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

November 25, 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, Commissioner Boyd Britton, Secretary Laurie Wright, Doug Ferguson, Kenny Delano, Emergency Management Coordinator Ted Williams, Jim Sproul, Zach Williams, Judy Kerr, Road Master Alan Hickerson, Steve Beverlin, Katherine Smith and Pastor Wes Aasness. Commissioner Chris Labhart was absent due to vacation. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States flag. The invocation was given by Pastor Aasness.

AGENDA. MSP Myers/Britton — to accept the agenda as presented with the addition of the budget resolution from Treasurer Kathy Smith to cover retirement severance pay, and a letter from the court to the USFS.

9:11 am Ryan Nehl and Gerald Dixon entered.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Britton announced that yesterday he attended a selection committee meeting in Prineville for candidates for ODF District Forester. There were some very good candidates. The candidates were interviewed by the selection committee and then by an employee committee. Britton reports he has high hopes for whoever is selected. He reports he has been working on the Sheep Gulch and Vance Creek projects for ODOT and Wildish. Tomorrow he will spend Thanksgiving with his wife and best friend and he wished everyone in attendance a Happy Thanksgiving.

Myers reports that last week he met with other judges (Circuit Court Judge Cramer and Justice of the Peace Kathy Stinnett) to discuss safety concerns, security cameras, asbestos removal of the floor tiles and the employee interviews for the Juvenile & Adult Services Director position, there have been three in house applicants that will be interviewed on December 1st by Judge Myers, Judge Cramer, Judge Stinnett and Commissioner Britton. He advised the audience that Commissioner Labhart is absent today as he is going to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and will be gone next week as well because his flight won’t be back in time for him to attend court. Myers stated he is spending Thanksgiving with his family and wished everyone in attendance a Happy Thanksgiving.

LETTER TO US FOREST SERVICE. Britton stated he has been thinking about the letter of coordination to the USFS for awhile now. Britton read the text of the letter to Steve Beverlin, USFS Forest Supervisor, to those in attendance. A copy of the letter will be sent to Jim Pena, Regional Forester and Carol Benkosky, Director of the BLM for this area. Brenda Percy delivered a note from Larry Blasing, who is a part of the Forest Commission, apologizing for not being here and supporting the letter to Mr. Beverlin.

9:15 am Shannon Springer entered.

Gerald Dixon introduced himself and described some of his background. He is a staff officer working for Steve Beverlin at the USFS. Britton stated he has worked with Dixon and he is a good resource. Myers introduced him to those in the room.

CANYON CREEK CHANNEL REHAB PROJECT. Doug Ferguson (Ferguson Surveying & Engineering) updated the court on the Canyon Creek Channel Rehab Project. Ferguson reported that he had a good meeting with a couple of Forest Service officials (Dave Halmeir, Ryan Nehl and Bob Hasmiller) to bring them up to speed on the status of the project and to discuss how the John Day River will be influenced by potential flooding. Ferguson requested assistance from USFS experts and they have agreed to help arrange this. He has calculations for what materials will be needed for the short term project. What they have come up with is a possible berm (1520 feet), ODOT will do about 600 or 700 feet of this themselves according to the specs that are developed. Ferguson went on to describe the size of a substantial berm as having 10 foot top with 2 or 3 one side slopes, it will average about 2 feet in height and be comprised of rocky material with a good foundation well compacted that won’t wash away easily. It will be resistant to debris and erosion. He also advised that none of the plans are cast in stone and if someone has a better suggestion to please present it. Ferguson would like to do 3000 lineal feet of sandbagging and 1100 feet of eco-blocks. To complete 3000 feet of sandbags it will take 45,000 sand bags, and he feels additional bags should be stockpiled for other needs as they arise. He and Ryan Nehl have discussed the issue of filling the sand bags and are working to develop strategies for filling the bags. Ferguson reports the more complex part of the plan currently is obtaining permission and agreements to do what they need to. Kenny Delano and Scott Fairly have been working on this.

Delano reports they have the ground locations and treatments identified and they are at the point now they need to get with the City of John Day and Canyon City to work on having flood plain development permits in place before construction starts along the creek. Each city must have a flood plain development permit in place to comply with their flood insurance program requirements. They are working on compiling the data necessary. He has a tentative meeting scheduled for a meeting with affected homeowners on December 10th so they can move forward. Delano is hopeful the homeowners will sign the necessary easements and/or give their blessing to the flood plain development permit so they can move forward. Delano stated Shannon and Hilary from the planning department have been awesome. He reports the surprisingly the county has no flood plain issues at the high school so they can begin development there right away, roughly 600 feet between the city limits of John Day and Canyon City. Discussion of where the Canyon City limits begin followed. Springer advised it is at the north end of the football field. The cities need documentation in their files to make sure they remain in compliance with their flood insurance programs in case of an audit. Delano reports the technical aspect of the project is done, but there could be some issues because of the lack of current information. Delano and Ferguson report they are getting full cooperation from both of the cities. Ferguson has been keeping both cities updated after court on Wednesdays.

Ferguson advised that the bridge at Inland will need additional reinforcement and that there needs to be a new bridge ready just in case. He feels this is going to be a big issue as there is an insufficient water way under this bridge. Ferguson stated they can place eco-blocks and sandbags to hopefully divert the water from the school but isn’t sure if the bridge can be saved. Delano stated they are working directly with Ted Williams to help him with planning for placement of flood prevention measures in the problem locations and what will be needed. Ferguson explained some potential staging areas and problem locations at Inland, Nugget and the new bridge in Canyon City.

Britton asked if Ferguson had been further up the creek to locate potential problem areas before water reaches the town. Ferguson stated he has not, but this is high on his priority list and he will be working with USFS hydrologists soon and attempting to inventory what is up there. Delano stated they can predict what the water will do but not what the potential debris will do. Ferguson said the Forest Service is willing to assist with technical advice.

Ryan Nehl explained he and Dave Halmeir went to Ferguson’s office to review maps and they plan on giving insight regarding barrier placement. Dave is a hydrologist by trade and they hope to meet with Ferguson on a weekly basis to review plans. Britton suggested having some pieces of equipment at problem spots on standby in case it’s needed. Ferguson said this is a big issue and he has already discussed this with Ted Williams and Williams is working on it. Ferguson stated things are moving along well, but time is an issue to get things done.

Ted Williams reported on emergency notification systems and different options. He is looking into a wireless system like what the hospital currently has adopted. The system can send mass emergency messages out quickly and you can select areas to get the message. Williams stated it would be something that could be sent instantly from his office in the courthouse via computer and even if phone lines were down the messages would get sent because they would take precedence over everything else. He has also talked to Alert Sense out of Boise about coming here and demonstrating their emergency notification system. Williams is compiling a list of e-mail addresses so Alert Sense can give a full demonstration of the system when they come here. He reports most of the systems are basically the same. Williams said weather radios could be purchased anytime, the funds just need to be procured by grant money. There has been a snag with the radios and rain gauges, possibly internal politics, Williams hasn’t heard anything more on this. There is work being done on placement of USGS sites up the creek for water measuring instruments. He feels the wireless system would be the most viable at this point to get the information out to the most people.

Zach Williams asked if the mild weather we have been having lately is helpful regarding the possible run off and debris, and if this is better than one large event occurring. Williams inquired if the watershed currently getting continual moisture decreased the massiveness of potential flooding. Ferguson stated it does not. Delano said there is no way to know exactly what the debris will do; it is hard to design for because it is an unknown. They are attempting to locate the possible problem spots that will hold debris and cause backups. Sproul stated water flows faster over wet ground than dry ground and Ferguson agreed. Sproul suggested it would be helpful to research what the water flow was in the 1897 flood. Ferguson said they are being proactive and at the very least what they are doing is going to prevent damage. Sproul further suggested to Ferguson that he contact the Watermaster because they are monitoring the creek level.

Shannon Springer asked if private homeowners could clean out the creek near their homes. She stated that if people were allowed to do this it would probably be very helpful. Ferguson said he went to both cities after the last court meeting and Canyon City has pretty much cleaned up their portion of the creek, but the City of John Day still needs to work on their section. Springer advised she meant the people living up the creek outside of the city limits. Delano reported for the landowners out of town along the creek they have heard if there is live vegetation in the creek, don’t mess with it, but dead and downed debris can be removed. If there are standing trees the landowner can substantially prove would be hazardous to life or property it can be removed, but document this. Springer asked if this information had been conveyed to landowners. Delano stated he didn’t know of a good way to convey that information to landowners along the creek. Ferguson said he was told by Heidi Hartman to do what was necessary to clean the creek up. Delano said people still can’t dig in the creek and have to be careful in what they do in the stream. Britton asked Springer to come up with some sort of database of landowners to be notified? Springer said she can figure out who the information should be sent to, but doesn’t want to be responsible for telling them what they can and can’t do. Ferguson and Delano stated they can come up with a list of affected homeowners for notification and information on what they can do to clean up their area of the creek.

Alan Hickerson reported the road department has 25,000 sandbags and 4 eco-blocks. They will purchase an additional 2o from Dennis Dice. He talked to Hooker Creek in Redmond; they have 100 eco-blocks at $35 each. Ferguson stated that makes them about 50 short of what is needed. Hickerson reports he is working on getting estimates for a spare bridge.

DEPOT MUSEUM. Katherine Smith, Depot Museum Director, explained to the court the designation of the Sumpter Valley Railway Depot building on the 2016 list of Oregon’s most endangered places. Myers reports 8 or 10 months ago he signed the nomination form not knowing if anything would happen from it. Smith explained that when this was applied for she really didn’t have any idea of exactly what this meant or what Restore Oregon was all about. She said Restore Oregon does not give up once they start something. There are six buildings they have been working on for years; she isn’t sure how many have been completed. Restore Oregon gives technical support, seed grant money, and work on the buildings. She was advised someone will come and look at the building and then develop a plan for restoration and grant money and she should be contacted soon. Smith has been working on the current Intergovernment Agreement to include the Depot building in the agreement and wants to add an addendum to address this issue. She is anxious for Chris Labhart to get back so they can begin working on this. Sproul inquired about whether any projects that have been started, but not completed, can be finished by this restoration project. Smith said yes, these are the types of things they will fix. Smith stated the chimneys are falling apart and these are the type of things that will be looked at in the restoration project.

9:59 am Sally Bartlett entered

Smith stated she didn’t realize the magnitude of this nomination and it is a little overwhelming. Smith said they are now waiting for the phone call from Brandon at Restore Oregon and for Labhart to get back so this can be moved forward on. Smith stated the building is also now leaking on the inside, possibly around a chimney. She advised you couldn’t put rain gutters on historic buildings in the past but now you can if they are the same color as the trim.

Britton thanked Smith for her hard work on this project. Smith mentioned that at the dinner she attended the question was asked if $25,000 could be raised. She said over $26,000 was raised in approximately 30 minutes and she was shocked. She reports she is very grateful to Restore Oregon and she will let the court know when they are coming to see the building.

LCAC GRANT. Sally Bartlett, Economic Development Director, presented the court with information regarding the Local Community Advisory Council (LCAC) grant. Bartlett reports last year the EOCCO gave each LCAC $3,000 and this year they gave approximately $22,600 plus an additional amount for each member in the county on the Oregon Health Plan (OHP). Grant County’s LCAC received $27,421. She said it is guaranteed money; they just have to apply and describe what the money is going to be used for. LCAC is working with Strawberry Wilderness Clinic and Community Counseling Solutions (CCS) to develop the programs they will be using the money for. The purpose of this grant is to get more people screened for certain things like colorectal cancer screening, well child visits, and behavioral mental health issues. The grant matrix contains 27 items that can be worked on and these are the ones the LCAC chose to work on. Strawberry Wilderness Clinic and Thad Labhart at CCS are finishing up their portions of the grant and then Bartlett will put it all together and submit it. Bartlett is the LCAC chair for Grant County and will sign the grant application. Bartlett stated the LCAC had to have a way to accept the money and Chris Labhart didn’t realize the court had to approve this. The account is already set up for this.

10:09 am Treasurer Kathy Smith entered

Bartlett explained the money they are going to get is incentive funds, not stipend funds. She further explained the stipend funds that are currently in place are for operating expenses; the money they are going to receive are incentive funds to increase the matrix and to get more people screened. She thinks two different line items will probably need to be set up to keep these funds separate. Myers wanted to know how much additional work this would cause Bartlett. She stated it won’t be much; she will need to submit reports three times, in May, August and November. Strawberry Clinic and CCS will put the information in a form Bartlett can follow and she will just need to submit the reports. She stated the members of the group did not realize there is a process for the county to accept funds. The county does not need to sign this application, only Bartlett needs to. Smith wanted to know if these funds are considered a grant. Bartlett said these funds are called incentive funds. Bartlett will contact EOCCO to see if they consider this a grant. Kathy Smith needs to know if these are grant funds or not so she can prepare a resolution. Smith asked Bartlett to make sure that this isn’t federal money because if it is she will need a CFDA number. Smith said if these are grant funds a resolution can be prepared and there won’t be an issue. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the completion and submission of the LCAC grant application.

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS POTLUCK. The court decided to hold the annual County Christmas potluck on Wednesday, December 16th, after court. Myers would like to make sure the library staff can be available. MSP: Myers/Britton – to approve the Christmas potluck for Wednesday, December 16th.

SERVICE ANIMAL WAIVER OF POLICY. Myers explained why the county policy against animals in the courthouse was waived for a service animal. Myers said per a doctor’s recommendation a therapeutic service dog has been allowed in the Veteran’s Services Office. If the dog becomes an issue then it will have to stop. Ryan Nehl added he has had experience with veteran’s service dogs and has found the dogs have never been a problem. Smith wanted to know if she could keep the dog out of her office; does it have to be allowed everywhere? Myers suggested to Smith she could ask the employee to not bring the dog into the Treasurer’s office. Myers stated if someone is allergic they could probably keep it out. Britton stated the court made it very clear to the individual with the dog that if it became a problem it wouldn’t be allowed. MSP: Myers/Britton – to approve waiver of county policy to allow the service/therapeutic dog.

VOLUNTEER RESIGNATION. The court reviewed and reluctantly accepted volunteer Mike Cosgrove’s resignation from the Southeast Regional Alliance/Area Commission on Transportation. Britton announced the commission has appointed a gentleman who runs a bike shop in Ontario in Cosgrove’s place. MSP: Myers/Britton — to accept resignation.

JANITORIAL SERVICES. The court discussed the current janitorial situation in the county. Myers reported the employee who currently does this job is out after surgery and hasn’t been released to return to work. The employee has a doctor appointment around December 11th. Eastern Oregon Building Maintenance (EOBM) is providing janitorial services at this time. Myers stated the options are extending the contracted janitorial services with EOBM through December 11th and then to possibly look at other options. Smith reported the cost is $35 an hour for EOBM and the cost for the employee is about $27-28 per hour. Myers also reported FMLA has expired for the employee. This issue will need to be revisited after December 11th. MSP: Britton/Myers – to continue contracting janitorial services with EOBM through December 11th.

RESOLUTION 15-29. Smith presented a resolution to the court to move $13,000 to relief help fund personal services to cover retirement severance for employees who left employment in November. Myers read the resolution to those in attendance. MSP: Myers/Britton – to circulate for signature Resolution 15-29.

10:30 am Lane Burton entered

PUBLIC COMMENT. Sproul stated he thinks the court implementing coordination with USFS is a good thing and advised that on Saturday from 10-3 Mr. Kelly Grant will be in Grant County to speak on coordination. He said he sincerely hopes the court understands the difference between cooperation and collaboration. Britton responded the county has a great relationship with the forest service.

Ryan Nehl suggested the court contact legal counsel about the service dog and advise employees of the situation and what can and can’t be done.

Zach Williams asked the court if the tax consequences have been researched regarding the marijuana ordinance. He stated he is not a proponent of marijuana, but he is concerned about the potential tax revenue the county could be missing out on. Myers said he would do some research into this and see what he can find out. Britton said he would like to know how it has gone in Colorado, but he feels like they should stand on the principle of this and go with what the voters wanted.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the November 18th minutes with modifications.

10:51 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

County Court Secretary