Grant County Court minutes from Sept. 25th, 2019:

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 Sam Palmer, Administrative Assistant Kim Puckett, Reporter Rudy Diaz, Reporter Logan Bagett, Katy Nelson, Jim Spell, Beth Spell, Frances Preston, and Pastor Aasness. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States Flag. The invocation was given by Pastor Aasness.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Judge Myers traveled to LaGrande on the 17th for a quarterly Board Meeting with Northeast Housing Authority. On the 20th Myers chaired the Emergency Food & Shelter Committee meeting discussing how to disburse the $2,800 received for the year. One half will be split between Monument and Prairie City and the other half will go to the John Day Food Bank. On the 23rd he interviewed three candidates for the maintenance position and selected an individual in which an offer was made. If accepted the new hire will likely start tomorrow. Yesterday Myers traveled to Baker City to attend a meeting with Eastern Oregon Counties Association (EOCA) and the United States Forest Service (USFS). Last night he attended a meeting at the Airport along with the Commissioner Palmer and Commissioner Hamsher regarding the Swimming Pool. This was a work session with a panel of about 11 individuals and was well attended. On Friday the 27th he will travel to LaGrande for an Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) District 1 meeting.

Commissioner Palmer attended a Local Community Advisory Council (LCAC) meeting at the Fire Station. On the 21st he was called with Search & Rescue for an overdue bow hunter in the North Fork area in which they successfully found him. Palmer attended the Swimming Pool meeting it was very well attended and presented. Palmer stated that Attorney Rob Raschio did an excellent job with coordinating the meeting.

Commissioner Hamsher attended a Prairie City Council meeting in which they awarded a contract for a paving and chip sealing project. On Monday Hamsher traveled to Ontario for the Southeast Oregon Transportation Commission meeting. Tuesday he traveled to Baker for a pre-meeting with Eastern Oregon Counties Association (EOCA) and then attended a meeting with the United States Forest Service (USFS).A lot of questions were answered regarding how the Blue Mountain Intergovernmental Council will work. Later that evening he participated in an informational meeting regarding the Swimming Pool. On the 27th Hamsher will travel to LaGrande for an Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) District 1 meeting.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Palmer— to approve the September 18th minutes as presented.

Allison Field, Lisa Weigum, Didgette McCracken, Mindy Winegar, Dusty Williams entered 9:09

Haley Walker entered 9:11

Bob Bagett entered 9:15

Eva Harris entered 9:19

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Allison Field Economic Development Director, asked the County Court to review and approve Budget Revision #2 so the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD) an accept Farallon’s bid. MSP: Myers/Palmer—to approve Budget Revison #2. The court reviewed the contracts from Farallon Consulting for Grant Administration and Environmental Review and Pinnacle Architecture for Architectural Design and Engineering. They have been reviewed by Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD) and County legal counsel. All three contracts were approved to be signed by the County Court. MSP: Palmer/Myers—to sign all three contracts. As discussed in the August 28th court session, interest was expressed in exploring options to enhance the fairground facilities and stabilize revenues. As such, Field has reached out to the City of John Day and EcoNorthwest to develop a proposal for the fairgrounds. The total cost of the project, including design concept, business concept, and market assessment, is $31,000. As a joint investment with the County, the City has proposed to cover half the cost at $15,500 if the County can assume the remainder of the cost of $15,500 with $5,000 coming from Economic Development. This will be a fifty-fifty joint investment between the City of John Day and Grant County. The City of John Day will be the contracting agency on this project. The City will be using their pre-established vehicle with EcoNorthwest. Field is proposing that the City and County jointly work together on the scope and design of this project. MSP: Myers/Palmer—to approve the County to contribute $10,500 towards the project and approve Economic Development to contribute $5,000 from their Project Development budget.

Cheryl Berry entered 9:38

AIRPORT: Haley Walker presented the background on the Apron Reconstruction Project related to the pavement unraveling and causing serious safety issues for airport users and hangars around the north/corporate apron. She stated that airport users have requested this ramp apron be reconstructed since she began at the airport in May 2016. Walker also provided information on funding from the FAA and announced that the official funding notification was sent to her yesterday afternoon in the amount of $950,000. However, the County as the airport sponsor is responsible for a 10% match. The airport secured 9% grant matching funds from a COAR grant through the Oregon Department of Aviation. Walker provided additional information on the FAA eligible and non-eligible portions of the project. She stated there is an L-shaped portion of the ramp apron that is not considered “public use,” and the FAA will only fund the “public use” portion of this project, so she is seeking funds for the non-eligible portion. Walker reviewed the three funding options for this project and what financial obligation the sponsor has: Option #1 is the minimum match requirement for our airport and is only for the FAA eligible (schedule A) work which totals $10,273.12. Walker is confident she has this amount in her current airport budget due to a $6,000 decrease in insurance costs for the underground storage tanks and the shared cost with the USFS for the airport terminal repairs project. However, this option is not recommended by the airport commission due to the lack of pavement transition on the ramp apron which creates major safety issues and a greater risk of damage to aircraft propellers. Walker stated the ramp apron really needs to be a complete project and have the entire apron reconstructed. Option #2 is the match requirement for our airport including FAA eligible (schedule A) work and full depth reconstruction of the non-FAA eligible (schedule B) area, and this totals $83,973.12. Walker stated there is also option #3 which is the match requirement for our airport including FAA eligible (schedule A) work and not a full depth reconstruction (alternative construction such as milling off the top layers) of the non-FAA eligible (schedule B) area would be reduced from the $83,973.12 and total approximately $50,273.12. After speaking with the consulting engineer and conversations with the proposed contractor this is the recommendation of Walker and the airport commission. Airport Commissioner, Bob Bagett, spoke in full support of Walker and the recommended project and option #3. Walker added that she spoke with Julie Ellison, County Treasurer, and concluded the best source of funding for option #3 would be the $10,273.12 from the current airport budget and the remaining $40,000 from the general fund contingency. MSP: Hamsher/Palmer—to approve the funding request from the general fund contingency to the Airport. Walker requested the bid be awarded to High Desert Aggregate and Paving and the Notice of Award and Construction Agreement be signed. The bid for this project received two bidders, and High Desert Aggregate and Paving was the low bidder.MSP: Hamsher/Myers—to approve and sign the notice of award and construction agreement with High Desert Aggregate and Paving. Walker requested the approval and signature for the Professional Services Agreement for the Reconstruct North Apron Project between Grant County and T-O Engineers. This agreement has a financial error by $0.01, so she will resubmit this contract with the correction. MSP: Myers/Palmer—to approve and sign the Professional Services Agreement with T-O Engineers for the Reconstruct North Apron Project. Walker requested the grant agreement between Grant County and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be received prior to the end of September and requested the approval and signature for this project grant. MSP: Myers/Hamsher—to approve and sign the grant agreement with FAA for the Reconstruct North Apron Project upon receipt and review. Walker asked if she could have an additional request related to the Supplemental/Decoupling Project which was announced earlier this year. She reminded the County Court that this project will be 100% funded by the federal government which will not have a match requirement for us, but we will be fronting the design and environmental costs until the grant is issued in April 2020 when she can submit the reimbursement requests. Walker stated the formal FAA approval letter approving the fees for the consulting engineer was received yesterday afternoon. As a result, the Professional Services Agreement for the engineering consultant between Grant County and T-O Engineers will be arriving any day, so she requested approval and signature from the County Court once that document is received and reviewed.MSP: Myers/Palmer—to approve and sign Professional Services Agreement with T-O Engineers and the grant agreement with FAA for the Supplemental Decoupling Project upon receipt and review. Walker thanked the County Court members for their continued support of the Airport. Eva Harris spoke in favor of the project moving forward.

Chris Camarena entered 9:48

ROAD DEPARTMENT: Grant County Road Department Safety & Risk Manager Ryan Palmer proposed the purchase of a Brady BBP37 Label Printer for $3400. The purchase of this device will aid in the efforts to maximize compliance and safety. Brady will also provide free onsite training to the County. This will allow changes to the signage and maintain a seamless safety conscience work environment. MSP: Palmer/Myers—to approve the purchase of a new Label Printer.

CITY OF PRAIRIE CITY: Chris Camarena discussed with the Court some safety concerns at Depot Park and the 50amp Service Power Project. The City will be completing the Project with Red’s Electric who were awarded the bid. MSP: Palmer/Myers—to approve moving forward with the additional work needed. (Jim Hamsher recused himself from voting).

JUSTICE COURT: Request to approve cell phone stipend for Judge Kathy Stinnett. MSP: Myers/Palmer—to approve cell phone stipend.

ROAD DEPARTMENT: The court reviewed Snow Removal 2019-2020 Extension Option to the contract with Columbia Helicopters. Grant County Road 24 and Baker County Road 520 in the Granite area. MSP: Myers/Hamsher—to approve and sign the snow removal contract.

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: The court reviewed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contract for Law Enforcement Services. MSP: Myers/Hamsher—to approve and sign the contract.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT: The court reviewed Intergovernmental Agreement # 197747 between Grant County and Oregon State University (OSU) for technology use. MSP: Hamsher/Myers—to approve and sign the agreement.

PUBLIC COMMENT. None received.

10:17 Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Kim Puckett

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 Kim Puckett at 541-575-0059 or puckettk@grantcounty-or.gov **