Grant County Court minutes from June 6, 2017:

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 Senior Center in Monument, OR.

1:00 pm — Call to Order. Present were Judge Scott W. Myers, Commissioners Jim Hamsher and Boyd Britton, Administrative Assistant Laurie Wright, Kathy Cancilla, Karen Stubblefield, Darlene Forrest, Judy Cavender, Jan Ensign, Judy Harris, Patti Yellow Hand Bull, Marie Odien, Pamela Callahan, Larry Vote, Leon Skiles, Jeanne Strange, and Rusty Baughman. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States Flag. The invocation was given by Commissioner Britton.

CORRECTION TO MAY 24TH MINUTES. The four HeartSine AED’s approved for purchase on May 24th in the amount of $1,225 each will be paid from equipment reserve not courthouse reserve.

AGENDA. MSP: Myers/Hamsher — to accept the agenda as amended. Approval of the Fairgrounds reader board contract was removed from the agenda because the contract was not ready.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Commissioner Britton attended a Training & Employment Consortium (TEC) meeting last week. He wanted to thank the Road Department, especially Joe Bennett, for their assistance in facilitating the Fairgrounds tractor repairs. Britton said he has been waking up at 4:30 am on some mornings and calling Washington, DC, regarding the grazing issues in Grant County.

1:07 pm Reporter Rylan Boggs entered.

Britton asked those in attendance to email and write their Senators and Congressmen to urge them to get a transportation package funded. He also suggested contacting Senator Ferrioli regarding the 911 funding issues. Britton will be the MC for the ’62 Days parade again this year and will assist with the fireworks in Prairie City on the 4th of July.

1:10 pm Earl Pettit entered.

Judge Myers conducted a name change hearing the morning of May 25th and then in the afternoon had an employee evaluation for the Airport Manager. On May 30th he conducted another name change hearing and then attended a broad band meeting. John Day City Manager Nick Green has been pushing the broad band project forward. Myers will assist with interview for an equipment operator for the Road Department on June 8th and on June 16th will travel to La Grande for a Community Connections budget meeting.

Commissioner Hamsher reported that last week he attended a budget committee meeting for the City of Prairie City and advised the City plans on kicking in some extra money to assist with the eclipse. Hamsher said he has talked with Emergency Management Coordinator Ted Williams about reaching out to the smaller communities in the county about eclipse preparedness. Hamsher has also been speaking with a stock contractor about having an NRPA Rodeo in the county again this year. He continues to work on ideas for repairing Keerin’s Hall. Britton complemented Hamsher on his continued hard work for the fairgrounds and rodeo.

Kathy Cancilla advised she attended an eclipse meeting and the current estimate is that a minimum of 50,000 people may be in the John Day valley for the eclipse. She said Prairie City has had a representative at every eclipse meeting, but other communities have not. Cancilla encouraged those in attendance to ask Ted Williams to give presentations to their communities. Cancilla expressed her opinion that keeping 911 services locally is critical due to the knowledge our local dispatchers have of the area.

MINUTES. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve the May 24th minutes as presented.

1:23 pm Jerry Cowger entered.

GRANT CO. HEALTH DEPARTMENT. Accreditation Coordinator Kathy Cancilla made a presentation to the court on behalf of the Grant County Health Department. Cancilla advised the health department is required to give an orientation to new commissioners. She gave handouts to each court member and to the audience. Cancilla read two Oregon statutes that mandate public health services. The Grant County Health Department is one of just a few health departments that contains a primary caregiver clinic, is designated as a rural health clinic and operates a school based health center as well. Cancilla explained how the local health department is structured and named the local Community Counseling Solutions (CCS) staff and their positions. Cancilla said funding for the different programs offered through the health department is very complex. A community health needs assessment was completed in 2013 and again last year. Cancilla explained accreditation and displayed a graph showing public health monitoring. Our health department also offers dental services through Advantage Dental.

PROPERTY TAX REFUND. Assessor David Thunell had presented a property tax refund and order 2017-04 to the court for approval. Phillip Leroy Dobbs had sent a petition for refund with the Assessor’s office after it was discovered he paid $1,172.37 in property taxes in error. MSP: Myers/Hamsher – to approve the property tax refund in the amount of $1,172.37 payable to Phillip Leroy Dobbs and to circulate Order 2017-04 for signatures.

IGA #154111. The court reviewed Intergovernmental Agreement #154111 between Grant County and the Oregon Health Authority for the financing of public health services. MSP: Myers/Britton – to approve IGA #154111 and authorize Judge Myers to sign.

DISTRICT ATTORNEY. District Attorney Jim Carpenter had sent a written request to the court to purchase replacement locks for the doors in his office. The current locks are starting to have problems and the new model would keep a record of access which is required for child support enforcement. Carpenter obtained three quotes for the door locks: GoKeyLess ($601.01 each); Keyless Access Locks ($625 each); and JMAC ($624.90 each). His office will need two new door locks and Carpenter advised he has funding in his budget to cover the expense. The cost would be paid from the Child Support Expense line. MSP: Myers/Hamsher – to approve purchase of two door locks from GoKeyLess in the amount of $1,202.02 to be paid from the child support expense line.

IGA #154709-0. The court reviewed Intergovernmental Agreement #154709-0 between Grant County and the Oregon Health Authority for environmental health services. MSP: Myers/Britton – to approve IGA #154709-0 and authorize Judge Myers to sign.

L-BUILDING. Judge Myers explained the location of the L-Building and Community Counseling Solutions. He said the L-Building was remodeled in the late 1980’s except for suites 1 and 2 which were left as storage areas. Myers said the court is checking on the feasibility of remodeling suites 1 and 2 for additional office space. Community Counseling Solutions needs more office space and suggested renting the two suites. He explained the court can choose to get a bid from whomever they choose if the cost is under $10,000. Strux Engineering LLC from Prairie City submitted a bid of $3,200 for professional engineering services. Strux would complete a structural analysis and structural design for the potential remodel. Britton suggested waiting on this project for a while until Community Counseling Solutions decides what they are going to do because they may decide to move to a different location. MSP: Myers/Britton – to authorize Strux Engineering LLC to move forward with the engineering proposal pending the status of the arrangement with CCS.

JAIL. Jeanne Strange requested an update on the jail. She asked why the jail is not used to its capacity. Myers explained that when the jail was initially constructed the thought was that our county would grow in population and that has not happened. He said INS used to send multiple prisoners to our jail, but that isn’t happening any longer. Myers advised the jail currently has four contracts in place with other entities to rent bed space and is working to get a PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) audit completed so that a contract can be entered into with the Department of Justice. Myers expressed his belief that the bed rental numbers will increase and said the jail staff is working to make this happen. Britton stated the county has a good corrections manager in Josh Wolf.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Jerry Cowger asked if Judge Cramer had rendered a decision yet regarding the Oregonian’s request for repayment of attorney fees from the Sheriff. Myers said he hasn’t seen anything yet and told Cowger that the question should be directed to Circuit Court.

Jeanne Strange thanked the court for traveling to Monument for the meeting today. She said they often feel left out and would like to see more court meetings in Monument. Hamsher advised the audience that anyone could call him at any time and he would answer questions and help as much as possible.

General discussion followed regarding the eclipse and the possibility of cell phone towers being placed in areas that currently do not have coverage such as Monument and Mitchell.

Earl Pettit expressed his appreciation to the court members for their public service and invited the court members to tour the City of Monument Fire Hall after the meeting.

Rusty Baughman said he has a dream to abolish the United States Forest Service and have the land returned to the people. He added that he hopes the court would support this idea.

2:56 pm — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

Administrative Assistant

**** Please note the court minutes are a summary of the court proceedings. An audio recording of each court session is available, after approval of the minutes, by contacting Laurie Wright at 541-575-0059 or wrightl@grantcounty-or.gov ****