2A — THE OBSERVER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2019
LOCAL
School
district
moving
forward
BUFFALO PEAK GOLF COURSE
D AILY
P LANNER
TODAY
Today is Friday, Dec. 6,
the 340th day of 2019. There
are 25 days left in the year.
■ Enterprise moves
ahead with
upgrades outlined in
TAP facilities report
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Dec. 6, 2017, President
Donald Trump declared Je-
rusalem to be Israel’s capi-
tal, defying warnings from
the Palestinians and others
around the world that he
would be destroying hopes
for Middle East peace.
By Ellen Morris Bishop
EO Media Group
ON THIS DATE
In 1790, Congress moved
to Philadelphia from New
York.
In 1907, the worst mining
disaster in U.S. history oc-
curred as 362 men and boys
died in a coal mine explo-
sion in Monongah, West
Virginia.
In 1923, a presidential
address was broadcast on
radio for the fi rst time as
President Coolidge spoke to
a joint session of Congress.
In 1957, America’s fi rst
attempt at putting a satellite
into orbit failed as Vanguard
TV3 rose about four feet off
a Cape Canaveral launch
pad before crashing down
and exploding.
In 1973, House minority
leader Gerald R. Ford was
sworn in as vice president,
succeeding Spiro T. Agnew.
In 1998, in Venezuela, for-
mer Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez,
who had staged a bloody
coup attempt against the
government six years ear-
lier, was elected president.
In 2007, President George
W. Bush announced a plan
to freeze interest rates on
subprime mortgages held
by hundreds of thousands
of homeowners.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $7 million
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Mega Millions: $285 million
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Powerball: $130 million
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Win for Life: Dec. 4
15-22-48-56
Pick 4: Dec. 5
• 1 p.m.: 9-1-0-9
• 4 p.m.: 0-6-3-3
• 7 p.m.: 5-9-9-5
• 10 p.m.: 3-0-7-5
Pick 4: Dec. 4
• 1 p.m.: 6-1-5-3
• 4 p.m.: 2-5-9-3
• 7 p.m.: 7-7-7-5
• 10 p.m.: 2-5-8-9
Buffalo Peak Golf Course photo
The Union County Board of Commissioners approved a restructuring plan Wednesday for Buffalo Peak Golf
Course that will reduce the golf course’s number of full-time positions by one, trimming the annual operating
budget by at least $50,000.
Budget cuts at golf course
■ County commissioners approve plan to trim personnel budget by at least $50,000
By Dick Mason
The Observer
UNION — The stage is set for Buf-
falo Peak Golf Course to begin operat-
ing more effi ciently and with a leaner
budget.
The Union County Board of Commis-
sioners approved a restructuring plan
Wednesday that will reduce its number
of full-time positions by one, trimming
the Union golf course’s annual operat-
ing budget by at least $50,000.
The plan, according to Commis-
sioner Donna Beverage, is designed
not only to reduce expenses but also
increase revenue by calling for a
greater focus on marketing. Buffalo
Peak has lost money every year since
Union County bought it from the city
of Union about 20 years ago.
“We need to save money out there. I
don’t want Buffalo Peak to go down,”
said Union County Commissioner
Matt Scarfo at Wednesday’s board of
commissioners meeting in La Grande.
The restructuring plan will reduce
the number of full-time, benefi ted
positions Buffalo Peak has from three
to two. Those positions are a head golf
professional, a maintenance/mechanic
and a grounds superintendent. The
grounds superintendent position has
been open since July following the
retirement of Burr Betts, who served
in the position for about eight years.
The mechanic/equipment manager
was then temporarily appointed to
assume some of the responsibilities the
grounds superintendent had while a
further review of staff structure was
done by the county commissioners.
The new plan calls for the golf course
to have a general manager and an
equipment manager/grounds super-
intendent. The general manager will
manage Buffalo Peak’s pro shop and
its course, Beverage said.
The full-time employees now at the
golf course will be required to resign
but will have the opportunity to apply
for the two new full-time positions Buf-
falo Peak will have under the restruc-
turing plan.
“Drastic times demand drastic mea-
sures,” Commissioner Paul Anderes
said. “It is a good plan, a step in the
right direction.”
The three full-time positions Buf-
falo Peak now has, when fi lled, cost
$203,336 a year in salary and ben-
efi ts. The course’s full-time employee
expenses will fall to about $150,000 a
year under the restructuring plan, sav-
ing it at least $50,000.
“(The projected savings) is a conser-
vative estimate,” said Shelley Burgess,
County officials
seek revenue
sources for parks
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Americans have always
been able to handle auster-
ity and even adversity.
Prosperity is what is doing
us in.”
— James Reston,
American journalist
Bob’s
By Samantha O’Conner
and Jayson Jacoby
EO Media Group
BAKER CITY — Declin-
ing revenue from the two
Baker County parks on
Brownlee Reservoir due in
part to low water levels and
blooms of toxic algae has
county offi cials looking for
other ways to raise money
to run the parks, some with
short-term potential and
others that would be more
sustainable sources in the
long run.
Offi cials also have dis-
cussed the possibility of ask-
ing Idaho Power Company
to take over operation of
Hewitt and Holcomb parks
on the Powder River arm of
the reservoir about 3 miles
east of Richland.
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The county collected a
yearly average of about
$57,680 from the two parks
during the 2016-17 and
2017-18 fi scal years through
a combination of camping
fees, season passes and sales
of ice, fi rewood and water.
The yearly average for the
previous two fi scal years,
2014-15 and 2015-16, was
about $70,900.
During the 2008-09 and
2009-10 fi scal years, revenue
from the parks averaged
about $85,000 annually.
The biggest factors in the
recent decline in revenue
are low water levels in
Brownlee, which at times
has made it diffi cult to
launch boats, and advisories
regarding blue-green algae,
Spencer said.
Both issues discourage
people from using the parks,
which means less revenue
for the county, she said.
Ed Elms, chairman of
the county’s parks advisory
board, said those bad years
have lasting effects.
“It’s hard to get those
people to return,” he said,
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“It’s not a sustainable
operation,” said Karen
Spencer, the county parks
coordinator.
“We try desperately to
take care of the needs of the
people who come in and use
the parks, but with fewer
and fewer people coming
out all the time, the revenue
that is normally generated
is greatly reduced,” said
Bill Harvey, chairman of
the Baker County Board
of Commissioners. “So it’s
a struggle to keep a parks
director and two part-time
people out there working
when they don’t have any-
where near the revenues we
used to. So it’s a struggle to
fi nd some mechanism that
will work to keep the park
open.”
the administrative offi cer for Union
County.
Union County soon will advertise for
the general manager and equipment
manager/grounds superintendent
positions. Beverage said she hopes the
county will have the new positions
fi lled and the restructuring plan oper-
ating by mid-January.
Buffalo Peak will continue to have
seasonal employees under its new
plan. Clubhouse attendants, grounds
maintenance workers and an irrigation
specialist will be paid hourly wages.
“Everything will stay about the
same (with regard to seasonal work-
ers),” Beverage said.
The commissioner describes Buffalo
Peak as an important Union County
amenity in the same way a public li-
brary or pool are. She said this became
apparent to her about three years ago
when a local meeting about Buffalo
Peak was attended by about 70 people.
Many at the meeting said Buffalo Peak
is a big reason they live in this area,
Beverage said.
The commissioner is confi dent this
amenity is now on more solid ground
because of the restructuring plan.
“I feel good about it. It is a small step
forward but an important step,” Bever-
age said.
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talking about boaters who
can’t launch a boat due to
low water.
Despite these cyclical
challenges, the parks de-
partment has largely been
self-sustaining in the past,
Spencer said.
But that was due in part
to occasional revenue from
the sale of timber cut from
parcels the county owns,
and from the sale of some of
those parcels.
Between 2004 and
2012, logging added about
$85,000 to the parks depart-
ment’s budget.
But the county hasn’t re-
ceived any logging revenue
since the 2011-12 fi scal year,
according to county records.
ENTERPRISE — Come
Monday, there will be a lot
of work going on around
the Enterprise Elementary
School.
Last year, the Enterprise
School District began evalu-
ations of its facilities, funded
by a Technical Assistance
Program Grant. The team of
evaluators, led by the Wena-
ha Group of Pendleton, found
a few issues that couldn’t
wait for the more comprehen-
sive facilities improvement
plan now in the works to be
completed.
Those fi xes included mak-
ing temporary repairs to
the junior high school roof,
repairing a cracked beam in
the small gym, and improv-
ing drainage behind the
elementary school and on
the elementary school’s large
grassy playground.
The Enterprise School
Board gave the go-ahead for
these fi rst repairs, and will
begin work Monday on the
last phase of them — im-
proving drainage behind the
elementary school and on the
west end of the playground.
“Without the TAP evalu-
ation, we might not have
known about the beam,”
said Enterprise School Dis-
trict Superintendent Erika
Pinkerton. “And fi xing the
drainage issue might not
have gotten the attention it
deserves.”
Replacing the cracked
beam in the little gym was
a top priority. The work was
completed in late September,
for a cost of $25,000. The
funds came from the school
district’s capital project
funds, Pinkerton said.
The junior high school roof
was also patched. Recom-
mended work included
resealing roof-to-wall transi-
tions at the perimeter and
the parapets.
Work to divert storm water
from the elementary school
building and control runoff
on the west end of the play-
ground will begin Dec. 13.
Contracted to Steve Lindley
of Union, the project will
create a swale between Fifth
Street and the elementary
school that will capture and
prevent water from running
down the steep slope just
east of the school and into
the building. Work also will
include moving an older shed
to a more suitable and drier
site. The $23,780 cost of the
project will also come from
the school district’s capital
projects fund, and should be
completed in about a week,
Pinkerton said.
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Sat., December 14, 2019
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