County Court minutes 06-01-16

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF GRANT

Access the County Court Agenda and approved Minutes on the Commissioner’s page at www.gcoregonlive2.com

June 1, 2016

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 Chris B. Labhart and Boyd Britton, Administrative Assistant Laurie Wright, Jim Sproul, Beth Spell, Judy Schuette, Jim Sproul, Economic Development Coordinator Sally Bartlett, Mike Cosgrove, Logan Bagett, Pastor Wes Aasness. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States flag. The invocation was given by Pastor Aasness.

AGENDA. MSP: Myers/Britton — to accept the agenda as amended with the addition of discussing emergency replacement of a failed irrigation pump.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Judge Myers announced court will be adjourning at 9:15 am for the Grant County Extension & 4H Service District. Myers was involved last Thursday with interviews for part time corrections deputies and on Monday participated in an interview for a candidate that was unable to be interviewed on Thursday. Myers will be attending a meeting today at 4 pm at the Chamber of Commerce to discuss the potential influx of visitors for the solar eclipse next summer. Saturday, June 4th, is the open house for the new fire hall.

Commissioner Britton attended the Farm Bureau meeting last Thursday and said the main topic of discussion was a predator control agent in the county. Some Farm Bureau members will be coming to court next week to discuss this. Britton went to the Memorial Day service in Prairie City as well. Britton will travel to Baker City tomorrow to attend a budget meeting for the Training and Employment Consortium.

Commissioner Labhart reported he didn’t attend any meetings as a county representative this last week, but did attend a lot of meetings as an individual. He will be going to the Chamber meeting today at 4 pm and will also attend the open house at the fire hall this upcoming Saturday. Labhart also said John Morris had asked him about AOC’s position on the BLM proposal on public comment policies and Labhart said AOC is opposed to the BLM proposal. The AOC Public Lands and Natural Resource Committee drafted a letter to the BLM opposing the proposal as did the AOC.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Labhart — to approve the May 25th minutes as amended.

9:18 am – Dan Becker, Susan Church, Shanna Northway, Carol Waggoner, Mary Walker and Carol Smith entered.

9: 18 am – MSP: Britton/Myers – to temporarily adjourn county court and open the Grant County Extension & 4H Service District budget committee meeting.

9:20 am – MSP: Britton/Labhart – to return to regular court session. MSP: Britton/Myers — to make an emergency re-appointment of Mary Walker to the Extension & 4H budget committee with a term expiring December 31, 2019. Sally Bartlett said she was appointed to the budget committee in court last year, but the committee list does not reflect this. MSP: Britton/Myers – to make an emergency appointment of Sally Bartlett to the Extension & 4H budget committee again with a term expiring December 31, 2018. MSP: Labhart/Britton — to make an emergency re-appointment of Jeremy Field to the Extension & 4H budget committee with a term expiring December 31, 2017.

9:23 am – MSP: Britton/Myers — to temporarily adjourn county court and open the Grant County Extension & 4H Service District budget committee meeting.

9:45 am Steve Beverlin entered. 10:02 am Elaine Eisenbraun and Shelley Reich entered.

10:04 am – MSP: Myers/Britton — to return to regular session.

BUDGET HEARING. The budget hearing for fiscal year 2016/17 was entered into at 10:05 am. Treasurer Kathy Smith presented changes to the budget to the court. Smith explained the spreadsheet she presented to the court, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A. The changes included items such as changes in salaries due to new employees and employees changing positions along with the actual amount of the SRS money that arrived. Smith said she doesn’t anticipate any further changes. MSP: Myers/Britton – to approve the budget changes as presented. MSP: Myers/Britton — to close the budget hearing and adopt the 2016/17 budget on June 22, 2016.

IRRIGATION PUMP. Myers advised the audience the irrigation pump used to water the grounds around the courthouse broke down yesterday and needs to be replaced. Property Maintenance Specialist Nate Hughes had presented the court with quotes. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the acquisition of the irrigation pump as an emergency purchase from Amazon in the amount of $300 to be paid out of general fund capital outlay.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Elaine Eisenbraun told the court members she had spoken with Irene Jerome about possibly receiving some Title III money for their youth crew to perform clean-up around homes to help mitigate fire danger (Fire Wise). She asked for clarification on how Title III funding works. Myers explained the process to request funding from Title III. Myers suggested speaking with Economic Development Coordinator Sally Bartlett and Irene Jerome together to obtain more information. Bartlett handles the Title III funding.

Jim Sproul asked if the court had discussed sending flowers for Larry Blasing’s service and Myers advised they had on the day he passed away and will be pooling private funds to order flowers.

10:24 am – The court took a break before the work session.

10:45 am – Susan Garner and Ian Reid entered.

10:47 am – The court returned to regular session.

UMATILLA NATIONAL FOREST TITLE II PROPOSALS. The court reviewed the Umatilla National Forest Title II proposals for 2015/16 and 2016/17. $180,488 is available for 2015/16. $149,529 is available for 2016/17. Umatilla Forest Supervisor Ian Reid advised the court the Veteran’s Program has been fully funded for fiscal year 2015/16 and requested this be tabled for 15/16. The court recommended the following priority for proposals for 2015/16: (1) Grant County Noxious Weed Eradication Project – $31,800; (2) GR-UMA16 Trail Maintenance – $36,411; (3) Road Maintenance – $11,872; (4) GR-UMA16 Bull Prairie Campground YCC Project – $15,582; (5) GR-UMA16 Campground Maintenance Project – $42,930; (6) Umatilla Forest Collaborative Group – $24,910; and (7) Upper Wall/Veterans Crew – $16,983.

The court recommended the following priority for proposals for 2016/17: (1) GR-UMA17 Road Maintenance – $26,500; (2) Grant County Noxious Weed Eradication Project – $31,800; (3) GR-UMA17 Olive Lake Trail Maintenance – $42,400; (4) GR-UMA17 Camp Host Septic Tank Installation – $35,616; and (5) NFJDWC Monitoring Project – $13,213.

UMATILLA NATIONAL FOREST UPDATES. Ian Reid advised the court that the Forest Service is getting ready to sell the structures at the Dale Compound. If there are no bids received for the buildings the structures will be destroyed and the area restored. If someone does want to purchase a structure they will have 60 days to remove it from the property. The sewage lagoons will be filled in as well. The Granite Desolation Watershed restoration is moving forward and Reid authorized it a couple of weeks ago. There will be no road closures or decommissioned roads for system roads in this restoration. On April 29th, there was a lightening caused fire in the wilderness. Reid said he checked the upcoming weather, monitored the fire and chose not to staff it due to rugged terrain and risk to fire fighters. He continued to monitor the fire and it appears to be out at this time. A crew will be going in to the area to check for hot spots and get a GPS location. Reid estimated the fire to be approximately an acre in size.

Elaine Eisenbraun introduced Shelley Reich to the court. Reich is a new staff member of the North Fork John Day Watershed Council.

11:45 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

Administrative Assistant