REGION
SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A3
BMCC board postpones decision on faculty layoff s, budget
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The Blue
Mountain Community College
Board of Education at its meeting
Wednesday, June 1, postponed
action on a 2022-23 budget pro-
posing faculty layoff s.
The board’s reading of state
law requiring seven day public
notice was responsible for the
delay, BMCC President Mark
Browning explained.
The board plans to reconvene
in a special meeting June 6 to
consider approval of the budget.
The budget committee agreed to
the BMCC Faculty Association’s
request to resume talks on teacher
layoff s June 3.
“I don’t ever want to close that
door,” Browning said. “We have
a plan, but of course (the admin-
istration) is willing to listen. The
(BMFA) came up with some good
ideas before talks broke down.”
Before the fi nal decision to delay
the budget vote, the faculty union
went ahead with its rally outside
Pioneer Hall. The demonstration of
support for teachers attracted about
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
About 100 Blue Mountain Community College faculty, students and community
members gather Wednesday, June 1, 2022, on the Pendleton campus to protest the
college administration’s budget proposal that would cut several teaching positions.
120 attendees, according to new
BMFA President Sascha McKeon.
She has been on the union exec-
utive team for two years and a
biology instructor for 10.
“The other faculty and I are
grateful for the extraordinary sup-
port we have had from our stu-
dents, alumni and the community
at large,” she read in a statement
to the board. “As of this after-
noon, our petition to save BMCC
faculty has garnered over 1,900
signatures between our Google
sheet and Change.org.”
The event featured sign-car-
rying union supporters in blue
T-shirts emblazoned with “Save
Former gamer aims to shake up
John Day as city manager
A new Grant
County resident,
29-year-old Corum
Ketchum promoted
to city manager
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
JOHN DAY — Corum
Ketchum graduated from his
master’s program and less
than a year later is running
a city of 1,600 people and
managing a 14-person staff .
The John Day City
Council appointed Ketchum
as an interim
city manager
Tuesday, May
10. Should
both Ketchum
and the city
council
remain sat-
Ketchum
isfi ed with
the arrangement, he’ll be
made the city’s CEO in six
months.
For a 29-year-old who
once considered a career
as a pro gamer, the sudden
upswing in his career
wasn’t expected. Running
John Day wasn’t a part of
Ketchum’s original plans.
He attended the University
of Oregon as an undergrad-
uate so he could become a
public planner.
His career outlook
changed after he joined
Americorps’ Rural Assis-
tance for Rural Environ-
ments program. He spent
two years in Veneta, a
town of 5,000 people west
of Eugene, working with
the city administrator on
economic development
projects.
Ketchum learned to
enjoy working in a smaller
community, where trying
to get things done wasn’t as
diffi cult as it was in larger
and more “calcifi ed” cities.
“The bureaucracy is
always much thicker, where
if you spend time in a rural
community, you get to meet
the couple dozen people
who are really excited about
investing in their place,” he
said.
He returned to the Uni-
versity of Oregon to get his
master’s in public admin-
istration but another pas-
sion almost took him down
another path.
Ketchum grew up
playing video games and
was good enough at games
like Overwatch and Team
Fortress that he helped
form an e-sports team. The
team was competitive if not
exactly lucrative.
“We never really made
any money,” he said. “If
we placed low on a tourna-
ment, we’d get paid like 100
bucks as a team, and then
I’d divvy that six ways.”
As Ketchum wrapped up
his master’s degree in 2021,
the University of Oregon
was starting its own offi -
cial e-sports team and was
looking for someone to
manage it. He didn’t get
Blue Mountain Eagle, File
The John Day City Council appointed Corum Ketchum as an interim
city manager on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. Should both Ketchum and
the city council remain satisfi ed with the arrangement, he’ll be made
the CEO in six months.
the job after applying, but
a university administrator
encouraged him to think
bigger.
It was around this
time that Ketchum read a
John Day investment plan
focused on a project to
build a water reclamation
facility that would repur-
pose the city’s wastewater
for other uses like agricul-
ture. The city was looking
for a community develop-
ment director and Ketchum
felt like it was a good match
for him based on his work
in Veneta.
“It seemed like a really
natural fi t for my skill set
and who I really am, and
more or less a calling for
me to come out here and fi ll
that gap,” he said.
Ketchum grew up in
Eugene but he has family
ties to Grant County. His
grandfather was a ranger for
the U.S. Forest Service and
worked in the Prairie City
district. During that time,
his grandmother taught at
Grant Union High School
and his father learned to
swim at the pool in John
Day. His grandfather even-
tually transferred to a dif-
ferent district, but Ketchum
said he still has family in
Eastern Oregon.
In March, Ketchum
started work under City
Manager Nick Green, who
had built a reputation on
introducing novel ideas
to John Day, like building
3-D printed houses and the
water reclamation project.
Ketchum wanted to absorb
as much knowledge from
Green as possible since
Green was already planning
his exit.
Ketchum had only
been working for the city
a few months when Green
entered his offi ce. Green
told him the city could
spend thousands of dol-
lars on a search fi rm, but he
had a feeling they wouldn’t
fi nd a better candidate than
Ketchum. The city council
agreed and gave Ketchum
the top job.
As the city manager,
Ketchum said he wants to
continue Green’s initiatives,
while also off ering more
“short-term wins” for John
Day, like more community
events, downtown invest-
ments and outdoor trails.
Housing is also a con-
cern. Although Grant
County was the only county
in the state to lose popu-
lation in the 2020 Census,
Ketchum said John Day has
a less than 1% vacancy rate
in its housing market.
Anticipating growth
fueled by Boise to the
east and Bend to the west,
Ketchum said the city is
working toward making
more of its land develop-
able for future housing.
After decades of stag-
nancy, Ketchum said 40
houses will be built this
summer and another 70 in
the fall.
Ketchum brought only
a few years of experience
to the job by the time he
became city manager and
he’s now a part of a pro-
fession where most of his
peers are 40 and older. But
Ketchum said his youth is
a good match for the town.
“I think my youth is a
real asset,” he said. “My
demographic is the exact
kind of person that we want
to be seeing more of out
here in John Day. People
my age going into their
40s, the prime earners,
the people that have fam-
ilies, the people that start
businesses and are really
in the rocket years as
professionals.”
BMCC” in yellow . Public
speakers’ comments began at
5 p.m.
The fi rst speakers were Roy
Barron, Hermiston city coun-
cilor and educator, and Enrique
Farrera of Clackamas, vice pres-
ident of the Oregon Education
Association, the union that rep-
resents the faculty association.
Paul Keefer, Boardman mayor,
1987 BMCC grad and sixth
grade teacher, next addressed
attendees, followed by Herm-
iston educator Tammy Fisher.
Umatilla teacher Chris Early,
president of Columbia River
UniServ, which supports OEA
locals in the region, rounded out
the list.
Speakers sounded themes of
unity and solidarity, and empha-
sized the value of full-time
teachers to students and the com-
munity. Two urged administrators
to “fi gure it out.”
“A budget says a lot,” McKeon
added. “Students don’t come for a
snazzy website or pretty campus.
They come for good faculty.
Diversity of courses and quality
of instruction will get them where
they want to go in life.”
Faculty supporters formed up
outside the doors of Pioneer Hall,
but found them locked. McKeon
produced a key, and the crowd
marched into the hallway outside
the conference room. Part-time
philosophy teacher Nicholas Nash
led the way.
The crowd waited in the hall
until invited into the conference
room.
Faculty supporters opposed to
layoff s marched into the room.
Rice allowed 30 minutes for
public comments of a maximum
three minutes each. About 15
community members, present and
past BMCC faculty and students
spoke.
“We recognize that the board
has a fi duciary responsibility to
pass a balanced budget,” McKeon
said as faculty association pres-
ident, “but propose you have
an equally great responsibility
to advocate for the communi-
ty’s needs. Well, they are (here),
speaking loud and clear — discre-
tionary cuts to faculty and student
scholarships should come from
other line items.”
Commuter airline lands new deal
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
U.S. Department of Trans-
portation has increased
Boutique Air’s Essential Air
Service contract for Pend-
leton and renewed it through
May 31, 2024.
Boutique had asked to
renegotiate the terms of its
Essential Air Service sub-
sidy to serve Pendleton’s
Eastern Oregon Regional
Airport due to many
changes, including the
cost of fuel and a work-
force crisis.
Boutique fi led a form
in February requesting to
terminate its EAS con-
tract beginning Thursday,
May 12. The subsidy for
the fourth year of its agree-
ment was almost $2.69 mil-
lion. The DOT then coun-
tered, prohibiting Boutique
from ending its service and
calling for it and other air
carriers to issue proposals
for the contract.
Only Boutique
responded, and the fed-
Charly Hotchkiss/East Oregonian, File
An Eastern Oregon Regional Airport employee helps prepare the
afternoon Boutique Air fl ight for takeoff Thursday, April 14, 2022,
in Pendleton. The airline won a new two-year contract through
May 31, 2024, from the U.S. Department of Transportation to
provide air service to Pendleton.
eral government accepted
its two-year proposal.
The new annual subsidy
rate for the fi rst year of ser-
vice is more than $3.87 mil-
lion. The second year of the
service will see a subsidy of
almost $3.95 million. The
contract requires Boutique
to provide 21 nonstop, round
trips a week to and from
Portland International Air-
port, using an eight- or nine-
seat Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.
“I think the increase
is absolutely justifi ed,”
said John Honemann, air-
port manager, “given their
unprecedented costs.”
Honemann consid-
ered the new contract to be
not at all out of line com-
pared to other EAS sub-
sidies. He said he felt the
two-year term is warranted,
since a longer period might
not allow Boutique to keep
up with changes in the
economy.
“I think it’s a great deal,”
Honemann continued.
“(Air service) is critical
infrastructure. Our region
needed a tie to Portland and
Salem. I’ve been fi ghting
and working for it.”
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