers — to approve the Road Master and his crew to keep the CR 62 open all year as an emergency.

9:15 am – Zach Williams entered

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS. The court made quarterly appointments to fill vacancies on the following boards and committees:

Library Advisory Board. It was the consensus of the court to post pone a decision on the application received from Richie Colbeth until we get a recommendation from the board.

Road Advisory Board. MSP: Myers/Britton — to appoint Judy Kerr to fill a term on the Road Advisory Board expiring June 30, 2018.

Wildlife Advisory Board. MSP: Myers/Britton — to appoint Judy Kerr to fill a term on the Wildlife Advisory Board expiring December 31, 2017.

No applications to serve on the Extension & 4H Service District Advisory Council or the Mental Health Advisory Board were received.

9:25 am – King Williams entered

BID OPENING. A sealed bid from Hoffman’s Yes-We-D0 Cleaning to provide semi-annual window cleaning services at the Courthouse, Library, L-Building and Road Department was opened. The total cost of $2,985.00 remained the same as last year. MSP: Britton/ Myers – to award the semi-annual window cleaning contract to Hoffman’s Yes-We-Do Cleaning. A contract for Goods and Services Less Than $5,000 was signed by all court members.

NEW EMPLOYEE TRAINING. The court considered approval of a 40 hour training period for the County Court Secretary position the week of October 26 estimated to cost $883.00 for wages and social security. Funds would be taken from the General Fund Relief Help budget line. MSP: Britton/Labhart — to approve the October 26 to 30 training period for the new County Court Secretary.

9:30 am — Christy Ann Cheyne, Vicki Lundbom, Melissa Ward, Lori Bailey, and Melissa Ward entered

LIBRARY. The court considered the Librarian’s request to transfer $2,042.75 from supplies to capital outlay to purchase 4 new book shelves to replace ones that have broken. MSP: Britton /Myers — to grant the library’s request to transfer $2,042.75 from supplies to capital outlay as requested

DOVE PROJECT. Malheur NF Emigrant Creek District Ranger Christy Ann Cheyne, accompanied by Lori Bailey, Melissa Ward and Josh Giles, presented information on the Dove Vegetation Management Project. It is located within Grant and Harney counties and was developed in cooperation with the Harney County Restoration Collaborative. Copies of the scoping package and maps were provided. The proposal would treat about 27,000 acres of vegetation with commercial and non-commercial treatments and includes landscape restoration, removal of biomass, landscape scale prescribed burning, and forest road activities. After the scoping period, public comments would be evaluated and proposed action or action alternatives would be developed.

9:50 am – Elaine Smith and School District Superintendent Curt Shelley entered

It was noted that realistic parameters were considered in light of current budget restrictions. An evening public meeting will be scheduled in the near future. During the presentation Jim Sproul provided information about a citizens’ road tour / inspection report and a request for NEPA documents previously submitted for consideration.

10:10 am — Assessor Lane Burton, Planning Secretary Shannon Springer, Treasurer Kathy Smith, GSWCD Director Jason Kehrberg, and Canyon City Mayor Steve Fischer entered

CANYON CREEK FIRE REHAB. Doug Ferguson (Ferguson Surveying & Engineering) spoke with the court about conversations this past week about an advanced preliminary design which can predict, with reasonable certainty, a plan could be accomplished to address Canyon Creek flooding issues in the John Day / Canyon City area. Ferguson said temporary measures such as dikes, sand bags on hand, and prepared emergency plans need to be put in place as soon as possible. Tuesday he met with Senator Ron Wyden’s field rep Kathleen Cathy, Governor’s Office rep Scott Fairly, DSL Northeast Region Aquatic Resource Coordinator Heidi Hartman, and OEM rep Dennis Sigrist. Consensus at the meeting was that temporary construction measures could be taken in an emergency situation without a permit since there’s no need to have activity below normal high water.

Ferguson had also attended last night’s Wildfire Aid meeting coordinated by Senator Wyden’s office that brought the public together with several state and federal agencies at Grant Union high school.

Ferguson explained his temporary plan which would involve about 50,000 yards of granular rock materials. He recommended moving forward quickly to prevent disastrous events that could develop with water moving at about 2,000 cfps. Ferguson also recommended having sandbags ready and even being prepared to breech bridges. The long term fix to the Canyon Creek flooding problem is a long, detailed process involving many disciplines of expertise. Permits from DSL and the Army Corps of Engineers will be required. He thought the entire project cost could be as much as $3 Million.

School District Superintendent Curt Shelley talked about all the damage to high school property during and after the previous flood. He provided information on the estimated school property replacement costs based on insurance company projections.

10:30 am – Sheriff Glenn Palmer and Bob Phillips entered

Other discussion followed about the need for emergency removal of brush within the stream bank. It was suggested that next steps would be pulling all the stakeholders together at a public meeting. Road Master Alan Hickerson said it would be possible for the Road Department to start dike work. He’s already been working on filling sandbags, has about 25 jersey barriers, rip-rap, and enough storage available now. Planning Secretary Shannon Springer offered to assist by mailing out notices to landowners. Britton pointed out that temporary emergency management assistance has also been offered by DEQ rep Susan Christensen. Myers added that OEM has offered emergency management funding assistance. Sheriff Glenn Palmer suggested that trespass issues be considered. It was felt that a public meeting could be held from 6-8 pm on October 15 at the high school.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Frances Preston sought clarification about postponing an appointment to the Library Advisory Board. Sheriff Glenn Palmer called attention to the serious fires that have occurred on the forest. He felt people should stop getting angry and start taking action to save our forest resources. He gave the court a copy of his Public Lands Natural Resource Plan developed by an eleven member (deputized) Coordination Committee (Todd Smith, Elaine Smith, Mike Smith, Brooks Smith, Judy Kerr, Billie Jo George, Terry George, Dave Traylor, Roger McKinley, Jim Sproul and Frances Preston). Palmer said he has taken these steps because he has been unable to get any cooperation from the Forest Service with his requests for access to address emergency issues. He pointed out that coordination is the law; therefore, he is invoking coordination on behalf of Grant County. Jim Sproul said that state and federal agencies are being notified of the Sheriff’s plan as of today. Elaine Smith urged the court and state / federal agencies to sign on to the plan. The court questioned why the Sheriff chose not to put this issue on the agenda when given the opportunity to do so.

11:20 am – retired / former KJDY Radio owner Phil Gray entered

VAWA GRANT AWARD. As previously recommended by Victim Assistance Program Director Ashley McClay, the court reviewed and approved VAWA Rural Grant award documents to receive $606,879.00 to be used in the project period October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2018. The court thanked Ms. McClay for her past accomplishments with the program and securing these grants. It was noted that DDA Matt Ipson assisted with grant writing MSP: Britton/Myers — to authorize Judge Myers to sign the Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Assistance Program grant award documents as presented.

BLUE MOUNTAIN BROADCASTING. Court members reviewed and signed the Consent to Assignment and Assumption as provided by legal representative Luvaas Cobb for Blue Mountain Broadcasting. It pertains to the current Lease Agreement with the County Fair Board for tenancy by radio station KJDY, LLC on the fairgrounds at 413 NW Bridge now owned by Randy McKone. Former KJDY Radio owner Phil Gray was present to provide information about the change of FCC license and radio station ownership. A brief discussion followed about structural condition of the building.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS. The court reviewed and approved a Memorandum of Agreement with Community Connections of Northeast Oregon for Delegation of Activities to operate senior programs.

MSP: Britton/Myers– to authorize Judge Myers to sign the MOA with Community Connections of Northeast Oregon for Delegation of Activities for senior programs.

RESOLUTION. At the request of Bank of Eastern Oregon the court reviewed and signed Resolution 15-20 Designating County Contact Persons (County Judge, County Clerk and County Treasurer) for

Matters Relating to County VISA cards

11:30 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary R. Ferrioli

County Court Secretary