FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
— A Note to our Readers —
On Friday night we lost the eldest member of our Editorial Board, Ann
“Bebe” Ellis Racey of Bridgeport. Because we’re a small family-owned
company, Bebe was also our beloved mother, grandmother and great-
grandmother—and absolutely irreplaceable. She passed at 95.5 years old,
and lived alone, maintaining her independence, sense of humor and po-
litical opinions up until nearly the time of her death. Hers was an amaz-
ing life, and she was beautiful.
We’re still shell-shocked and in the process of making arrangements,
which include the writing of her obituary. We have that print tribute
planned for her, so please look for it in the next issue.
City goals
—Kerry McQuisten, Editor
— Letters to the Editor —
Government seems “above the
law” on wolf issues
To the Editor:
After reading the article about the “Wolf
Depredation Compensation Committee”
meeting in the March 31st issue of The
Baker County Press newspaper, I am re-
ally puzzled about something.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
stole $60,000,000 from the taxpayers out
of the Pitman Robertson Tax Fund, for the
capture and introduction (and the word is
NOT re-introduction, because they were
never here at any time in history) of Ca-
nadian Wolves into Yellowstone Park and
the state of Idaho. This was totally against
the wishes of the people of those states.
Now it seems that it is the responsibility
of cattle ranchers to spend money to deter
these killing machines from taking their
cattle. And apparently from what I read
in this article, when they do lose cattle
to these wolves, there is some doubt that
their losses are actually as bad as they
claim because: “While the committee
members agree that there are more than
three wolves in Baker County, ODFW’s
stance-and Barber’s-are that there are
three, and the documentation needs to be
complete, and Barber needs to be con-
vinced that the missing livestock claims
are realistic.”
In my opinion, Barber needs to be fired,
and the ODFW needs to stop lying about
City
Council
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 3
Dexter also told Council
fees regarding the Fire
Department were included
in proposed increases
this year. Both water fee
increases and Fire Depart-
ment increases were “sig-
nificant” as Dexter put it.
Baker City Fire Chief
Tom Wills addressed
Council stating that he was
proposing to change the
way they billed for some
services.
He advised Council that
the price for all transports
were the same and he
wanted to change that. The
price of everything is in-
creasing and that includes
supplies and pharmaceu-
ticals.
Transports vary from
BLS (basic life support)
to ALS (Advanced Life
Support). Wills thinks that
a BLS transport should not
be as expensive as an ALS
transport since those ALS
transports require more of
their supplies and pharma-
ceuticals.
Another fee change he
was suggesting was what
he called a lift fee. He ex-
plained that fee to Council
saying that it was the com-
pany policy of some of the
Care Centers in Baker City
to not pick up a resident
who had fallen.
He stated they were
called out “sometimes
twice a day” just to help
someone back into bed or
a chair that they had rolled
out of.
He felt that perhaps a
charge to those care facili-
ties might help cut down
on those types of calls.
Linda Hudson, who has
worked in home health
care, addressed Council
saying that the lift service
the number of wolves these morons have
shoved down our throats. To think that
there are only three wolves in all of Baker
County is complete stupidity, and a lie!
So here we are. An arm of the Federal
Government stole money from the taxpay-
ers, because Congress would not fund
this debacle. Paid with this stolen money
to have these wolves put here against
our wishes. And now the cattle ranch-
ers, who never had this problem until the
Federal Government interfered, are put on
the spot and questioned about the valid-
ity of their losses. And what does the
Federal Government do, awards the entire
state of Oregon a sum of $150,000.00 to
$160,000.00 to cover their losses, while at
the same time runs up our debt to twenty
some trillion dollars!!
Now if you or I were to go out and start
shooting cattle owned by these ranch-
ers, we would be put in jail and certainly
have to pay for the cattle we killed, as
we should have to. But not the govern-
ment. These same Federal agencies are
obviously “Above the Law,” and that has
become very apparent in the past 10 years
hasn’t it?
Can someone, anyone explain the logic
and legality of this to me? I sure wish
someone could.
Jim Scott
Baker City
provided was very valued
and appreciated but agreed
with Wills that a fee for
that service was in her
opinion “appropriate.”
As it is now, nothing is
charged unless a resident is
transported to the hospital.
Wills also expressed
concern over out of town
calls they respond to and
transports they often make
to the Boise area.
Those calls can take
anywhere from four to five
hours to over eight hours
or more depending on the
weather. While staff is out
doing those transports,
additional staff must be
called into to cover the fire
station.
Wills noted that Medi-
care and Medicaid paid a
set amount and since the
majority of Baker City’s
population were these
types of transports there
was little that could be
done there.
Wills said he was just
trying to make this Depart-
ment their best.
“I have an obligation to
give this community my
best,” he said. “Our citi-
zens deserve the best.”
Cemetery fees are also
proposed increases. Dexter
advised Council that before
any decisions were made
on fees there would need
to be further opportunity
for public comment but did
indicate they would need
to be in place before July
1, 2017.
Dexter also told Council
of a project she has been
working on that will allow
water/sewer customers
to receive bills by email
in lieu of the traditional
USPS mail.
For those that wish to
sign up for that service she
is offering a $1 discount
off their bill. Up to two
email addresses can re-
ceive one bill. The Baker
City Water Department
can be contacted for more
information or to sign up
call 541.523.6541.
Approval of Sale of
Pine View Lots 1 & 3
Lots in the Salmon
Creek area that were previ-
ously acquired for water
projects have been listed
for sale. Lot 3 received
a $85,000 cash payment
offer and Lot 1 received a
Deed of Trust offer.
That offer is $19,000
cash down at closing,
Elkhorn Title Company
will hold the deed of trust
and collect the monthly
payment of $407.98 and
the buyer will pay an ad-
ditional 5% interest.
The deed of trust bal-
loon payment will become
payable in full on or before
June 9, 2020. Downing
stated that because he
works for Elkhorn Title he
will have no dealings in
this transaction or collec-
tion of any monies to avoid
any conflicts of interest.
Councilor Dan Mc-
Quisten moved to accept
the offers. Thomas made
a second. Council voted
unanimously. The matter
of a resolution authorizing
Warner to act on behalf of
the City on the matter was
necessary. Upon a motion
by Joseph and a second by
Nilsson. Council unani-
mously passed the resolu-
tion.
City Manager/Director
Comments
Warner is waiting on
final budget documents
and expected to see them
very soon. Owen men-
tioned receiving a request
to change parking limits on
1st Street between Valley
and Auburn.
Dexter stated auditors
had finished the City’s
audit and would be at the
next meeting to answer any
questions.
Council Comments
Joseph said he had a con-
versation earlier in the day
that included the possibili-
ty of a Boys and Girls type
of club here, and thought
it would be a good thing to
add to Council Goals.
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
L-R: Community Development Coordinator Robin Nudd, Fire Chief Tom Wills,
and Police Chief Wyn Lohner.
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
Setting goals helps the
City develop a vision to
guide the community.
Setting these goals is also
beneficial for budgeting
purposes, for which the
City is preparing.
Budget meetings are
scheduled to begin in May.
The Council began by
reviewing last year’s goals
and hearing updates on the
progress.
Goals set by the Council
last year included sup-
port for parks and outdoor
spaces, promoting commu-
nication and collaboration
with community partners
and government agen-
cies, development of a
wastewater disposal plan,
enhancing community
livability, evaluation and
enhancement of economic
development plans, imple-
mentation of an asset main-
tenance schedule, increas-
ing citizen involvement,
maintaining and enhancing
water security, promoting
government integrity and
requiring cost effective
budget management.
Within each of the goals
were certain tasks that
were of focus.
Tasks within the goal
of supporting parks and
outdoor spaces included
securing a new conces-
sionaire service that would
promote sustainability for
the golf course.
A new contract has been
secured thus achieving that
task. Another task within
that goal was to seek funds
to complete Court Plaza.
According to Public Works
Director Michelle Owen no
grant was secured and she
is unaware of any available
but will continue to search.
Council agreed to keep
this as an ongoing goal
saying the upkeep and
maintenance of these parks
and pathways was impor-
tant. Owen also agreed
to continue to explore
expansion opportunities for
the Leo Adler Memorial
Parkway and explore ways
to increase access and the
use of Central Park.
The goal of communi-
cating and collaborating
with community partners
had tasks of completing
911 contract revisions and
encouraging combined
meetings with other local
entities.
That task has seen revi-
sions to 911 contracts and
the City has held several
combined meetings with
County Commissioners
and Community Develop-
ment Coordinator Robin
Nudd has held meetings
regarding the implementa-
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tion of the Main Street
Program.
Council agreed to keep
this as an ongoing goal
seeing the value of com-
munication and partner-
ships.
The Goal of developing
a wastewater disposal plan
had tasks that included reg-
ular communications with
DEQ which has been ac-
complished, an MAO was
entered into recently that
requires steady progres-
sive action on the City’s
part and identifying viable
wastewater options, which
Owen is doing by having
wells and new well sites
assessed and exploring
land application as a waste-
water disposal source. This
goal is ongoing.
Enhancing community
livability had tasks that
saw completion as well.
Council agreed to support
police-worn body cameras
by allocating budget dol-
lars for that equipment.
Chief Lohner said the
cameras were now being
utilized and seem to be
working well.
The City also supported
a primary ambulance
transport agreement with
the hospital.
SEE CITY GOALS
PAGE 5
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