JOHN DAY — The Grant County Digital Network Coalition has lost its second board chair in just over four months.

Dan Becker, who was the Grant County Court’s appointee to the Grant County Digital board, submitted his resignation in writing to the court on Friday, March 22.

The move came a day after the resignation of another board member, Denise Porter. Their departure leaves the board with just three members.

Formed in 2018, Grant County Digital is a partnership between Grant County and the cities of John Day and Seneca whose mission is to bring fiber optic cable for high-speed internet access to residents of Grant County.

Becker took over as acting board chair after the resignation of former Chair Josh Walker following the board’s Nov. 7 meeting, which also marked the first step toward dissolving the organization.

At that meeting, the board concluded that, since it had exhausted its funding and largely completed its scope of work, it was time to disband. Board members voted unanimously to recommend to the city of John Day that it begin implementing a 90-day shutdown plan.

On his way out, Walker criticized the city for what he called a lack of communication, citing a city council discussion of Grant County Digital expenses to which the board was not invited.

Becker, who was appointed in 2018 as the Grant County Court’s representative on the board, expressed similar frustrations in his resignation letter.

While he thanked the court for allowing him to serve on the board and cited Grant County Digital’s accomplishments in using grant funds to bring high-speed internet access to county schools and public agencies, he also complained that he has not received any direction from the court since the board’s Nov. 7 meeting despite repeated requests on his part.

In addition, Becker pointed to the court’s March 20 decision to appoint County Judge Scott Myers as an alternate representative to the Grant County Digital board without informing him of the decision. The appointment was made at the request of John Day City Councilor Eric Bush, the city’s representative on the board.

“This leads me to feel,” Becker wrote in his letter, “that I no longer have the confidence of the court.”

Becker concluded his letter with a warning about what he sees as questionable actions affecting the board.

“Recent activities that in my opinion do not seem to be in the public interest are afoot,” he said. “This requires me to no longer be involved as these machinations are affecting my health in a negative manner.”

In an interview, Becker said his concerns center around a meeting of the Grant County Digital board called for Tuesday, March 26, by John Day city attorney Jeremy Green — something Becker insists Green does not have the authority to do.

According to Becker, the board meets on the third Tuesday of every month if Grant County Digital has pressing business. Special meeting requests need to be brought to the board chair by two members of the board before being called and scheduled.

John Day City Manager Melissa Bethel said the meeting is a necessary step toward implementing some type of dissolution plan for Grant County Digital.

Bush said that he couldn’t provide any additional information about how the resignations of Becker and Porter would affect the board’s ability to have a quorum and make decisions, but added that the meeting was going to move ahead as scheduled.

Only two items appear on the agenda for Grant County Digital’s Tuesday, March 26, meeting: open and roll call, and agency dissolution.

The meeting was canceled after this article went live online. Bethel said the meeting will be scheduled at a later date.