THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016
Business & Ag
Prairie City hosts LOC meeting
— Weekly Hay Report —
Friday, July 22, 2016 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady compared to week
ago prices. Most demand lays with the retail/stable
hay. Recent rain storms has slowed movement this
past week. Many hay producers are selling or have
already sold most of their first cutting hay, and are
working on second cutting resulting in higher vol-
umes of hay moving.
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa — Large Square Good/ Premium
1850 125.00-125.00 125.00
Timothy Grass — Small Square Premium
20 185.00-185.00 185.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
Eileen Driver / The Baker County Press
— Cattle Market Report —
This quarter’s meeting was held at the Senior Center in Prairie City.
BY EILEEN DRIVER
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
This quarter’s League
of Oregon Cities (LOC)
Eastern Oregon Region
8 Small Cities Support
Network meeting was held
from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
on Thursday, July 21 at the
Prairie City Senior Center
at 204 N McHaley in Prai-
rie City, Oregon.
The meeting was called
to order by Prairie City
Mayor Jim Hamsher who
thanked everyone for mak-
ing the trip to Prairie City.
He then turned over the
meeting to Scott Winkel,
the Intergovernmental Re-
lations Associate for the
LOC.
Winkel reminded those
present of the City/County
Insurance Services (CIS)
online learning center that
has free classes for elected
officials and city work-
ers on a wide range of
topics such as interacting
and communicating with
community members and
public meeting laws.
Next on the agenda was
Kurt Chapman from CIS,
where he works as a senior
Human Resources Consul-
tant and has 30 years in the
field, to discuss issues that
have arisen with personnel
handbooks and changes
that must be made to job
applications.
He talked about the new
sick leave laws and how
they affect small cities, the
“Cadillac Tax,” which is
a tax on high-cost medi-
cal plan and has been put
off going into effect until
2020, and the issues sur-
rounding “Ban the Box,”
which prohibits the ques-
tion concerning criminal
records on job applica-
tions.
After Winkel’s presenta-
tion, each City was asked
to give a 23-minute talk
on what is happening in
their town. Prairie City
reported that they have
a new restaurant in town
that supplied the meal for
the luncheon meeting, that
planning and preparation
is under way for the influx
of tourist expected for the
Solar Eclipse in 2017 and a
new information kiosk has
been erected.
They also are working
on a DEQ mandated sewer
project, looking into add-
ing a composting facility
at their landfill, have a
possible land sale to a chip
plant that would create
new jobs and the possibil-
ity of their local sawmill
reopening.
Nyssa Mayor Ross
Ballard started his talk by
saying, “ First off I would
like to commend Hunting-
ton for having the courage
to do what was necessary
to save their town. My city
would never allow mari-
juana business but I admire
your bravery in being the
first to take that step and
make the hard choice.”
He then went on to tell the
assembly that Nyssa has
finished fixing their sewer
lines and is working on
building a storage shed for
the public works depart-
ment and chip sealing.
Hines’ City Adminis-
trator Judy Green talked
about their struggles to
keep their town going
since the timber industry is
all but gone. They did not
optout and currently have
a hydroponic marijuana
grow trying to get estab-
lished and are working on
the city water master plan.
Hines currently has three
City Council positions as
well as the Mayor position
open and has gotten no ap-
plications to fill them.
Huntington Deputy City
Recorder Shellie Nash
reported that Huntington
is currently bustling with
activity between the new
business in town and the
windmills going up and
have had several more
inquiries from businesses
wanted to come to town.
The sewer project is on
track and the City just
completed the repair and
relining of its water tank.
She also announced that
due to the vast quantity of
calls to City Hall inquir-
ing on Huntington’s Time,
Place & Manner Ordi-
nance, Business License
Ordinance and Tax Ordi-
nance by the small towns
in Eastern Oregon who are
now reconsidering their
stance on marijuana busi-
nesses, Huntington will
be holding a workshop on
these as well as arranging
tours of said businesses for
all City officials who wish
to learn on August 11 at
11 a.m. and sent around a
signup sheet for all inter-
ested in attending.
Monument City Re-
corder Dorothy Jordan was
pleased to say they have
filled the empty seats on
their City Council, their
sewer project is almost
complete and they are dis-
cussing their water project
and looking into grants to
finance it. She was happy
to have received a grant
from ODOT of $50,000 to
chip seal their streets.
A representative from
Sumpter told the attendees
that they are all trying to
recover from the latest
round of recalls which
have plagued the city in
the past year. They are
working on a marijuana
ordinance and tax initiative
and resurfacing the road
toward Granite.
John Day Mayor Ron
Lundbom introduced their
new City Manager Nicho-
las Green who reported
that they have hired a new
airport manager, have
completed the new fire hall
and are in the process of
changing over to electronic
record keeping.
They are also planning
for the Eclipse in 2017 and
will offer 120 RV spaces at
their industrial park.
Long Creek’s Denise
Porter reported that they
have no water or sewer
problems, their income
and outflow are steady and
they are also planning for
the eclipse.
Randy Jones of regional
Resource Center/DEQ
said, “ He is proud of the
Sumpter City Council and
employees for sticking it
out through all the recalls
and trying to get their city
back on track.”
Next quarter’s meeting
is scheduled to be held in
Huntington on October 20
and the topic will be
Insurance liability & plan-
ning for events as well as
tourism impacts.
Albertsons, Safeway guessing
game continues in Baker City
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
In May, Albertsons an-
nounced plans to remodel
and reopen its leased
building at 1120 Campbell
Street in Baker City in
the fall, as an Albertsons
store, followed by an an-
nouncement in June that
plans had changed, and
that the store would actu-
ally be opened as another
Safeway, along with the
company’s existing Safe-
way, across the street at
1205 Campbell.
Just last week, after
meeting with Baker City
Manger Fred Warner, Jr.,
and Baker County Eco-
nomic Development Direc-
tor Greg Smith, the duo
said the company agreed:
there will be an Albertsons
and a Safeway.
The following statement
was released in a Weekly
Update from Baker City
Hall, on Friday, July 22,
2016:
“City Manager Fred
Warner (Jr.) and Economic
Development Director
Greg Smith traveled to
Portland on Tuesday (July
19) to meet with senior
officials of Albertsons.
They presented the com-
munity’s concerns about
the decision to locate two
Safeway stores in Baker
City. They shared the lack
of competition, number of
jobs created, and overall
sentiments of the commu-
nity. Albertsons agreed
to work with Baker City
to come up with a solution
that fits their economic
model, and works for our
community. We appreci-
ate their willingness to
work through these issues.
We will keep you posted
as plans finalize.”
Warner, Jr. said, “Basi-
cally, the community is
very uneasy. We want
competition...We said, ‘At
a minimum, we would
like, instead of a Safeway,
an Albertsons ... And, they
said, ‘Okay, we’ll work on
it.’”
Warner, Jr. was speak-
ing about the meeting he
and Smith had in Portland,
with Albertsons represen-
tatives, which included
outside legal counsel
Gary Oxley, Senior Vice
President of Public Af-
fairs, Government Rela-
tions, CSR, Diversity and
Philanthropy Jonathan
Mayes, and Communica-
tions Manager and Public
Affairs Specialist Jill
McGinnis.
Fred Warner, Jr. said,
“Prior to going to the
meeting, we had sent a
bunch of concerns that
we had, to Oxley...We
met them, and basically
lined out the issues that
I had heard about in the
community—the lack of
competition, if we had two
Safeway stores. I talked to
them about the number of
employees, and how they
would handle the number
of employees, with two
Safeway stores. We talked
about what was happen-
ing now—the leakage of
people, shopping in La
Grande, which affected
grocery shopping, but also,
other restaurants, and re-
tail ... I had concerns about
two Safeways, that, once
they got established, they
might attempt to close one
of them, and we would be
back to the deja vu of one
grocery store.”
Warner, Jr. said he be-
lieves his and Smith’s con-
cerns were taken seriously
during the hour-long meet-
ing, and that the Albert-
sons executives expressed
the desire to be a good
partner to the community.
He said that he understood
that most likely, the com-
pany will reopen the store
at 1120 Campbell Street as
an Albertsons.
SEE ALBERTSONS,
SAFEWAY
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 350
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 141.00 - 156.00 Top 158.00
500-600# Bulk 142.00 - 149.00 Top 151.00
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 124.00 - 135.00 Top 136.00
500-600# Bulk 126.00 - 133.00 Top 135.50
600-700#
700-800#
800-900#
900-1,000#
Yearling Steers
Bulk 132.00 - 138.00 Top 141.00
Bulk 128.00 - 136.00 Top 137.00
Bulk 119.00 - 127.00 Top 131.50
Bulk 117.00 - 126.00 Top 128.25
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 123.00 - 130.00 Top 130.50
700-800# Bulk 104.00 - 114.00 Top 116.00
800-900# Bulk 118.00 - 126.00 Top 128.00
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 53.00 - 68.00
Butcher Cows 74.00 - 82.00
Butcher Bulls 72.00 - 84.00
Pairs Young 1250.00 - 1525.00
Hfretts. 84.00-89.00
Stock Cows Young - N/A
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 $420.00/
mbf for Doug Fir & Western Larch. For White
Fir they are offing $325.00/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: $1,326.60
Silver: $20.21
Platinum: $1120.97
Palladium: $700.87
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $340.70/bu/USD
Wheat: $414.75/bu/USD
Soybeans: $987.50/bu/USD
Oats: $197.00 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $9.92/cwt/USD
Canola: $455.00 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $112.80/lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $142.38/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $61.15/lb./USD
PAGE 7
Bloomberg.com