10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2015
Local
Coordination workshop
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
As he worked through
the ranchers’ case he came
upon the coordination pro-
cess he found was mandat-
ed in a number of federal
statutes. Grant success-
fully invoked coordination
between Owyhee County
and the BLM and, 25
years later, he reports no
significant loss of grazing
to the ranchers of Owyhee
County.
Once Grant had helped
those Owyhee County
ranchers, he entered a path
that would define the past
20 years of his law career.
Grant was educated at one
of the great legal universi-
ties, University of Chicago
Law School, and had an
esteemed career as a high-
paid criminal defense
attorney. Yet, he turned
away from the high-profile,
highly paid career focus to
help those he refers to as
his friends.
“For the past 20 years,
Fred Kelly Grant has
fought for the rights of
farmers, ranchers, log-
gers, miners, and those
who use the great outdoors
for recreation,” as writ-
ten in Grants biographical
information. “Pursuing
those efforts he discov-
ered that the law requires
federal and state govern-
ments to ‘coordinate’ with
local governments—and
requires that they make
every practicable effort to
make their policies and ac-
tions consistent with local
policies. He has worked
with the coordination pro-
cess to produce victories in
twelve states for counties,
cities, towns, hamlets, soil
conservation districts, fire
districts, irrigation dis-
tricts, and school districts
in defending against arbi-
trary regulatory agencies.”
Grant cited a list of
Oregon State and fed-
eral laws that require state
and federal agencies to
coordinate project and
regulations with local
communities. “US Senator
Mark Hatfield introduced
coordination in the 1970s
when Congress decided to
keep the western lands,”
Grant explained.
Coordination as a legal
process is based on the
rights granted under the
Tenth Amendment to the
US Constitution, accord-
City
Council
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
Resolution #3759
Amending the 2015-2016
Budget
Kee addressed coun-
cil regarding proposed
amendments to the 2015-
2016 budget. As per ORS
294.463 Cities can make
changes to the budget by
resolution if unforeseen
conditions that could not
be anticipated occur.
In July the variable fre-
quency drive that controls
the operation of three
irrigation pumps at the golf
course stopped working.
It was necessary to make
it a priority to replace the
part as quickly as possible
in order to prevent poten-
tial loss of the greens in
extremely dry conditions
and high temperatures.
Bill Tiedeman and
Merlin Gath addressed
Council about this transfer
of money. It was asked
why they did not just
reallocate money already
in their budget to cover
ing to Grant. The Tenth
Amendment gives rights to
the states and to the people
when not specifically given
the federal government.
In its entirety, the Tenth
Amendment reads, “The
powers not delegated to
the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohib-
ited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States,
respectively, or to the
people.”
Grant wrote, “In 1992,
the Tenth began its re-
emergence with the opin-
ion written by Madame
Justice O’Connor (New
York v. United States). The
Court ruled 6-3 in favor
of the State, thus began
a streak of cases decided
under the guidance of Mr.
Chief Justice Rehnquist,
which returned the Tenth
Amendment to its rightful
place as guarantor of state
and local authority.”
The power of the coordi-
nation process, according
to Grant, hinges on three
main concepts:
First, coordination
requires federal and state
agencies to provide local
government prior notific -
tion of any plans, projects,
or proposed regulations to
allow local input from the
very beginning.
Secondly, it orders fed-
eral and state agencies to
be apprised of the content
of county resource and
land use plans.
And, thirdly it requires
that conflicts between
federal or state plans and
local plans are recognized
and resolved.
Grant agrees that the
practical application of the
coordination process in
Baker County could be to
protect against forest road
closures during the pend-
ing United States Forest
Service Travel Manage-
ment Plan in the Wallowa-
Whitman National Forest,
to route the Idaho Power,
Co., 500-kV transmission
line away from private
land and onto public lands,
or to protect cattle grazing
interests during the listing
of an endangered species
such as the Greater sage-
grouse.
In fact, Grant cites 19
times coordination has
been used by local govern-
ments across the western
states to protect local
interests by forcing federal
and state plans and regula-
tions to remain consistent
with local plans. Several
examples where coordi-
nation has been used by
local governments include
Shasta County, Cal, to
keep forest roads open,
by Modoc County, Cal.,
to protect cattle grazers,
and by Owyhee County,
Idaho both to protect
cattle grazers and to route
the planned Idaho Power
transmission line off of pri-
vately owned agricultural
land and onto public land.
Grant says the stopping
of the Trans Texas Cor-
ridor was probably the
biggest victory for local
citizens using coordina-
tion. A group of Texas
citizens led by Terri Hall,
mother of nine children
with one on the way, took
their concerns about the
Trans-Texas Corridor to
five small Texas towns.
Those towns, along with
several school districts
and irrigation districts
demanded and eventually
entered into coordination
with the Texas Department
of Transportation.
Hall came to Baker
City and gave her portion
of the Coordination 101
workshop on Friday, Aug.
21, explaining in detail the
Trans Texas Corridor plan
and the way her grassroots
campaign put a stop to a
multi-billion dollar interna-
tional project planned on
the soil of her region of
Texas.
Hall cites a long list of
television appearances
and has become a well-
known political activist
throughout the southwest.
“She is the best grassroots
organizer I’ve ever seen,”
Grant said as he introduced
Hall.
“The Trans Texas Cor-
ridor would have been the
biggest land grab in US
history,” began Hall. “It
would have turned 580,000
acres of private property
over to the hands of a for-
eign owned company.”
The Trans Texas Corri-
dor was a highway project
proposed by Cintra, Co.,
of Spain and it was pushed
by then Texas Governor
Rick Perry. Hall explained
that the 1,200-foot wide
highway was to be built
by Cintra, Co., without
a competitive bidding
process. Additionally, once
built, Cintra, Co., had a 52-
year contract to own and
operate all retail businesses
along the corridor includ-
ing all restaurants, gas
stations, and hotels.
Hall claims that Rick
Perry’s campaign run
for Texas governor had
received a $1 million
contribution from Cintra,
Co. and those involved in
the Trans Texas Corridor
project.
Taxpayers of Texas were
to be responsible for fund-
ing the corridor to the tune
of $90 million and would
then by burdened with
backing the $18 billion
project, according to Hall.
Motorists using the Trans
Texas Corridor would have
been levied a toll fee of
83-cents per mile, Hall said
of the contract. And, the
speed limit on the corridor
was set to run at 85-mile
per hour while parallel
highway routes would
have been limited to 55-
mph, unfairly encouraging
more motorists to use the
faster route, said Hall.
Hall said the corridor
would have run from the
Texas/Mexico border to
the Canadian Border and
was planned to truck “a
massive wave of imports
from China through a
port in Mexico from the
Panama Canal.” She said
it was a plan conceived
by WalMart and China to
exploit the NAFTA trade
agreement.
The Trans Texas Corridor
construction project was
set to begin when Hall and
Grant demanded coordina-
tion between the Texas De-
partment of Transportation
and those five small Texas
towns, school districts, and
irrigation districts.
“The Corridor would
have bisected the towns
and there would have been
overpasses only where the
corridor was intersected
by existing highways,”
said Hall. She explained
that would have meant
the Trans Texas Corridor
would have run through
600-miles of Texas with
only five overpasses. Long
established school districts
and bussing routes too
would have been split.
Grant was forced to
threaten a lawsuit against
the Texas Department
of Transportation when
the agency refused to
coordinate with the local
governments. The threat
to sue was enough to push
the Texas Department of
Transportation into coor-
dination and to consider lo-
cal impacts of the project.
When it became appar-
ent that the Trans Texas
Corridor project was not
compatible with inter-
ests of the towns, school
districts, and irrigation
districts, Texas lawmakers
passed legislation in 2011
to repeal the Trans Texas
Corridor project, according
to Hall.
“When politics fail, co-
ordination succeeds,” Hall
concluded.
Grant cites Texas state
statute that required the
Texas Department of
Transportation to deal in
a government to govern-
ment relationship through
coordination with the local
governments.
“It was the state statute
that did the job in Texas
and Oregon has those,
too,” he said.
On the final day of the
Coordination 101 Work-
shop, participants were
presented an exercise to
solve six local issues using
the process of coordina-
tion. Each of the problems
helped define exactly how
coordination could protect
the economic, and the
social and cultural interests
of northeastern Oregon.
Mining, logging, and
ranching interests could
be represented and then
protected through coordi-
nating a local resource plan
with any federal or Oregon
state planning project
or regulation including
forest plans, endangered
species listings, or forest
travel plans. Through the
problem solving exercise
Grant showed how social
and cultural interests and
the western way of life are
protected through coordi-
nation.
Grant used the platform
at the workshop to present
Dr. Michael Kaufman, who
has stage-four cancer, with
a lifetime achievement
award. Kaufman will be
given a 13-star American
flag in recognition of his
service to the American
people.
Ken Alexander of the
Eastern Oregon Mining
Association presented
Grant with a silver medal-
lion as a token of thanks
for coming to Baker City.
When asked if it’s ever
too late in the game to co-
ordinate, Grant said, “It’s
never too late.”
this expense. Explanations
followed advising council
how that money needed
to stay in their budget for
grant purposes.
The golf course needs
to update their irrigation
system and an engineering
firm will need to be hired
to perform surveys and
make recommendations
for the project, it is a large
expense.
Grants are being pursued
to cover costs however
they are primarily grant
matches and the golf
course must be able to
show they can cover their
portion in order to receive
funds.
Mosier stated, “I know
I’ve been pretty vocal
about wanting to hold the
golf course accountable for
its spending. I took quite
a lot of time at the budget
time talking about how
much the City has given to
the Golf Course over the
course of the last ten years
and made the comparison
to our parks and noting
that our City parks are
used for free by anyone of
any social status, and the
golf course is used by a
group of individuals that
can afford to be there. It
should be noted that if we
make this transfer, the City
is giving to the golf course.
We borrowed money from
the Public Arts budget to
put in the Parks budget to
get additional playground
equipment in our City
Parks. We don’t just throw
around money easily. The
Parks had to nab $1,000
for the Arts.”
Kee advised council
that even if the money is
allocated to cover those
expenses there are still
grant opportunities being
pursued and should a grant
be made available the
money may need not be
transferred to cover exist-
ing expenses.
During the final co -
tract negations with Idaho
Power for the purchase
of power from the City’s
hydroelectric generator the
City was advised of the
requirement to have a cer-
tification from an engineer
regarding the Pelton wheel
generator. Idaho Power has
agreed to modify certain
requirements due to the
generator’s age.
The City has chosen
to contract with Power
Engineers, Inc. out of
Meridian, Idaho to provide
certification services. Costs
for their services are ap-
proximately $12,000. The
City is estimating $70,000
in revenue from the sale of
this power to Idaho Power
in the 2015-2016 fiscal
year.
Councilor Downing mo-
tioned to approve amend-
ment of the budget to
while a second was made
by Councilor Thomas.
A 5:2 vote resulted with
Councilors Abell, Down-
ing, Thomas, Langrell and
Augenfeld in favor and
Mayor Mosier and Coun-
cilor Merrill opposing.
City Manager/Director
Comments.
Kee told Council He and
Human Resources Man-
ager Luke Yeaton had con-
ducted a second interview
of a Building Manager
candidate and the job was
offered to this person.
Councilor Langrell voiced
concern that this person
was not the individual re-
cently dismissed from the
City of Enterprise.
Kee assured him that
it was not and said, “He
comes very highly recom-
mended.” Kee also told
council he had conducted
an annual performance re-
view of Human Resources
Manager Luke Yeaton. “He
obviously did okay, he’s
here,” Kee joked. He then
highlighted a large task
Yeaton has undertaken in
the year he has been em-
ployed revamping person-
nel files. “Should we be
audited by the state for any
reason regarding person-
nel records, for example
an ADA complaint, we are
organized and have the
info readily available. He’s
done a great job.”
Each employee has three
files that are colored coded
to accommodate things
like resumes, applications
and other general informa-
tion, payroll and insurance
information and emer-
gency or medical informa-
tion. It was obvious a lot
of work had gone into the
implementation of this new
system.
Owen also commented
saying she was pleased
with the level of coopera-
tion and patience the city
had shown the recent chip
and fog seal projects and
expressed her thanks to
everyone.
Yeaton told Council new-
ly hired school resource
officer Lance Woodward
was sworn in that morn-
ing. Woodward and Chief
Lohner had been at the
meeting but had to leave
before Woodward could
be formally introduced to
Council.
Council Comments,
Abell Spoke before the
meeting was adjourned re-
minding everyone of some
important upcoming events
in our community.
“On September 12 at 10
a.m., the Forest Service is
hosting a meeting and in
lieu (sic) of recent events,
I think as many as possible
should attend.
“On September 2, at
8 a.m. HBC is hosting a
meet and greet event at
The Little Bagel Shop on
Main Street. HBC is trying
to host these events once
a quarter and at different
times, day and night to ac-
commodate more people.
“Then on October 3,
HBC is hosting the Fall
Festival, Taste of Baker
from 4:00-7:00 p.m. in
Court Plaza. Restaurants
from all over Baker will be
represented not just Main
Street.”
With that Mayor Mosier
adjourned the meeting.
Brian Addison / The Baker County Press
Texas grassroots organizer Terri Hall answers a question posed by Jim Iler
during the Coordination 101 Workshop, Friday, Aug. 21. Hall was instrumental
in defeating the Trans Texas Corridor project using the process of governmental
coordination.