FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
City
Council
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 3
Council can approve it
for a certain amount or
approve it open-ended
and allow City Manager
Warner to accept whatever
the FAA grants.
Councilor Lowe moved
to approve allowing War-
ner, Jr. to accept what-
ever grant offer the FAA
presents with a second by
Councilor Abell. Council
voted unanimously in
favor.
According to Owen this
project will cost 1.7 mil-
lion dollars overall and
is entirely grant funded
therefore, not using any
City money to complete.
911 Contract Update
Warner, Jr. addressed
Council advising an
amendment had been made
to the intergovernmental
agreement with the 911
Dispatch center that would
increase the number of
board positions from three
to nine.
The County Board of
Commissioners passed that
on the 3rd of August. The
911 board discussed it at
their last meeting and felt
five members was feasible.
He sent a letter to the
Board of Commissioner
in June outlining some
concerns the City had with
the 911 dispatch contract,
which Warner claimed
hadn’t been reviewed
in nearly 10 years. He
proposed putting together
a committee to look at
the contract including the
makeup of the Board. War-
ner’s proposals also includ-
ed the role of the board in
decision-making, possible
creation of an operations
board that would oversee
day to day operations and
expenditure plans includ-
ing funding.
Warner, Jr. advised that
the Commissioners signed
this changing the board but
he felt maybe waiting for a
comprehensive analysis of
the overall contract would
be better.
Councilor Downing
voiced, “I may have a
potential conflict here as I
work for Dispatch.”
Mosier advised that
since there was not money
involved, she did not feel
that this was a true conflict
for Downing but accepted
his abstaining in the matter.
Lowe asked,“If we don’t
vote to accept what the
County has already passed,
we already have a motion
to put forth a committee
to review it, then come
up with further recom-
mendations. So no action
achieves that purpose am I
correct?”
Warner responded, “Yes.
And if I don’t sign this
amendment the County has
already signed then it basi-
cally goes away. I wouldn’t
mind having a motion from
the Council directing me
to push forming a five-
member committee to look
at comprehensive changes
to the 911 contract.”
Lowe added, “I am in
strong favor of action of
changing things and how
they are working there so I
will move to proceed with
a committee to review and
come up with recommen-
dations for the changes.”
Thomas made a second.
Council voted unani-
mously to approve minus
Downing’s vote.
Sam- O Swim Contract
Update
Heidi Dalton accompa-
nied by several YMCA
board members, addressed
Council beginning with
a slide presentation. She
noted the variety of ser-
vices the YMCA offers.
An impressive variety
of children’s sports and
adult work out classes like
Yoga, strength training
and Zumba, not to men-
tion the Fitness Center.
Dalton noted the com-
munity partners they have
built strong relationships
with, strengthening our
community. However, the
underlying reason for this
presentation and singing of
their accolades was very
simple. Money. Spe-
cifically, money for Sam-O
Swim center.
The City owns the build-
ing that houses the com-
munity swimming pool,
paying utility costs such
as electricity and natural
gas. They also pay for
chemicals for the pool. In
recent Budget hearings the
City agreed to take over
outside maintenance of the
building as well such as
snow removal in the winter
months and lawn care in
the summer in an effort to
help alleviate costs for the
non-profit.
But simply put, the 1982
contract the YMCA has
been operating under for
nearly 40 years no longer
is beneficial to the YMCA
and if they continue to
operate the pool they feel
that a management fee is a
necessity.
Dalton said in her pitch
that the YMCA had set a
goal to teach every second
grade student to swim,
they met that goal and
are now expanding it to
teach every second and
third grade student. They
donated nearly $30,000 in
scholarships so students
who likely wouldn’t, can
go to college. She noted
other scholarship programs
that allowed low income
families opportunities.
Dalton proudly spoke
that the YMCA really
focused on community
improvement through pro-
grams offering youth de-
velopment, social responsi-
bility and healthy living.
She told council that
money that was coming
into other programs at the
YMCA was being fun-
neled in part to help fund
overhead costs at Sam-O
Swim because the amount
of money the pool took in
could not cover it. Raising
the prices for something
like open swim, which is
currently $3, was not an
option Dalton felt. She said
they prided themselves
on never having to “turn
anyone away” and feared a
rate increase would have a
negative effect.
There was a consensus
among Council question-
ing why this matter was
being brought to their
attention now and not at
Budget time. Dalton said
it was a misunderstanding
about the timing. Coun-
cilor Langrell questioned
what that misunderstand-
ing was. Dalton informed
Council she had emailed
Owen about this mat-
ter and had spoken with
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case.
Langrell responded by
saying, “So the ball was
dropped.” The YMCA
contract expired and they
have been operating under
an extension that expires at
the end of August.
After nearly an hour-long
discussion among Council
that included making note
that other City-owned
properties such as the golf
course were managed by
outside entities yet did not
receive from the City a
management fee, Council-
or Lowe made a motion to
extend the YMCA contract
for six months with a $1
placeholder (management
fee). Abell seconded the
motion.
Before the final vote
Mosier said that she want-
ed to see work done on
resolving this matter long
before the expiring of the
six months. She stated she
thought it was a good idea
to look at business models
with either the City, School
District or some other
outside entity managing
the facility.
After that statement
Council voted unanimous-
ly in favor. Dalton advised
she would have to present
this to the Y Board, who
would make the determina-
tion of whether or not to
accept the contract exten-
sion. Council spoke of the
need to do some outreach
to the community as well
to get opinions on what
they would like to see.
One of the ideas was to
place a survey on the City
website another was to
contact the Sam-O Swim
committee to try and get
them to help with public
outreach as well.
Comments
Owen spoke about the
upcoming pool closure.
Upgrades to the heating
system were being made,
the old boiler has already
been removed in anticipa-
tion and with it being Au-
gust is not needed to heat
the building. Shower units
are also being replaced.
Work is progressing nicely
on the water systems
mountain line replacement.
Warner mentioned a trip
to Portland attending a
presentation about and the
usage of Biomass in lieu of
coal, which can’t be used
after 2020.
Langrell asked Warner if
he had been to the water-
shed, and he had.
Langrell brought up the
fact that for years they’d
been discussing doing
something about it.
Warner agreed more
needed to happen to help
thin and clean it up and
anticipated meeting soon
with the Forest Service and
legislators.
Finance Director Jeanie
Dexter stated the City
was working at changing
billing from bi-monthly to
monthly. The transition is
nearly complete. She also
noted the City is now using
a third-party for ambulance
billing, yet has not seen a
big increase in collected
funds.
Julie Smith, City Re-
corder reminded everyone
that applications to file for
running for City Council
are due in a matter of days.
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— Guest Opinion —
Combatting
mental illness
and drug abuse
By Rep. Greg Walden
Across Oregon, I’ve talked with
many families who are struggling
with mental illness and drug addic-
tion. These touch every segment of
our communities, no matter where you
live or what you look like. Tragically,
they often carry with them a major
stigma in society, and help is hard to
find. Fortunately, Congress is work-
ing in a bipartisan way to help solve
these problems and offer relief to
those who need help.
The size of the crisis is staggering.
Nearly 10 million Americans have
a serious mental illness, and yet 40
percent of them aren’t receiving the
treatment they need. In Oregon, more
people are dying from drug over-
doses than car accidents, with our
state ranked consistently at the top for
non-medical use of prescription pain
relievers.
I’ve heard the heartbreaking personal
stories from people who are most
affected. At roundtables in Medford,
Bend, and Hermiston, I spoke with
parents whose children experienced
homelessness, violence, and worse
due to mental health issues or drug ad-
diction. I’ve heard from law enforce-
ment officials about how the default
place for the mentally ill is often
the local jail. Local physicians and
caregivers told me how they severely
lack the resources to effectively help
patients suffering from addiction.
The good news is recently the U.S.
House passed two key pieces of legis-
lation: the Helping Families in Mental
Health Crisis Act and the Comprehen-
sive Addiction and Recovery Act to
tackle this crisis head on.
The Comprehensive Addiction and
Recovery Act focuses on improving
drug abuse treatments, addressing the
underlying causes of addiction and
helping those most at risk. Our bill
expands access to care and preven-
tion services in our communities, and
establishes best practices that will help
prevent lawful prescription use from
spiraling into abuse. It gives new tools
to law enforcement and prevention
advocates to combat the epidemic of
painkillers and heroin.
Importantly, we’re increasing first re-
sponders’ access to the potentially life-
saving anti-overdose drug naloxone.
While some states, such as Oregon,
have already broadened its avail-
ability, I believe the use of naloxone
should be boosted around the country.
With our bill, we can ensure better
access to treatment, we can reduce the
number of legally-proscribed pills that
Submitted Photo
Greg Walden represents Oregon’s
Second Congressional District,
which covers 20 counties in south-
ern, central, and eastern Oregon.
shouldn’t be out there and save lives.
Meanwhile, the Helping Families in
Mental Health Crisis Act would be
the first significant overhaul of the
nation’s mental health system since
the Kennedy administration. Our bill
reforms the 112 federal programs that
address mental health, ensuring they
effectively coordinate and streamlin-
ing the bureaucracy currently creating
serious barriers to care. It allows fami-
lies to better work with health care
professionals to care for loved ones,
and helps fix the shortage of 100,000
psychiatric hospital beds in this
country. Our bill also advances tele-
psychiatry to help mentally ill patients
in rural and underserved areas.
According to the National Institute
of Mental Health, those patients with
severe mental illness who do receive
care are 15 times less likely to com-
mit, or be the victim of, violent acts
than those who go untreated. While
the vast majority of people with men-
tal illness are not violent, the Helping
Families in Mental Health Crisis Act
works to make sure that those who
are struggling do not go on to harm
themselves or others.
Both of these bills addressing mental
health and opioid abuse have passed
the House with overwhelmingly
bipartisan support. I’m proud to say
that the drug addiction plan has also
been passed by the Senate and signed
into law by the President. And I hope
that the Senate will soon pass the
mental health reform bill so that we
can deliver help quickly to those who
need it.
Mental health and drug addiction is-
sues do not discriminate based on age
or gender or where you live or what
political party you belong to. They
impact our neighbors, our friends, and
our families in Oregon and across the
nation. For the sake of our children,
our safety, and our society, we must
fix this broken system that allows
those who are suffering from men-
tal illness and drug addiction to fall
through the cracks.
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