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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2020)
2A — THE OBSERVER THuRSday, OcTOBER 15, 2020 LOCAL/REGION Daily LG school district refinances bonds Planner Effort expected TODAY Today is Thursday, Oct. 15, the 289th day of 2020. There are 77 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On Oct. 15, 1976, in the first debate of its kind between vice-presidential nominees, Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Republi- can Bob Dole faced off in Houston. ON THIS DATE: In 1815, Napoleon Bona- parte, the deposed Emperor of the French, arrived on the British-ruled South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he spent the last 5½ years of his life in exile. In 1917, Dutch exotic danc- er Mata Hari (Margaretha ZelleGeertruida MacLeod), 41, convicted by a French military court of spying for the Germans, was executed by a firing squad outside Paris. (Maintaining her inno- cence to the end, Mata Hari refused a blindfold and blew a kiss to her executioners.) In 1940, Charles Chaplin’s first all-talking comedy, “The Great Dictator,” a lampoon of Adolf Hitler, opened in New York. In 1945, the former pre- mier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason. In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall on the Caro- lina coast as a Category 4 storm; Hazel was blamed for some 1,000 deaths in the Caribbean, 95 in the U.S. and 81 in Canada. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill creating the U.S. Depart- ment of Transportation. The revolutionary Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. In 1969, peace demon- strators staged activities across the country as part of a “moratorium” against the Vietnam War. In 1991, despite sexual ha- rassment allegations by Ani- ta Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48. In 2003, 11 people were killed when a Staten Island ferry slammed into a main- tenance pier. In 2017, actress and activ- ist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assault- ed should write “Me too” as a status; within hours, tens of thousands had taken up the #MeToo hashtag (using a phrase that had been in- troduced 10 years earlier by social activist Tarana Burke.) LOTTERY Megabucks: $3 million 5-6-22-34-39-47 Mega Millions: $69 million 11-44-45-46-70 —25 x2 Powerball: $62 million 5-18-23-40-50—PB-18 x3 Win for Life: Oct. 12 16-20-37-52 Pick 4: Oct. 13 • 1 p.m.: 2-1-1-1; • 4 p.m.: 2-6-5-2 • 7 p.m.: 6-7-0-9; • 10 p.m.: 7-3-1-4 Pick 4: Oct. 12 • 1 p.m.: 5-4-5-0; • 4 p.m.: 4-5-5-3 • 7 p.m.: 2-5-2-4; • 10 p.m.: 5-9-1-7 DELIVERY ISSUES? If you have any problems receiving your Observer, please call 541-963-3161. to save taxpayers $2.3 million The Observer LA GRANDE — The La Grande School Dis- trict’s improved credit rating is helping property taxpayers save millions. The La Grande School District recently refi- nanced its general obli- gation bonds, originally sold in 2015, for a signifi- cantly lower interest rate, which will save taxpayers almost $2.3 million over the approximately 15-year remaining life of the bonds. Voters in 2014 passed a $31.85 million bond mea- sure. The district used the funds from the bond to build the new Central Elementary School and a new Career and Tech- nical Education building at La Grande High School, remodel the high school gymnasium and audito- rium, and add classroom spaces at Greenwood and Island City elementary schools. The money also provided security upgrades and facility improvements throughout the district. The bonds’ refinanced rate is 1.69%, signifi- cantly lower than the orig- inal interest rate of 4.75%. One of the reasons for the lower rate is a substantial improvement in the school district’s credit rating from A2 to A1, according to a La Grande School District news release. “This improved credit rating created a better investment viewpoint for bond buyers,” said the dis- trict’s business director Chris Panike. The $31.85 in bonds were sold at a $4.1 million premium in 2015, which provided the district a total Dick Mason/ The Observer, File The La Grande School District opened the new Central Elementary School at the be- ginning of the 2017-18 school year, part of the result of a $31.85 million bond voters passed in 2014. A better credit rating now is helping the district save $2.3 million over the 15-year remaining life of the bonds. of $36 million to invest in its facilities, Panike said. And starting in 2015, the school district’s popu- lation began to grow by 2-3% a year. This boosted the school district’s budget because it receives at least $7,000 a year per stu- dent from the state. The money from enrollment growth helped make it pos- sible for the school dis- trict to install a new track and tennis courts and make other improvements, while boosting its financial reserves. The result of the addi- tional funding, Panike said, was a better rating from Moody’s Corporation, an American business and financial services com- pany. When interest rates dropped to all-time lows, it allowed the school district to refinance the bonds and save taxpayers more than $2 million in debt service requirements. La Grande School District superintendent George Mendoza called it “good news for taxpayers and our community.” School board chair Robin Maille said given the eco- nomic uncertainty due to COVID-19, the school board “felt the bond refi- nance was a fiscally pru- dent decision that would take care of our school district and taxpayers in the long term.” With the successful con- clusion of the refinancing, the district will complete a grant-funded facilities study that will involve a facilities committee, com- munity input and long- range plan. Then, the dis- trict will submit a proposal to receive a $4 million bond matching grant by July 2021. If the application is successful, voters will have to pass a matching bond in May 2022 for the district to receive the money. The goal is to have $8 million in funds for facility improvement without increasing tax rates to service the debt on both bonds. Taxpayers will con- tinue to pay around $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed value to service the debt on both bonds. According to Men- doza, the district has stayed below the rate of $1.99 per $1,000 that was estimated when taxpayers approved the bond measure in 2014 and will continue to stay below that rate long term. This puts the district in a strong position when con- sidering future bond mea- sures because a $4 mil- lion bond request would keep the district near or below the current $1.91 per $1,000. The La Grande School District still has facil- ities that need signifi- cant improvements and upgrades, according to the news release, including the 100-year-old annex building at the middle school and the 80-year-old Willow building, which houses the district office, preschool classrooms and a gym. Oregon state trooper turns llama wrangler The Observer BAKER CITY — Oregon State Police troopers train for plenty of circumstances, but llama wrangling may be a first. Trooper Levi Macy was monitoring traffic Sunday, Oct. 11, on Inter- state 84 near Baker City when around 7:20 a.m. he received a call from OSP dispatch for a llama in the road at exit 304. “I got there and sure enough a displeased mama llama was lying on the onramp,” Macy stated via a post on the Oregon State Police Facebook account. Macy said the llama’s owner was transporting three of the animals from Washington to Utah in the back of a short-bed pickup. A homemade livestock rack was not able to hold the llamas when the pickup Trooper Levi Macy/Oregon State Police Oregon State Police trooper Levi Macy snapped this photo Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020, of a “displeased” llama in the road on Interstate 84 near Baker City. Macy kept watch over the animal until its owner was able to get it back onto the pickup from which it escaped. took an uphill corner, and one of the animals ended up on the highway. “Fortunately enough for the llama and myself, the speeds were slow, and traffic was minimal,” Somebody has to do it according to Macy. The driver noticed the missing llama about a mile later, and when he stopped, Macy stated, the other two animals “bailed out, run- ning free on the interstate.” Elgin city administrator quits after 6 years on job Sabrina Thompson The Observer Sabrina Thompson/The Observer La Grande Public Works Department employees Dallas Stone (left) and Jared Huff clean the city’s main sewer line Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 13, 2020, in front of The Ob- server at 911 Jefferson Ave. The owner bolted back to Macy and handed over a rope to hook to the llama’s harness, the trooper wrote. “Mama llama refused to get up as you could see by her displeased facial expression … so I told him that I would llama sit, while he wrangled up the others.” Macy also reported he snapped a photo of the llama “because in my tenure I’ve yet to be suc- cessful in catching the elu- sive I-84 llama.” Soon enough, the trio of llamas was ready for the road, and “mama llama” received “some medication to ease her mama llama trauma,” Macy wrote. Macy also issued the driver of the truck a warning for “operating with a leaking or shifting load.” ELGIN — Brock Eck- stein is leaving his role as city administrator of Elgin. Eckstein announced the decision Tuesday, Oct. 13, during a meeting of the Elgin city council. Though he will stay on until the start of 2021, Eckstein said he felt it was time to step back and let someone with fresh eyes take care of the city. “Everyone was pretty understanding,” Eckstein said. “It is a stressful position, and it had been wearing on me for while.” Eckstein was hired as city administrator in November 2014. Born and raised in Elgin, Eck- stein said he felt frus- trated with the way the city handled council meetings and wanted to help make a difference. “My mother gave me some advice, which I took to heart,” Eckstein said. “She said, ‘If you are not part of the solu- tion, then you are part of the problem,’ and that stuck with me.” In his six years as city administrator, Eck- stein has overseen several changes to the city. He noted several stand out, including resurrecting the municipal court, securing a Union County Sheriff’s Office contract for law enforcement services and bringing in more that $12 million in grants for var- ious city projects. “I also think we built one of the best city staffs in the county,” Eck- stein said. “I think I am leaving it in a really good place for the next person.” He noted that the role of city administrator, while great for making a difference in the city, can be challenging. News Briefs Woodgrain Lumber employee dies in work accident LA GRANDE — The La Grande Police Depart- ment reported an employee of Woodgrain Lumber died Tuesday night, Oct. 13, in a workplace accident. Police at 7:57 p.m. received an emergency call from Woodgrain Lumber, 1917 Jackson Ave., for a worker pinned inside a golf cart and not breathing. Offi- cers and a La Grande Fire Department ambulance crew arrived moments later, the police department reported in a press release. The first responders found Shaun Hoyt, 56, of Elgin, dead at the scene. The preliminary inves- tigation revealed Hoyt missed his 7 p.m. lunch break, according to police, and coworkers shut down the mill and went looking for Hoyt. They found him sitting in the golf cart pinned against a steel beam and not breathing. A worker then called 911. The investigation deter- mined Hoyt was operating the golf cart, which mill employees use to travel around the mill yard, prior to colliding with the beam. The Union County Dis- trict Attorney’s Office, the Union County Medical Examiner’s Office, Oregon State Police and the Union County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the investi- gation. La Grande Police Department also reported it will work closely with the the Oregon Occupa- tional Health and Safety Administration. Union County Sheriff’s Office arrests two for drug possession UNION COUNTY — The Union County Sheriff’s Office reported a traffic stop led to two arrests on warrants and for drugs. Shawn Presock, 37, of La Grande, was driving when deputies stopped his vehicle Monday, Oct. 12, at 6:17 p.m. at Riddle Road and May Lane, La Grande. The sheriff’s office in a press release reported deputies made the stop because Presock had a warrant for his arrest. Angela Farrell Thamert, 43, of La Grande, was a passenger and also had a warrant. Deputies began an investigation and called in Oregon State Police to pro- vide its drug detection dog. That led to law enforcement finding methamphetamine, heroin and one narcotic pre- scription pill. Deputies booked Presock into the county jail, La Grande, on charges of felony possession and delivery of heroin as well as on out-of-county war- rants, and booked Thamert into the jail on charges of felony possession of meth- amphetamine, heroin and Oxycodone and on a parole violation. Enterprise gets $58K in COVID funds ENTERPRISE — The city of Enterprise received $58,350 from the fed- eral Treasury’s Coro- navirus Relief Fund to address unforeseen finan- cial needs and risks cre- ated by the COVID-19 pan- demic, it was announced at the Monday, Oct. 12, city council meeting. Councilors Chris Pritchard and Brandon Miller volunteered to serve on a committee to decide how to disperse the funds. City Administrator Lacey McQuead recom- mended up to $15,000 for computer system updates to allow for employees who are working remotely is needed, up to $15,000 for community partners to assist families with COVID-19 relief, and up to $25,000 for small business grant funding. The council approved the request. — EO Media Group