LOCAL
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020
BUDGET
Continued from Page 1A
sensed top education
leaders will push for full
funding of public schools.
He said this could
be achieved by drawing
money from several state
reserve funds and money
generated by the new Cor-
porate Activities Tax,
which voters approved
in 2019. The CAT tax is
expected to raise between
$1 billion and $2 billion a
biennium, all of which is to
be spent on boosting stu-
dent success.
Mendoza said if the state
provides full funding in
2020-21, it will put the La
Grande School District in a
much better position to deal
with state funding shortfalls
expected for 2021-22 and
2022-23 due to fallout from
the pandemic.
The superintendent
said his school district is
building a strong reserve
fund that could help it sur-
vive cuts in state funding
without making program or
staff reductions.
The school district got
a good start at boosting its
reserve fund this spring
when the state closed
SHERIFF
PHASE 2
Continued from Page 1A
Continued from Page 1A
beat Rasmussen, noted he
didn’t anticipate a drastic
change from the unoffi cial
total.
“Once the night
was over, it was what I
expected,” he said.
Bowen won 13 of the
county’s 19 precincts and
carried a large advantage
in the three precincts in the
La Grande city limits, one
in Island City’s city limits
and two of the surrounding
precincts. Those votes
accounted for more than
89% of the deputy’s overall
margin of 1,624 votes.
Rasmussen carried
three precincts, including
Imbler’s 10th. Miller won
Elgin’s 8th and a northern
county precinct.
Rasmussen and Bowen
tied in one precinct in the
Summerville city limits.
Rasmussen, who has
served as sheriff since win-
ning in 2004, said his cam-
paign moving forward will
have the same approach
of “staying focused on the
positive changes we have
made in the Sheriff’s Offi ce
and what we are doing to
better serve the citizens of
Union County.”
Neither candidate said
they plan to make changes
to their campaign in the
lead-up to the general elec-
tion. Bowen did say he
will take a pause before
resuming campaigning later
in the summer.
“We pushed the ‘vote for
me’ pretty hard,” he said.
“To be honest, I want to
give people a break, hit it
hard again in August, Sep-
tember, October.”
Despite Bowen’s large
cushion in the primary elec-
tion, there are now more
than 3,000 ballots cast for
neither of the top two candi-
dates they both can vie for.
“I believe if voters look
at the experience, the quali-
fi cations, the education, the
quality service that has been
provided for years to Union
County, people will realize
who is best prepared to
serve as Sheriff and lead the
agency,” Rasmussen said.
Bowen said the votes
show the county is looking
for a change, and he
doesn’t see those who
voted for Miller or Rol-
lins now casting a ballot for
Rasmussen.
6 feet between parties.
Venues are to use 35
square feet per person as
the metric. In theory, then,
a 3,500 square-foot venue
would have a capacity of
100 people. A location
would need to have a foot-
print of 8,750 square feet or
more to hold the maximum
250 occupants.
The guidelines allow
no more than 10 people
per party at any location,
but those in the party don’t
need to maintain social
distance.
Among the churches
that will reopen is the La
Grande Church of the Naz-
arene, which will hold a
FIRE
Continued from Page 1A
she said.
Recommendations
include clearing brush and
raking pine needles —
material that carries fi re
easily, putting homes and
lives at risk. The Forest
Service also recommends
to have a “ready, set,
go” evacuation plan and
become “smoke ready”
with simple, low cost
“do-it-yourself” fi lters. The
agency also asks the public
to be extra vigilant with
any ignition source, from
debris burning to dragging
chains and running power
equipment like chain saws.
One effect of the state’s
stay-at-home order this
spring has been an uptick
in human-caused fi res,
Hessel said. One estimate is
that there have been twice
as many runaway brush
fi res on private land than
is typical this time of year,
so he warned landowners
to be aware of the weather
forecast. Often burning in
the morning can alleviate
the risk of fi res spreading
schools, requiring La
Grande to go into a dis-
tance education-only mode.
Money the district saved
on expenses included funds
for substitute teachers and
supplies. Furlough days
for classifi ed staff and
teachers are also boosting
the bottom line. The fur-
lough program will save
the school district $300,000
on employee pay for the
remainder of 2019-20,
which ends June 30.
Future steps to curtail
spending may include cut-
ting back on school fi eld
trips, reducing staff travel
and cutting expenditures for
THE OBSERVER — 5A
classroom supplies and new
maintenance equipment,
Mendoza said.
“We need to make
adjustments to build up our
reserves,” he said.
The superintendent also
said he expects the school
district’s reserve fund to get
a boost in stimulus funding
from the federal Corona-
virus Aid, Relief, and Eco-
nomic Security Act, also
known as the CARES Act.
This could provide the
school district with at least
$400,000.
“I am confi dent that
we will receive stimulus
funding,” Mendoza said.
CORRECTION
The Page 1A story on June 4, “Union, Wallowa counties hope
to enter Phase 2 this week” misstated two numbers. Oregon
at the time of publication had 4,399 cases of COVID-19, and the
reopening plan caps outdoor gatherings at 100 individuals.
service in its building at
10:30 a.m. Sunday.
“We’ll be able to move
forward and start meeting
in person,” pastor Kevin
Goss said. “We’ll be
taking some extra pre-
cautions to help folks be
socially distanced in terms
of seating in the sanctuary.
We’re not going to be run-
ning any children’s min-
istries or Sunday school
programs, just our worship
service.”
One concern Anderes
has with the gathering
size guidelines is there is
enough ambiguity to cause
confusion.
“My interpretation is
that if you have the ability
mathematically to work
out that if you got 6 feet
between people you are
going to be OK within
those limits,” he said.
Goss offered a similar
take in how it applies to his
congregation.
“The way that I’ve read
it is that in any space we
need to be able to provide
for the 6 feet of social dis-
tancing,” he said. “In our
sanctuary space, we can
The superintendent also
credited the work of busi-
ness manager Chris Panike
for helping the district’s
budget picture.
“He is a great steward
of public funds. He creates
effi ciencies,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza spoke to the
budget committee at its fi rst
meeting of the year. The
committee was presented
with a proposed 2020-21
general fund budget of
$26.39 million, about $1.18
million higher than the cur-
rent budget. The spending
plan calls for the school dis-
trict to decrease its high
cost capital projects fund
hold traditionally 426, and
our congregation size was
at about 130 before this all
started. We’re not antic-
ipating everyone will be
coming back right away.
Our square footage of our
sanctuary is large enough
we feel we can accommo-
date everyone who would
want to be there.”
Businesses within each
category have additional
measures. Restaurants
and bars, for example, can
install a barrier — such
as plexiglass — between
booths rather than having 6
feet between them. Restau-
rants also may extend their
curfew to midnight from
10 p.m.
Employees at the
majority of these busi-
nesses — especially ser-
by $75,000 and its fi ve-year
maintenance projects fund
by $150,000. The district
then would reallocate this
$225,000 to reserve funds
to better prepare the district
for cuts. Mendoza asked the
budget committee to advise
him on whether to take
these steps.
The budget committee
will meet next June 10 to
further discuss the fi nancial
situation. The committee
is responsible for submit-
ting a recommended budget
to the La Grande School
Board, which will vote June
24 on adoption of a 2020-21
budget.
vice businesses — are
required to wear masks,
and patrons are encour-
aged to.
Pools, which are
allowed to open for the fi rst
time, also must maintain 6
feet between individuals or
parties.
Veterans’ Memo-
rial Pool, La Grande,
announced Thursday it will
open June 15. The pool
will operate from 6 a.m.
to 2 p.m. Monday through
Friday for lap swimming
and therapy.
To date, Union County
has had six cases of
COVID-19, the disease
caused by the coronavirus.
One case remains active.
Wallowa County has one
active case and has had
two total.
Wallowa School District wins $2.3 million grant for gym retrofi t
By Ellen Morris Bishop
EO Media Group
WALLOWA — It was
a long time in coming,
but the Wallowa School
District recently received
a $2.3 million seismic
retrofi t grant from the
Oregon Department of
Education.
The district will use the
funds to make the Cougar
Dome stable and safe
in the event of an earth-
quake. The grant also will
fund primarily structural
improvements so the large
gym building can serve
as public shelter during
an earthquake or other
disaster.
The school and the town
of Wallowa are along the
western end of the Wal-
lowa fault. That struc-
ture has uplifted the Wal-
lowa Mountains more than
7,000 feet. It provides low
intensity quakes of magni-
tude 2-4 every few years,
mostly centered in the
Upper Wallowa Valley.
Based upon the fault’s
nearly 40-mile length,
geologists calculated it
could unleash a magnitude
6 or 7 quake. Lidar map-
ping of the fault near Wal-
lowa Lake, which shows
detailed ground topog-
raphy even under heavy
forest cover, shows no evi-
dence of major faulting or
signifi cant fault scarps in
the last 17,000 years. But
that is a short time in geo-
logic cycles.
by wind.
As for the upcoming
wildfi re season, both agen-
cies reported that their sea-
sonal fi re staff are reporting
to duty and preparing for
training throughout the
state. Hessel said training
will not be the region-wide
interagency fi re school
normally held at Eastern
Oregon University, but held
locally in smaller groups.
In response to the
extended forecast,
Weseman said several addi-
tional large air tankers
and helicopters have been
added to the Forest Ser-
vice’s exclusive use con-
tracts to strengthen avail-
ability of fi refi ghting
aircraft this year.
“On the Umatilla
National Forest, we’ll be
ready to respond with nine
engines, fi ve 10-person
hand crews, the 20-person
Umatilla Veteran Crew
handcrew and two Type 2
helicopters located in La
Grande,” she said.
ODF has 20 initial attack
crews staffi ng engines
and hand crews hired for
the Northeast District,
Hessel said, with 60 sea-
EO Media Group fi le photo
The Wallowa School District recently received a $2.3 million seismic retrofi t grant from the Oregon Department of
Education.
The grant was obtained
as a result of the Tech-
nical Assistance Program
facilities assessment and
long term planning. Dis-
trict staff, administrators
and school board have been
working on the facilities
assessment with their con-
sultants (Pivot of Eugene)
since the fall.
The school district has
two years to begin seismic
retrofi t construction using
the $2.3 million. The funds
cover design as well as
sonal employees hired for
the summer. Bulldozers are
also on contract to be avail-
able to build fi relines, when
necessary, and has two sin-
gle-engine air tankers and
a detection plane staged at
the La Grande airport and
a Type 2 helicopter will be
based in Pendleton, but will
move around as needed.
To limit risk of
COVID-19 exposure,
Weseman said the agency
is putting several provi-
sions in place. She said fi re-
fi ghters will continue to
respond to every wildfi re,
but how they are mobilized
and supported will be dif-
ferent this year.
“On the Umatilla
National Forest, we’re inte-
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construction.
Retiring Superinten-
dent Jay Hummel noted the
school board is considering
combining the seismic
work with other much
needed renovations to the
school.
“Fixing the heat-
ing-cooling system in
each of the school build-
ings is unbelievably expen-
sive. But it’s got to be
done,” Hummel said. “The
second thing is to fi x the
gym beyond the seismic
grating Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention pro-
tocols into our Wildland
Fire Response Plans to help
keep fi refi ghters and the
communities they’ll work in
healthy and safe,” she said.
While the Forest Ser-
vice’s direction this coming
season is to respond and
extinguish fi res as soon
as possible, Weseman
said there is a likelihood
the forests of Northeast
Oregon could have large
remote fi res that would
endanger the lives of fi re-
fi ghters, should they fi ght
the fi re directly. In these
cases, staff would either
monitor them at a safe dis-
tance — either from the air
or from another ridge top
grant. Expand the front
entrance area. Build a nice
entry area. Provide a com-
munity accessible weight
room and exercise area. Fix
bathrooms and concession
area.”
Hummel said money
for the improvements will
come from a combina-
tion of a general obligation
bond with matching funds
of up to $4 million from
the state. If the work on
the gym under the seismic
grant is done in conjunc-
or fi ghting a fl ank threat-
ening private property or
other critical resources like
watersheds.
“We will also continue
our focus on initial attack
with the goal of fast con-
tainment to minimize the
number of large fi res during
the year,” Weseman said.
Nationally, 98% of all
fi res fought by Forest Ser-
vice fi refi ghters are extin-
guished within 24 hours,
Weseman said.
Technology advances
help locate wildfi res
quickly and accurately.
Weseman said fi re-
fi ghters use remote auto-
mated weather stations
and satellites to rapidly
assess conditions, such as
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tion with the bond-funded
improvements, there could
be some cost savings in a
major gym renovation.
Hummel said the next
step will be to take a real-
istic list of school renova-
tions and improvements to
the community.
“In the fall and winter
the school board can work
with the community to nail
down what they want to
put in the bond,” he said,
“and take it to the ballot in
May.”
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weather, fi re behavior, and
topography.
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fi ghters prioritize tactics
that have a high likeli-
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prolonged exposure of
resources, and put the life
safety of responders and
the public fi rst,” she said.
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