Grant County Court special meeting minutes from June 17, 2020:

Pursuant to notice made to the radio station, county website, and e-mail distribution list, a special 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, Treasurer Julie Ellison, Road Master Alan Hickerson, Billie Jo George, Frances Preston, Reporter Steven Mitchell. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States Flag.

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

MINUTES. MSP: Hamsher/Palmer–to approve the June 10th minutes as presented.

ROAD DEPARTMENT. Alan Hickerson, Road Master met with Chris Camarena, Public Works Director of Prairie City a few months ago asking to go on a joint venture to purchase radar road signs. Hickerson said he was given a quote that was a great price so he gave them the go ahead to split the cost with The City of Prairie City. The signs will be placed at the start of Dixie Creek and the start of Strawberry Creek. MSP: Hamsher/Palmer–to approve the Road Department to split the cost with City of Prairie City and purchase the radar road signs in the amount of $2819.

TREASURER. The court reviewed and approved resolutions # 20-16 & # 20-17 MSP: Myers/Hamsher–to approve and sign resolution #20-16 to transfer from personnel services $1,000 to materials & services $1,000 in the Courthouse & Co Buildings fund.MSP: Myers/Palmer–to approve and sign resolution #20-17 to transfer from contingency to general fund relief help $15,660 for COVID-19 tracking.

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (EOC). The court discussed resolution#20-17 to transfer funds to cover emergency expenses for COVID-19. There was much discussion and some confusion in regards to the EOC and the budget. After some clarification it was deemed that all expenditures at the EOC were accounted for and reimbursement was certified by Judge Myers to the State of Oregon. Commissioner Palmer stated that as long as there is an emergency declared he feels we should keep the EOC in operation, and all court members where in agreeance. Judge Myers did recommend downsizing the EOC and moving it to a different location, discussions followed and a decision hasn’t been made yet. Commissioner Hamsher was going to send a guidance on the EOC requirements to the fellow court members.

TREASURER. Julie Ellison, Treasurer, stated for the record that she has a fund that is always in the red because money for contracts cannot be requested until they do the patrol it takes a long time to get the money and it makes it very frustrating, because it puts the fund in the red at the end of the year. She made it clear to several people that there is no money to have an employee in the Sheriff Forest Patrol & if they have one it will again be negative and there will be no more court dates to fix this. Ellison said by statute she can’t have a fund in the red at the end of the year. She has found funds to cover for this year as long as there are no further expenditures in Sheriff Forest Patrol.

Haley Walker entered 9:16 am, King Williams entered 9:40 am, Rob Raschio entered 9:54 am

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (EOC) CYBERSECURITY POLICY. The court reviewed the Cybersecurity Policy. MSP: Hamsher/Palmer–to approve the Cybersecurity Policy following review and approval from legal counsel Dominic Carollo.

CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND. The court reviewed Grant No. 1012 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The CARES Act provides funds to state, local and tribal governments through the Coronavirus Relief Fund to be used for expenditures incurred due to COVID-19 during the period of March 1, 2020 through December 30, 2020. This Grant governs the disbursement of funds from the Coronavirus Relief Fund to Grantee for the First Cost Period in the amount of $335,199.10. MSP: Palmer/Myers–to appoint Commissioner Jim Hamsher as Grant Manager.

PUBLIC COMMENT. The court accepted public comment.

10:21 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 **