FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
BUILDING
Continued from Page A1
to the structure.
The sheriff wants to
determine exactly what
options are available
for the one-story public
safety building, which
was constructed in 1979.
For example, he wants to
know for certain whether
the building could with-
stand the addition of a
second story. To fi nd out,
Bowen is proposing that
an architecture and design
fi rm, Mackenzie, which
has offi ces in Portland and
Seattle, be brought in to
evaluate the condition of
the current public safety
building.
“We would be hoping
to get some concrete
answers,” Bowen said.
Mackenzie’s staff would
also look at how space
could be used more effi -
ciently and provide cost
estimates after doing a
10-week examination of
the building.
Mackenzie’s evalua-
tion of the building would
cost just under $40,000,
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
A Union County Sheriff ’s Offi ce vehicle sits on Sixth Street outside of the county’s law enforcement building on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, in
La Grande.
according to a proposal it
has prepared.
“This would be a crucial
step to keep the ball rolling
in a way that would not be
as expensive,” Bowen said.
The sheriff may come
before the board of com-
missioners later and
request funding for the
study by Mackenzie.
Paul Anderes, a member
ANDERES
HILL
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Reelection goals
experience to good use as a
county commissioner.
“I want to help all of
our businesses prosper
and experience success,”
Hill said.
Projects Anderes wants
to help complete include
improvements at the La
Grande/Union County
Airport, where extensive
repaving of its runway was
conducted in 2021. Anderes
is now leading an eff ort to
help the airport make $1.4
million worth of additional
improvements.
These improvements
would include adding a
10,000-gallon fuel storage
tank. Anderes said more
storage capacity is needed
now in part because an
increasing number of jet
aircraft are now used to
fi ght wildfi res.
“Jets use a lot more
fuel,” he said.
Other improvements the
$1.4 million package would
cover include the purchase
of a generator so that fuel
can still be pumped when
the electricity goes out, an
additional hangar for fi re-
fi ghting aircraft and a new
building for equipment
storage.
A second project
Anderes wants to help see
through involves the Blue
Mountains Forest Plan,
which will guide the U.S.
Forest Service in managing
the Wallowa-Whitman,
Umatilla and Malheur
national forests. Anderes
is chair of a committee
overseeing a study of the
socioeconomic status of
the people living in area
of these national forests,
those who reside in Eastern
Oregon’s Union, Wallowa,
Baker, Umatilla, Mal-
heur, Grant and Harney
counties and Southeastern
Washington’s Walla Walla,
Columbia, Garfi eld and
Asotin counties.
The results of the study,
being conducted by Eastern
Oregon University’s Rural
Engagement and Vitality
Center, will be released in
June. The study’s fi ndings
will reveal how federal
policies aff ect local econ-
omies. Anderes, as chair
of the committee over-
seeing the study, hopes to
help the Forest Service use
the results of the study as
a guide when the agency
writes the Blue Mountains
Forest Plan.
A third project Anderes
will continue focusing
on if reelected is helping
the Union County Public
of the Union County Board
of Commissioners, sup-
ports Bowen’s plan.
“This will be a great
way to separate facts from
opinion,” he said.
Anderes said the poor
condition of Union Coun-
ty’s law enforcement
building has been a con-
cern of his for some time.
“It has been a priority
for me since our last sheriff
was in. It is a signifi cant
issue,” he said.
Union
County Com-
missioner
Matt Scarfo
also likes
Bowen’s pro-
posal, noting
that it would
Scarfo
provide an
information
base about the building
that would be welcome.
“The more information
we have the better,” Scarfo
said.
Bowen said that reno-
vating and adding to the
current building based
on recommendations by
Mackenzie would be any-
thing but a temporary
Band-Aid approach.
“We would want to see
if it could suffi ce for the
next 50 years,” Bowen
said.
Business background
The Observer, File
A LifeFlight and an Amerifl ight plane sit on the apron in front of
Runway 16-34 Monday, June 29, 2020, at the La Grande/Union
County Airport.
PAUL ANDERES
Anderes, 60, lives in La Grande
and is former teacher at La
Grande High School, where
he taught agricultural science,
forestry and fi refi ghting for 23
years. He was elected to a four-
year term on the Union County
Board of Commissioners in
2018. Anderes is a graduate of
Oregon State University.
Works Department mod-
ernize its equipment.
“The public works
department has a lot
of very old vehicles,”
Anderes said.
Accessible meetings
The commissioner said
he is enjoying the oppor-
tunity to again participate
in meetings open to the
public now that the COVID
pandemic has subsided.
He much prefers talking
to people in person rather
than virtually, something
he had to do almost exclu-
sively at meetings during
the pandemic.
“I like to be able to
see the body language of
people when I’m talking to
them,” he said.
The Union County
Board of Commissioners
was able to resume
in-person meetings in
March. Before then, the
public could listen and
participate only online or
by phone. Union County
has continued to off er
people the option of par-
ticipating virtually even
after personal attendance
was allowed. Anderes said
he wants people to con-
tinue having the online and
phone options.
“This allows more
people to take part in meet-
ings,” Anderes said.
He also said he would
also like to see the county
begin conducting meet-
ings outside La Grande and
in the evening to make it
WYDEN
Continued from Page A1
also pushed for a middle-income
housing tax credit (MIHTC).
“We’re going at every single
level of this,” he said.
In La Grande’s Housing Needs
Analysis report, single-family
homes were pointed out as the
most vital form of housing
needed in the coming years.
According to the 2019 analysis,
La Grande will experience a pro-
jected growth of 1,392 new resi-
dents in the next 20 years — 800
new units will be needed to com-
easier for more people in
outlying areas to attend.
“There will be logistical
issues but I think it is a
good idea,” Anderes said.
He noted that a June
8 meeting of the county
commission, which will
be conducted to discuss
the Greater Idaho issue,
will be held in the eve-
ning, beginning at 6 p.m.
in La Grande.
MERA management
Anderes, when dis-
cussing the Mount Emily
Recreation Area and steps
being taken to manage it
so that it is less vulnerable
to wildfi res, said he feels
good about the two-year
management plan put in
place by the county. The
fi rst phase of management
work was completed ear-
lier this year.
“We are striking a good
balance for multiple uses.
We are getting to the place
where we are protecting it
and making it more resil-
ient to wildfi re in the long
run and improving forest
health,” Anderes said.
MORE ELECTION
INFORMATION
What: Election for Position 1
on the Union County Board
of Commissioners.
When: Ballots for May 17
mail election are now in the
process of being delivered
to registered voters in Union
County.
Deadline: Election ballots
must be returned to the
Union County Clerk’s Offi ce
by 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17.
pensate for the growth.
In La Grande, roughly 25%
of households are under severe
rent burden due to spending over
50% of household income on
housing — these totals qualify
the city for a housing crisis. Fur-
thermore, the study showed that
renters in La Grande are nearly
twice as likely to be cost bur-
dened as homeowners.
La Grande is currently looking
at ways to ease these burdens, with
the Housing Production Strategy
in place through the city’s plan-
ning commission. Several areas of
focus include lowering minimum
lot sizes for single-family detached
Hill, who grew up in
La Grande, is a grad-
uate of La Grande High
School and Western Busi-
ness College in Portland.
She left La Grande in the
early 1970s and moved to
the Portland area where
she worked for the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion for three years. Later
she worked for two real
estate development fi rms
for a total of fi ve years
in Seattle, Washington,
and then was employed
in the mortgage banking
business for fi ve years in
Southern California.
Hill returned to La
Grande in 1991. Her
experience in Union
County, in addition to her
private business work,
includes a second stint
with ODOT from 2010 to
2018, where she served in
an executive support role
for the agency’s District 5
and Area 5 managers.
The candidate believes
that through her expe-
rience with ODOT she
developed skills that would
guide her as a county com-
missioner. She explained
that during her tenure with
ODOT she helped inter-
governmental agencies and
the business sector come
together and complete
projects that benefi ted
communities, businesses,
agriculture and schools.
Hill said she fi led to run
for a position on the Union
County Board of Commis-
sioners not only because
she believes she has the
necessary background and
skills but also because
there is a need for commu-
nity members to lead.
“I believe that in the
times we are living in it is
important to step up, help
where I can, and use my
strengths to benefi t my
community,” she said.
Accessible meetings
Hill wants to make it
easier for people to attend
meetings of the Union
County Board of Commis-
sioners. She said if elected
she would strive to have
homes and reducing barriers to
developing cottage-style housing
and accessory dwelling units.
Similarly, the planning com-
mission and La Grande Eco-
nomic Development Department
both have future plans in place
to emphasize the use of underuti-
lized buildings in downtown La
Grande for housing and retail
opportunities.
Wyden emphasized the Decent,
Aff ordable, Safe Housing for All
Act, a bill he introduced in 2021,
as a means to combat housing
aff ordability. The bill aims to
house homeless individuals
within fi ve years through housing
The Observer, File
Mature ponderosa pines epitomize the wild beauty of the Mount Emily
Recreation Area, outside La Grande, on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.
LISA HILL
Hill, 68, is a La Grande resi-
dent and a business owner.
Her recent work experience
includes an eight-year stint
with the Oregon Department
of Transportation in La Grande.
She is a graduate of Western
Business College.
timber and homes.
Hill said that she
doesn’t want to comment
further on the MERA
management plan, which
caused controversy in
2021, because she does not
have fi rsthand information
on how the decision to put
it in place was made.
Election goals
the board conduct one of
its two regular monthly
meetings in the evening.
Presently both of the coun-
ty’s twice-a-month meet-
ings begin at 9 a.m. on
Wednesday in the Joseph
Building in La Grande.
Hill would also like
to see the board conduct
one of its meetings every
three months in a Union
County town outside
La Grande, to make the
board even more acces-
sible to the public.
MERA management
When asked about
steps being taken to
manage the Mount Emily
Recreation Area so that it
is less vulnerable to wild-
fi res, Hill said she sup-
ports MERA and appreci-
ates the benefi t it provides
to the community. The
candidate said she can
understand why wildfi re is
a concern because of the
dry weather the region has
experienced and because
MERA is surrounded by
The candidate said if
elected one of her goals
would be to expand the
board of commissioners’
eff orts to make Union
County a more popular
place for tourists to visit.
Hill noted that Uma-
tilla County is known for
the Pendleton Round-Up,
Baker County for the
Geiser Grand Hotel in
Baker City, and Wal-
lowa County for Wallowa
Lake, arts and choco-
late — but Union County
does not have a signature
drawing card.
“We need some-
thing that will get people
passing by La Grande
to think twice and con-
sistently pull off the
freeway,” Hill said.
She said her fondness
for the Grande Ronde
Valley runs deep, and
she wants more people to
experience it.
“I love this valley, it is
home,” she said. “There
is something about this
valley that hooks you.”
“There’s not a nook or cranny in the state from
Portland to the valley or throughout the rural part of
the state where people aren’t asking about housing.”
— U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
vouchers, expand services to assist
families in climbing out of housing
poverty, increase production of
aff ordable housing for families
through investments into LIHTC
and MIHTC, increase investment
in homeownership in underserved
communities and for low-income
Americans, and encourage devel-
opment strategies that are environ-
mentally conscious.
“Obviously, you aren’t going
to get decent, aff ordable, safe
housing for all in the next 15 min-
utes. What we’ve been doing is
pulling out pieces that touch on
shelter beds, the warming sta-
tions, housing vouchers and
incentives for new construction,”
Wyden said. “Every day I look for
ways to help us with respect to
getting more shelter.”