The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current, September 30, 2016, Image 3

The Baker County press., September 30, 2016, Page 3, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextTHE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 Business & Ag BMCC and the County: A more in-depth look at the issues BY TODD ARRIOLA Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com During last week’s regu- lar Baker County Commis- sion session, on Wednes- day, September 21, former Blue Mountain Com- munity College (BMCC) Associate Vice President Peggy Hudson brought to the attention of the County Board of Commissioners and the public, issues with the services provided by BMCC, versus funding from the County. About midway through the session, Commission Chair Bill Harvey intro- duced the subject, which was originally intended to be discussed during an executive session, in order to consult with County legal counsel Drew Martin, about the legal rights and duties of a public body, with regard to current liti- gation, or litigation likely to be ﬁled, according to the session agenda. In order to help deter- mine whether to hold an executive session, Com- missioner Mark Bennett asked what the speciﬁc issue was (the session agenda didn’t include this), and Harvey said it would be a discussion about the “...lack of services being provided by BMCC, and we are generally paying out close to $850,000 a year, in tax revenue, to the college, and we’re obtain- ing services, roughly, I would say, between $250,000 and $300,000 a year, for the past ten years. So, there’s quite a deﬁcit in provided services, versus funds that we’re investing, from the County...It’s a discussion only.” Bennett said he thought it should be an open discus- sion, rather than going into executive session, that the County is a long way from talk about litigation, and that a work session should be scheduled, to allow all parties involved to discuss the matter publicly and transparently. Harvey said he was actually opposed to involving the County with any discussion about pos- sible litigation, unless liti- gation were to be pursued, and Kerns said, “I think it’s a red ﬂag, if we do it in secret,” speaking about the executive session. After more discussion, Bennett made a motion to discuss the topic, without hold- ing an executive session, Kerns seconded the mo- tion, and it carried. Hudson, who’s worked for BMCC for nine years, said at ﬁrst that she thought there were legal matters to discuss, and she was reluc- tant to provide documents initially (she understood the discussion would be held during executive ses- sion), but she then provid- ed the Board with copies of research she had compiled, as well as members of the press. Her 44 pages of docu- ments detailed successes with the BMCC program, as well as issues. She ﬁrst pointed out a 2012 Baker City Herald article, about the record-setting number of local BMCC gradu- ates that year—41, which included 37 associate de- grees. She also mentioned a 2012 East Oregonian article, which detailed the same subject. Further detail from Hudson included FTE (full-time equivalent, an enrollment measurement that doesn’t indicate the number of students) analy- sis and market potential for the County, and “Fast Facts.” Between 2005- 2006, and 2009-2010, the BMCC Baker campus FTE grew by 300%, according to the fact sheet, and within that same period, overall, the college has grown by 18%. In 2005-2006, 71 FTE for BMCC Baker was noted; in 2006-2007, 114 FTE; in 2007-2008, 139 FTE; in 2008-2009, 157 FTE; in 2009-2010, 203 FTE; and in 2011-2012, 211 FTE (not counting on- line students). The overall growth within that period for all campuses was 400 FTE, with the Baker and Milton/Freewater cam- puses responsible for 200 of that, according to the document. An email Hudson pro- vided, addressed from then BMCC President John Turner, to Vice President Clark Williams, on May 2, 2012, included this open- ing sentence, from Turner: “I was pleased to see the impressive amount of FTE generated by our Branches during the current academ- ic year. Approximately 1/3 of our reimbursable FTE comes from the Branches.” Hudson pointed out that, according to the statements in the email, the branch- es—Hermiston, Milton/ Freewater, and Baker (there also—generate about 40-45% of the total FTE, and tuition-based revenue. The next segment of documents included names of graduates, dates of graduation, and certiﬁcates earned, and Hudson, at that point, said there was a signiﬁcant decline in enrollment, noted in the 2013-2014 academic year (15 conﬁrmed graduates, according to the docu- ment). Hudson said, “What happened is, there was a change in the administra- tion...We had a new presi- dent (Dr. Camille Preus, pronounced “Proyce,” in 2013)...” Hudson provided a copy of a letter she had sent to Preus, congratulat- ing her on her presidency, and including positive details about the Baker campus. In that same letter, however, Hudson pointed out initiatives in- troduced by BMCC, which have caused a decline in enrollment and revenue. These restrictions includ- ed: no late add (requiring a student to wait a term, if they registered after the deadline for the current one); a new orientation, requiring the physical presence of students; cen- tralized faculty advising, resulting in communication difﬁculties for students in Baker, Milton/Freewater, Hermiston, Boardman, and John Day; a prereq- uisite that caused limited offerings, and more burden on the branches; a new $25 administration fee; the withdrawal of printed Schedule of Classes; and not allowing paid advisors to have “read only” access to the ﬁnancial module. Hudson discussed what she said was part of BMCC’s strategic plan for 2008, and again in 2012, objectives under the head- ing “Integrate And Expand Marketing And Recruit- ing.” According to the last objective in the list, BMCC had planned to increase the percentage of students of Hispanic descent, from 12%, to 25%, by the end of ﬁscal year 2010. Hudson said, “Well, what that does for Baker is, each county has a certain per- centage of Hispanics. Bak- er has 2% Hispanic people, so, Baker is holding them (the BMCC district) down. They’re attempting to get 25% Hispanic enrollment (overall), because, when they do that, they can apply for an Hispanic-Serving In- stitutions (HSI) grant, from the federal government. What that does, is gives them $5 million--that may be more now...” Accord- ing to a copy of “BMCC at a Glance” for 2014-2015 Hudson provided, part of the fall course mailer, BMCC was at 24.9% His- panic enrollment, overall. Hudson said that BMCC had begun to initiate actions to indicate that investment in the Baker campus would be minimal, causing the campus to be unsuccessful. She then pointed out the last two copies of documents she provided, BMCC head count for 2006-2007, and 2015-2016. For the Baker campus for the period 2006-2007, a head count of 1,047 was noted; and for 2015-2016, a head count of 427. She said Board- man, a small community, had tripled in head count (the number was 228, in 2006-2007, and 649, in 2015-2016), and Baker had declined by 60%. She said, “Why is that? It’s by design; because Baker is too white...We lower their percentage.” At the high point of the Baker campus’s success was an FTE of 300, but last year, that number dropped to 85, which Hudson said is “ridiculous.” She noted that there need to be changes, whether in leadership, and/or with the BMCC/County relation- ship. This discussion, a signiﬁcant segment of the session, went on further, and the Board considered options, including opt- ing out of the BMCC/ County relationship, and for the County to have its own community college. Harvey moved to schedule a work session, in order to invite BMCC and School District personnel, to discuss the subject further, Kerns seconded the mo- tion, and it carried. The session is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12, 2016, 9 a.m., in the Com- mission Chambers of the Baker County Courthouse. OTEC gives little ones lessons From the moment the large automated security gate opened up to welcome Mrs. Collier’s 2nd grade Haines Elementary class you could hear the excla- mations of excitement. Parading in through the large gate and joining in the chorus of, “Oh, wow,” the children, geared up in their school day best, marched into OTEC head- quarters and onward for an electrical utility adventure. Once inside the ware- house yard, they were greeted by OTEC’s Man- ager of Loss Control Jeff Anderson who showed the young visitors some of the equipment and materials used in the industry before guiding them over to view OTEC linemen lifting power poles onto a waiting pole trailer. “The main focus of today’s tour was for the kids to come in, engage in a bit of learning and enjoy visiting our facilities,” said Anderson. “I think that it is great that we had this op- portunity to show the way some of the elements we work with come together. Most people have no idea how powerlines come into being or how much main- tenance and construction is involved. So, having the children visit and get a tiny glimpse of some of these elements was pretty great.” The children watched transﬁxed as OTEC lineman Casey Mitchell strapped on his climbing gear and climbed all the way up to the very tippy top of a power pole and waved. The next stop on the tour was a visit with OTEC lineman Nick Simons who stepped into — Weekly Hay Report — Friday, September 23, 2016 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady compared to week ago prices. Most demand lays with the retail/stable hay. According to some producers, horse owners are starting to prefer lower sugar, higher protein hay. Many hay producers are selling or have already sold most of their ﬁrst and second cutting hay, and are working on later cutting(s) resulting in higher volumes of hay moving. Tons Price Range Wtd Avg Alfalfa — Large Square Supreme 150 140.00-140.00 140.00 Timothy Grass — Large Square Good 100 100.00-100.00 100.00 Teff Straw — Large Square Utility 200 55.00-55.00 55.00 USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Wednesday, September 21, 2016 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 645 Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 134.00 - 145.00 Top 147.00 400-500# Bulk 118.00 - 132.50 Top 133.00 500-600# Bulk 117.00 - 127.00 Top 129.00 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk 116.00 - 126.00 Top 128.00 400-500# Bulk 112.00 - 126.00 Top 126.50 500-600# Bulk 105.00 - 112.00 Top 113.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 112.00 - 122.00 Top 124.50 700-800# Bulk 109.00 - 121.00 Top 123.00 800-900# Bulk 108.00 - 117.00 Top 120.00 900-1,000# Bulk 95.00 - 109.00 Top 116.50 600-700# 700-800# 800-900# 900-1,000# Yearling Heifers Bulk 101.00 - 110.00 Top 112.00 Bulk 98.00 - 110.00 Top 111.00 Bulk 95.00 - 107.00 Top 108.00 Bulk 93.00 - 102.00 Top 105.00 Thin Shelly Cows 44.00 - 55.00 Butcher Cows 56.00 - 66.00 Butcher Bulls 60.00 - 73.00 Pairs Young N/A Hfretts. N/A 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: $1,326.10 Silver: $19.23 Platinum: $1027.15 Palladium: $715.13 Bloomberg.com Submitted Photo. Ms. Collier’s 2nd grade class. a bucket and maneuvered When the power goes out, himself 60’ in the air to even if they are sitting gain access to the rooftop. with their families open- “It’s important for ing Christmas presents on everyone —especially Christmas morning, they the little kids to under- go out and ﬁx it and it is stand just how dangerous often in brutal weather linemen’s work is,” said conditions. And then, when Anderson. “Lineman work there is an emergency situ- with high voltage day in ation, they are among the and day out in all kinds ﬁrst emergency responders. of challenging conditions. It is incredible.” — Ag Commodities — Corn: $329.25/bu/USD Wheat: $403.25/bu/USD Soybeans: $945.50/bu/USD Oats: $174.00 bu/USD Rough Rice: $9.74/cwt/USD Canola: $464.70 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $103.63/lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $128.03/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $46.70/lb./USD Bloomberg.com