8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
Local
School Board: McKim resigns Haggen files
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
McKim’s term expires
June 30, 2017. The school
district next begins the pro-
cess of filling the vacant
position.
The school district plans
to post in local newspapers
a notice of the vacancy
and a request for letters of
interest. (See this week’s
Classifieds section.) Le -
ters of interest should be
submitted to school district
executive secretary Norma
Nemec by Sept. 7. Those
who’ve submitted letters of
interest to fill the position
should expect to be inter-
viewed by the remaining
board members of Sept.
15.
Student Resource Of-
fice hired.
Lance Woodward has
been sworn in as a member
of the Baker City Police
Dept. and begins work-
ing the hallways of the
Baker schools this Fall.
In discussing what was
referred to as the continu-
ing partnership with the
Baker City Police Dept.,
the board and administra-
tion explained an expand-
ing role for the Student
Resource Police Office .
Woodward’s new role
includes time spent in
the classroom to provide
students with “safety and
criminal justice informa-
tion,” said Baker High
School principal Ben
Merrill.
Merrill explained that
Woodward would be
informed of a weekly plan
during scheduled weekly
meetings.
Woodward comes to the
position with a Master’s
degree in English and a
background in college and
city policing, according to
Merrill. “He’s a unique and
talented guy for our com-
munity,” Merrill said.
Heating boiler replace-
ment at high school.
The district faces the ex-
pensive replacement of the
natural gas heating boiler
at Baker High School this
fall, several years earlier
than originally expected,
said Doug Dalton, school
district finance directo .
It was expected that the
existing boiler would be
used for another five to
seven years yet a recent
required look at the system
by Oregon state inspectors
pushed that replacement
need to an immediate
priority.
The boiler currently
operating has been in
place since 1974 and has
been diagnosed with leaks
within two of the hundred
small tubes.
The location of the leaks
indicate the probability that
more leaks could develop
causing concern that the
entire system would need
to be shut down for repairs
during the cold season, ac-
cording to Dalton.
To re-tube the existing
boiler would run about
$100,00 while a complete
replacement of the boiler
with a new natural gas
burning boiler is expected
to cost between $200,000
and $300,000, according
to Dalton. The decision
has been made to replace
rather than repair the old
boiler.
“This is why we have
contingency funds,” Dal-
ton said.
Plans are being set in
place to begin the boiler
replacement this Fall.
Before sending out an of-
ficial Request for Proposal
(RFP), the district plans
to send out public notice
of a “pre-RFP” meeting to
prospective heating system
installation firms in order
to assess the project.
Once a contractor has
been selected, the work of
installing the boiler begins
this Fall, said Dalton. The
old boiler will continue to
operate during the re-
placement project, during
Oct., Nov., and Dec., and
the cost to repair the old
boiler to Oregon state
statute standards for the
approximate four month
replacement period runs
about $10,000, according
to Dalton.
During the discussion the
fact surfaced that the dis-
trict spends about $11,000
per month to heat the high
school during the winter
months.
When asked by members
of the school board about
other expensive main-
tenance issues looming,
Dalton explained the great-
est expenses for school
building included roofs
and heating systems.
Dalton said that South
Baker and Brooklyn each
have had roof replacements
and that the roof at North
Baker had recently been
patched.
He added that the need
for a replacement of the
North Baker roof was com-
ing and gave a cost predic-
tion of about $250,000 for
that project.
Busy summer for district
maintenance crews
The summer of 2015
kept school district main-
tenance crews hopping as
several major construction
projects near completion.
Brooklyn Elementary
has undergone a major
upgrade with a new bus
loading zone, sidewalks,
installation of a new
underground irrigation
system, and installation
of yet another modular
building to accommodate a
new full-day schedule for
Kindergarten students.
Grass and trees have
been ordered for the
grounds, according to
Dalton. It was estimated by
the school district late last
school year that Brooklyn
Elementary would house
approximately 400 Kinder-
garten through third grade
students during this school
year.
Haines Elementary was
the site of another modular
building installation proj-
ect and the playground has
been replaced this summer.
Baker Technical
Institute, housed at Baker
High School, has a newly
constructed lab with a
remodel of the welding site
planned.
The district reports
continual technological
upgrades as well. Tech-
nological hardware was
installed this summer as
well as new sound systems
in the elementary schools.
The sound systems provide
level hearing for every area
of the classrooms.
Lighthouse Project
The board passed a unan-
imous decision to enroll
in a professional develop
program for administra-
tion, educators, and board
members referred to as the
Lighthouse Project.
The Lighthouse Project
is described to the board
and administration as,
“an intensive in-district
fully customized board
professional development
program to help you fulfill
your leadership role around
student achievement.”
The program comes with
a price tag of $10,000 and
offers up to 72-hours over
two years of professional
training curriculum.
Superintendent Mark
Witty voiced concern
about time constraints
placed on participants of
the program.
“The program can be
structured into whatever is
needed,“ said program ad-
ministrator Renee Sessler.
5J board members
nominated for statewide
board of directors.
Chairperson for the 5J
board of Directors Kevin
Cassidy was nominated by
the 5J board for a position
as the Eastern Region rep-
resentative on the Oregon
School Board Association
Board of Directors. The
Eastern Region includes
school districts in Malheur,
Baker, Grant, Harney, Was-
co, Wallowa, and Union
counties. Mike Cosgrove
from Grant County was the
previous Eastern Region
representative.
The position provides a
voice for the region with
legislators to help estab-
lish policy directions, said
Cassidy.
Cassidy currently serves
on the Oregon School
Board Association Legisla-
tive Policy Committee and
his term on that board ex-
pires soon. Andrew Bryan
was nominated to fill the
position on the Legislative
Policy Committee being
vacated by the expiration
of Cassidy’s term.
Sumpter City Council
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Woolf, as senior member
of Council, conducted the
meeting.
The City attorney sug-
gested this course of ac-
tion, as Sumpter just voted
to recall its mayor, Melissa
Findley, and the previous
Head of Council, Toni
Thompson, resigned earlier
in August.
Woolf explained the
City also contacted the
Head Council of League of
Oregon Cities (LOC) and
referred to the LOC Model
Charter for Oregon Cities
Footnote 19 which reads:
“A majority is more
than half the Council. For
a seven member council,
the quorum is four or more.
If there is one vacancy,
the quorum is still four. If
there are two vacancies,
the quorum is three, the
same as for a five me -
ber council. If through
resignation or other events,
the number of councilors is
reduced to two or one, the
quorum is also reduced to
two or one.”
Woolf explained Sumpt-
er has three active council
members, so the majority
will be two.
Councilperson Arm-
bruster was out of town,
but with Woolf and Oakley
present, there was a large
enough Council to conduct
business.
The first item of business
was to review Letters of
Intent for serving on the
Council.
Approved new members
would be able to par-
ticipate immediately. One
letter had been received by
Council and Woolf asked
those present if there were
any others, which there
were not.
The Letter of Intent was
turned in by Carey Clarke.
It stated he has lived and
enjoyed volunteering in
Sumpter for several years.
He recently tendered his
resignation as president of
the Planning Commission.
Oakley made a motion to
accept his resignation from
the Planning Commission
and accept him to Council.
Motion carried unani-
mously.
Clarke was not pres-
ent at the meeting due to
hunting season. He will be
sworn in at the September
8th meeting.
Resolution 317 to
remove previous Council
members from all City ac-
counts and add new signers
was read.
The Council discussed
who should be added as
signers and talked about
asking Armbruster, in case
Woolf or Oakley, who are
both facing recall, were to
lose their positions.
Commissioner Harvey
offered that those present
should be added as signers
for the time being to allow
City business, including
imminent payroll, to be
conducted.
This can be modified at
the next regular session.
Council voted to remove
Toni Thompson and
Melissa Findley as sign-
ers from all accounts and
add Woolf, Oakley, and
McKinney.
Oakley motioned that
Woolf become President of
Council.
Motion passed unani-
mously.
Woolf clarified that all
Council members get a
vote, even if voting by
themselves.
Woolf explained by
discussion with LOC and
the City attorney, no addi-
tions would be made to the
agenda and there was no
public input at the meeting.
The meeting adjourned
after fifteen minutes.
Sumpter’s next regular
Council meeting will be
September 8th at 7 p.m.
suit against
Albertsons
Haggen, the West Coast regional grocer, today an-
nounced that the company has filed a lawsuit against
Albertsons LLC and Albertsons Holdings LLC (“Albert-
sons”) seeking more than $1 billion in damages.
The complaint, which was filed today in United States
District Court for the District of Delaware, alleged that
following Haggen’s December 2014 purchase of 146
Albertsons and Safeway stores, Albertsons engaged in
“coordinated and systematic efforts to eliminate competi-
tion and Haggen as a viable competitor in over 130 local
grocery markets in five states,” and “made false repr -
sentations to both Haggen and the FTC about Albertsons’
commitment to a seamless transformation of the stores
into viable competitors under the Haggen banner.”
Albertsons sought out Haggen in order to convince the
Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) that Haggen would
be a new competitor in local markets, which enabled Al-
bertsons to gain the FTC’s approval of a merger between
Albertsons and Safeway—a merger that created “one of
the largest food retailers in the United States, with over
2,200 stores and $61 billion in combined sales,” accord-
ing to the complaint. Despite the FTC’s orders and Alb-
ertsons’ agreement to abide by all conditions of the sale,
the complaint alleges, Albertsons engaged in an illegal
campaign against Haggen including “premeditated acts
of unfair and anti-competitive conduct that were calcu-
lated to circumvent Albertsons obligations under federal
antitrust laws, FTC orders, and contractual commitments
to Haggen, all of which were intended to prevent and
delay the successful entry of Haggen (or any other viable
competitor) into local grocery markets that Albertsons
now dominates.”
“During the transfer process, Albertsons launched its
plan to gain market power and/or monopoly power, act-
ing in a manner that was designed to (and did) hamstring
Haggen’s ability to successfully operate the Stores after
taking ownership,” according to the complaint. As a
result, despite Haggen’s plans to successfully operate and
expand upon the acquired stores, Haggen was “forced to
close 26 of the Stores that it newly acquired as a part of
the Albertsons’ divestiture, and faces the potential closure
of additional stores,” the complaint said. “Albertson’s
anti-competitive actions critically damaged the opera-
tions, customer service, brand goodwill and profitability
of the divested stores from the outset,” the complaint
alleged, “[and] have caused significant harm to compet -
tion, local communities, employees and consumers,”
throughout California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and
Arizona. Instead of focusing on succeeding in the new
markets, according to the complaint, “Haggen has had to
focus on strategies to recover from Albertsons’ wrong-
ful acts, which include, sadly, Haggen’s efforts to find
new jobs for displaced employees who too are victims of
Albertsons’ actions.”
In particular, Haggen alleged in its complaint that Alb-
ertsons, in violation of numerous laws, the FTC order and
the purchase agreement, intentionally and deliberately un-
dertook a number of “malicious and unfair actions” that
“strained Haggen’s resources” and “created substantial
distraction and diverted the attention of store-level and
senior Haggen management” during the store conversion
process, such as:
Using proprietary and confidential conversion schedu -
ing information to plan and execute aggressive marketing
campaigns intended to undermine Haggen grand open-
ings;
Providing Haggen with false, misleading and in-
complete retail pricing data, causing Haggen stores to
unknowingly inflate prices
Cutting off Haggen-acquired store advertising in order
to decrease customer traffic
Timing the remodeling and rebranding of its retained
stores to impair Haggen’s entry into the relevant markets;
Diverting customers by illegally accessing Haggen’s con-
fidential data to gain an unfair competitive advantage
Deliberately understocking certain inventory at Haggen-
acquired stores below levels consistent with the ordinary
course of business just prior to conversion, resulting in
out of stocks which negatively impacted the shopping
experience upon Haggen grand openings;
Deliberately overstocking perishable inventory at
Haggen-acquired stores beyond levels consistent with the
ordinary course of business just prior to conversion such
that Haggen had to throw away significant amounts of
inventory it paid for;
Removing store fixtures and inventory from Haggen
acquired stores that Haggen paid for;
Diverting Haggen inventory to Albertsons stores; and
Failing to perform routine maintenance on stores and
equipment.
“Albertson’s anti-competitive conduct caused signifi-
cant damage to Haggen’s image, brand, and ability to
build goodwill during its grand openings to the public,”
according to the complaint. The complaint continued,
“Albertson’s unlawful acts destroyed or substantially
lessened the economic viability, marketability and com-
petitiveness of the [Haggen] Stores, depriving consumers
in each of the Relevant Markets the benefits of substantial
competition from a new market entrant.”
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