FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 9
Local
Sumpter City Council meeting proves tense
BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Seats were packed at
Tuesday night’s Sumpter
City Council meeting.
County Commissioner
Harvey and his wife, Lor-
rie, also attended.
Despite the palpable ten-
sion and ongoing dissen-
sion throughout the meet-
ing, the Council was able
to pass several motions and
heard reports from various
departments.
The first item of dissen-
sion came up under bills
to be paid. After discus-
sion, the Council did not
approve reimbursement of
two expenses, which had
not been preapproved by
them.
The first was a locking
filing cabinet purchased by
Mayor Melissa Findley for
the office at a cost of $139
at Ryder Brothers.
The second expense
was hotel room for the two
individuals who attended
the Oregon Festivals and
Entertainment Association
conference.
Councilperson LeAnne
Woolf stated when she and
then-mayor John Young at-
tended, they paid for their
own rooms and meals.
She pointed out this year’s
attendees were already
reimbursed for meals and
gas.
Another contentious
item in the bills was $238
for meat to provide a BBQ
for Flea Market vendors.
Concerns included timing,
who approved the expense,
and why the Fire Depart-
ment was not allowed to
host the event as previ-
ously.
Findley responded that
the Parks Manager has no
budget per se to work with
except for payroll. Re-
garding approval, she said
there was precedence with
the vendor luncheon last
year, that it had worked
well, and they wanted to
make it well worthwhile
for the Memorial Day Flea
Market.
She also asked for
patience until the final
numbers on the Flea Mar-
ket come in, stating that
the cost of the event can be
paid out of profits that this
Flea Market made.
The Council voted
three to two to approve
all current bills except for
the meat. This issue was
tabled for the present.
Jeff McKinney, Utility
Manager, led off his report
by thanking Lee German
for all his help over the
past month. McKinney is
coordinating with the Fire
Department on opening
fire lanes around the City
and on a plan for opening
the water system if there is
BHS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The BHS Class of 2015
chose retired Baker Middle
School social studies
teacher Bill Mitchell as
commencement speaker
and after much persistent
prodding from the class, he
agreed.
Mitchell taught social
studies at the middle
school for more than 30
years and after his retire-
ment took a position with
the United States Forest
Service.
Mitchell based his
speech on advice given in
the song “Small Town,’
made popular by musician
a fire and McKinney is not
available.
McKinney asked that
residents be using water
conservation measures. He
is working with the Fire
Chief on a date to burn
the burn pile. Tall grasses
along City streets will be
mowed or trimmed before
it gets dry.
McKinney completed
his Small City Water Certi-
fication and asked Council
permission to take the next
required water certification
class in August at a cost of
$275. McKinney said as
he has not been certified,
he has been operating the
water system under the
supervision of Jason Green
(Oregon Association of
Water Utilities), who has
provided his services to the
City for free.
Green will soon have to
begin charging the City the
rate for a certified operator,
which will come to about
$500 per month. McKin-
ney believes he can be
completely certified before
then and stated that Green
has already saved the City
over $40,000.
McKinney also reported
lab results when the water
supply was tested for 68
different chemicals. All
came back as either non-
detected or well within
acceptable limits. The cost
was $2,034.
Findley commented that
there must be communica-
tion when asking German
to provide assistance.
Nonemergency projects are
approved through Council.
In an emergency, approval
must go through Findley
or Head of Council Toni
Thompson.
Jim Sheller gave the
Fire Chief’s report. There
were three medical calls
this month, including two
during the Flea Market.
The Firefighter I class is
about half over and going
well. The Department was
able to sell their old truck
for $2000 during the Flea
Market and will be able to
buy 4 or 5 radios with the
profits.
Findley suggested “sur-
plussing” the City’s old
tender (water truck) and
giving it to the Fire Depart-
ment to sell for funds to-
wards a new one. Motion
passed unanimously.
Findley read the plan-
ning commission report.
In the event of need, McE-
wen railroad station will
be available to the City
for an evacuation station.
A lot line adjustment was
approved by the Commis-
sion. A signature from
one of the parties must be
obtained before Council
approves the adjustment.
Findley then gave the
Mayor’s report. She and
Councilperson Robert
Armbruster attended the
DEQ Open House in La
Grande. She reported
a good discussion with
Randy Jones, Scott Fairly,
and Craig Sipp about a
$30,000 no-matching
grant for a drinking water
protection plan. She said
there is an additional
$30,000 available through
the IFA for a watershed
protection plan. Jones said
the City would be able to
apply for both. Findley
would like to follow up on
these opportunities.
Council agreed they
would like to see the pa-
perwork on both.
Findley also shared an op-
portunity to get a market-
ing intern from EOU at
no cost to the City. This
intern would research other
small cities and help make
a plan for how Sumpter
can market itself better.
This person would also
have the ability to build a
City website. Young, in
attendance, warned Coun-
cil to be careful of free
programs that suddenly
have a cost. Findley stated
the proposal will be put in
writing.
Anna Stafford, Parks
Manager, reported she is
trying hard to keep up with
the grass which “jumps
4 ½ inches every time it
rains.” Stafford said she is
waiting on some informa-
tion, but at this point, Flea
Market income is in the
positive. She will present
a line item report at the
next Council meeting for
all attendees to review.
There were 128 vendors
in total, including those on
private and City property.
Stafford asked to set
up a separate meeting to
address the many ques-
tions and concerns about
the Flea Market, including
questions about the vendor
BBQ and blocking a fire
access road. This will be
held Friday, June 19th at
6:30 PM at the school-
house. Stafford stated she
would appreciate it if any-
one with concerns would
communicate with her as
they arise so that she can
get resolution quickly. She
shared that she received
one kudos letter with a
$150 donation for the Flea
Market.
Findley gave an update
on the SLOT (strengths,
limitations, opportunities,
threats) meeting, saying
there was a lot of great
input. The ideas generated
have been distributed to
residents via the Mayor’s
Memo. Folks have until
July 1st to pick their top
ten from each category and
e-mail, mail, or drop by
the office. Findley stated
they will then look for the
constants and pull out the
top five in each category.
John Mellencamp, who
graduated from a small
high school in Indiana.
Lyrics to the song were
tucked inside the diploma
of each graduate. He
advised the Class of 2015
to leave this small town
in search of the path to a
successful life. “Become
something greater than
just a high school gradu-
ate from a small town,”
Mitchell said.
He implored of the
graduates to do for others
through “calculated acts
of kindness” carried out
anonymously and repeat-
edly. And, he advised to
embrace setbacks quoting
Abraham Lincoln who
himself lost eight elections
and failed in two business
ventures before becoming
who many consider one
of the greatest American
presidents: “My great
concern is not whether you
failed but if you’re content
with that failure.”
BHS Principal Ben Mer-
rill handed out diplomas,
hugs, and handshakes to
the graduates of BHS Class
of 2015 in front of school
district administration,
board members, and enthu-
siast family members.
Given the weather
conditions, the Class of
2015 motto, quoted from
New Age and personal
development author Shakti
Gawain, seemed especially
appropriate: “The more
light you allow within you,
the brighter the world you
live in will be.”
Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press
L-R LeAnne Woolf, Toni Thompson, Mayor Melissa Findley, Robert Armbruster,
and Annie Oakley review minutes from the last meeting.
Findley reported the City
attorney responded regard-
ing the Council’s ability
to approve taking on the
IFA loan for completing
DEQ-mandated upgrades.
This would exceed the
City’s indebtedness limit.
The response was that the
Council would need to
determine if the cost of not
taking on the loan would
be greater than taking it.
The City can ask for an
extension to avoid a $250
daily fine starting in July.
Findley asked council
members Woolf and Oak-
ley to work with City Re-
corder Julie McKinney on
getting answers for what
they need to do next.
An Executive Session
to resolve an employee
complaint was set for 6/16
at 8 a.m..
Findley stated she
wanted to “get on radar”
potential opportunities to
raise funds by selling the
cell tower (proceeds would
go to pay off land) and
City-owned acreage above
the effluent area. These
will be discussed further at
July’s meeting.
Resolution 314 to
move budget capacity
within water, sewer, and
street funds was passed
unanimously.
Woolf then moved that
Findley be removed from
oversight of City Staff.
Findley asked why. Woolf
stated expenditure by Parks
Manager that would not
be allowed by office staff,
inclusion of the Fire De-
partment as staff, sharing
private personnel materials
at an open meeting, and
believing that staff would
work better under some-
one else’s governance.
Findley replied that she
is concerned that people
want things to go on as
they have been with rules
not followed, communica-
tion nonexistent, and many
issues to be addressed.
She said she is amazed that
the Council would rather
sit and nitpick at her than
move on and get things
done.
Several strong opinions
were voiced by those in
the attendance, including
concern that the Council
is being intimidated and
manipulated by Findley
and Armbruster.
Head of Council
Thompson stepped in and
stated she doesn’t think the
Council is being intimidat-
ed and that Findley comes
up with some good ideas.
She said she personally
believes that Findley has
had the best interests of
the City in mind, but that
she does not believe that
Findley’s style of commu-
nication with employees
has been effective.
Thompson acknowl-
edged, “Change is tough,
no matter what you do.”
She said there may be
misperceptions of Find-
ley’s actions and said, “The
problem is that perception
becomes reality. And with
no communication, which
is where we’re at now,
nothing happens. No one
is listening to anybody.”
Thompson said she
thinks the ideas and actions
Findley put into effect
should continue.
The motion to remove
Findley from supervisory
capacity was carried with
three votes for and two
against. Thompson was
nominated to take over
supervisory duties. She
stated she would accept,
reluctantly, but that the
ideas Findley implemented
will continue. The nomi-
nation passed with three
votes for and two against.
New business was con-
cluded with a discussion
of a dog ordinance. There
have been many com-
plaints about loose dogs
barking, chasing people,
etc. Findley stated the
1975 ordinance on dogs
was repealed and that the
City has no way to enforce
such an ordinance. She
asked that people please
be cognizant of their dog’s
behavior, especially when
loose.
Thompson asked Mr.
Harvey if he had a chance
to go out and look at the
roads. Harvey said he
hadn’t had opportunity and
asked if the Road Depart-
ment did a good job on
Bourne Road. A portion
of the road was rebuilt
and oiled prior to the Flea
Market to help with dust
issues.
Young asked why the
County is responsible for
Bourne Road and not Aus-
tin. Both roads go through
the City limits and then out
into the county, and Austin
gets more traffic. Harvey
responded that they took
advantage of availability to
repair Bourne Road.
Harvey drew laughter
when stating he would try
not to answer the question
completely, “because every
town I go to will ask the
same question.”
Findley took a few min-
utes at the end of the meet-
ing to respond to issues
regarding job performance
raised by Oakley in the
previous meeting.
Thompson shared two
recommendations of the
budget committee. These
are to increase sewer bills
by $2 per month and water
by $1 per month. This
would bring the monthly
water bill from $57 to $60.
Buehler set to
retire from OTEC
During their regular
monthly board meeting
held on June 2, Oregon
Trail Electric’s Board of
Directors nominated and
elected a new slate of of-
ficers.
George Galloway
(Union County) has been
elected chair, George
“Austin” Bingaman (Union
County) vice-chair with
Charlene Chase (Baker
County) elected as secre-
tary/treasurer.
The OTEC board also
held their strategic plan-
ning session June 1. Items
on the agenda included
financial goals of the coop-
erative, conservation, dis-
tributed generation (DG),
renewables, rate redesign
and succession planning.
As part of the succession
planning discussion, Wer-
ner Buehler, general man-
ager at OTEC, announced
his plans for retirement in
February 2017.
Buehler, 61, has been
involved with the electric
utility business for over 44
years and has been general
manager of OTEC for the
past eight years.
“I want to give the
board enough time so they
can adequately search and
go through the long vetting
process. I’m honored to
help them with that,” he
said, promising the transi-
tion would be as seamless
as possible.
Buehler’s final day with
OTEC will be February 28,
2017.