Grant County Court minutes from July 26, 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 County Courthouse in Canyon City, OR.

9:00 am — Call to Order. Present were Judge Scott W. Myers, Commissioners Jim Hamsher and Boyd Britton, Administrative Assistant Laurie Wright, Reporter Logan Bagett, Dan Becker, Beth Spell, Jim Spell, Rick Minster, Chris Labhart, Dave Traylor, Jim Sproul, Gail Beverlin, Mark Kirsch, Judy Kerr, Katy Nelson, Frances Preston, Elaine Smith, Vicki Thompson, and Ed Guzman. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States Flag. The invocation was given by Commissioner Britton.

CLAIMS. The court had reviewed and approved three hand checks.

CORRECTION TO MAY 24, 2017 MINUTES. The line item described for payment of the AED machines in the May 24th minutes was incorrectly identified as courthouse reserve- capital outlay. The correct line item for payment of the AED machines should have been 116-110 equipment reserve – 5-40-0001 capital outlay equipment.

AGENDA. MSP: Myers/Hamsher– to accept the agenda as presented.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Judge Myers will conduct an employee performance review for the Property Maintenance Specialist today. Last week Myers attended an eclipse preparedness meeting at the Canyon City Community Hall and said the expected number of visitors is increasing. Myers has continued talks about a Predator Control Agent for the county and said this is getting closer to happening.

Commissioner Britton asked Reporter Rylan Boggs to do a write up in the paper encouraging local residents to stock up on gas and groceries prior to the eclipse. Britton is Co-Chair of the SEACT and attended a meeting on Monday at the Airport where the eclipse was also discussed. Britton said the gas tax is going to increase, but it will end up being a good thing for our County.

9:04 am Steve Beverlin & Ryan Nehl entered.

Britton attended part of the Blue Mountain Forest Partners meeting last week as well. Britton said if the people near Kimberly want to have a mass gathering of over 3000 people they must get a mass gathering permit.

Commissioner Hamsher reported a mass composting site for dead animals should be in by this fall near the Prairie City sewer ponds. Hamsher said the City of Prairie City is still under water restrictions, but the water level seems to be improving. Hamsher spoke with Mindy Winegar about the tent needed for the Fairgrounds and also spoke with some people about the Veteran Services Officer position.

9:08 am Reporter Logan Bagett entered.

ROAD UNION CONTRACT. The court members had previously reviewed the road union contract on July 19th in Executive Session. The following motion was made: MSP: Myers/Britton — to accept the proposed union contract with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 and to allow the contract to move forward to the union members for vote and to authorize Judge Myers to sign the contract.

9:14 am Dave Halemeier entered. 9:15 Howard Geiger entered.

MALHEUR NATIONAL FOREST TRAVEL MANAGEMENT. Malheur National Forest Supervisor presented information to the court regarding travel management.

Rainbow Gathering: Beverlin gave a brief update on the Rainbow participants and said 10-15 remain at the site and plan on leaving today. He said some rehab of the site has been completed, but the Forest Service will be completing additional rehab and monitoring at the site. Beverlin estimated the total cost of the gathering at probably over a million dollars taking everything into consideration such as the medical costs, law enforcement costs and Forest Service costs. Beverlin said the Forest Service is working with the Department of Justice to try to pursue civil remedies against those who didn’t get the required permit, but it is an ongoing investigation and he can’t elaborate further. Beverlin thanked everyone for making the Forest Service law enforcement feel welcome here since some of them were apprehensive about coming to Grant County because of things they had heard. Howard Geiger reported only 4 dogs were left after the Rainbow Gathering and one of the dogs was probably not left from the gathering. Preston thanked the Forest Service for their quick response to the Rainbow Gathering and the good job they did in handling the gathering.

Travel Management: Beverlin explained that travel management is mandated and the Malheur is one of only two forests who have not completed a travel management plan. He explained a short history of why the travel management plan has been delayed up to. Beverlin passed maps out to the court members and left copies for members of the public. He explained road closures shown on the maps were closed in the past and have NEPA documentation showing the closures. Britton asked how old the NEPA decisions were and if they expired. Beverlin said the NEPA decisions didn’t have a shelf life and remained valid for a long time unless circumstances require a change. Beverlin stated the Forest Service has been working with grazing permit holders and although it was a rough start he said now the response from ranchers has been supportive of closing certain roads. The road closures showing on the maps were local site specific decisions made in the past. There are three subparts to the travel management plan and the information is available on the Malheur National Forest website for those interested.

9:34 am King Williams entered.

In the spring of 2018 pre-scoping for travel management will begin. Beverlin presented 11 maps to the court and advised the maps will also be available on the website. He explained the maps to those in attendance.

9:36 am Dwayne Timmons entered.

Beverlin said disbursed campsites are marked by GPS and encouraged people to make sure if they have a favorite campsite to check and see if a road goes to it and give the Forest Service feedback. Our forest contains approximately 9600 miles of roads and approximately 2400 miles are open to the general public. Judy Kerr made the suggestion of identifying the creeks on the maps to assist people with locations. After the Forest Plan Revision is final and signed the travel management plan will begin. King Williams asked if a road is not designated as closed then it is open? Beverlin said this is correct right now. Williams said if a road is closed using NEPA then in the future he believes NEPA will have to be used to open roads in the future. Williams suggested using the current closed roads as a baseline instead of having to go through the entire NEPA process to open a road in the future. Beverlin said they have been trying to be as accurate as possible utilizing NEPA documents and input from citizens to locate closed and open roads. Dave Halemeier emphasized local involvement needs to start now and encouraged all those in attendance to not wait until the last minute to get involved in this process. Vicki Thompson said a lot of people may not know about this process and suggested advertising in the newspaper. Beverlin stated they will be holding numerous public meetings and will also be sending press releases to the newspaper. Britton suggested Beverlin and some of his staff go on Coffee Time on KJDY. Jim Sproul asked if it would be better to leave the current roads the way they are with no maintenance. Beverlin said the maps he handed out already have NEPA decisions and cross country travel will be a big issue during this planning process. Discussion followed regarding ATV use, road berms and issues snowmobilers may have. Beverlin stated this has been a controversial issue and he thanked everyone for working with them and offering productive input. It is important for everyone to work together on this because the local Forest Service has no choice but to implement the travel management plan. Beverlin said the Forest Service will meet with any group who would like to meet with them as long as the meeting is respectful.

911 DISPATCH FUNDING. John Day City Manager Nick Green informed the court that because of the public stimulus funding received from the state legislature the city will be reducing the request for funds for 911 for this year. Green said it was budgeted for the County to spend $75,000 to the City for 911 funding, but because of the special appropriated they can reduce the County’s contribution by $65,000. The new budget requests the County pay $10,ooo for this fiscal year. Green explained the funding numbers for this year and next year. Myers commended Green on his hard work on this issue and said he deserves the credit for getting this funding passed. Chris Labhart asked if this would prevent dispatch from being regionalized. Green stated this is a temporary two year bridge for 911 funding and hopefully the legislature will address this issue in the future. Myers explained everyone telephone number is taxed 0.75 per month and has not changed since 1993. An increase of even 0.50 per line would go a long way to fund 911 in the future. Green said this funding will greatly assist the City of John Day and Grant County because the two entities have absorbed most of the cost of the system in the past. Elaine Smith asked who was responsible for providing 911 services. Green said it depends on the area and the City of John Day has been designated as the provider in our area and has been for the last 20 years. Hamsher suggested having tax payers reach out to their elected officials for an increase in 911 funding and encouraged those in attendance to do so. Smith wanted to know how the City of John Day was designated. Green’s understanding is that prior to the current 911 system there was a user board in place, but he isn’t sure who was in charge of this. Myers guessed this might have been the County’s responsibility at some point, but was probably given to the City. Smith asked Myers to check into the history of this and he said he would try to locate this information for her.

10:20 am Treasurer Julie Ellison entered.

PROPOSED LEVY BALLOT MEASURE – 911 FUNDING. Green explained that as a condition of receiving the state 911 funds the county would need to present a local option levy on the ballot for the November election. This would be a county wide ballot measure. Green said the upcoming November 7th election would be the best time to get this measure on the ballot. In order to hit the time line for the November election the ballot measure would need to be completed by August 18th. Green outlined the time frame for getting the measure on the ballot. Myers asked who would create this measure. Green said the County would create the measure and it would need to be approved by the District Attorney. The proposed amount of the levy would be $0.38 per $1000 of property value. The levy would have a fixed window of 5 years in which to collect money, but the County could collect less or nothing at all. Chris Labhart expressed his concern that people with telephones should be taxed and not property owners. Hamsher asked if there was any way to collect a local telephone tax and Green said he doesn’t believe that is possible.

10:40 am Assessor David Thunell and Carolyn Stout entered.

David Thunell asked if Green thought the State would begin paying attention to 911 funding. Green is hopeful that other communities will begin to pressure the legislature for more funding. Smith asked if this ballot measure would be necessary if 911 were regionalized. Preston asked who would pay for 911 funding if it were regionalized and Myers said it would be like it is now and the County would pay a fee for the use of another provider. Myers believes any user of a regionalized system would have to pay a fee. Sproul believes this is a City issue and not a County issue. Myers said this is a question to the voters and a bridge for 911 funding that allows 2 years for further research into the issue. Labhart thanked Green for allowing all of the other cities and rural fire departments to not be required to pay for 911 services under the proposed budget. Preston suggested contacting legislatures to try to get an increase in the telephone tax. Myers feels it would be irresponsible to wait until the next legislative session to ask for an increase in the 911 tax. Beth Spell asked for clarification that the requirement of the grant is for a tax levy to be put to the voters, whether it passes or not. Green stated this is accurate, the appropriated funding requires a measure be put to the voters, but it doesn’t have to pass to receive the funding and if it does the County is not required to collect funding. Hamsher feels there is no other option but to put out the local funding measure. Green said this is correct and if the levy doesn’t pass it will put more pressure on the state legislature and also allows him additional time to plan for the future of the current dispatch center and employees involved.

BROADBAND FUNDING. $1.8 million dollars was appropriated by the state legislature to create a publicly owned broadband network for Grant County. Green said most of our area is under served by the current internet providers and citizens have expressed the desire for better broadband services. An informal committee was formed to address this issue. Green explained the area of the project covered and where fiber optic lines would be installed. The funding provided will be used to get additional grants and federal funding for the entire project. Green said the broadband installed would be much cheaper than what people are currently paying and internet speeds will be much faster. Preston asked who would be in charge of this. Green said under ORS 190 a local intergovernmental agency would be created that would own and operate the system which he is currently proposing be called the Grant County Digital Network Coalition. The Coalition would have by-laws and board members from different jurisdictions and agencies. This would be an optional service and no one would be forced to utilize it. Preston asked if Oregon Telephone had been approached about partnering on this and Green said they have been numerous times and he will not comment further on this. Geiger asked how the new system would benefit those who currently have little or no service. Green said different scenarios will be looked at and explained how this might work. Green stated partners for the new agency would include all of the local cities, the county and possibly the hospital and ESD. Green believes wireless extensions may be available to the northern part of the county eventually as well.

11:10 am Todd McKinley entered.

Green explained the different options for ownership of the ORS 190 entity. Katy Nelson said she is ready to sign up now because she can’t get local internet where she lives and her satellite internet service is extremely expensive. If the timelines are followed Green estimates this system could be in place by this time next year. Thunell asked if this would create new jobs and Green said they estimate approximately 7 new direct jobs. Gail Beverlin thanked Green for moving this forward. Britton commended Green for his hard work on these projects.

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS. Community Corrections Director Todd McKinley requested court permission to apply for the Justice Reinvestment Grant and gave the court members a list of the funding available to each county in Oregon. McKinley explained the different items and positions this grant funds. The grant also funds the Heart of Grant County which assists victims. McKinley mirrored the previous grant and was only notified on July 12th that this grant was available and is due the end of August. McKinley needs the court’s approval to submit the grant prior to him leaving for the month of August for training in Salem. This is a guaranteed grant if applied for and Grant County would receive $100,000 as a minimally funded county. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the application to move forward and apply for the grant.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT BUILDING. The court discussed the possibility of selling the building currently housing public and mental health services and leased to Community Counseling Solutions. Myers said the County owns the large building near the L-Building. Britton brought the question of selling the building before the court and legal counsel was consulted. Britton said the county purchased the building in approximately 2002. Britton said CCS is interested in purchasing the building and the county would need to get the building appraised and an auction would need to be conducted by the Sheriff if the county decided to sell it. Britton expressed his concern that building maintenance will be costly in the future. Hamsher said he is concerned that one of the statutes Yockim cited requires that the building not be used for public services. Britton doesn’t think this is an issue because CCS provides the public health services even though the County is in charge of public health. Myers isn’t convinced that selling this building is in the public’s best interest. Preston asked if the property would return to the tax rolls and Myers said CCS is a non-profit so he doesn’t believe it would. Sproul said putting it in the agreement that the property would be placed back on the tax rolls and would be beneficial to tax payers. Spell brought up the point that someone else could potentially purchase the building and evict CCS because there is no guarantee CCS would be the high bidder. Different scenarios were discussed. Labhart thinks selling the building is a great idea. Sproul agreed with Labhart and said the amount of the current lease is ridiculously cheap. Jim Spell expressed his belief that the County should retain the building. Minster doesn’t think CCS will be leaving our area due to the expansions they have been making in the last few years. The court decided to continue this discussion at a later date and complete additional research.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the July 19th minutes as presented.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT #154957. The court reviewed Intergovernmental Grant

Agreement #154957 between the Oregon Health Authority and Grant County in the amount of $122,500. The program funds are to be used to prevent alcohol, tobacco and other drugs use and associated effects. MSP: Myers/Hamsher — to approve IGA #154957 and authorize Judge Myers to sign.

ASSESSOR NEWSPAPER OF RECORD. Assessor David Thunell had sent Order 2017-05 to the court for approval to designate a newspaper for publication of the annual foreclosure of tax liens as shown by the Grant County foreclosure list. It is required by law that the County Court designates a newspaper of general publication published in the County in which notice of such foreclosure shall be published. The Order names the Blue Mountain Eagle as the designated newspaper of record. Myers read the order to the audience. MSP: Myers/Britton — to designate the Blue Mountain Eagle as the newspaper of record and circulate Order 2017-05 for signatures.

PROPERTY ACCESS PERMIT. Watermaster Eric Julsrud sent a property access permit to the court for approval. This permit allows for the installation, operation and maintenance of an automatic water-level monitory device on the South Fork Road Bridge. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the property access permit and authorize Judge Myers to sign.

GC YOUTH LIVESTOCK AUCTION. Shannon Springer presented a request to the court to allow the Grant County Youth Livestock Auction Committee to borrow the printer from the Planning Department for Fair. The Committee will supply their own paper and purchase a new ink toner for the printer after they have finished using it. MSP: Hamsher/Britton — to approve the loan of the Planning Department printer to the GC Youth Livestock Auction Committee for Fair.

2ND AMENDMENT TO IGA AGREEMENT #148066. The 2nd Amendment to IGA #148066 extends the expiration date of the agreement effective July 1, 2015, for the financing of community developmental disability services. The agreement extends the expiration date of the original agreement to September 30, 2017. MSP: Myers/Hamsher — to approve the 2nd Amendment to IGA #148066 and authorize Judge Myers to sign.

RESOLUTION 17-16. Treasurer Julie Ellison presented several budget resolutions to the court. Resolution 17-16 is for loan repayment from the domestic violence fund to the general fund in the amount of $25,000. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve Resolution 17-16 and circulate for signatures.

RESOLUTION 17-17. This resolution transfers $40,000 from non-departmental contingency to economic stabilization project dev-marketing. There was an error in the 2017 budget and this expense line was overlooked. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve Resolution 17-17 and circulate for signatures.

RESOLUTION 17-18. This resolution transfers $54,300 from road to school forest. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve Resolution 17-18 and circulate for signatures.

RESOLUTION 17-19. This resolution transfers funds to unemployment reserve as follows: from general $9,111; from road $17,800; from fair $200; from community corrections $300; from airport $200; and from senior citizens $200. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve Resolution 17-19 and circulate for signatures.

VETERAN SERVICES OFFICER. The County will receive additional funding for the Veteran Services Officer position from the State in the amount of $74,154. The previous funding amount was $41,921. Due to the increase in funding the hours of the VSO position can be increased and benefits can be offered. Human Resource Manager Laurie Wright worked with the Treasurer and came up with some estimated figures that would allow for this position to be funded at .75 FTE (30 hours per week) with county benefits. The prior VSO moved out of the area and Guy McKay from Harney County has been serving our veterans in the interim. Hamsher suggested removing the requirement for the VSO to be a Veteran from the current job description. Myers said this could be done by making the former Veteran requirement preferred instead of required. MSP: Hamsher/Myers — to approve increasing the VSO position to 30 hours per week with county benefits and to remove the requirement that a candidate be a veteran.

FAIRGROUNDS. Fair Manager Mindy Winegar requested court approval to purchase a shade tent for the Fairgrounds. The tent the Fair normally uses belongs to Chester’s Thriftway and is being used by Chester’s this year and unavailable. Winegar explained the tent is to provide shade for patrons and entertainers. Winegar provided pricing of $1,000 for a used 20×30 tent (Frontier Equipment) and $2,299.99 for a new 30×40 tent (ShelterLogic) and the cost to rent a 30×40 tent of $1,500 plus mileage from Baker City. Winegar would prefer to buy the 30×40 tent in the amount of $2,299.99. The Fair budget contains available funds in the building and grounds line and the tent could also be rented out in the future. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the purchase of a new tent from ShelterLogic in the amount of $2,299.99 to be paid from the Fairgrounds building and grounds line item.

EOCA DUES 2017-18. The court reviewed the annual invoice from the Eastern Oregon Counties Association for dues for Fiscal Year 2017-18 in the amount of $9,700. Myers explained EOCA is somewhat of an off shoot of the Association of Oregon Counties in which approximately 11 Eastern Oregon Counties participate. The EOCA focuses on issues specific to rural counties. The cost would be paid from the county dues and travel line item. Britton feels we get more for our money from EOCA than from AOC even though AOC does a good job. Hamsher agrees with approving payment of the EOCA dues. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve payment of the dues to EOCA for FY 17-18.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Myers offered public comment and none was received.

12:08 pm — Adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

Administrative Assistant

*CORRECTION TO MINUTES OF JULY 12TH. Emigrant Creek Ranger District – Judy Kerr asked the Forest Service if removing trees from the meadows would remove a natural wildlife corridor, not create a corridor.*

**** 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 ****