FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Local / Opinion
— Guest Opinion —
County Commissioners Coordination
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Citizens’ Participation.
Brown was given the
floor first. He said, “Thi
marijuana issue in Haines
is very volatile at this point
in time. In our community,
people seem to have tunnel
vision, and their minds
are stuck on this issue of a
medical dispensary.”
He said there is confu-
sion regarding dispensa-
ries, and state law, and the
Board discussed this issue
with him, clarifying some
points.
Bennett said that later
in the session Shirtcliff
would be present to an-
swer Brown’s questions
more clearly, and Harvey
said, “There’d be only
one type of dispensary.
There wouldn’t be one for
medical, and one for rec-
reation,” which answered
one of Brown’s questions.
Hardt, Anderson and
Chase discussed briefly a
situation between miners,
the U.S. Forest Service
(USFS) and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM)
around Galice Creek, west
of Grants Pass, over who
has the rights to the miner-
als in the ground. Hardt
said, “It’s going to come to
a head.”
Morrison voiced
concerns about the Fizz
Springs Timber Com-
mercial Harvest proposal,
discussed during the regu-
lar Commission session on
Wednesday, April 1, 2015,
and Harvey explained
where the parcel is located,
possible revenue, and why
the Baker County Parks
and Recreation Department
was involved. The Board
is still gathering details.
Forest Access.
Harvey asked is there
were any additions to
the agenda, and Kerns
mentioned a letter of sup-
port for House Bill (HB)
1555, the Forest Access in
Rural Communities Act of
2015, sponsored by Rep.
Greg Walden. This letter,
dated April 15, 2015, is
addressed from the Board
to Chairman Rob Bishop,
of the Natural Resources
Committee (NRC),
Washington, D.C., and
expresses agreement from
the Board with the need to
stop the implementation
and enforcement of Travel
Management Rule under
Subparts A, B and C of
Part 212 of Title 36, Code
of Federal Regulations and
Subparts A and B of part
261 of such title. Harvey
read the letter aloud to
the attendees, which is a
request to the NRC for
support of HB 1555.
Bennett moved, and
Kerns seconded, to ap-
prove the letter. The mo-
tion carried.
Liquor License.
An Oregon Liquor Con-
trol Commission (OLCC)
Liquor License Applica-
tion for Scotty’s Hells
Canyon Outdoor Supply
in Halfway, was approved.
The application was filed
due to a change in owner-
ship, from Diana and Scott
E. Jensen to Christina and
Scott C. Jensen.
Assessor’s Office
Savage and Berry
presented an Assessor’s
Department update, a de-
tailed County Assessment
Function Funding Assis-
tance (CAFFA) 2015-2016
Property Tax Program
Grant Application. The
total expenditures for
CAFFA consideration for
Baker County is stated as
$992,648. The application
was approved.
Marijuana.
Shirtcliff, Ash, and Holly
Kerns together discussed
proposed Ordinance No.
2015-02, An Ordinance
Regulating Marijuana
Within Baker County;
And Declaring An Emer-
gency. The purpose of the
ordinance is to prohibit the
operation of commercial
marijuana facilities/dispen-
saries, as well as marijuana
producers, processors,
wholesalers, retailers and
marijuana testing facilities
within the county. Shirt-
cliff explained that both
readings of the proposed
ordinance (there are only
two required with a County
ordinance, as opposed to a
City ordinance, requiring
three readings) would oc-
cur during the Commission
session on April 29.
Morrison and Dielman
voiced some concerns
about complications re-
garding hunting on federal
lands and marijuana pos-
session, and contradictions
with state and federal law
concerning marijuana
activities. Dielman men-
tioned a similar discus-
sion at the Library Board
meeting on Tuesday, and
invited the commissioners
to the next meeting.
Blue Mountain Transla-
tor District.
Beach gave the Board a
Blue Mountain Transla-
tor District update. She
explained that with a fiber
optic upgrade to the net-
work, more high-definition
channels could be broad-
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casted, and the amount of
channels offered in general
could be tripled. She said,
“We worked hard on our
awareness,” explaining
that increased revenue is
needed to fund the regular
operations of the system,
as well as any upgrades.
Beach explained the
difficulty with collec -
ing revenue, which is an
annual fee of $100 to each
property where individuals
use an antenna to receive
the television signals.
She said, “I see them all
over town,” but with lim-
ited payments made from
consumers. “Please help us
support the District, or it
will go dark.”
She said if the statutes
regulating District opera-
tions were to be revised, it
would help change the way
fees are assessed, with the
possibility of a flat fee for
the membership area.
Holly Kerns discussed
with the Board Ordinance
No. 2015-01, In The
Matter Of Amending The
Baker County Public Nui-
sance Ordinance No. 2006-
02. This was the second
reading of the ordinance,
which addresses language
issues, inconsistencies and
confusing sections in the
original ordinance.
Order No. 2015-116,
Appointing Members To
The Baker County Natural
Resources Advisory Com-
mittee, was approved, with
a motion from Bennett,
and a second from Kerns.
The following members
were appointed: Eileen
Gyllenberg, Jacob Bing-
ham, Kody Justus, Cynthia
Long, George Keister,
Page Frederickson, Chuck
Chase, Craig Ward, Doni
Bruland, Emily Bras-
well, and Ken Anderson.
Depending on the sub-
committees, their terms
expire on March 1, 2016,
March 1, 2018, or March
1, 2019. Hardt and Wanda
Ballard expressed concerns
about the efficiency of the
committee with a larger
number of appointees.
Order No. 2015-115, An
Order Directing The Baker
County Sheriff To Make
Sale Of County Property;
Fixing The Minimum Price
And Providing A Por-
tion Of The Conditions
And Terms Of Sale, was
approved. The original
motion included a mini-
mum bid of $5,300 and
was modified by Kerns, to
a minimum bid of $5,300,
and the stipulation that the
building at 1716 Broadway
be demolished.
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
President Barack Obama
202.456.1414
202.456.2461 fax
Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
503.326.3386
503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
US Sen. Ron Wyden
541.962.7691
Wyden.Senate.gov
US Rep. Greg Walden
541.624.2400
541.624.2402 fax
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
541.523.8201
is effective
with USFS
By Sylvia Milligan
Special to The Baker County Press
With every passing day Americans
are having to deal with issues that
threaten to take away their rights to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness. Most people are not even aware
how fast their rights are eroding, and
even if they become aware, they have
no idea how to slow the process down,
much less stop it.
We rely on our elected officials to
take care of us and protect our rights.
However, they too are overwhelmed
with the shear scope of issues, most
made too difficult to understand given
the language that is used, and the
depth of the issues involved.
There is a powerful, though little
known tool that is available to our lo-
cal governments that allow them to sit
at the table and have an equal part in
the decisions that are made by federal
agencies affecting the public. This is
a process called Coordination, which
every federal government agency is
required to follow when beginning
any major federal action. A federal ac-
tion means any action requiring NEPA
(either EA or EIS).
Coordination was defined in the
Federal Land Policy Management Act
(FLPMA) and the National Forest
Management Act (NFMA), and estab-
lishes a process for land use with the
BLM and the FS specifically allowing
local governments to have a part in
public lands management decisions,
and to keep federal government agen-
cies from running over local govern-
ments.
Coordination language is clear in
that it requires the agency to become
‘consistent’ with local land manage-
ment plans and policies when creating
a project on public lands, providing
that doing so does not violate federal
law or policy. Allowing local gov-
ernments to be involved in a project
early, and often, with an equal seat at
the table, is a great conflict resolution
tool.
To ensure that the local govern-
ment is included in the process they
must first invoke coordination, a very
simple matter, and notify all other
governmental agencies that they have
done so, and that they expect to be
invited to participate in any major fed-
eral action on the public lands within
their jurisdiction.
The Coordination process is bind-
ing, and can be done quickly. Should
the need arise, for example, an agency
refuses to coordinate, you have the
ability to go to court on a simple
procedural issue, the agency either did
or did not coordinate. This has been
tested many times in court and never
failed. The federal government does
not want to go to court on coordina-
tion, so in most cases they will work
with the local government.
As a result of coordination many
big issues have been resolved between
two agencies without going to court.
There have been two such cases in
California, which did go to court, and
in both cases the decision was the
same, both parties needed to go back
to the table and resolve their differ-
ences by being consistent with local
land use plans and policies.
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Submitted Photo
Sylvia Milligan is founder and chair
of Recreation Outdoors Coalition
(ROC) in Northern California and
has worked on forest issues for 25
years. Through coordination, her
group has been successful in get-
ting all unpaved county roads and
the Shasta-Trinity National Forest
roads opened for mixed use, thus
providing a streamlined transporta-
tion system in this forest.
Coordination is not limited to a
local government. For example, the
county, but can be invoked by any
agency that has an elected board such
as a school district, cemetery district,
water district, even an elected Sheriff.
If your county commissioners will
not consider working with the Forest
Service through coordination, then by
all means ask one of these other enti-
ties. They can be trained quickly and
easily, and they have an equally pow-
erful seat at the table when coordinat-
ing. Four tiny towns in central Texas,
with unelected mayors, stopped the
Trans Texas Corridor, the first leg of
the NAFTA super highway, a tool road
from Mexico with no U.S. customs
along its entire length.
Federal agencies do not like co-
ordination and are working hard to
convince local governments to adopt a
cooperating agency status.
While this process may be helpful
in a number of cases, it should not be
entered into without first establis -
ing coordination between the federal
agency and the local government.
When a local government enters
into a cooperating agency status they
give away their power. The federal
government can now do as they please
on an issue and the local government
has no power to require consistency
with local plans and policies. They
give up their rights to a speedy process
on a plan, and to have input into the
project. They must ultimately forfeit
any rights to mitigation and be subject
to the whims of the federal agency.
The federal agencies will do any-
thing to convince local governments
that this is the route to take, but it is
not. Local governments must not fall
for this siren song, but must stand
strong to protect the health and wel-
fare of their constituents, and for the
revenues the county generates from
recreational use of the forest to sup-
port their social programs.
While there may be some projects
that will benefit from a cooperating
status after invoking coordination, it
depends on the project and must not
be used on any project that needs to be
completed in a timely manner. Under
a cooperation agreement, the federal
agency can drag out a project forever,
and the local agency has no power to
do anything about it.
It does not matter if you call the
collaboration process collaboration
or cooperation, in the end it will be
one and the same when you attempt
to make it work for you, because it
won’t. Coordination is the only pro-
cess with legally binding teeth.
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