THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2016
Business & Ag
County Commissioners: ASL,
ambulance services, etc.
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Friday, May 27, 2016 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady compared to week
ago prices in a very limited test. Many hay produc-
ers are sold out for the year. New crop hay is grow-
ing and will be harvested in the upcoming weeks.
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa/Ochard Mix —Small Square Premium
20 165.00-165.00 165.00
Last week:
Alfalfa — Mid Square Good
150 190.00-190.00 190.00
Alfalfa — Small Square Premium
23 170.00-170.00 170.00
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners held
its first regular session of
the month, on Wednesday,
June 1, 2016, 9 a.m., in the
Commission Chambers of
the Baker County Court-
house, which included
the topics of the Ameri-
can Stewards of Liberty,
Treasurer Department and
Anthony Lakes updates,
and the City of Unity’s
budget.
Present from the Board
were Chair Bill Harvey,
Commissioners Mark Ben-
nett and Tim Kerns, and
Executive Assistant Heidi
Martin.
Attendance also included
Baker County Treasurer
Alice Durflinger, Baker
City Fire Chief Mark John,
Baker County Emergency
Management Executive
Director/Fire Author-
ity Gary Timm, Baker
County Sheriff Travis Ash,
Anthony Lakes Mountain
Resort General Manager
Peter Johnson, Ed Hardt,
Vicki Valenzuela, Mark
Sayers, John and Ramona
Creighton, Tork and Wanda
Ballard, Mary Miller, and
Cynthia Long.
The meeting was called
to order, followed by the
optional Invocation, and
recitation of the Pledge of
Allegiance, both led by
Harvey. With no additions
or changes to the agenda
noted, it was adopted, with
a motion from Bennett, and
a second from Kerns.
Citizen Participation
included Valenzuela, Tork,
Hardt, Ramona, and Say-
ers.
Valenzuela commented
about the minutes from the
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
regular session, which
were on this session’s
agenda, to be approved
by the Board, following
Citizen Participation.
Her concern was about
what she deemed to be
inaccurate information
provided by Harvey previ-
ously, which she said were
not in the May 18 session’s
minutes.
Harvey responded that
minutes are are just a sum-
mary of sessions, and Va-
lenzuela responded that she
understood, but she desired
for the detail to be included
in the minutes, whether
inaccurate information
provided by a member, or
members of the Board is
by mistake, omission, or
misunderstanding.
She said Harvey con-
tributed to confusion, in
reference to statements
made about whether the
County is a member of
the American Stewards
of Liberty (ASL), or just
purchasing information, or
part of a coalition, and she
also had concerns about
the funds donated to ASL
($1,000, privately raised,
and donated to the County,
for its use).
Harvey said, “We are a
member of a coalition...
for a very specific pur-
pose: To gain information,
which I have right here (he
displayed ASL’s 60-page
response to the Bureau of
Land Management’s initia-
tive, “Planning 2.0”, as
requested by the County)...
because, it was needed for
our comments, to BLM.
We are a member of a
coalition, not a member of
— Weekly Hay Report —
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 507
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 147.00 - 169.00 Top 170.00
500-600# Bulk 143.00 - 160.00 Top 162.00
Todd Arriola/ The Baker County Press
Baker County Emergency Management Executive Director/Fire Authority Gary
Timm and Baker City Fire Chief Mark John.
the association.”
Valenzuela and Harvey
debated about what state-
ments, exactly, were made,
what the minutes reflected,
and whether information
provided was inaccurate,
regarding membership.
She asked Kerns for his
input, and he said he didn’t
see a difference in mem-
bership of a coalition, or
association.
She asked Bennett for
his input, and he said,
though he was confused,
he understand, all along,
that County funds were not
used, and that the County
is participating with ASL
for the purpose of gaining
information to be used for
the County’s comments.
He suggested postpon-
ing approval of the May
18 minutes, in order to
review, and to possibly
change language, and Har-
vey said that it shouldn’t
be confusing, since he
discussed, and clarified the
County’s position, at three
different sessions. He
said he also didn’t solicit
the private funds, but he
asked Bennett and Kerns
if they supported enlisting
ASL’s assistance, and they
responded previously that
they had. Harvey repeated
that the County is not actu-
ally a member of ASL’s
association.
Tork voiced his desire to
see the issue put to rest,
and he said he had heard
all three Commissioners
support the idea, which he
said is a good one, and he
wondered why there is a
delay in moving forward.
Kerns said he’s disap-
pointed with the County’s
own, six-page response
(comments were due by
May 25, 2016, which
included an extension), to
BLM’s proposed land use
rule changes (“CFR Part
1600 Resource Manage-
ment Planning; Proposed
Rules” Notice Federal
Register February 25, 2016
81 FR 9674), because of
the lack of specifics re-
garding Baker County, and
the lack of review from the
County’s Natural Resource
Advisory Committee
(NRAC).
Harvey said there was
little time in which to draft
a County response to the
proposed rule changes,
and he thought the expen-
diture of (private) funds
to seek assistance with the
comments from ASL was a
wise investment.
Hard asked whether the
ASL document involved
effort by attorneys, and
Harvey said that it was
written by attorneys, for a
specific purpose.
Hardt responded that
they would be more quali-
fied than lay persons, to
draft a document like that.
Valenzuela repeated con-
cerns about confusion, and
Harvey said she had not
necessarily been present
during every session dur-
ing discussions about the
County’s comments, and
ASL’s role.
Ramona said she un-
derstood how terms and
details can be confusing,
but she wishes to see what
she views as possible
personal issues between
members of the commu-
nity and members of the
Board put aside, and the
County, as a whole, needs
to work together. She said
this is the most transparent
Commission Board she has
seen, dealing with the most
complex issues.
Sayers expressed con-
cerns about the safety of
the McCullough Mine
Road bridge, in the Clark’s
Creek area. Sayers had
asked Harvey about the
bridge last year, but he
didn’t ask County Road-
master Jeff Smith about it.
The County had re-
vamped the crossing, and
did a good job, Sayers said,
but over the years, due to
flash flood, fires, etc., the
condition of the crossing
has deteriorated.
Harvey said he would
contact Smith about im-
proving the condition of
the crossing, and he asked
Sayers to also contact
Smith.
Duflinger provided a
Treasurer update, provid-
ing copies of details, such
as Oregon Short Term
Fund (OSTF) interest
rates, County foreclosure
histories, top 15 County
taxpayers, and percentages
of taxes collected.
Among other details, the
top 15 Baker County tax-
payers for the period 2015-
2016 are, in order, from
#1, to #15: Idaho Power
Company, Ash Grove
Cement Company, Union
Pacific Railroad Company,
Northwest Pipeline Corpo-
ration, Oregon Telephone
Corporation, Centurylink,
Marvin Wood Products,
Inc., Tesoro Logistics
NW Pipeline Company,
Level 3 Communications,
LLC, TTX Company,
Carshetown, LLC, Verizon
Communications, Charter
Communications, Haggen
Property North, LLC, and
Eagle Telephone System,
Inc.
As of May 31, 2016,
96.148% of County taxes
had been collected, an
unprecedented event, she
said.
Bennett began a discus-
sion about a proposal
from Chris Arvidson, of
Med Transport, Inc., to be
accepted into the Local
Ambulance Service Area,
for the sole purpose of
inter-hospital transfers in
Union, Baker, Umatilla,
and Wallowa counties.
This service would not
be for pre-hospital care
to patients on scene, but
rather, to provide inter-
hospital transfers, in order
to lighten the workload of
local EMS resources, and
to provide patients with
healthcare options, accord-
ing to Arvidson’s request.
John and Timm joined
the discussion, and they
discussed the current prog-
ress, which includes a local
ambulance service plan up-
date Timm is working on,
and data gathering, to give
a better indication about
ground service calls. Med
Transport, Inc. was desig-
nated as a non-emergent
ambulance provider, with
an interim agreement, with
a motion from Bennett, and
a second from Kerns.
Johnson provided an
Anthony Lakes Mountain
Resort (ALMR) update,
which included comments
that overall, the skiing sea-
son went well, with skier
visits up by about 20%,
and hotel stays up, to well
over 1,000, resulting in
about $350,000 in tourism
dollars, spent within the
County.
He said that ALMR
purchases goods and
services locally as much
as possible, equating to
over $400,000 each year,
in the County, everything
from T-shirts from Elk-
horn Embroidery, to beer
from Barley Brown’s.
ALMR employees over
100 people annually, for
around $900,000, the bulk
of which is in a four-month
period, he said.
His goal is to have
ALMR as a year-round
resort, and ALMR has
applied to manage the
surrounding campgrounds,
which are currently under
outside management.
SEE COUNTY
PAGE 8
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 136.00 - 147.00 Top 148.00
500-600# Bulk 119.00 - 138.00 Top 139.50
600-700#
700-800#
800-900#
900-1,000#
Yearling Steers
Bulk 136.00-150.00 Top 151.00
Bulk 123.00 - 135.00 Top 136.00
Bulk 112.00 - 124.00 Top 125.00
Bulk 107.00 - 119.00 Top 119.50
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 111.00 - 129.00 Top 131.00
700-800# Bulk 107.00 - 121.00 Top 125.00
800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 47.00 - 61.00
Butcher Cows 66.00 - 75.00
Butcher Bulls 77.00 - 88.00
Pairs Yng. 1375.00 - 1600.00
Hfretts. 81.00 - 96.00
Stock Cows Young - 1050.00 - 1300.00
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon
Currently the local log market is flooded with
fire salvage logs. The log buyer for Malheur
Lumber Co. stated they have all the logs they
need under contract and are not accepting any
new purchases. BCC/LLC of La Grande has
receive so many burned fire salvage logs they
are no longer accepting logs at the La Grande
log yard. Any additional pine logs have to be
delivered to the Elgin Log yard cut in plywood
lengths and to a 8 inch top. For these pine
logs cut in plywood lengths, BCC is offering
$280.00/mbf. They are also paying $410.00/
mbf for Doug Fir & Western Larch. For White
Fir they are offing $310.00/mbf. At the Pilot
Rock Saw Mill BCC is offing $360.00/mbf for a
12 to 15 inch top, for 16 to 19 inch top $400.00/
mbf & offing $425.00/mbf for 20 inch plus top
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,214.60
Silver: $15.98
Platinum: $973.20
Palladium: $547.86
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $413.17/bu/USD
Wheat: $473.75/bu/USD
Soybeans: $1099.95/bu/USD
Oats: $190.25 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $11.00/cwt/USD
Canola: $517.40 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $117.75/lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $146.43/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $82.80/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com