FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2016
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
— Editorial —
Complaints
hard to hear
in the face of
apathy
After the hiring of Fred Warner, Jr. as
the new City Manager was announced, to
the tune of $98,000, the outcry across the
community, at least as we’ve been expe-
riencing it, has been roughly four to one
against this decision. Part of Council itself
was against it.
Maybe the choice of Warner, Jr. will
turn out well and maybe it won’t—he’s
starting out from a difficult place for cer-
tain. What bothers us right at this moment
is the widespread apathy that preceded the
outcry.
Members of the community have a
voice in these decisions—a voice they
seem to either choose not to use or don’t
realize they have to begin with.
While Council decisions are not put up
to a vote of the general public—it would
be impossibly cumbersome and expensive
to do so—voters do choose the City Coun-
cil members who represent them, whom
they entrust to make these decisions as
their elected representatives. This is why
voting is so important. This is why it’s
so important for those who have strong
opinions regarding City Council decisions
to consider running themselves.
In addition, citizens don’t have to wait
until a decision is made in order to voice
an opinion. We can all provide feedback to
Council members. Their contact informa-
tion is always up on the Baker City web
site.
We have been reporting on the hiring
process for City Manager since its begin-
ning. We printed here in the paper and
posted on our Facebook feed updates at
each step.
The public was aware of the back-
grounds of the finalist candidates, includ-
ing the fact that Warner, Jr. was among
them.
Every City Council meeting has time
set aside near the beginning for public
comment. Residents of Baker City should
utilize these opportunities to voice their
thoughts and opinions. So rarely they do,
though.
Citizens were invited to a public meet
and greet to have one-on-one time with
the three finalists for that position. At that
meet and greet, City staff attended. The
finalists attended. City Council attended.
And a spouse of a finalist attended. But
from the public? We saw only one indi-
vidual—only one person from the general
public—at that gathering.
Voters have the power here, folks, if
only they knew it. We encourage people
to exercise that power not only by voting,
but by making their voices heard during
important decisions whenever possible.
We think it’s hard to complain in a valid
way if you’ve removed yourself from the
process.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Letters to the Editor —
Albertsons still means grocery
monopoly
To the Editor:
We are getting an Albertsons back!
Well, whoopie doo! The Albertsons stores
and the Safeway stores are owned by the
same company.
What competition will that be in mak-
ing the grocery bill any lower? Safeway
has raised prices already. Will they reduce
the prices when the other store is operat-
ing? Yeah, right.
What we need is a Grocery Outlet and/
or a Wal-Mart or some other grocery store
that isn’t owned by the same company as
Safeway so we can get some good compe-
tition in prices. With Albertsons it is still
going to be a monopoly on grocery prices.
Linda Foersterling
Baker City
City budget hearings
take three evenings
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Thirteen of the fourteen Budget Board members and a number of City staff and
department heads gathered Monday night for the first of three meetings.
• VARIOUS GROUPS ASK FOR
FUNDING FROM CITY
BY KERRY McQUISTEN
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Monday night the members of the Baker
City Budget Board including City Council
members, City Manager Mike Kee, and
several department heads and members
of staff gathered at 6 p.m. in the City Hall
Council Chambers to begin the arduous
week-long budget hearing process.
Following the Board’s approval, the
budget will be passed to Council for final
adoption.
The first meeting lasted two and a half
hours, and covered an introduction to the
budget and the election of the Board’s
chair and vice chair: Jeff Petry and Gail
Duman respectively.
The meeting was primarily devoted to
public testimony.
Ron Rowen, Chair of the Baker County
Fair Board was present. Rowen asked for
$4,400-$5,000 from the City for sidewalk
replacement. At present, the sidewalks
located too close to the grandstands are
creating water flow during rains, causing
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker County Press
reserves the right not to publish letters containing factu-
al falsehoods or incoherent narrative. Letters promoting
or detracting from specific for-profit businesses will not
be published. Word limit is 375 words per letter. Letters
are limited to one every other week per author. Letters
should be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.
com.
Advertising and Opinion Page Disclaimer:
Opinions submitted as Guest Opinions or Letters to
damage to the grandstand pillars.
Mary Miller of the Public Arts Com-
mission asked for a total of $5,000 in
their budget this year, up from $2,000 in
order to complete vinyl wraps and other
projects.
Suzanne Fouty of the Molly Atwater
Spay and Neuter Fund asked for $2,000 to
provide those services. She said 2,300 ani-
mals have been helped since 2005. 57% of
those animals are within City Limits.
County Commission Chair Bill Harvey
asked the City not to reduce its funding of
911 Consolidated Dispatch. The conver-
sation between Harvey, Kee and others
was somewhat confused minus specifics
from the County budget, which Harvey
said would be delivered for Wednesday’s
meeting.
Heidi Dalton spoke on behalf of the
YMCA. David Blair spoke for the local
firefighters’ union Larry Abell spoke for
Historic Baker City.
Wednesday’s and Thursday’s meet-
ings went into more detail after this issue
went to print, and address the topic of
additional funding for the police and fire
departments.
Copies of the 2016-2017 proposed bud-
get are available to the public at City Hall
upon request.
the Editor express the opinions of their authors, and
have not been authored by and are not necessarily
the opinions of The Baker County Press, any of our staff,
management, independent contractors or affiliates.
Advertisements placed by political groups, candidates,
businesses, etc., are printed as a paid service, which
does not constitute an endorsement of or fulfillment ob-
ligation by this newspaper for the products or services
advertised.
City hires Fred
Warner, Jr. as new
City Manager
• SIX SEATS TO OPEN ON
CITY COUNCIL, COUNCIL
APPROVES $55K IN HEAVY
EQUIPMENT RENTALS
BY KERRY McQUISTEN
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
All members of the Baker City Council
were present Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.
for a City Council meeting that began
slowly with no citizen participation.
Facts and Figures.
Council then heard a presentation from
Chris Rich, who serves as the regional
economist for the Oregon State Employ-
ment Department.
Rich presented a range of statistics,
primarily involving Baker, Union and
Wallowa Counties. For example, 17,541
jobs exist in that area with six industries
creating 70% of them. Union County
holds 56.2% of that number, or 9,851
jobs. Baker County has 29.6% or 5,194
jobs. Wallowa County has 14% or 2,496
jobs.
The standardized employer category
“education and health services” was
the biggest category in the region with
categories like “retail trade” and “local
government” following.
According to Rich there are 2,079
firms in this tri-county group, with
$614,516,808 spent in total payroll and an
average salary of $35,035. 74% of the re-
gion’s jobs are filled by those in the area,
with the rest travelling in from outside.
Meanwhile, 5,163 residents of the local
area travel outside the area themselves for
employment.
Baker County, said Rich, traditionally
has more deaths than births, and only
through a light influx of somewhat more
than 200 individuals over a five-year
span, has the area’s population increased
slightly. The retiree population is growing
for Baker County, he said, with the trend
of those in their 20s gravitating toward
more urban areas also growing.
City Manager Contract.
Next up was the official vote to approve
the contract for the new City Manager se-
lected by Council during two interviews:
Fred Warner, Jr.
Current City Manager Mike Kee stated
that City Attorney Drew Martin had taken
past and existing contracts for manage-
ment staff, and updated them to reflect
more current at-will language, etc., but
that the contract for Warner remained very
similar to what had been used in the past.
Warner is being offered $98,000 per
year for his new position.
Mayor Kim Mosier stated that Warner
would have “challenges in a community
that already knows him.” She added that
she felt Council had interviewed three
“very qualified” individuals over “two in-
depth meetings” and that “Fred has quali-
fications that put him above the others.”
Mosier went on to outline those
qualities, which she said boiled down
to Warner being the only candidate who
had lived in Oregon; he has experience
working in rural areas; and he has work-
ing knowledge of where to find grants for
which to apply.
Councilor Sandy Lewis moved to adopt
the contract. Councilor Rosemary Abell
seconded that motion. Lewis, Abell,
Mosier, Langrell and Thomas voted in
favor of the contract. Councilors Lowe
and Downing voted in opposition.
Warner will begin his contract June 1.
Third-Party Ambulance Billing.
City Finance Director Jeanie Dexter led
a discussion to adopt a third-party billing
service for ambulance invoicing, thereby
outsourcing the billing and collection
away from City Hall. The idea was initi-
ated by Baker City Fire Chief Mark John
and Lt. Don Taggert who brought their
research to Dexter.
In weeks prior, Dexter looked primarily
at two companies: Emergency Revenue
Resources and EMS Billing Services. She
determined that the differences between
the two companies were “night and day,”
and that the former was far superior to the
latter in terms of knowledge and customer
service. Thus, Council voted to retain
Emergency Revenue Resources starting
in June.
As a conservative estimate, the decision
to outsource should bring with it a 30%
increase in revenue, or approximately
$200,000 per year, according to Dexter.
Fire Department Update.
Chief John gave an update to the
Council about activities and successes
within his department over the past six or
so months. John mentioned he’ll be able,
for the first time in his career, to attend
the National Fire Academy. That academy
will last about a week this August.
He spoke to the success of the fire pre-
vention safety inspections his department
has done—100 total anticipated in 2016
out of the 400 commercial occupancies in
Baker City. John said his staff had found
“life safety” issues in many and have been
able to work toward correcting them.
John also spoke to the County in hopes
of securing an agreement specifying
the City as their designated emergency
provider for ambulance services. A county
must specify a provider per state statute,
and competitors are expressing interest.
Equipment Rental.
Council voted unanimously to approve
$50-55K, contingent upon 2016-2017
budget approval, to go for the rental of
two excavators (first a smaller, then even-
tually a larger) and crusher bucket this fall
to continue work between Little Mill and
Big Mill on the water transmission line.
At the conclusion of the meeting,
recorder Julie Smith mentioned that six
Council positions will be coming open,
with filing opening June 1 and closing
August 30. Those in attendance wished
outgoing City Manager Kee a fond fare-
well.
— Contact Us —
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
The Baker County Press
President Barack Obama
PO Box 567
Baker City, Ore. 97814
202.456.2461 fax
Open Monday-Thursday for calls
9 AM - 4 PM
Open 24/7 for emails
202.456.1414
Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
503.326.3386
503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
Phone: 541.519.0572
TheBakerCountyPress.com
US Sen. Ron Wyden
541.962.7691
Wyden.Senate.gov
Kerry McQuisten, Publisher
Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com
US Rep. Greg Walden
Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales
Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com
541.624.2402 fax
David Conn, Advertising and Sales
David@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Published weekly every Friday.
Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas,
e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery,
Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue,
mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only.
Payment in advance.
A division of
Black Lyon Publishing, LLC
541.624.2400
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
Copyright © 2014 -2016
541.523.8201