To the Editor:

Public and private employers agree that the housing shortage in John Day is a major issue for workers and our community. Adding more homes to our sewer system is also needed to keep our rates down and reduce the costs of the new treatment plant. After all, every new home is a new utility customer.

Adding 100 new homes would add $72,000 yearly in new income at our current rates. It would also reduce each customer’s share of the cost of the $20 million new treatment plant.

Yet, Mayor Rookstool and her fellow councilors recently dropped out of R3, the agency created to fund this new housing. And they did it without even discussing their decision with Councilor Holland, the council president who Rookstool claims is a co-city manager with her. They also failed to notice it in their agenda and didn’t discuss that potential move with any local builders planning to use the program or with Public Works.

Instead, Mayor Rookstool turned her back on John Day by playing politics. She even mocked the process, calling the $10 million state funds signed into law by the governor “magic money.” She also waited until Holland was out of town to make her move.

Where’s the transparency she campaigned for? Mayor Rookstool and the council spent $7,170 in legal costs to join R3 and then dropped out within six months of joining.

Rookstool’s financial neglect has cost John Day residents dearly. We are out the money to join R3 and have now lost control over the distribution of the $10,000,000 funded by the Oregon Legislature.

These actions are totally against the best interest of the citizens of John Day. They set back our efforts to build infrastructure for workforce housing. It hurts our efforts to reduce our new treatment plant costs.

To make matters worse, city councilors said they could accomplish these projects through Business Oregon (loans). Now, isn’t that smart, trading money from grants for loans that would be a debt to the citizens of John Day?

Casey Myers

John Day