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TUESDAY EDITION
May 25, 2021
Joseph La Grande eyes solutions to housing shortage
offi cials
to name
names
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
City council may
recommend
sanctions in staff
harassment case
LA GRANDE — The
city of La Grande and
its planning commis-
sion continue to deal with
the shortage of aff ordable
housing in the city.
The La Grande City
Council/Planning Com-
mission Joint Work Session
on April 12, 2021, looked
at various solutions to the
looming crisis.
despite accounting for a
smaller percentage of new
housing units than the cur-
rent housing stock.
“We predominantly
have contractors that build
custom homes, one or
two at a time,” Commu-
nity Development Director
Mike Boquist said. “We
don’t generally have a large
inventory of houses that
are available for sale that
are constantly under con-
struction like they do in
larger cities.”
As it stands, about
25% of households in La
Grande are under severe
rent burden, meaning res-
idents spend more than
50% of their income on
housing. This also quali-
fi es as a housing crisis. Fur-
ther, aff ordable apartments
and houses for rent are hard
to come by in La Grande.
According to the La
Grande Housing Production
Strategy Open House and
Survey on Feb. 26, renters
in La Grande are twice as
likely to be cost burdened
than homeowners, which is
a telling sign.
“We have a lot of land
in our inventory here that’s
available for construction,
but just not a lot of vacant
homes,” Boquist said.
See, Housing/Page 5A
Finding shelter at MERA
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Offi cials
with the city of Joseph
announced they will iden-
tify which members of
the city council are on the
receiving end of harass-
ment allegations as well
as recommendations for
discipline.
The Joseph City Council
meets Thursday, May 27,
for another emergency ses-
sion that comes
in the wake
of multiple
allegations
of council
members
harassing city
Eckstein
employees.
City hall sent out an
agenda for the meeting that
includes open and exec-
utive sessions. The reg-
ular meeting will begin
at 5:30 p.m. at the Joseph
Community Events Center,
following an open budget
hearing.
During the executive
session, city attorney Wyatt
Baum and interim City
Administrator Brock Eck-
stein will discuss the alle-
gations and make recom-
mendations for discipline of
councilors deemed guilty.
An open session follows the
closed-door meeting where
the council can take action
of the recommendations.
“By next Thursday,
names will be released and
recommendations for pun-
ishment will come from
myself and the city attorney
in open session,” Eckstein
said during an interview
with the Wallowa County
Chieftain Thursday, May
20. “I can guarantee that
for Thursday.”
The allegations of
harassment came to a head
April 16 when former City
Administrator/Recorder
Larry Braden submitted his
resignation citing “constant
harassment by members of
the current city council.”
That came on top of a sim-
ilar allegation in March by
According to the
Housing Needs Analysis in
2019, La Grande is in need
of 800 new units within the
next 20 years to compen-
sate for a projected growth
of 1,392 new residents.
That’s about 40 new units
every year to meet the
prediction.
The HNA found sin-
gle-family homes will
be the most vital form of
housing in coming years,
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION COUNTY —
Exhausted hikers and mountain
bikers at the Mount Emily Recre-
ation Area now can recharge in a
new building at the edge of Caf-
feine Trail.
The structure is not a coff ee
shop but a large lean-to type of
building that provides protec-
tion from the sun and rain. For-
rest Warren of Summerville con-
structed the structure. He is a
retired educator, a farmer and the
Imbler Rural Fire Department’s
assistant chief.
“I thought this might be a
nice addition,” Warren said.
“It seemed like something was
needed, so I said ‘Lets give this
a try.’”
The wooden structure is 12
feet by 16 feet with a metal roof
10 feet high at its top point.
Warren said it is designed so vis-
itors will receive shade in the
summer because of a hillside to
the west and much sun exposure
in the winter because it faces
south.
“It will provide summer shade
and winter sun,” Warren said.
The shelter also is positioned
so people looking south receive
an excellent view of La Grande.
Warren received funding help
for the project from the Blue
Mountain Singletrack Trails
Club.
“Its support was great. It made
it happen,” he said.
The shelter is 2 miles by trail
from the Owsley Canyon Trail-
head and where the Caff eine
and MERA Loop trails con-
nect. Warren chose the loca-
tion because it is in the middle
of MERA’s trail network for
non-motorized uses.
“It is super centralized,”
Warren said.
Jeff Crews, who helped
deposit bark chips in the shelter
on Saturday, May 22, agreed.
“It is in the middle of every-
thing,” Crews said.
Warren said he spent “a long
six days” constructing the shelter.
Dick Mason/The Observer
Left to right, volunteers Jeff Crews, Jonah Lindeman and Forrest Warren work Saturday, May 22, 2021, to complete a shelter
at the Mount Emily Recreation Area near La Grande. The shelter will provide a place to have a picnic, get out of bad weather
or rest and take in the scenic view.
He said the help from several vol-
unteers — Bart Barlow, Dave
Larman, Micha Anderson, Tom
Guthrie, Steve Stanhope, Dusty
Fitzgerald and Ed Mosiman —
played a big role in the comple-
tion of the project.
The shelter has a fi rst aid kit
that includes splints and slings.
Warren asks those who use the
kit to call him so he can replace
materials.
“I have been an EMT for 21
years,” he said. “I am an avid
believer in being prepared. First
aid is huge.”
Warren used live-edge siding
on the structure so that it would
look natural. Live-edge boards
are cut to leave one side with the
Dick Mason/The Observer natural curves of the tree. The
Jeff Crews, left, Jonah Lindeman, center, and Forrest Warren move wood chips Sat- shelter’s wood slab seats, which
urday, May 22, 2021, to the fl oor of a new shelter at the Mount Emily Recreation
Area near La Grande.
See, MERA/Page 5A
See, Joseph/Page 5A
Many work to help children in foster care
Volunteers, donations are part of crucial
programs supporting foster children
By LISA BRITTON
EO Media Group
Editor’s Note
This is the third of a
three-part series on foster
care needs in Baker, Union
and Wallowa counties. The
previous parts ran in the
Thursday, May 20, and
Saturday, May 22, editions
of The Observer.
There are nearly 6,000
children in foster care
across Oregon, and sev-
eral programs in Eastern
Oregon support those chil-
dren, and provide ways for
the community to help, too.
Every Child Oregon
Every Child Oregon is
a statewide initiative that
INDEX
Classified ...............3B
Comics ....................7B
Crossword .............4B
Dear Abby .............8B
partners with the Oregon
Department of Human Ser-
vices to “aid children in
foster care and to support
foster families.”
Wallowa, Union and
Baker counties are part
of DHS District 13. Every
Child Northeast Oregon,
with Erin Taggart as pro-
gram director, started
serving this area in March
2020.
The goals of Every
Child include foster family
WEATHER
Home ......................1B
Horoscope .............3B
Letters ....................4A
Lottery ....................3A
THURSDAY
Obituaries ..............3A
Opinion ..................4A
Sports ............. 7A, 8A
State ........................6A
recruitment, and working
in the communities to sup-
port volunteer projects.
One project is My
Neighbor. Taggart said
this provides a place for
caseworkers, foster par-
ents, children and CASAs
— court-appointed special
advocates — to specify a
need, such as bunk beds,
clothing, shoes or sports
clothes.
Community mem-
bers who register with My
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
40 LOW
72/47
Partly cloudy
Sunny and
warmer
UNION COUNTY BUDGET HEARINGS
Neighbor can log in and
fi nd needs to fulfi ll.
A recent project by
Every Child updated DHS
visitation rooms with new
furniture.
“To make it a little more
home-like,” Taggart said.
Every Child, she said,
off ers community engage-
ment either by accepting
donations or with volunteer
opportunities. Both off er
See, Foster/Page 5A
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 60
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com