OFF PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2021
RELIEF
Continued from Page A1
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
The building housing La Grande School District’s maintenance,
facilities and grounds shop, seen through a window on Thursday,
Dec. 23, 2021, is more than 100 years old. The structure might be torn
down along with the adjacent Annex building to make way for a new
athletic and academic center.
CENTER
Continued from Page A1
than eight decades old.
The Annex building and
the school district’s adja-
cent maintenance, facilities
and grounds structure —
which is at least 100 years
old — would both be torn
down if a bond is approved.
The maintenance, facili-
ties and grounds services
would likely be moved to a
structure the school would
obtain on Adams Avenue.
Should the $7.1 million
bond be presented to voters
and passed, some money
from it would also be used
to do renovation work at
Willow School, which is
about 100 years old.
Voter approval of the $6
million or $7.1 bond would
not raise the school district
property tax rates now in
place.
“The existing tax rate
would be maintained,”
Mendoza said.
The reason the tax rate
would not change is that the
$31.5 million bond school
district voters approved in
2014 was refi nanced this
year, meaning that rate per
$1,000 of assessed value
taxpayers are now paying
for it will drop from $1.93
to $1.65 per $1,000 of
assessed value beginning in
July of 2022, the same time
charges for the $6 million
or $7.1 million bond levy
would kick in. The rate per
$1,000 of assessed value for
the $6 million bond would
be 24 cents and the rate for
the $7.1 million bond would
be 29 cents. The amount
property owners would be
spending on school district
bond payments would be
the same in July 2022 as
what they are paying today,
Mendoza said.
$4M matching grant
The clock is ticking
for the La Grande School
District because it was
awarded a $4 million
Oregon School Capital
Improvement Matching
grant from the state for the
building of the academic
and athletic center earlier
this month. The school dis-
trict will receive the $4
million grant only if voters
approve one of the bonds
being considered. Voters
would have to approve the
$6 million or $7.1 million
bond in May 2022 because
this was the election date
specifi ed by the school dis-
trict in its application for
the Oregon School Cap-
ital Improvement Matching
grant. If voters do not
approve a bond in the May
election, the school district
would lose its $4 million
OSCIM grant.
The school district would
then have to apply for
another OCSIM grant.
“There is a lot of compe-
tition for these grants,” said
retired La Grande School
District Business Director
Chris Panike, who will
chair the political action
committee for the school
district’s bond campaign if
it goes forward.
Mendoza said he wants
the La Grande School
Board to decide in January
if it will have the school dis-
trict move forward with a
bond levy in the May elec-
tion and, if so, whether it
would pursue the passage of
a $6 million or $7.1 million
bond. The superintendent
said that deciding on both
early in the year would give
the school district plenty
of time to take the steps
needed to get a bond levy
on the ballot.
The school board will
discuss the proposed levy
when it meets at 7 p.m. on
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022.
Mendoza said the board
may decide at the meeting
to move forward and seek
passage of one of the bonds.
Public input will be taken at
the meeting.
La Grande School Dis-
trict voters have a mixed
track record when it comes
to approving bonds. Voters
rejected capital construc-
tion and maintenance bonds
in 2006 and 2008 prior to
passing the $31.5 million
bond in 2014. The 2006
levy asked for $30 million
and the 2008 levy request
was for $18.1 million. La
Grande School District
voters also rejected a fi ve-
year option levy in 2011 that
would have raised $900,000
a year for the school district.
La Grande voters did
approve a small technology
bond in the late 1990s.
The La Grande School
District has never sought
a bond for which there
was a state OSCIM grant
available to match a por-
tion of it. Mendoza noted
that Oregon school dis-
tricts seeking the passage
of bonds have an impres-
sive success rate when there
is a matching grant. Voters
in Union County school
districts have approved
all bond levy requests for
which an OSCIM grant has
been attached. Voters in
the Imbler, North Powder
and Union school districts
all have approved bonds
since 2011 that had OSCIM
grants tied to them. In all
three cases the school dis-
tricts received $4 million
OSCIM grants after their
voters approved $4 million
bond levies for capital con-
struction and maintenance.
they continue to experi-
ence signifi cant fi nancial
hardships,” U.S. Health
and Human Services Sec-
retary Xavier Becerra said
in a press release. “The
infusion of these funds
will be critical to ensuring
rural communities main-
tain access to high-quality
health care and addressing
urgent needs like workforce
recruitment and retention.”
Payments ranged from
as little as $500, which
went to providers such
as individually licensed
psychiatrists and social
workers, to several million
dollars. The largest single
award for Oregon went
to Central Oregon’s Saint
Charles Health System,
which received more than
$10.5 million.
Of the nearly 500
awards distributed, the
most frequent award was
$500, which went to 88
Oregon suppliers and
providers.
Caveats in the program
allowed providers in the
Portland metropolitan area
to receive funding, even
THE OBSERVER — A5
LOCAL HEALTH CARE TO BENEFIT FROM ARPA FUNDS
ENTERPRISE — Two health care facilities in Wallowa
County are the recipients of part of more than $118
million going to 481 rural providers in Oregon for
COVID relief under the American Rescue Plan Act,
according to a Nov. 30 press release from U.S. Sens.
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.
The Wallowa County Health Care D istrict is receiving
$736,938.37 of that money and Winding Waters Medical
Clinic is receiving $100,833.56, according to the release.
Brooke Pace, communications director for Wallowa
Memorial Hospital, and Nic Powers, CEO of Winding
Waters, both said in emails that the money was
something their organizations applied for.
“The amount was a surprise,” Pace said. “We did not
know how much we would be awarded.”
“We had no idea of the amount until the award
announcement was made,” Powers said.
Both, also, expressed gratitude for receiving the fed-
eral money and emphasized its need.
“We are of course incredibly grateful for these funds
though there was a separate
fund of $9 billion already
earmarked for providers
and suppliers in non-rural
areas. Clinics and providers
in Portland that received
funding included North-
west Urology in the Pearl
District of Portland, which
received just more than
$90,000.
According to U.S.
Health and Human Ser-
vices, providers who serve
Medicaid, CHIP and Medi-
and to be able to continue to provide top-notch
COVID response to the people of Wallowa County,”
Pace said.
“We’re grateful for these funds,” Powers said.
“Nationally, health care is in a state of turmoil.
Locally, due to careful management and good part-
nerships, our health care providers are much more
stable. These funds are a piece of ensuring that
remains true.”
The money will largely go to maintain current health
care services, Pace and Powers said.
“The funds will be used for several things, including
but not limited to supplies, PPE (personal protective
equipment), testing, diagnostic equipment, treat-
ment equipment, screening, etc.,” Pace said.
“These funds will be used to maintain good access
to COVID-related services including six days a week
of walk-in testing and vaccination, monoclonal anti-
body therapy and daily home visits,” Powers added.
— Bill Bradshaw, Wallowa County Chieftain
care patients who live in
rural communities are eli-
gible for the ARP rural
payments. As well, pro-
viders who serve any
patients living in Federal
Offi ce of Rural Health Poli-
cy-defi ned rural areas with
Medicaid, CHIP or Medi-
care coverage, and who
otherwise meet the eligi-
bility criteria, will receive a
minimum payment.
Other Portland busi-
nesses that received
EOU
Continued from Page A1
is between 75-80%. The
school during the holiday
break has reminded stu-
dents and staff who were
traveling to practice safety
measures to avoid con-
tracting the virus.
“When we start up
again, all unvaccinated stu-
dents, if they can’t or don’t
have proof, then they’ll get
tested,” he said. “And then
we’ll continue monitoring
them and our employees.
If they’re vaccinated, we
already have their proof.
And then if they’re unvac-
cinated, then we’d have
them continue to do their
weekly or daily health
checks.”
Omicron’s rise
The rapid rise of the
omicron variant has stirred
considerable panic since
news about the highly
transmissible strain caught
international attention in
late November. The Ore-
gonian reported on Dec.
23 the state’s COVID-19
omicron hospitalization
peak won’t be nearly as
bad as forecasters pre-
dicted earlier this month,
but still could overwhelm
the health care system
within weeks with about as
many people needing hos-
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Hanna Saunders, a freshman accounting student at Eastern Oregon
University, studies in EOU’s library on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021.
School offi cials are keeping their options open about instituting
COVID-19 booster shot requirements amid a sharp national spike
in coronavirus cases driven by the highly transmissible omicron
variant, which is expected to peak in early February 2022.
pital beds as did during the
delta wave. Oregon Health
& Science University
revised its omicron surge
projections, down from
about 2,400 people hospi-
talized at the peak of the
upcoming surge to about
1,200, provided Orego-
nians take steps to prevent
the spread of infections.
The peak, which is
expected to hit in early
February, could exceed
1,700 if Oregonians’
behavior doesn’t change,
though it always has in the
past when infections have
started to climb, OHSU
data analyst Peter Graven
told The Oregonian.
But while the down-
ward revision could be
heartening, the predicted
wave of hospitalizations
still could rival or exceed
Oregon’s peak in early
September.
“The risk of over-
whelming hospital systems
is real,” Graven told The
Oregonian. “We’re seeing a
dire situation.”
On-campus
protocol continues
As the omicron surge
unfolds nationwide, Seydel
funding include optome-
trist clinics, acupunctur-
ists, a dentist offi ce, retire-
ment homes and Portland
State University — which
received just more than $1
million, though the uni-
versity does have its own
on-campus clinic.
U.S. Health and Human
Services did not respond
to requests for comment
about the requirements
for the payments before
publication.
said Eastern Oregon does
not anticipate a change in
on-campus activities.
“Eastern put protocols
in place and worked to have
students in class on campus,
even at limited capacity,” he
said. “That really worked
well for our students, and
we want to keep doing
that.”
Seydel said the school
has been successful in
keeping case counts low
this fall, an indication that
EOU’s protocol is working
and that students are moni-
toring themselves.
“If they’re not feeling
good, they’re getting over to
our Student Health Center
and getting tested,” he said.
Seydel said Eastern
Oregon will continue to
hold vaccine clinics during
the winter term to further
encourage the extra shot.
During two recent clinics
held on campus, approx-
imately 80 booster shots
were given, according to
Seydel.
“We’ve had four clinics
already, and we’re plan-
ning to hold another one
in January. And at the last
one, we had just a lot of
booster shots, which again
is another really good
indicator,” he said. “We
had a lot of students and
employees going in to get
their booster.”
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