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

May 4, 2016

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 Laurie Wright, Jim Spell, Beth Spell, Neale Ledgerwood, Alan Hickerson, Jim Sproul, Sharon Livingston, Judy Kerr, Mary Weaver, Zach Williams, King Williams, Linda Gingrich, Mike Cosgrove, Logan Bagett, and Pastor Levi Manitsas. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States flag. The invocation was given by Pastor Manitsas.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Commissioner Britton attended Grant Soil and Water’s annual meeting last night and presented the annual report to the court members. Britton said Grant Soil & Water has continued to do great work, but he is concerned with the funding cuts they are experiencing. Last week Britton went to La Grande for a SEACT/NEACT meeting where the Connect Oregon Six project recommendations were finalized. Britton has a conference call scheduled on Thursday regarding STIP projects and he will also be at the planning meeting in Canyon City. Britton advised the audience the court finally received the official notice from the Geographic Names Board on the name changes on May 2nd.

Judge Myers reported last Thursday he had a court security meeting upstairs, a Local Public Safety Coordinated Council meeting following that and then a name change hearing in the afternoon. He went to Fossil on Monday for a reinvestment meeting where recidivism in jails and prisons was discussed. Myers attended the airport manager interviews last night at the airport. He stated they are not ready to announce the candidate as decisions are still being made, but the interviews went well. Tomorrow at 1 pm Myers will meet with Jason Kesling of the Burns Paiute Tribe regarding a Salmon fishery they want to develop in the Malheur River in Logan Valley.

9:07 am Les Zaitz entered.

Commissioner Labhart attended a TEC board meeting in Baker City and a Bi-Annual Cycle Tourism meeting in John Day on Thursday, April 28th. On Monday, May 2nd, he had lunch at the John Day Senior Center. Labhart stated he will attend a Grant County Community Advisory Council work session at ESD on May 4th, a Flood Study meeting with John Day/Canyon City on May 5th and will be in Salem on May 9th for the Association of Oregon Counties steering committee meetings – Public Lands and Natural Resources, Veterans and Legislative Committee. On May 10th he will be at the Eastern Oregon Workforce Board meeting in John Day.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the April 27th minutes as amended.

FAIRGROUNDS PAVING PROJECT. Road Master Alan Hickerson and Fair Manager Mary Weaver presented information to the court regarding the proposed path paving project at the fairgrounds.

Hickerson said the road department will be performing some projects in the future along with Tidewater and would like to incorporate the fairgrounds in as a paving project for the pathway that currently is graveled. This will provide a much safer walkway for everyone, especially those with disabilities. Discussion followed about the location of the new pathway. The Road Department is providing the prep work and Tidewater will perform the paving work and asphalt grinding. Myers said the county’s insurer (CIS) will contribute $7,500 to the project. The total cost of the project will be $30,640. Treasurer Kathy Smith advised the remaining money could be paid out of the courthouse reserve fund. MSP: Myers/Britton — to authorize the Road Master to continue on with the proposed paving project in the amount of $30,640.

9:17 am Ryan Nehl and Ryan Falk entered.

PETITION TO VACATE CR#41. Alan Hickerson, Road Master, received a letter requesting County Road #41 be vacated. Hickerson said it would be in the county’s best interest to vacate this road as it no longer has a bridge and dead ends at the river. Hickerson explained the layout of the current road. Former Road Master Mark Hensley started the discussion of this vacation and then it was never completed. Hickerson stated he wants to finish this vacation. The property owner’s do not use this road and the road department no longer maintains the road. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the Road Department to proceed with vacating County Road #41.

9:21 am Dan Becker entered. 9:22 am Mike Shaw and Rob Pentzer entered.

HAND CHECKS. The court reviewed and approved two hand checks for election postage for the May 17, 2016 Primary Election mailings. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve a hand check in the amount of $50.40 and a hand check in the amount of $647.78 for election postage.

PROCLAMATION. The court received a request from Bob Van Voorhis of the John Day Elks Lodge #1824 for a formal designation of Grant County as a Purple Heart County. The Elks would like to place signs at the county lines on Highways 26, 395, 7 and 19 and estimates the 6 signs will cost $350 per sign. The Elks would take on the task of raising the money for the signs. Neale Ledgerwood said ODOT will put the signs up. Myers added Grant County will be the first county east of the Cascades with this designation. MSP: Myers/Britton — to proclaim Grant County as a Purple Heart County and circulate the Proclamation for signatures.

COUNTY COURT ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT-PERSONNEL MANAGER. The court members reviewed the proposed new job description for the County Court Secretary that would include acting as a Personnel Manager. Myers said the county has not had a dedicated HR professional in the county for over a year and a half and during the budget process it was budgeted to meld the County Court Secretary position with the HR position. This position will receive trainings and a difference in salary after LGPI rates the positon. He advised the audience the Court Secretary is aware placement of this position could possibly lower her wage, but that is not likely. Myers sent the job description to CIS, the county’s risk management insurer and CIS approved the description. Kathy Smith wanted to clarify that this position would not be responsible for employee discipline, firing or hiring. Myers agreed these will remain court functions. MSP: Myers/Labhart — to approve the new job description and send it to LGPI for placement.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Sharon Livingston asked Labhart how she could obtain minutes from the AOC meetings regarding Public Lands. She would like to know what is discussed and to see minutes from these meetings. Labhart said he will share these with her.

Rob Pentzer introduced Mike Shaw as the new Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Central Region District Forester. Shaw stated he has been working on hiring an Assistant District Forester for Central Oregon and Rob Pentzer has been hired in this role and will be working out of the John Day office. This position was traditionally based out of Prineville, but the decision was made to move the position to Grant County. Labhart asked the other court members if they still wished him to comment on the road access issues around Magone Lake by the due date of May 27th. Myers and Britton both said yes, but with court review. Britton reported Shaw has made some positive contacts here and is working diligently to resolve issues in our area. Shaw elaborated on restoration efforts and talked about new positions the legislature funded to work with local collaboratives and for restoration efforts. Discussion followed about fire rates and how the budget process is affected by what type of fire season it is.

9:46 am Mark Webb entered.

BLUE MOUNTAIN FOREST PARTNERS. Mark Webb, Executive Director of Blue Mountain Forest Partners (BMPF) explained BMFP’s history and interaction with the Malheur and other community partners along with their accomplishments. Webb provided copies to the audience of the information he provided to the court. Webb gave a brief summary of his presentation and referenced the restoration map he provided. Webb stated formation of the Blue Mountain Forest Partners was in response to environmentalists affectively shutting down our forests at one point in time. Webb explained the conversations BMFP initially had regarding changes that needed to happen in our area and read the mission statement to the audience. Webb discussed the projects BMFP’s has completed in the past and the challenges they faced with the initial projects. The result of the past successes have allowed BMFP to now move forward on much larger projects in less time. In 2012, due to collaboration efforts, the Malheur National Forest started receiving $2.5 million dollars annually for project work from a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program grant (CFLRP). In 2015 the CFLRP boundary was expanded from around 640,000 acres to over 870,000 acres and now the Malheur National Forest receives an additional $1.5 million dollars annually for a total award of $4 million. Webb explained the map he provided to the court and said no one is treating their forests on the scale or as fast as we are. Webb said trust has been developed over the years between all the partners involved and even when disagreements come up the members are able to work through those and since 2012 timber harvests are up three fold. The partnerships have allowed for projects like the biomass plant and Stewardship project. Since the Stewardship Project has been implemented Grant County’s unemployment rate has dropped roughly in half. Webb read some statistics regarding employment rates, housing sales and small increase in school populations. Webb said nothing of this scale is being done on any other national forest in the nation. Discussion regarding biomass, how it is disposed of and possible alternatives followed. King Williams said BMFP is working to find all available outlets for the biomass and explained biomass is “non-saw” material and the issues faced with disposing of the biomass.

10:14 am Jason Kehrberg entered.

Webb reported without the collaboration and BMFP, school enrollment would drop, the mills would be shut down, the Forest Service would not have the number of employees they currently do and the outlook would be very bleak. Webb said the Malheur National Forest has really assisted with salvage operations and has been instrumental in salvage moving forward. Ryan Falk said in the 90’s the Malheur had the most active lawsuits in the country and since BMFP has began working with them they have not had any litigation filed.

10:32 am The court took a short break.

10:40 am Allan Mullin entered. 10:41 am The court session resumed.

ZONE 1 LANDS. Landowners Mark Webb and Allan Mullin requested the court ask county counsel to offer clarification regarding Zone 1 statutes and issues. Myers said that although this has been requested by Webb and Mullin it has the potential to affect 100’s of other landowners. Webb stated Zone 1 lands are unique in that the form of fire protection is jointly determined by the State Fire Marshall, the Oregon Department Forestry (ODF), and the County Court. There are issues with how the statutes are interpreted and Webb would like the court to send some questions to county counsel to seek statutory clarification on the meanings. Webb and Mullin would like to know if fire suppression is flexible or fluid with regard to initial fire attack on Zone 1 lands. Mullin said one issue he has found is ODF sends out people from out of the area that don’t know the landowners or the area and he feels landowners should have input on how fire is fought on their own land. Mullin added landowners know there land and thinks ODF crews should listen to their input. Webb said ODF does have liability issues if they don’t act aggressively, but landowners could provide valuable input on strategic efforts to suppress a fire. Grant County is the only county in the state with Zone 1 lands. Zone 1 lands were designated by the county and by statute the fire protection falls on the county. If landowners don’t have a fire protection plan it falls back on the county. In 1942 the county contracted with ODF to provide fire suppression and set a rate for providing this service. District Forester Mike Shaw feels the big question is if a landowner has a county approved fire protection plan does ODF still have to provide fire suppression to the landowner and this is what needs clarified. Shaw cited the current statute which seems to indicate if a fire protection plan is in place and approved by the county then if the landowner needs assistance it would fall back on the county to provide fire suppression, not on ODF. Myers inquired as to who would be liable if a fire got away from a landowner and Webb said this is another of the questions they have that needs to be clarified. Webb would be interested to see if ODF can do their job differently and less expensively. Shaw stated he wants to work cooperatively with landowners, but explained the issues facing ODF with private landowners having their own fire plan and how it would be impossible for the initial fire attack personnel to know what each plan is that is filed with the county. Webb said landowners would like to use their own equipment for an in kind match for fire suppression instead of paying the fire assessment. Shaw quoted statutes (ORS 476 and 477) stating landowners are responsible for fire suppression on their own property. Webb cited ORS 203.035 which grants the county court authority over matters of county concern. MSP: Labhart/Myers — to send the three questions to county counsel for clarification.

11:15 am Kimberly Lindsay, Jessica Winegar, Hailey Hueckman and Rory Schilling entered.

COMMUNITY COUNSELING SOLUTIONS. Kimberly Lindsay, Director of Community Counseling Solutions presented an informational update to the court. Lindsay stated she is just checking in the court. Hailey Hueckman reported she is the new Tobacco Prevention and Education Coordinator. Rory Schilling, Administrator of Juniper Ridge, advised the court the fence has been completed at Juniper Ridge. The fence has been buried 8 feet deep in cement and will flex with the ground movement. Schilling said they have acquired a larger propane powered back-up generator for the facility. Schilling reported last month they had about a 95% occupancy rate and incident rates are significantly down and continuing to drop. Labhart appreciates the amount of local people employed by Juniper Ridge. Britton commended Lindsay for hiring people who are invested in our community. Jessica Winegar, Health Department Manager, reported last year they had the tri-annual review and there were some areas to correct and policies to write. Winegar hopes at the next review things will go smoother as she has learned a lot. The school based health center is going very well. Lindsay stated they have received positive feedback from the principal as well as most parents. She did say they had some parents who weren’t supportive, but overall it has been positive. Britton asked that quarterly reports be presented to the court soon. Lindsay stated she thought they had presented the quarterly report in April, but she will check and get it to the court soon. Lindsay explained the spreadsheet she provided to the court. Lindsay informed the court that she has agreed to be the interim director in Lake County until they are able to hire a new director. Britton asked if the numbers on the spreadsheet provided are new enrollees or duplicates from month to month. Lindsay advised they are duplicates except for the assessments portion which are new individuals. Discussion followed about how losing funding from the Oregon Health Plan would affect the overall budget and ability to provide services to clients. Lindsay thanked the court members for their continued support.

PLANNING DEPARTMENT PERMIT. Assistant Planner Shannon Springer asked the court for a building permit fee reduction for remodel work at the Best Western Hotel. Springer explained she had a local plumbing contractor come in for a permit for the repair work that was going to be very expensive. The project is to replace toilets and tub/showers. Planning Director Hilary McNary and Springer discussed the cost of the permit and McNary asked Springer to request court permission to reduce the fee for this large project and to modify permit fees for large repair projects like this in the future. The state receives 90% of the fees collected by the planning department. Britton requested the planning department develop some sort of tiered modification for future projects. MSP: Labhart/Myers — to approve the permit fee reduction for a permit total of $940.80 and to further authorize the planning department to prepare a permanent tiered modification of permit fees for similar projects in the future to present at a later date to the court. Myers voted yes, Labhart voted yes and Britton voted no because he worries this will establish a precedent.

11:55 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

County Court Secretary