8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015
Local
New Skills USA Club at BHS
prepares for first competitio
By Gina K. Swartz
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Baker High School has
a new club. Skills USA
offers students the opportu-
nity to advance in a variety
of areas including art,
drafting, engineering, and
welding to highlight a few.
Tuesday, January 27,
2015 the club met in the
new wing of the high
school known as the
Baker Technical Institute
to begin discussion of their
first ever competition.
The upcoming competi-
tion, being hosted by BTI
is scheduled for Monday,
February 9 beginning at
9:00 a.m. in the Baker
High School Auditorium
with a presentation by
Sherry Cole, Techni-
cal Advisor for Eastern
Oregon. 80 participants
are expected with teams
expected from Vale, Elgin,
Halfway and Baker.
The teams will com-
pete in Construction and
Engineering with indi-
vidual competitions in
Automotive and Welding.
Knowledge tests in the
area of competition will
also be administered to all
competitors in the field in
which they will be compet-
ing.
The February 9th
competition will be the
first held for the newly
formed club and as Dave
Frazey, one of the club
advisors explained, “To
compete at the state level
they require resumes and
a written notebooks with
information, with this
being our first time and
not really knowing how
things flo , we are going
to eliminate that part and
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Dave Frazey (seated) talks with club members Taber Baldwin, Austin Rasmus-
sen and Grant Ermovick.
do more of the hands on
activities to learn how this
all will work and just have
fun. Not put a lot of stress
on you. Realistically we
can’t go through and read
80 or so resumes anyway,
we just don’t have the man
power to do that.”
Highlighting just how
important these competi-
tions are Frazey added,
“Because this is our first
year all of you will qualify
to go to state. The nice
thing about going to State
is that’s when it’s the real
deal and that opens up
opportunity for scholar-
ships. There will people
form industry there. They
expect over 1,000 people
from businesses, vendors
and people will be talking
to you looking at possible
scholarship status. So that
is a great opportunity for
you all to look into other
areas as well things that
may not be offered here at
Baker High School.”
Advisors for the club are
Dave Frazey, Burke Sme-
jkal and para professional
Allen Makinson.
Club officers include
Taber Baldwin, Eli
Witham, Grant Ermovick,
Austin Rasmussen, and
Brady Nelson.
Although this is the first
year of the club here, “It
is pretty popular on the
other side of the country,”
explained Eli Witham.
The club collectively
will work on community
projects as well. “I have
spoken with Mike Kee
at the City,” says Allen
Mankinson. “We are talk-
ing about working with
them on the new bike
path. They are looking
at not using pavement
but possibly using com-
pacted gravel, so we are
researching compacted
gravel. Roman roads were
compacted gravel, we have
a prototype put together,
very similar to limecrete. It
is supposed to be stronger
than concrete at one-third
of the weight and long
lasting.”
Judges for the competi-
tion will be local individu-
als with a background in
the category they are judg-
ing. Presentation of awards
will be held at the end of
the competition day.
New Huntington City Council
By Eileen Driver
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Three newly elected
council members, Carol
Allender, Rhonda Bronson
and Cindy Deck, along
with re-elected Mayor
Travis Young, took their
oath of office, administered
by City Recorder Tracy
Mclean at the Huntington
City Council meeting on
Monday January 26 at 6:00
p.m.
Mayor Young then said,
“We would like to thank
the retiring council mem-
bers for their service to the
City and we welcome the
new Council members to
the Council table.” The
new councilors were
immediately thrown into
the thick of local politics
and city administration
with a preliminary report
on the annual financial a -
dit by the firm of Nichols
& Mitchell, the cities Audi-
tors of Record.
The auditors reported
that the City has slowly but
finally recovered from the
financial difficulties it s -
fered 10 years ago with the
misappropriation of funds
by the former administra-
tion, but still has some
work to do on adding new
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Eileen Driver / The Baker County Press
L-R: Rhonda Bronson , Travis Young, Carol Allender (back) and Cindy Deck.
line items to the budget to
further clarify where the
current money is being
spent. The auditors also
stressed the importance of
being more pro-active in
collecting past due water
and sewer bills.
The Council then
moved on to the regular
business of the City with
a review of the Baker
County Sheriff’s report of
activities in Huntington,
a report from the Public
Works Department and an
annual report of the Fire
and Medical Department’s
activities.
The Fire Department
also discussed with the
council their proposal to
put up for sale three sur-
plus vehicles and the pur-
chase of one new vehicle
to replace them, which
they believe, will bet-
ter serve the needs of the
Medical Department and
save the City money in the
long run. After careful con-
sideration by the Council
this proposal was approved
and will be set into motion
as soon as possible.
Also discussed was
the updating of the City
employee handbook, the
upcoming wewer project
and grant and the possible
need for repairs to the
VFW Hall’s walk-in cooler
and the re-keying of the
locks on that building.
First Friday commissioners event
to start in February
Commission Chairman
Bill Harvey will be holding
“First Friday with the
Commissioner” starting in
February.
The first event is Frida ,
February 6, 2015 from
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in
the Commission Cham-
bers of the Baker County
Courthouse located at 1995
Third Street, Baker City.
This time will be used to
allow the citizens to visit
with the Commissioner
about issues impacting
Baker County.
Planning Comm. gives
Donaldson extension
By Todd Arriola
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The Baker County Plan-
ning Commission held its
regular meeting on Thurs-
day, January 22 at 6 p.m.
Present from the Com-
mission were Alice Trin-
dle, Chair, Randy Joseph,
Commissioner, Suzan Ellis
Jones, Commissioner,
Chris Dunn, Commis-
sioner, and Lauri Hoopes,
Commissioner. Jim Grove,
Commissioner, and Linda
Wicker, Commissioner,
were absent.
Planning Department
staff present were Holly
Kerns, Planning Director,
Kelly Howsley-Glover,
Planner, and Kevin Berry-
man, Planning Assistant.
The focus of this meeting
was an extension request,
EXT-14-102, from ap-
plicant Gregg Donaldson,
a registered agent of Dyke
Creek Park, LLC, for prop-
erty located near Oxbow.
Trindle asked if there
were any challenges to
the jurisdiction of the
Commission to hear the
matter, and no challenges
were stated. She asked if
there were any conflicts
of interest or biases to be
declared by any Commis-
sioners, and Hoopes stated
that, for the public hearing
segment, she would need
to recuse herself, since she
had been an active Plan-
ner during the time of the
initial application, and she
would provide testimony.
The minutes from the
November 24, 2014 meet-
ing were approved with a
motion from Dunn and a
second from Jones, after
Jones noted a correction
was needed to the date of
today’s meeting.
Hoopes was seated with
the public as Kerns and
Howsley-Glover contacted
Donaldson, who’s located
in Colorado, via telephone
for a conference call with
the Board. Howsley-Glov-
er gave an introduction,
saying, “Briefly summari -
ing the staff report (given
to Commissioners earlier),
Mr. Donaldson, on behalf
of the property owner, Iron
Dyke Creek Park, LLC,
applied for an extension
(EXT-14-102) for Baker
County case PA-07-005, a
plan amendment approved
in 2008, which created
the Homestead Recreation
Limited Use Combining
(HRLUC) Zone.”
Trindle introduced her-
self and asked Donaldson
to state his name and ad-
dress for the record, shortly
thereafter allowing him to
provide testimony.
“I’d like to request a con-
tinuance on my application
until late April,” Don-
aldson said. He said that
between the time of the ap-
plication and now, circum-
stances have changed, and
there is a potential buyer,
though the sale hasn’t been
made yet, so he wishes to
leave options open to him.
Kerns informed the
Commission that April 23
would be the available date
for a continuance.
With the possibility of a
continuance, Trindle said,
“Mr. Donaldson, would
April 23 give you suffi-
cient time to know where
your buyer is going?” Don-
aldson replied it would.
Joseph talked with Don-
aldson, noting the length of
time the process has taken
from the beginning, and
the complications with it.
Part of the property, Tax
Lot 100, was sold to Mark
and Lisa Butler of Oxbow
in 2013, who own property
adjacent to it. They weren’t
successful in purchasing
the rest of the property, Tax
Lot 900, which is currently
under contract with a po-
tential buyer.
Joseph said, “I think
it’s time for the Planning
Commission to step away
from this,” noting how
two extensions had already
been granted up to this
point, and how the situa-
tion has changed since the
original application, with
break up of the property,
with camping site and RV
site issues, etc.
Donaldson explained
that more time was needed
to pursue development
options on the property,
that he’s unsure about the
potential buyer’s inten-
tions. He said he’s only
had control of the property
for about a year and a half,
though he’s had involve-
ment with it periodically
for the last eight years.
Kerns discussed with the
Commission the details of
what would happen with
or without an extension
granted, and the zoning
details of the property.
Joseph stated his desire
to hear testimony that day,
with agreement from the
rest of the Commission.
Trindle asked Donaldson
if he had any more testimo-
ny to provide concerning a
possible continuance to the
April 23 meeting, and he
stated his intentions with
or without a continuance of
the hearing on the matter.
Howsley-Glover entered
Exhibit G, a letter of op-
position for the extension
from Mark and Lisa Butler,
into the record. The basis
of their testimony is that
no visible development
has been observed with the
property since 2008.
Bill Nagi, a landowner
adjacent to the property,
provided testimony about
vandalism to his orchard,
and area disturbances.
Stacy Nagi, Bill’s son,
also provided testimony
concerning vandalism,
issues with different ac-
tivities in the area, and the
lack of development.
Hoopes testified in
support of the extension,
explaining her involvement
with the application, and
the effort throughout the
period. She said Donaldson
had expressed his inten-
tions initially, and they
were a guide, and not as-
sumed to be “absolute.”
Donaldson was allowed a
chance to provide further
testimony, and he request-
ed that the Commission
not make a decision on the
extension until April 23.
There was a discussion
once the testimony was
completed, and Jones said,
“It’s a tough one. I’m lean-
ing toward giving him the
extension at the meeting in
April,” stating factors such
as the work already com-
pleted, and the need for
more information concern-
ing the application. Dunn
agreed with Jones.
Joseph made a motion
to deny the continuance
to the April 23 meeting,
with a second from Trinde.
Trindle and Joseph voted
in favor, with Jones and
Dunn opposing, and the
motion did not carry, since
Trindle’s vote is used in the
event of a tie. Jones made
a motion for a continuance
to the April 23 meeting,
with a second from Dunn,
and this motion carried.
After a recess Trindle
was unanimously re-elect-
ed as Commission Chair,
and Hoopes as Vice Chair.