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

January 13, 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, Secretary Laurie Wright, Jim Sproul, Emergency Management Coordinator Ted Williams, Road Master Allan Hickerson, Road Foreman Terry Brandsma, Dennis Flippence, Judy Kerr, Doug Ferguson and Pastor David Hoeffner. A Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States flag. The invocation was given by Pastor Hoeffner.

9:03 am King Williams entered

AGENDA. MSP Myers/Britton — to accept the agenda with the addition of announcing the hiring of a full time Emergency Management Coordinator.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Judge Myers announced a department head meeting was held last Thursday and it was well attended. He said they discussed many topics such as courthouse building needs and training needs. Myers said he attended an airport commission meeting last Monday and will conduct a wedding on Friday the 15th. Myers advised the audience that on Friday the 15th through Monday the 18th the courthouse building will be completely closed to everyone for asbestos removal and no one will be allowed in the building. He added that he will be going to Prineville next Tuesday for Board of Property Tax Appeals (BOPTA) training.

Commissioner Labhart said he drove veterans to Boise last Thursday and he really enjoyed that. He attended a legislative committee meeting in Salem on Monday. Labhart added he will be attending the Prairie City Council meeting today and has a health evidence review commission meeting in Wilsonville on Thursday.

Commissioner Britton stated he listened to some of the Oregon Association of Counties on Public Lands Committee meeting yesterday. He added he has continued to talk with Doug Ferguson frequently about the Canyon Creek Rehab project and said we are lucky to have Ferguson and his crew working on this. Britton said he talked to Travis Medema at ODF regarding the Zone 1 fire protection plans from Mr. Mullin and Mr. Webb. He will be attending a SEAC meeting two weeks from now discussing STIP and Governor’s Transportation Vision Panel projects. Britton told the audience he continues to call Judge Grasty in Burns to offer his support.

9:08 am Ron Phillips entered

Myers added he has been working with DEQ to set up a date and location for a hazardous materials collection day. This will likely be at the fairgrounds or road department on April 2nd. He said he has been working with Scott Fairley and Kathleen Cathy from Senator Wyden’s office to get FEMA here to discuss flood mapping, flood zoning and flood insurance. This should occur the week of February 8th or February 15th, as soon as he knows for sure he will announce the dates.

Labhart said the legislative committee will not be taking up the transportation issue or PERS issue until the next general session and added there will be a change in minimum wage, but the legislature has not made up their mind yet on what that will be.

CANYON CREEK CHANNEL REHAB PROJECT. Doug Ferguson (Ferguson Surveying & Engineering) reported on the progress of the rehabilitation project. Ferguson told the court and those in attendance that last Friday he was involved in a conference call with the Army Corp of Engineers and they are all on the same page and the Corp has been doing some modeling of their own. He said the Corp would like to see a higher dyke built, but they understand this is not possible at this time. Ferguson said FEMA is holding up the placement of the gauging stations at Vance Creek and Canyon Creek. He feels that this is a paradox considering FEMA is an emergency management agency. Ferguson stated it is absolutely crucial to get these gauging stations in and we are sitting on a powder keg. Ferguson said Watermaster Eric Julsrud told him he could have the gauges placed very quickly as soon as he has approval. Ferguson reiterated it may cost up to $12,000 if it has to be paid for, but it must be done. Ted Williams said this is a FEMA project and was shut down by FEMA until funding is actually approved by FEMA. Williams told the court that he would like to see this project go forward and if they haven’t heard anything by this Friday his recommendation is to go ahead and install the gauges. Britton said he would like to see this project go forward and worry about the money later. Myers stated they will need to speak with Water Resources and make sure they authorize Julsrud to install the gauges. Labhart urged Ferguson to contact Kathleen from Senator Wyden’s office and request they contact FEMA and he thinks this will really help move things along. Labhart added that Congressman Walden is also aware of the issues and should be contacted. Ferguson said they are having another telephone conference on Friday and he is hoping something will happen. Britton wants to meet with Ted Williams and Ferguson to contact different agencies and see if things can be stirred up. Myers stated this is clearly an emergency situation and emergency funding could be used. Ferguson said tomorrow he, Williams, Mitch Ferguson, Allan Hickerson and anyone else who is interested will be meeting to view what is going on with the project. Hickerson wanted to know if a contractor did damage to a landowner’s property, who would be responsible? Myers and Ferguson both stated it would be the contractor who is responsible and that is why they have performance bonds.

9:29 am Shaun Robertson entered

Dennis Flippence wanted to know if he could get some assistance to remove a foot bridge that is on his property prior to any flooding. Flippence said he doesn’t have the ability to remove it by himself; he doesn’t have the equipment to do this. Ferguson said possibly the county or city could be of assistance. Flippence added that he knows his bridge could be an issue. Flippence said his bridge wasn’t a problem during the last flood, but it could be a potential problem if another flood occurs with a lot of debris. Ferguson agrees with Flippence that this bridge could be a problem. Allan Hickerson stated he would like to go and look at the bridge to see what kind of project it would be.

Ted Williams said they have roughly 3000 sandbags done and on Saturday he has volunteers ready to fill sandbags as long as the weather cooperates. Williams knows of 5 or 6 people who he feels will show up to help. Britton suggested contacting the high school to see if any of the kids would like to volunteer to fill sandbags. Ferguson said they are starting to get ahead of the game with the bags they are getting filled. Williams is still trying to locate pallets, but he has enough for Saturday. Allan Hickerson said they have all the eco-blocks and sandbags, but he hasn’t ordered jersey barriers yet.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR POSITION. One in house applicant was received for the emergency management coordinator position and this was Ted Williams. MSP: Myers/Britton — to hire applicant Ted Williams full time through June of 2016 as the Emergency Management Coordinator retroactive to the beginning of the January 2016 pay period.

U.S. BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES LETTER. Commissioner Britton presented a proposed letter he would like sent to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Britton said he composed the letter and has supporting documentation to send to Jennifer Runyon requesting she accept the county’s proposal for name changes. He would like the entire court to sign the letter and it will be sent to all the members of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. MSP: Myers/Labhart – to circulate the letter for signing and to forward it on the Jennifer Runyon at USBGN.

9:44 am Billie Jo George entered 9:48 am Joe Clark entered

PROPERTY MAINTENANCE JOB DESCRIPTION. Commissioner Britton presented proposed revisions to the Property Maintenance Job description. Britton said he took the lead on this and he has a few additional changes he would like to add and explained the changes.

9:51 am Zach Williams and Russ Young entered

Britton would like this proposed job description to be approved and sent to LPGI for classification review. He added that he did personalize this job description based on the employee who is currently in the position and added supervision of the custodian position.

9:53 am Kathy Stinnett entered

Britton stated he would like to be able to keep this employee working for the county and this employee is doing more in this position than has ever been done before. Labhart wanted to know if Judge Myers had difficulty supervising the custodian. Myers said he did not. Britton said he feels like this would be more appropriate for the property maintenance specialist to do and the Judge has enough to do each day. Treasurer Kathy Smith said her understanding of the proposed job description is that the supervisory portion is only for daily activities of the custodian and not hiring and firing or discipline. Smith further stated her understanding is this job description was written in an attempt to increase the employees wage, but wondered what would happen if it comes back in the same classification. She said the employee would then have more responsibilities for the same amount of money. Britton stated we would go back to the old description if it didn’t move up on the scale. Smith added writing a job description specific to one person is a problem and she believes will cause a snowball effect with other departments as they attempt to write descriptions specific to employees to try to get them more money. MS: Britton/Myers – to send the proposed job description to LPGI for review and placement. Motion failed, Britton voted yes, Myers stated he feels they could lose integrity with other employees by creating a job description specific to one person and this could also create a snowball effect within other departments and voted no, and Labhart said he agreed with Myers and voted no.

10:00 am Dave Traylor entered; 10:04 am Steve Beverlin, Ryan Nehl, Dan Bishop, Mark Webb, Mike Billman, and Cheryl Hoefler entered

CANYON CREEK COMPLEX FIRE SALVAGE PROJECT COORDINATION. Judy Kerr requested the court listen to her presentation without a lot of input from the audience if possible. Kerr stated she would try to be respectful, but couldn’t guarantee she would be politically correct. Kerr said the first thing she wanted to discuss is the coordination of the Canyon Creek Complex Fire Salvage Project. She asked the court if Steve Beverlin, USFS Forest Supervisor, or someone else ever approached them to coordinate on this scoping project. Commissioner Britton stated he was not approached, but in his opinion it wasn’t necessary as the USFS has already been working on this. Commissioner Labhart told Kerr that he was just invited by e-mail to comment. Judge Myers said he was not contacted. Kerr asked why everyone was intellectually challenged on the English usage of collaboration, coordination, or cooperation. She said it is made very clear in the Forest Service’s own documents what coordination is, it is not collaboration or cooperation. Kerr stated for the intellectually challenged it is an agency to agency coming together to develop a plan; it is not the Forest Service saying here is your plan. She finds it offensive that the Forest Service isn’t coordinating with the court or sheriff. Kerr commented that one item absolutely frustrated her, page one, table one, states how much land the forest service owns and she is angry because this is not true, the forest service does not own the land, that is public ground and if they cannot get their crap together and make supportable public statement they should not be working on that. Kerr said the county has the responsibility of determining what the land is used for and this determination has been taken away from the county and given to a bunch of damn woodpeckers. She said there is so much left out of the plan and it contains nothing you can sink your teeth into. Kerr questioned what steps the county court intended to take to insist that the USFS coordinate with the court and if the court understands the true definition of coordination. She said the court should have had a say in this and did not. Britton said that is not true, when the fire happened he approached the Forest Service about needing significant salvage and the Forest Service is currently doing road side salvage, they are treating almost half of the available harvest area. He stated the Forest Service can only do so much because of the current situation with the environmental community and the Forest Service did what he and the court asked them to. Britton added in his opinion this is coordination and cooperation. He feels the salvage that is happening is way ahead of where it could be. Kerr asked if the court got together with the USFS to coordinate then where are the minutes of that meeting, where the hell is it? She said the court isn’t mentioned in the plan at all. Kerr is sick of the Forest Service maneuvering, manipulating the rules, the laws, and the ordinances to get their way. She feels we are living under the thumb of the Federal Government and they have taken our rights away from us. Kerr said she thinks she is done with that crap. She told the court they alone do not speak for the people of this county if they have not coordinated with them as well. Kerr stated she doesn’t remember being asked about this plan and now she is being asked after the dog’s been hung and that’s not coordination, that’s dictatorial bullshit. Labhart asked Kerr what she thought scoping meant. Kerr responded it is asking for input, but is a finished product and she thinks coordination should have happened prior to this scoping project. Kerr again said the Forest Service does not own public land, this pisses her off and she is sorry for losing her temper.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF COUNTY CITIZENS. Judy Kerr said a lot of decisions made are set by precedence, which in her opinion is laziness, slovenliness and stupidity of people who go by precedence set by some judge. Kerr read a quote by Justice Hugo L. Black that states the public welfare demands that constitutional cases be decided according to terms of the Constitution itself, not according to judges’ views of fairness, reasonableness or justice. Kerr stated in the past there have been many people cited for violation of road closures, and other violations, and are now sent to federal court out of the county. Kerr cited the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution and said it states if something is not addressed in the constitution it falls under the Oregon Constitution. She said the Oregon Constitution states the citizens of a county have the right to be tried in the county they are cited in. Kerr said the court members all took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and Oregon Constitution and she feels it is time they followed their oath to protect the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Kerr told the court they need to understand that domestic enemies are here and are taking our constitutional rights away from citizens. She wants to know what the hell the court is going to do about this. Myers told Kerr he requested an opinion from legal counsel on this matter. Kerr would like to see what this opinion is. Myers said he would let her know. Kerr said a friend of hers submitted a freedom of information act requesting copies of the citations, but has received no response. Kerr believes a lot of people have not read the Constitution and she hopes the county attorney is not one of these people. Kerr stated that what is happening in Burns is just the beginning and like locusts, it will spread, and the court needs to be prepared to defend the US Constitution.

FARM SERVICE AGENCY. The court reviewed a proposed letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in support of a request to re-open the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in Grant County. Myers said three or four years ago the local FSA office closed in Grant County and this doesn’t work well for people involved in agriculture. Myers read the letter to the USDA to the audience. MSP: Myers/Britton – to circulate the letter for signing and mailing to the USDA.

10:30 am Hilary McNary and Shannon Springer entered

PUBLIC COMMENT. Shaun Robertson requested a chance to respond to a couple of points Judy Kerr presented earlier. Robertson said in his experience people believe when an agency puts out a proposal they think it is already decided and when the agency accepts testimony it doesn’t mean anything. He said agency processes are designed to get agencies what they want and it can be extremely frustrating to participate in the process. Robertson stated he has a number of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests appeals into the federal government and it is challenging and frustrating and sometimes it feels like the government is intentionally stalling. He added that this process needs to be fixed and information should be provided in a timely matter. Robertson asked Judy Kerr what she believes coordination is. Kerr gave Robertson a copy of paperwork she prepared regarding this issue.

PLANNING DEPARTMENT JOB DESCRIPTIONS. Planning Director Hilary McNary presented proposed changes to the Planning Department Director job description and a proposed job description for a Planning Assistant. McNary said she is presenting changes that were discussed at her performance review last year, but it was not presented to the court for approval. The changes are mainly to add the flood plain administrator responsibility to the job description. McNary does not think the classification will change for the Planning Department Director job description. McNary stated she changed the job description for Planning Secretary Shannon Springer’s job to better reflect what Springer does and created the Planning Assistant job description. McNary isn’t sure if this position will end up being re-classified. MSP: Myers/Britton – to accept both job descriptions and submit the Planning Assistant description to LPGI for review and to allow McNary to make additions to the description after reviewing the 1993 description, if necessary.

ORDER ANNEXING McDONALD PROPERTY INTO MT. VERNON RURAL FIRE DISTRICT. The court previously signed the petition approving the annexation of Scott McDonald’s property into the Mt. Vernon Rural Fire District and an Order need to be prepared to annex the property. MSP: Myers/Britton – to circulate the Order for signing to complete the annexation of the McDonald property into the Mt. Vernon Rural Fire District.

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE PRO-TEMS. Kathy Stinnett, Justice of the Peace, submitted her request for the appointment of pro-tems for 2016. Stinnett said she did some research about repayment for mileage and if pro-tems should be compensated. She added that she only called a pro-tem in once last year. Stinnett advised the court of why she chose the pro-tems she did. MSP: Labhart/Myers – to approve pro-tem Riccola Voigt, pro-tem Hon. Robin Ordway, and pro-tem Hon. Don Williams for 2016.

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE REVISED JOB DESCRIPTION. The court previously approved the revised job description for the Justice of the Peace and it was sent to LPGI for review. LPGI returned its review of the job description and it remained at the current scale and rate of pay. MSP: Labhart/Myers — to accept the revised Justice of the Peace job description and rating of LPGI of Grade 10.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Zach Williams asked Judy Kerr if she is encouraging militia to come to Grant County like they did in Burns. Kerr said she is not encouraging anyone to do anything; she was just making a statement. Myers said he has it on good authority from Judge Grasty that the militia is on its way here and Zach Williams added they were here yesterday.

PUBLIC HEARING – PROPOSED FLOOD ORDINANCE. MSP: Labhart/Myers – to re-open the public hearing previous continued from December 16, 2015. Planning Director Hilary McNary said she contacted the State about a possible sunset clause for the ordinance. The State e-mailed McNary and said basically all this would do is delay the inevitable. McNary said the planning commission recommended the county adopt the flood ordinance and she believes the planning commission thinks the county has no other viable option other than to adopt the ordinance. McNary added as the Flood Plain Administrator she would recommend signing this ordinance so people are able to get mortgages and flood insurance. McNary advised that she would like to have better maps and information for the flood plains, but she doesn’t see new maps coming any time soon. Ron Phillips commented someone told him yesterday that their flood insurance is going to cost them $600 per month.

11:09 am Gary Gregg entered

Shannon Springer said her understanding is that because of all the major natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, FEMA is upside down financially and are being required to generate revenue. McNary told the court when she went to the NORFMA conference a few years ago discussions were held to eliminate FNIP and to follow market rates, but this would cost much more without the government subsidy. She believes this idea has been backed off of. McNary thinks rates are being increased to try to recover losses. She feels this is a broken system, but it is what’s available and she wants to protect the citizens here. Gary Gregg stated he is against the ordinance if it raises his taxes or insurance. Myers said he doesn’t believe passing the ordinance will raise taxes. McNary went on to explain how the maps were originally compiled, but they are outdated. Gregg said he doesn’t believe he should be in the flood plain, he said it would take 8 feet of water to fill his 80 acres of pasture prior to it ever reaching his yard. McNary advised Gregg that there is a process with FEMA called The Letter of Map Amendment in where a landowner can be possibly removed from the flood plain. He could contact a surveyor to survey his property for elevations and explained the process to him. Springer told Gregg that if he isn’t planning on doing any developing the ordinance won’t affect him. Labhart said he received a call from Kathleen Cathey in Senator Wyden’s office and there is apparently private insurance available at much less cost than through NFIP. McNary said this is news to her. McNary said her understanding is that if the county doesn’t implement this ordinance it will not qualify for FEMA financial assistance. MSP: Labhart/Myers – to close the hearing and deliberate towards a decision on the ordinance.

Labhart requested Judge Myers read the ordinance by title only. Myers read the ordinance by title to those in attendance. Commissioner Britton would like to add a five year sunset clause to the ordinance based upon the new information coming in about insurance costs. McNary commented that this ordinance could always be repealed or amended at any time. McNary would like the court to task the planning staff with reviewing this in five years and she is concerned if the sunset clause expired the county would not be NFIP compliant. Britton said McNary had a good point and he would prefer the review time be three years if the planning department is going to monitor this. Labhart agrees that three years is a good review time. Britton is concerned with government over reach and Gregg said he is as well. Springer told the court there is a current county ordinance in place already that has substantially similar restrictions, but is not FEMA compliant.

MSP: Labhart/Myers — to adopt Flood Ordinance 2016-01 as presented and circulate for signing.

PUBLIC COMMENT. Ron Phillips said he believes that all people who take an oath of office over the Bible to uphold the constitution should not forget this once they remove their hand from the Bible.

MINUTES. MSP: Myers/Britton — to approve the January 6th minutes as presented.

11:30 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Laurie Wright

County Court Secretary