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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2015)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5 Local City Council addresses graffi ti Sex offender ordinance, City Manager search CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 • DEQ INFORMATION HEARD FOR WASTE WATER PROJECT AHEAD BY GINA K. SWARTZ Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com At this week’s City Coun- cil meeting, Councilor Langrell lead the room in the pledge of allegiance followed by an invocation. City Recorder Luke Yea- ton conducted roll call and all councilors answered present. Also present were City Manager Mike Kee and Public Works Director Michelle Owen. The Council approved the agenda and minutes from the special City Council meeting of Octo- ber 19 in which Councilor Sandy Lewis was offi cially appointed to Council by a unanimous revote, after it was brought to attention the original vote was not done according to City Charter. The matter of an administration vehicle purchase was readdressed at that special meeting as well. Councilor Down- ing motioned to approve the minutes and consent agenda with a second by Councilor Thomas. All Councilors voted to approve. Mayor Mosier then called for any citizen participation. Seeing none, Council moved ahead with the agenda. Appoint Volunteers to Sam-O and Tree Board Commissions The Council recently voted to add two positions to the Tree Board per the adoption of Ordinance #3344. The current mem- bers expressed concerns about their ability to keep up with the demands of the board without addi- tional members to help. One application from Lyle Kuchenbecker was received for the two open positions. Council unanimously voted to appoint Mr. Kuchenbecker. He will serve a three-year term set to expire in July 2018. Rustin Smith recently Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press Don Butcher from the DEQ addresses the Council. resigned from his position from the Sam-O Swim Committee creating a vacancy. One application to fi ll that vacancy was received from Chuck Everson, who was present at the meeting. Mayor Mosier asked Everson if he wished to say anything to Council before their decision. He declined. Council unanimously agreed that Everson, a former City employee with knowledge of the facil- ity, would be a benefi cial addition to the committee. The term for this position is also set to expire in July 2018. Council Appointment to Sam-O Committee With the resignation of Ben Merrill from City Council, a Council Liaison position to the Sam-O-Swim committee opened. Council must have representation for the com- mittee. Councilor Lewis volunteered to serve on that committee. “I would be honored to serve if se- lected,” she told her fellow Councilors. The Council- ors were all in agreement of that appointment. “It is much appreciated,” said Mayor Moiser to Councilor Lewis. “We all get to take turns on various COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN AND DRAFTING (CADD)/ SCADA TECHNICIAN Oregon Trail Electric Co- operative (OTEC) with headquarters in Baker City, Oregon, has an immediate opening for a CADD/SCADA Technician in the Baker City offi ce. Th is position reports to the System Engineer. Successful candidates will be responsible for data entry in computer aided mapping and data base soft ware to produce maps, data and drawings, including substation and station equipment drawings, system one-line drawings and system base maps. Responsibilities include coordinating map, drawing and document production within the engi- neering department, and creating and maintaining OTEC one-line drawings. SCADA duties include continual sup- port and maintenance of the SCADA system, and database management, including set-up, reporting and revisions on a continual basis. Th is position assists system engineers in the development and reliability of the SCADA system includ- ing modeling and performance. Applicants must be able to take appropriate action on their own initiative, have strong interpersonal skills, and be a team player with a willingness to work with other departments and the public. An associate’s degree is preferred in computer-aided draft ing (CAD) or the equivalent. A minimum of three years’ experience in electri- cal utility industry is preferred. Th is position requires that the employee possess and maintain a valid Oregon driver’s license. Salary DOE. Excellent benefi t package includes retirement and 401(k) plan. OTEC has 83 employees and four district offi ces serving over 30,000 customers located in Eastern Oregon, known for its excellent hunting, fi shing, and outdoor recreation. Resumes may be sent to the attention of Human Resources, 4005 23rd Street, Baker City, OR 97814 or email to humanresources@otecc.com. We encourage all interested individuals to apply. Applications will be accepted until position is fi lled. committees. Thanks for doing your part.” Department of Envi- ronmental Quality The City had a permit to operate an approved waste- water plan that expired in 2008. DEQ granted an adminis- trative extension for seven years, which is ready to expire. DEQ is backlogged due to lack of resources but needs to work with the city to develop a new plan in order to issue a current permit. Currently the city is al- lowed to disperse wastewa- ter into the Powder River, but other options need to be considered due to the fl ow of the river. Drought conditions over the last couple of years have made the river fl ow much lower than usual, thus making it unsafe to disperse all of the wastewater and requiring storage, yet another con- cern to address. The City needs to ad- dress constantly changing issues concerning phos- phate, arsenic and even temperature levels, and according to Don Butcher, Eastern Region Water Quality Manager out of Pendleton, new carcino- gens are uncovered almost daily that are added to the list of things that have to be contended with, so “rules” are ever-changing. Langrell expressed con- cern with hiring another outside consulting fi rm, at the cost to the city to develop a plan that may or may not be relevant in fi ve years and explained frustration over having just done this a few years ago with no result in a permit issuance from DEQ. Langrell said, “The last time the DEQ was here they put the skids on all the work that the City had done. They said, ‘Well, we really don’t know what we want you to do, so just put everything on hold while we decide what we want.’ So has the DEQ decided what they want us to do?” Butcher responded say- ing, “That’s painful to hear but I get it and acknowl- edge what you’re saying and I apologize for what’s happened. With things like new standards, we didn’t know there was going to be a phosphorus issue and with this new arsenic issue it’s all a moving target so you may design something that just won’t be feasible. But the best recommenda- tion is to talk with us, talk with your engineers have a lot of early up front com- munication before writing the proposal and then talk about variances. It is al- most inevitable things are going to be changing.” Langrell was dissatisfi ed with that response and felt the City was not respon- sible to spend more money to come up with a plan that the DEQ likes one week and not the next. Butcher agreed with Langrell that it was problematic to continue working on a plan that had to be changed so often, and committed to working with the City on resolving that issue. “If the City jumps through all your hoops we really need, deserve a guarantee,” Langrell said. According to Butcher, “Once a permit is issued that is kind of a guaran- tee.” “And permits are good for how long?” asked Langrell. Butcher replied, “Five years.” Langrell, not satisfi ed with that answer in light of potential millions of dollars on system changes asked, “A fi ve-year guaran- tee? Can we up the ante a little?” Butcher responded by drawing attention to extended permit uses, like what is happening now. Owen, who had been at a waste water confer- ence hosted by the Pacifi c Northwest Clean Water As- sociation in Boise, stated that there were some new and innovative ideas she had heard at the conference that she thought needed further research and pos- sibly could be of benefi t to the community. She said that she heard, “ways to view wastewa- ter a little bit differently. Instead of in a negative fashion, as we often do, look at this as a potential asset and how can we get the most out of our treat- ment facility and the assets that are there. There might there be opportunities for the community and our agriculture. Just as a whole how can we look at the watershed and develop a wastewater option that best suits our community as a whole.” SEE CITY COUNCIL / PAGE 9 Shirtcliff continued, “The overall plea agreement is for this charge to run concurrent to his sentence, which will still be 35 years.” Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner said that in May of 2013, his department made contact twice with Nelson due to traffi c-related incidents. Then that same month they “received a report that Nelson had sexually abused a Baker City youth, known to him, in Baker City.” Local police learned that Nelson was already sitting in a Multnomah County jail at the time the Baker City report came in. Nelson was subsequently charged with the sex abuse in Baker City referred to by Shirtcliff. Nelson was involved in the North Powder Charter School’s track and fi eld program from 2013 through 2014, and worked as a Youth and Sports coordinator as- sistant at the local YMCA around that same time. Several parents recall him transporting children in his 1974 green Volkswagen bug. Jennifer Morwood’s son is one of the students who had contact with Nelson, raising concern for their family and the children of family friends whose children also had contact with Nelson. “Not only was Ben driving my son home, but he was riding in the back of the school buses on events with the students. He became the kids’ best friend. He groomed the children. He was just like what you see on TV,” Mor- wood said. Morwood expressed anger that she and other parents of North Powder students were not informed by the school of the charges or the conviction against Nelson once school offi cials became aware. She is also dismayed that the Baker County YMCA, where Nelson had access to “a huge number of children” during his time working that organization’s Summer Camp, has also never issued a statement to parents. “In my mind,” Morwood said, “if an organization had one of its employees or past employees prosecuted for something like this, parents need to be told.” North Powder Charter School is currently debating a course of action. Superintendant Lance Dixon wrote in an email on Tuesday night, “I am in consultation with our attorney as to what if any action the school should take.” Heidi Dalton, CEO for the Baker County YMCA wrote, “We are aware of the prosecution and conviction of Ben- jamin Nelson, a former Baker County YMCA employee. The Baker County YMCA conducted a thorough criminal background check, sex offender registry check and refer- ence checks on Mr. Nelson before hiring him. Our youth camps are structured so that no staff member is left alone with a child, and that policy was strictly followed during Mr. Nelson’s employment. Because the charges are un- related to Mr. Nelson’s past association with the YMCA, we have no comment on them.” Morwood believes that Nelson went to college in Ha- waii, where she fears he also had access to children, pos- sibly those in the under-age-12 range he targeted as prey. Another acquaintance of Nelson, who preferred to re- main anonymous, spoke about Nelson’s expressed future plans to become a teacher. Morwood said she spoke with Offi cer Jay Lohner, who originally handled the Baker City complaint, at length on Tuesday, and encourages any parent with a child who may have been victimized, to call the police department. Nelson was also contacting his victims by various so- cial media and online messaging, so the second thing she encourages, is that parents review past communications. “iMessages, possibly even Facebook messages,” she said. Morwood went on to stress the importance of making sure children have a safe person to confi de in. Chief Lohner said, “These horrifi c types of cases will hopefully also be a reminder to parents of the need to educate their children on appropriate contact and ensure their children have someone they can talk to. Kids need to know the inappropriate areas to touch other people and that if anyone touches them in those locations, it is wrong. Kids then need someone they can trust, someone they will feel comfortable sharing even the most embar- rassing type of information with. That may not be mom or dad. It may be a sibling, friend, counselor or teacher. Allow them to choose and make sure they know you as a parent are there to support them and protect them.” Thus far, no additional potential victims have come for- ward in other Oregon counties, including Union County. Walgreens to buy Rite Aid In a press release Tuesday, Walgreens announced a pending merger with Rite Aid / CVS Pharmacy—a nearly $17.2 billion deal that would create one mega-chain of over 13,000 stores. The statement released by the company indicated that all Rite Aid stores would “initially” keep their names, but would eventually be converted to the Walgreens name to keep the brand consistent across the country. Rite Aid and Walgreens are the nation’s second and third largest drug stores. “Today’s announcement is another step in Walgreens Boots Alliance’s global development and continues our profi table growth strategy,” Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Stefano Pessina said in a statement. “In both mature and newer markets across the world, our approach is to advance and broaden the delivery of retail health, well- being and beauty products and services.” Rite Aid CEO John Standley said the deal “will en- hance our store base and expand opportunities as part of the fi rst global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise.”
