8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2015
Local
Sam-O-Swim committee meets Police training
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tuesday evening the
Sam-O-Swim Center Com-
mittee met to discuss and
review projects.
The first thing the group
discussed was the sand
filter project update.
Michelle Owen, Public
Works Director and City
Employee liaison for
the committee advised
the committee she had
presented the committee
accepted bid to the City
Council and was given
approval to accept the bid
and move forward with the
project.
The company that won
the bid, Knorr Systems,
whose bid was under the
budgeted amount, subcon-
tracts for the work to be
done.
Owen advised the com-
mittee that the work will be
done in the coming weeks.
Next on the agenda was
the pool resurfacing pro-
posal discussion.
At the last City Council
meeting where Owen was
given the approval for the
sand filters bid she also
was given the green light
to open up for bid the
resurfacing project.
Bids were to be submit-
ted no later than October 1.
Owen brought one specific
bid to the committee to
look at.
Other bids were way be-
yond the budgeted amount
of $70,000, therefore the
bid to be considered favor-
able was a bid proposed
by Mid-American Pool
Renovations, Inc. out of
Grandview, Missouri.
Mid-American Pool
Renovations, Inc. was still
slightly over-budget how-
ever they were the closest
to the budget and after
the committee agreed that
titling of the training pool,
which is not a necessity, be
removed from the equation
saving $3,500 the bid was
within range.
“So, we are within
10% of the budget,” said
Chairman Andrew Bryan.
“I think by consensus as a
committee we could rec-
ommend this to the Coun-
cil and let them grapple
with going over.”
Jerri Wickert, a member
of the committee, said, “I
think we should as a com-
mittee make a recommen-
dation, I make a motion
that we accept the bid from
Mid-America Pool without
the tiling of the little pool.”
Paula Moe, Aquatics
Director for Sam-O added,
“Then find out from them
about the non-skid surface,
what they recommend.”
Committee member
Noel Scott said, “I would
second that motion.”
Before a vote, Owen
asked Moe, “As far as
their schedule, a proposed
schedule of basically the
month of November is that
going to work for Sam-O
Swim?”
Moe answered, “Yes.”
Bryan added, “I would
like to see the City and the
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
L-R: Paula Moe Sam-O aquatics director, Andrew Bryan, Chair Jason Bybee,
Jerri Wickert, and Michelle Owen,
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Y do a joint press release
about this. Something to
get across that yes, we
know in the short term
this is a painful experience
but in the long run this is
absolutely necessary.”
Owen asked Moe once
the resurfacing project is
complete and the pool re-
filled, how long it takes to
warm back up to operating
temperature.
Moe replied, “About
three days.” She indicated
she would be available to
monitor the warm up. The
committee then questioned
whether the sand filters
could be completed before
with Owen stating she
would need to contact the
company and see if they
could get that coordinated.
The replacement of the
sand filters would need to
be completed either before
or after the resurfacing
project with before being
most favorable.
“The sand filters must be
done either before or after,
they can’t be done during
because they need water,”
said committee member
Jason Bybee.
The committee agreed
that it would have been
nice if a local company (an
Oregon company) could
have been chosen for the
resurface project but as
Owen put it, “not when
they are $10 – 12 thousand
more. Budget has been
really stressed. I mean
you could recommend
something like that if you
wanted but you’d have to
explain why and—”
She left it at that.
The committee moved to
vote on recommending to
City Council the accep-
tance of Mid-American
Pool Renovations, Inc.’s
bid. They voted to unani-
mously recommend that
bid be accepted.
“That goes to the Coun-
cil when?” asked Bryan.
Owen told Bryan she
would need to write a staff
report and would get it on
the agenda for the next
meeting that is on the 13th.
Moe also expressed
concern as far as notifying
pool users of the upcoming
closure.
It was agreed that until
the matter goes before
Council and the bid is ac-
cepted and awarded noth-
ing definite can be posted.
Moe felt that did not
give her much time to
notify those users and the
committee made sugges-
tions as to how that may be
handled by advising users
of the pool that this may
happen and when but it
was pending City Coun-
cil action before it was
definite.
It was agreed that giving
a heads up with a “when
I know for definite, you’ll
know” approach was the
best that could be hoped
for at this point.
Owen moved on to
information on the Heating
System Funding Update.
As for now, Owen has
secured some funding
to complete this project.
She said, “So far we’ve
gotten $25,000 from the
Leo Adler Grant, $25.000
from the City budget,
$10,000 from Sunderland
and $15,000 from Oregon
Community Foundations.
“We are anticipating
seeing $28,000 in Oregon
Energy Trust savings up
$5,000 from where we
were at before because we
changed their calculations
and benefits to us.
“We have a $60,000
grant in to Family Ford
Foundation; they have
acknowledged receipt of
our application but they
are on a November time
frame. They will be calling
me with questions, and I’ll
need to present to a com-
mittee.
“That will still leave us
about $32,000 short.
“We do have one more
place to go but I want to
wait and see what we re-
ceive from the Ford Family
Foundation first.
“ If we are unsuccessful
securing funding we will
likely have to wait until
July to budget that remain-
ing amount.”
Bryan suggested that
communicating with the
Ford Family Foundation
that the City had formed a
citizen committee specific
to the pool as important.
“They love to see all the
community involvement
stuff,” he said.
Owen implied it would
be a great idea for Bryan,
as chairman of the com-
mittee, to attend the board
presentation and communi-
cate that with them.
Owen said she would let
the committee know when
she heard back from them
as to when that presenta-
tion would be and keep
them all updated on prog-
ress. Last on the formal
agenda was an update on
shower funding.
The committee had
agreed that they would
use money allocated for
the showers to help get
the pool resurfaced and
had previously mentioned
crowd funding as an idea
to raise money to accom-
plish replacement of ailing
shower units.
The committee decided
the previous idea of crowd
funding for this project be
tabled for now. The com-
mittee concurred that they
would approach the city in
the next budget cycle for
the money to replace the
units.
Moe mentioned that the
ailing showers were now
encountering new issues.
“The hot water in the
Men’s showers and in the
Lifeguard shower does
not work if the women are
showering,” she said.
Owen acknowledged the
problem stating she had
been working with mem-
bers of her department and
a consultant from Grant
Mechanical in Meridian
by phone but so far they
have not been able to
resolve the issue, however
the troubleshooting was
ongoing and Owen hoped
that one of the ideas would
be successful so that the
showers, although less than
adequate could continue to
be functional for now.
Before adjourning, other
topics discussed included
looking back on pool
stats as being useful for
the committee, ideas of
working with the public
arts commission to develop
some type of bronze, statue
or other art piece outside
the Swim Center.
Bryan also talked of a
way to start a fund just for
Sam-O-Swim Center so
that money was in reserve
for unexpected repairs etc.
that may come up.
He said one way he’d
been mulling over was
proposing an increase in
transient room tax that
could be specifically col-
lected and put aside in a
fund just for Sam-O.
Wickert agreed with
Bryan that this was an
idea to explore further as
visitors to our community
should view things like
the pool as an amenity to
the community they are
visiting.
East face vegetation plan ready for comments
Due to the collaborative
relationship between the
Forest Service (USFS),
Oregon Department of
Forestry (ODF), and Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Services (NRCS), the East
Face project provides a
tremendous opportunity to
apply compatible vegeta-
tion and fuels management
treatments on federal,
adjacent private lands and
Oregon Department of
Baker City’s Lieutenant Dustin Newman listens in on
a discussion about simmunitions.
Fish and Wildlife lands.
The East Face Vegeta-
tion Management project
area, in combination with
adjacent BLM, State, and
private lands, became a pi-
lot project for the National
Cohesive Wildfire Strategy
(CWS) offering opportuni-
ties to apply the “all hands,
all lands” principles and
implement efforts to move
the area towards the goals
of the CWS. The East
Face Vegetation Manage-
ment Project Environ-
mental Assessment (EA)
documents the analysis of
activities proposed on over
47,000 acres of USFS and
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment (BLM) lands.
A range of five alterna-
tives was developed. The
East Face Vegetation
Management Project EA
which is now available for
a 30-day public comment
period.
This East Face project is
subject to the pre-decision-
al objection process at 36
CFR 218. Only individu-
als or organizations that
submitted specific writ-
ten comments during a
designated opportunity for
public participation (scop-
ing or this 30-day public
comment period) may
object (36 CFR 218.5).
Gabliks emphasized, “This is a discussion. We want to
know what’s working for you and what’s not.”
DPSST’s full purpose is: “To promote excellence in
public safety by delivering quality training and develop-
ing and upholding professional standards for police, fire,
corrections, parole and probation, and telecommunica-
tions personnel, in addition to licensing private security
providers and private investigators in Oregon,” according
to their mission statement.
Gabliks opened with internal housekeeping items,
including an overview of the 2015-2017, stressing that
the budget had been adopted at the same level, with no
reductions in training. The present training programs
would “stay whole” he said, with two “dedicated mental
health response training” positions in the works to help
provide new training in that area for officers. He then
highlighted some of the policy option packages that were
not accepted by the 2015 legislature, and included vari-
ous proposed staff additions and training programs.
A list of bills specific to DPSST that passed and would
affect, or would have affected the agency had they
passed, were also discussed including as a sample:
• House Bill 3388 would have authorized reserve
officers sponsored by law enforcement units to pay for
training as police both with cash or through their G.I.
Bill. This bill died in committee last session. At present,
35-40% of Oregon’s basic recruits are military veterans,
said training coordinator Todd Anderson.
• House Bill 3487 changed statute to require that pri-
vate investigators list their DPSST number in all ads.
• Senate Bill 238 gave “teeth” to an existing law,
helping DPSST to deny certain personnel information
requests, such as birthdates of law enforcement officers
that might compromise their personal identities to theft.
Also mentioned was another interesting point specific
to the nature and makeup of Oregon law enforcement:
• Oregon de-certified approximately 100 officers last
year, whereas California, for example, with a signifi-
cantly higher number of officers, did the same for only
three. 20-30% of those decertified were chiefs, sheriffs,
etc. “The system (in Oregon) is working,” said Gabliks.
Several attendees commented on the tough standards and
high quality control held in Oregon for certification and
the desire not to lower those standards.
Among the items not approved were increased training
requests in the areas of child abuse investigations, active
shooter training, and marijuana—as well as other areas.
Discussion around the table also touched upon the need
for highly qualified or “blue chip” applicants in Oregon
law enforcement, and emphasized that if an organization
pauses or is slow in hiring, those candidates are quickly
grabbed by another. The retirement of “baby boomers” is
leaving a wide range of career openings in many areas of
law enforcement.
Several participants referenced flawed diversity poli-
cies in other locations resulting in “applicants that have
struggled academically” during training and in perform-
ing job duties.
From there, the room touched on one area in which
participants were pleased with DPSST’s performance:
receiving information and public records requests.
Suggestions for the program then began with one major
point being the ongoing discussion between whether fire-
arms training should shift away from a shotgun to carbine
focus—or not.
Many, including Lohner, expressed the belief that the
16-week course should be considered for expansion to
22-weeks; however, that expansion would also mean
more of a delay before an officer was through training
and back on duty. Gabliks mentioned that any additional
training added to the current 16-week program meant
that some areas currently in the program would need cut
or minimized. At present, there are no concrete plans to
expand to a 22-week program.
Another area that was pointed out involved access to
regional training. “Bend is not eastern Oregon,” Lohner
said. Including webinars rather than in-person training
was one solution presented.
The BCPD’s next officer to attend DPSST’s 16-week
training will be Chris Sells, who recently joined the
department from neighboring Malheur County in July.
Sells comes back to Baker City from Nyssa with local
ties—including the fact that his mother and stepfather are
co-owners in Lefty’s Taphouse on Broadway.
Lohner said that four local officers have finished the
training in the number one spot in the past, putting no
pressure on Sells at all.
DPSST’s next stops were scheduled for Bend and Coos
Bay, followed by Albany, Newport, Keizer, West-Linn
and Beaverton.
Lohner concluded that the academy was “light years”
beyond what it had been in the past and said, “We’re
pleased with the product we’re getting back.”