FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Sumpter: Department reports Bookmobile
BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Sumpter’s Tuesday night
City Council meeting
was well-attended. The
Council heard department
reports.
Utility manager
Jeff McKinney reported
a mainline break in May.
The city backhoe would
not start, so Carey Clarke
brought out his excavator
and assisted in the repair.
McKinney stated the City
has yet to receive a bill.
Total THMs (trihalo-
methanes), byproducts
of disinfection, slightly
exceeded MCL (maximum
contaminant level) during a
recent water test. McKin-
ney explained there is no
danger and he is working
with OAWU and OHA.
Excessive runoff, high tur-
bidity, and large amounts
of organic particulate com-
bined to cause the issue.
THMs are usually tested
annually, but that has been
bumped to quarterly. The
last test was within normal
limits.
Another filter cell has
been cleaned and is back
online. Cleaning the last
filter was delayed due
to the main valve used
to control flow to that
filter breaking. McKin-
ney estimated repair or
replacement by the end of
the week.
McKinney secured an
agreement with High Des-
ert Contractors to supply
water for the highway con-
struction project. To date,
$3500 has been received
and will go into the water
fund.
Fire Department
Jim Sheller reported
one fire and one medical
call-out during the Flea
Market. Also during the
Flea Market, the US For-
est Service got in touch
with Clarke and offered a
bunch of wildland fire-
fighting equipment. John
Young went to look at it
and came back with brand
new hoses, brass fittings,
wildland turnouts, helmets,
etc. Training last Tuesday
was over wildland fires.
Planning Commission
LeAnne Woolf reported
members went to La
Grande on May 17th. Paul
Daniello and Heidi Wil-
liams from Pendleton sat
with them and discussed
parameters of responsibil-
ity. The Commission has
also met to review zoning
permits, work on the com-
prehensive plan, compile
an emergency kit list, and
update the zoning permit
application.
The Council approved
removal of Dan Patton due
to absentee issues.
Flea Market
The Flea Market cleared
over $5,300.
Rella Browne
Browne stood to read a
letter in response to a com-
munication received from
Councilmember Robert
Armbruster. She stated she
and her husband joined the
volunteer fire department
and Sumpter Valley Com-
munity Volunteers because
they want to do good in
the community and help
improve it. They do not
volunteer in support of or
against any councilor.
She said they have at-
tended meetings for years,
listening to the fighting
among councilors.
Browne said she has
read the statements in
support of recalling Myers
and council members Sa-
mantha Rowan and Carey
Clarke and does not think
there is sufficient reason,
based on what she has
personally heard, seen, and
experienced, for recall.
She said in response to
an allegation of taking a
“two-faced stance” that
she has personality flaws,
but that is certainly not one
of them. She stated her
husband is one of the most
honest people she knows.
She stated she did not
support or vote for Melissa
Findley as mayor and did
vote for her recall because
she did not believe Findley
was the right person for the
job, based on her personal
observations.
Browne stated she does
support the McKinneys
based on the good perfor-
mance she’s seen them
exhibit.
She stated the lawsuit is
not the way to solve prob-
lems and that the money
could be much better spent.
Browne said she believes
the actions by Armbruster,
Finley, and Council Presi-
dent Annie Oakley will be
damaging to the commu-
nity if they succeed. She
said, if those plans succeed
and the community is
improved by them, she
will be the first to say she
was wrong and give her
support.
She concluded, that if
she was misinformed to
inform her. Armbruster
stated he had no comment.
Findley stated she did.
Myers explained he was
not going to recognize her
at that point, as there were
other agenda items that
needed to be covered, but
that he would then open it
up for anyone’s comments.
Engineer Contract
Myers explained the
engineer is unwilling to
do a contract until the City
settles its recall issues.
Letter from Mike Hobbs
Myers stated a letter
was received from Mike
Hobbs requesting waiver
of the $150 conditional use
permit fee for the Allens.
The fee has already been
paid. There was discus-
sion on the matter, and Jeff
McKinney stated if it was
an issue, he’d pay the fee.
Clarke stated he’d split the
cost.
Findley said that many
properties are being uti-
lized for conditional use
that have never gotten a
permit and that Armbruster
and herself were the only
ones who paid $150 for
conditional use fee.
Sumpter Pines RV Park
Armbruster stated that on
4/29, he sent letter to all
council members relating
to a 1/8/08 council meeting
decision that had to do
with waiving laundry fees
for the RV park. The coun-
cil found an extra charge
for the laundry building
unnecessary. Owners,
Dan and Nan Martin, are
looking for reimbursement
of $925.
City Recorder Julie
McKinney displayed a
payment history and stated
that Sumpter Pines RV
Park violated the agree-
ment, which was that if
they paid for water and
sewer all year long, they
would not be charged for
the laundry building. They
stopped paying in Sep-
tember 2010 and resumed
the next spring and did
the same the next year.
Nan Martin stated Toni
(Thompson) told them they
didn’t have to pay during
the winter months and so
they didn’t. She said there
were only about two years
they didn’t pay through the
winter.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press
The road project on the way to Granite.
Myers stated he would
like to get all commercial
accounts on meters, and
those that don’t use as
much won’t pay as much.
Those that use more water
will pay a bit more, “but it
will be a fair more.”
Clarke suggested meet-
ing with the Martins and
Thompson. Julie McKin-
ney stated the meeting
would have to be an-
nounced and open to the
public. Findley suggested
having Armbruster and
Clarke sit down with them
and chat, so there would
not be a forum or official
meeting. Myers asked
Clarke and Armbruster to
act as a committee to work
on the resolution.
Leuenberger Letter
Armbruster stated there
is an allegation about theft
of water. His attorney
produced a letter saying
that they are willing to
meet to talk through and
resolve the issue and he
wanted to make sure that
was received.
Jeff McKinney stated the
letter also threatened law-
suits to employees of the
City. He stated ordinance
provides the proper pro-
cedure for contested water
bills: the bill is to be paid,
the money held in trust,
and the issue discussed.
Myers acknowledged
receipt of the letter. Clarke
stated the utility manager
was correct about the or-
dinance and that it should
be followed. Myers stated,
“One of the issues I see is
some of this stuff is some-
thing that having our attor-
ney’s advice on is appro-
priate. That’s the way I see
it. We are not attorneys,
and it is not our preroga-
tive to act as attorneys.”
After further discussion,
Council assented to consult
with City attorney.
Personnel Records
Myers stated this is an is-
sue that cannot legitimately
be talked about in an open
meeting.
Cell tower
Myers explained the
cell tower people want
to extend their lease for
30 years for a one time
payment of $10,000 and
continue current rent and
escalators. The issue was
tabled for councilors to do
further research.
Sumpter Valley Com-
munity Volunteers
(SVCV)
SVCV requested permis-
sion to do a painting job
on the front of City Hall.
Jeff McKinney asked if
the manlift would cost
the city to use and who
owned it. Myers stated
there would be no cost and
that he is 10/13ths owner.
McKinney stated Myers
and Clarke own the lift and
are making it available to
the City for free. Council
approved the project.
SVCV also proposed pre-
paring an area for a basket-
ball half court at Volunteer
Park, if the Road Depart-
ment had extra asphalt
from the Granite highway
paving project and would
be willing to donate it. If
asphalt cannot be donated,
the group will not further
pursue the project.
Licensed Contractors
Armbruster said that
Clarke recommended a
list of Sumpter-approved
contractors be established
and that he thought it was
a good idea. Timberline
Builders, Clarke Construc-
tion, and Sackos Excavat-
ing are City-approved.
IFA Application
Myers explained that
with an engineer not on
board, they cannot com-
plete the application and
will address this immedi-
ately after July 1.
Myers then stated, “I am
going to excuse myself, go
home with my wife and
enjoy our anniversary.” He
turned the meeting over to
Oakley.
Public input
Oakley asked for Council
input, then opened the
meeting to public com-
ments. Shirley Bender
thanked EMTs for their
work when her grandmoth-
er passed away. There was
some discussion on confu-
sion over the address and
Sheller explained he got a
book with City addresses
in the response rig. Kathi
Vinson suggested being
diligent about remember-
ing north, south, east, or
west designations as there
are address numbers dupli-
cated on north and south
sides of town.
Armbruster stated there
have been a lot of ac-
cusations going around
about Oakley and himself
stealing files from the City
office. He said since the
information is out to the
community, it’s inflamma-
tory and libelous. He read
a letter from the Attorney
General in response to
Baker County DA. Arm-
bruster stated he assumes
this arises from when he
delivered an evaluation
draft to council in prepara-
tion for employee evalua-
tions, to give them an idea
of what had happened in
the twelve months prior.
He said the documents for-
warded to council did not
come out of the files and
were not signed or dated
by employees.
Jeff McKinney asked
if this was not what the
mayor had said not to
discuss. Clarke stated the
information from Arm-
bruster was distributed to
only three council mem-
bers. Armbruster said
it was put in all council
members’ boxes. Julie
McKinney stated it was
also given to Bill Harvey.
Armbruster responded this
is proprietary information
and he did not send it to
Harvey. He stated employ-
ee evaluations are private,
but everything else in the
files is accessible as public
record.
According to Library Director Perry Stokes, the book-
mobile carries 1,700 books, 60 audiobooks, 200 DVDs
and 150 magazines for a total of 2,110 items available for
checkout.
Witham said thanks to Superior Towing, they had air
and electricity, and were able to safely lock up both the
large vehicle and equipment used on it each night.
On Friday afternoon, said Witham, “We finally got to
the point that we could steam clean it and Bill Steele,
Superior employee, insisted that he steam clean it for
us, Back in the shop, Casey Poe and Vanessa Fregoso
installed the new upper text to the driver side, reading
‘Baker County Library District.’ I installed new text to
the lower driver side panel, reading ‘Info To Go.’ The
first of our BSU crew arrived, Chris Oldfield and Kelly,
and they installed the same text to the passenger side.”
On Saturday morning the rest of the BSU crew arrived
and the wrap began.
“Vanessa, Chris and Kurt farthest setting up the first
panel as they did on all seven panels. We had a bunch
of rivets to go over which get tricky and take patience.
I would jump in and squeegee those areas with Chris
mostly, Pete would get in here and there. Vanessa and
Casey followed up behind us heating the vinyl into the
rivets and tucking into edges, paying attention to detail
for us and finishing up each panel.”
Each panel was five feet high by four feet wide, requir-
ing two hands holding the graphic while two people
squeegeed.
Steve, who runs the BSU sign shop is also Witham’s
satellite graphic designer. He was there from Friday
afternoon through the installation.
Russ Witham came in and removed rivets holding a
handrail and door keeper. “He was our nuts and bolts guy
and delivered lunch on Saturday, always worried that we
are doing the right thing!” Witham said.
All printed and cut graphics were produced in the Or-
egon Sign Company shop in Baker City
In the past, Steve designed the image on the library
cards and painted the wall of the Sumpter Library.
“We have worked together for a few years—our first
big project together with the BSU crew was the painted
mural inside Lefty’s Tap House; we make a great crew
and work well together. I hired Steve to design Lefty’s,
Charley’s and Beloved Tattoos among others and all
graphics are produced in house here in my shop. In turn,
I have worked over at BSU with the same crew and had
a great time helping them with jobs around campus,” said
Witham.
Now that the bookmobile is out and rolling again,
Stokes says he can expect roughly 300 checkouts per
month—80% books.
Said Stokes, “The bookmobile logs an average of
1,300 miles per month. The current odometer reading is
221,304.”
The current bookmobile, said Stokes, is a 1998 Thomas
Built Freightliner, which was purchased in 2002 for base
price of $90,500. He said, “Ordinarily, bookmobiles cost
about twice that price but Library Director at the time,
Aletha Bonebrake, was able to wrangle this unit at a bar-
gain. It was then customized with interior shelving and
exterior graphics for $16,391.”
By way of trivia, the bookmobile is 28’8” long, and has
a weight (GVWR) of 25,900 lbs.
The old bookmobile (a 1967 Gerstenslager model) was
donated in 2006 to Cameron Parish Library System,
Louisiana, to help the community recover from Hurri-
cane Rita losses, said Stokes.
Schedule History:
· The bookmobile has been serving areas of Unity, Ox-
bow, Medical Springs for as long as staff can remember.
· Huntington and Sumpter also received Bookmobile
service for decades up until branch libraries were opened
in those communities.
· Bookmobile service to Durkee has been intermittent.
In 2008, the Durkee run was suspended due to the high
cost of fuel and availability of libraries in Baker City and
Huntington. It was re-booted in 2011 due to community
interest, but again discontinued in late 2015 due to dimin-
ished use.
· Service to Powder River Correctional Facility ended
in 2010 due to discontinuation of the reciprocal work
crew for library services arrangement. After that cancel-
ation, staff identified service to Senior Care Centers in
Baker City as a need and began visits in 2011.
Other info:
With a fairly small collection size, some bookmobile
users exhaust the offerings of their interest fairly quickly.
Bookmobile staff work hard at keeping the collection
regularly refreshed with new items and devote much of
their time to fulfillment of special requests.
Checkout periods on the bookmobile are double the
regular checkout period, six weeks as compared to the
standard three weeks, since the bookmobile is a moving
target for returns. This gives users a comfortable margin
of error, said Stokes.
Alvin Ward is among the former bookmobile drivers.
Stokes said, “He has a thrilling tale of the brakes going
out on the 1968 model coming down the Sparta grade.
He was able to save himself and the vehicle thanks to his
experience with heavy farm equipment.”
The bookmobile’s current schedule follows:
Oxbow (1st & 3rd Tue). Two stops: Oxbow, Hells
Canyon Inn
Keating (1st & 3rd Wed). Five stops: Keating School,
Ponderosa Store, Medical Springs
Unity (2nd & 4th Tue). Two Stops: Burnt River School,
Hereford
Baker City Care Centers (2nd & 4th Wed). Four stops:
Settler’s Park, Meadowbrook, St Alphonsus, Beehive
Homes.