FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2017
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
OSP honors local seamstress Rental scam
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Photo courtesy of OSP.
Judy Stultz (center, front) has been assisting the Oregon State Police’s Baker City Troopers with uniform
alterations for more than 20 years. Judy, a long time Baker City resident and seamstress, has been pretty
much retired for several years, but continues to assist the troops. She invites them into her home and then
delivers the finished uniforms back to the office. All of the Baker City troopers who have had the pleasure of
working with Judy say she knows all of the OSP measurements and uniform requirements by heart and the
that she is just a wonderful lady. The OSP Baker City Office presented Judy with a plaque just to show how
much she has been appreciated for these 20+ years.
Baker City Council: School
levy on the horizon?
• TREE CITY USA
AWARD RECEIVED,
COUNCILORS
ADOPT GOALS
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
April’s second City
Council meeting was
called to order by Mayor
Downing. Councilor Jo-
seph led the Pledge of Al-
liance and invocation. City
Recorder/Human Resource
Manager Julie Smith called
roll. All Councilors were
present except for Coun-
cilor Nilsson. Council then
voted unanimously to ap-
prove the consent agenda,
which consisted of minutes
from the April 11, 2017
meeting. Downing called
next for Citizen participa-
tion. No one came forward.
Council proceeded with the
agenda.
Arbor Day Proclama-
tion and 2017 Oregon
Urban and Community
Forestry Tree City of the
Year Award
Downing read aloud a
proclamation declaring the
week of May 22, 2017, as
the community’s Arbor
Day celebration. Baker
City is celebrating its 32nd
year as a Tree City USA
city.
Members of the Tree
Board Christine Howard,
Lyle Kuchenbecker and
George Wheaton were
present as was Teresa Gus-
tafson, arborist for the City
of LaGrande and Board
member for Oregon Com-
munity Trees (OCT).
In an address to Coun-
cil she stated that OCT
mission was to promote
healthy urban community
forests through leader-
ship, education, awareness
and advocacy by plant-
ing, managing and caring
for our urban community
forests.
Gustafson said, “To
recognize the work that
individuals and organiza-
tions are doing to sustain
the trees in our commu-
nity forests OCT and ODF
(Oregon Department of
Forestry) co-sponsor the
Oregon Urban and Com-
munity Forestry Award
program. The awards are
designed to encourage
better care of Oregon’s
community forests and to
recognize the environmen-
tal, economic and social
benefits that urban trees
provide.”
Gustafson then pre-
sented the City with an
Oregon Tree City of the
year award.
She noted again that
Baker City has been a Tree
City for 32 years and stated
that only five other cities in
Oregon have been recog-
nized for 32 years or more.
Since becoming a Tree
City USA in 1985, Baker
City has also received four
Tree City USA growth
awards.
School District Long
Range Facility Plan Pre-
sentation
Superintendent Mark
Witty attended the meeting
to give Council and update
on the School District’s
Long-range Facility Plan.
He was accompanied by
School Board Chairman
Kevin Cassidy.
Witty began by stating
that the last time any facil-
ity plan was put together
was in 2006—a decade
ago.
He noted a couple of big
changes since that time,
one being the safety and
security of students and
staff the other being tech-
nology.
Witty asked Council how
many entrance and exit
points they thought the
High School had.
He heard answers like
five, seven and 10.
“There are 19 entrance
and exit points at the High
School. So, when you have
over 500 people within a
facility you’re trying to
keep safe—” he said.
He stopped speaking for
a moment trying to make
a point, then continued,
“There are different things
that could be done through
design, but back in 1950
who would have thought
that would be something
we would need to con-
sider?”
The original building was
built in 1950; however,
a fire in 1989 destroyed
much of the school, which
was rebuilt in 1990.
Witty also explained the
technology piece by saying
many schools have added
computers over time, mix-
ing old and new technol-
ogy that just doesn’t meet
today’s needs.
Witty stated that through-
out the state it was obvious
there were two decidedly
different groups. He said,
“The haves and the have
nots.”
The State of Oregon
recognized there were dif-
ferences around the State
in K-12 facilities, and is
encouraging communi-
ties take notice of this and
come up with ways to
address the issue, i.e. levies
or bond measures.
Witty said, “The State
of Oregon felt so strongly
about it that they passed
a law that the State had to
put matching monies into
a pot so that if a commu-
nity passed a bond for $4
million, they would qualify
for $4 million more from
the State as a match. Just to
give you an idea.”
There is an $8 million
cap. Baker District would
not qualify for $8 mil-
lion—the maximum allow-
able would be $4 million
due to size.
Witty explained that
in November 2016 the
District applied for and
received a $20,000 facili-
ties assessment grant. The
money was used to look
at each facility and each
system within each facility
such as roofing, plumbing,
technical, electrical and
HVAC.
“Every system was
looked at,” he said. Witty
gave a quick rundown
of the facilities such as
the Middle School built
in 1934, South Baker
Intermediate built in 1953,
Brooklyn Primary built in
1955, Haines elementary
Built in 1919 and the North
Baker building that houses
several different programs
including Baker Web
Academy built in 1913
with add-ons in 1955 and
1973.
These facilities are very
old and quickly becoming
overcrowded and difficult
to use. The Baker School
District operates on a gen-
eral fund budget of around
$26 million.
Witty said, “Out of that
we spend about $2 million
on infrastructure around
facility management—
that’s heating, electrical,
any work we do to update
things. Our staff, our
grounds. About 8% of our
budget is spent on facili-
ties. In an older facility, it’s
not as efficient, so you’re
spending a higher percent-
age of your budget on up-
keep like lights and heat.”
The State also encour-
aged communities to look
at long-range facilities. A
$25,000 grant was made
available with Baker 5J
receiving that money as
well. A committee was
formed that is assessing
each facility and giving
recommendations for
future improvements.
When asked about the
possibility of integrat-
ing the High School and
Middle School, as future
projections show the
Middle School becoming
very over populated ,Witty
replied, “That is probably
something the committee
will consider.”
Several Councilors ques-
tioned that as a strategy;
however, Witty explained
he had seen a similar situa-
tion while in John Day and
it worked out well after a
few minor bumps and a lot
of initial supervision.
Witty also spoke about
the way that Hermiston
School District had added
some very state-of-the-art
sport facilities made pos-
sible by tapping into their
own downtown business as
sponsors.
A wide variety of tour-
naments are held there
including some college
sporting events. The City
has seen a very large
increase in revenue these
facilities provide. Alterna-
tive fuels to heat buildings
was also discussed, Witty
was in favor of the idea;
but advised it could be
very expensive and there-
fore may not be a realistic
direction to go—the idea
would have to be evaluated
by the committee.
Adoption of 2017-2018
Council Goals
City Manager Fred War-
ner, Jr. addressed Council
by saying that the goals be-
fore them for adoption had
no real changes from the
goal-setting session that
the Council participated in
March.
He did note that the City
had been contacted regard-
ing the development of a
youth center. Robin Nudd,
Community Develop-
ment Coordinator, advised
Council that Rob Dennis
had come to speak to her
about a small group of citi-
zens who were interested
in considering ideas and
options for such a center.
SEE CITY COUNCIL
PAGE 8
The money was wired to a location in Arlington, Texas
to a man going by the name Desmond Michaels, who
claimed to be the owner of Estabrook’s property.
Newman said that the IP address on the Craigslist ad
was “traced to a foreign country and it is attached to other
scams.”
That evidence places the case outside the jurisdiction
of local police. Newman said in going back through past
reports, no other like this had been reported locally.
Estabrooks said that in talking with her real estate agent
in Baker City, the agency believed the scam had at least
been attempted locally four or five times before to their
knowledge, using homes and addresses listed on Zillow
to create the false ads.
“Sadly, she got taken for a lot that she probably won’t
recover,” said Estabrooks.
Newman said during this season to also be on the look-
out for various tax scams, particularly via phone—and
that he had even received such a call himself.
BCPD Chief
now on OACP
exec board
Photo courtesy of the
Oregon Association Chiefs of Police.
This month Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner
(far left in photo) was appointed to the Executive
Board of the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police
during their Spring Conference in Bend. The photo
was taken at their Awards Banquet two Thursdays
ago. Lohner takes the most entry-level position on
the Board, that of Secretary/Treasurer, vacating
his representation of the eastern Oregon region,
which will now be filled with another area police
chief. Lohner says positions on the Board last one
year, and members rotate up through the ranks until
they become 2nd Vice President, Vice President,
President, then Past President, so acceptance on
the Board is a multi-year commitment.
Compassion
Center tractor
found okay
Submitted Photo.
This temporarily missing tractor was found in good
shape Tuesday.
On April 22, 2017, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office
responded to the area of Ebell Creek to investigate the
theft of a 2005 Kioti tractor belonging to the Northeast
Oregon Compassion Center. Compassion Center volun-
teers had been at the location cutting/gathering firewood
for next season.
At the end of the day on Friday, April 21st, the volun-
teers secured the tractor and left for the day.
On April 22, 2017, the group returned to find the trac-
tor was no longer at the location. A search of the area
conducted by the volunteers did not turn up the tractor.
On April 25th, 2017, a deputy with the Baker County
Sheriff’s Office received a phone call stating the tractor
had been located approximately three-quarters of a mile
up the road, concealed behind a large slash pile.
The tractor was parked in such a manner that it would
not be visible from the road.
Nothing about the tractor appeared suspicious as the
piece of equipment was found to be parked as described
at the time of the initial report.
The Sheriff’s Office stated that volunteers weren’t
sure if the tractor had been moved/tampered with by an
outside individual, or if a volunteer had moved it to a
different slash pile. When the tractor was located, it was
in good condition and secured the way it had been at the
previous slash pile.
Anyone with additional information regarding the
tractor is encouraged to call the Baker County Sheriff’s
Office at (541) 523-6415.