Grant County Court minutes from Sept. 28, 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, Administrative Assistant Laurie Wright, Jim Spell, Beth Spell, Road Master Alan Hickerson, Mechanic Eddy Negus, Judy Kerr, Jim Sproul, Reporter Rylan Boggs, Antonio Roberts, Linda Kinnaman, Lisa Weigum, Russ Comer, Joe Hitz, Brad Olson, Cindy Kidd, Damon Olson, Terry Taylor, Mike Cosgrove, and Pastor Wes Aasness. 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 with the emergency addition of Resolution 16-23 to create budget lines to split Health Department receipts and with the emergency addition of the request to match grant funds for the Depot Park building due by Friday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Commissioner Britton said last week he went to Prairie City for a community concert and then to Monument for an elk and salmon feed to benefit the community center. Last Monday Britton went to Burns with Doug Ferguson, John Day City Manager Nick Green and Rick Minster for a SEACT meeting. He said Airport Manager Haley Walker also attended the meeting.

Judge Myers attended the AOC District 1 meeting in Baker City last Friday, September 23rd, and then performed a wedding at Holliday Park that afternoon. Yesterday Myers went to the Road Department to assist with the bid opening for crushing contracts and today he will help FirePro with the alarm testing in the courthouse.

Commissioner Labhart drove vets to the VA Hospital in Boise on September 22nd and will be serving lunch with the Blue Mountain Hospital Auxiliary at the John Day Senior Center. Labhart will be attending the Community Health Needs Assessment meeting at the hospital on October 3rd.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Labhart — to approve the September 21st minutes as amended.

ZONING CHANGE. The court reviewed Order 2016-08 for the Tom Buce zoning change (ZC-16-02). The order was prepared by Planning Director Hilary McNary after the court approved the zoning change on September 21st. The order changes the zoning on the Buce property from multiple use range to private forest. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve Order 2016-08 and circulate for signatures.

ROAD DEPARTMENT FURNACE REPLACEMENT. Road Master Alan Hickerson presented a quote to the court to replace the furnace in the road department shop. The current furnace is over 20 years old and is failing. Hickerson attempted to obtain three quotes, but received only one response. Viking Industrial quoted a price of $9,031.22. Britton asked if attempts were made to find local quotes. Ed Negus said there is no one locally who sells the brand they currently have and they would like to keep the same brand because they are able to switch parts out if necessary.

9:12 am Reporter Logan Bagett entered.

Britton would like Hickerson to reach out to Burton Heating to see if they would provide a quote.

MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve the purchase of the new furnace from Viking Industrial in the amount of $9,031.22 after Hickerson checks with Burton Heating.

ROAD DEPARTMENT. Road Master Alan Hickerson presented the recommendation for intent to award for the Laycock Creek Pit and McGirr Pit crushing projects to the court. Hickerson explained in the 2016/17 budget they planned for these crushing projects. He said there were issues with the previous bids and so they went out again for bids and actually received more bids for less money. Bids were received from 4-R Equipment LLC, Tidewater Contractors Inc., Winegar Excavation Inc., DeAtley Crushing Company and Harney Rock and Paving Co. 4-R Equipment was the low bidder on Schedule A in the amount of $236,150 and also on Schedule B in the amount of $361,950. Joe Hitz of Sisul Engineering said he spoke with the winning contractor this morning and recommended the court sign the intent to award. Hickerson said ODOT is also assisting with this project and paying the county a lump sum of around $80,000 which will offset some of the costs. MSP: Myers/Britton — to accept the recommendation and authorize Judge Myers to sign the intent to award and if no protests are received in the 7 day protest period to award the project to 4-R Equipment LLC.

ORDER VACATING COUNTY ROAD 41. The court reviewed Order 2016-09 to vacate the remaining portion of County Road 41. The court had previously approved the vacation of CR 41, which is the old dump road in Dayville. Myers advised this road has been vacated in sections over the years and this would be the last section. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve Order 2016-09 vacating CR 41 and circulate for signatures.

PLANNING DEPARTMENT. Assistant Planner Shannon Springer had sent a written request to the court for authorization to purchase paint for the Planning Department office. Springer wrote while the asbestos abatement was being done in her office it would be a good time to complete the painting since all of the furniture will be moved out. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the purchase of the paint for the planning department office.

WINDOW CLEANING CONTRACT. The court reviewed the window cleaning contract with Hoffman’s Yes We Do Cleaning for the county buildings. This contract is for the period of October 1, 2016 to April 20, 2017. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the contract with Hoffman’s Yes We Do Cleaning and circulate for signatures.

DEPOT PARK BUILDING RESTORATION. The court received an email from Katherine Smith this morning which informed the court that she needed to submit a grant to Restore Oregon by Friday for repairs to the Depot Building brick chimneys and roof. The grant is for $2,500 and in order to receive it the county must match the $2,500.

9:27 am Shannon Springer and Kathy Smith entered.

Labhart questioned the funding source for this and Treasurer Kathy Smith explained the funding would come from the County RV Park line which is set up for RV Park expenses in John Day and Prairie City, and there is enough money for the grant match. MSP: Myers/Labhart – to approve the fund matching of $2,500 as an emergency to be paid from the RV Park capital outlay line.

RESOLUTION 16-23. Myers read the resolution to the audience. This resolution is to create funding lines to keep federal and state receipts separate in the health department budget. MSP: Myers/Labhart — to approve Resolution 16-23 as an emergency and circulate for signatures.

PUBLIC HEARING – MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES. Myers explained last December the court opted out of all marijuana sales, growing and producing. He said since that time the court has been persuaded to allow medical marijuana dispensaries within the county. MSP: Labhart/Myers – to open the public hearing on Amended Ordinance 2015-01. Myers advised those in attendance that the court heard a lot of testimony regarding this ordinance and had legal counsel prepare it and approve it. Myers further stated this ordinance will be handled as an emergency to shorten the time for those who need medical marijuana and can legally obtain it. Britton read the ordinance in its entirety to the audience. Myers explained the ordinance will allow medical marijuana only in the dispensaries and not retail marijuana.

In favor of the amended ordinance: Antonio Roberts asked if the ordinance prohibits processors and also asked for explanation as to why the court limited retail sales. Myers said the ordinance does prohibit processors and for him it is an ethics issue to not allow retail sales. Labhart agreed with Myers based on the vote of the people in the county that didn’t want any other types of marijuana sales in the county at this time. Britton is comfortable with the amended ordinance as well as the original ordinance. Britton was compelled by the testimony he heard regarding the need for a medical marijuana dispensary in the county.

Opposed to amending the ordinance: No testimony was offered.

MSP: Labhart/Myers – to close the public hearing.

MSP: Labhart/Myers — to adopt Amended Ordinance 2015-01 and circulate for signatures.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Linda Kinnaman said she is here at the Farmer’s Market all the time and there is a crosswalk that has disappeared. Myers stated this would be ODOT’s responsibility since the crosswalk is on Highway 26. Britton suggested she stop by the John Day City Hall today and speak with City Manager Nick Green. Myers offered to contact ODOT on Kinnaman’s behalf regarding the crosswalk.

9:50 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

Administrative Assistant