The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current, July 07, 2017, Image 4

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The Baker County press., July 07, 2017, Page 4, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextFRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017 4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Local / Politics County: Local disaster Stop election manipulation declared in advance of solar eclipse Submitted by Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Durﬂinger said that the collection of taxes owed to the County by Charter Communications has been further delayed, due a recent Supreme Court case. The job description of the position of Program Coor- dinator, part of the County Health Department, was approved, with a motion from Bennett, and a second from Nichols. Martin explained the purpose of the creation of two posi- tions of this type, which will be at Range 8 on the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) wage table. Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Rail And Public Transit Division Agreement No. 31985, between ODOT and the County, was ap- proved, with a motion from Bennett, and a second from Nichols. Accord- ing to the agreement, the County will receive not more than $134,000 from ODOT, for associated projects. Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Services Agreement between attor- ney Kenneth A. Bardizian, P.C. and the County, for indigent defense services to County Justice Court, not to exceed the budgeted amount, was approved, with a motion from Ben- nett, and a second from Nichols. A County Mass Notiﬁ- cation system purchase, from Boise-based Alert Sense, was approved, with a motion from Bennett, and a second from Nich- ols. Yencopal discussed the details with the Board, which included four bids, Alert Sense being the low bid, at $4,200 for the base unit. The County currently uses the Code Red system, and that contract expires on August 21, 2017, but the transition will be a smooth one, and users will be notiﬁed in advance, Yencopal said. Order No. 2017-138, Designating A Sole Source Provider IBM I Power 8 Baker County Technology Department, was approved, with a motion from Ben- nett, and a second from Nichols. Lee discussed the details with the Board, including the cost of the replacement server, at $40,042.54, from Manage Incorporated, which was anticipated over several budget years, the life cycle of the server, and to be expended from the Server Replacement Fund. A County Fairgrounds grandstand bid request was approved, with a motion from Bennett, and a second from Nichols. Sid Johnson & Company was approved, having the low bid of two bidders, at $59,980 total for grandstand project work; and $44,687 total for southeast fence and sidewalk project work. The ﬁrst public hearing was held in the matter of Order No. 2017-140, Adopting A Fee Schedule For The Baker County Juvenile Department. Er- ickson explained the pur- pose of the order, a need to increase the detention fee, from $140.00, to $180.00 per day, as determined by the Norcor Juvenile Deten- tion Center. Elms had a couple of brief questions, but no public comment was offered otherwise. There will be a second hearing on the matter, scheduled for Wednesday, 19, 2017. Order No. 2017-134, Authorizing The Sale Of County Owned Parks Identiﬁed As Shanghai Creek Park And Puzzle Creek By Private Sale, was approved, with a motion from Bennett, and a second from Nichols. Spencer and Elms discussed the order with the Board (the Parks Department budget is out of balance about $50,000 for Fiscal Year 2017-2018, prompting the liquidation of some properties), and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will determine the speciﬁcs of the sale of the properties, during its next meeting. Order No. 2017-139, Appointing A Member To The Baker County Cultural Coalition, was approved, with a motion from Ben- nett, and a second from Harvey. Roberta “Lynne” Proudfoot was appointed, her term set to expire on July 1, 2018. Resolution No. 2017- 1024, Appropriation Of Unanticipated Funds In The FY (Fiscal Year) 2016-2017 Budget To Be Expended In The Non Departmental Department Of The Parks Fund, was adopted, with a motion from Harvey, and a second from Nichols. $18,540, received from the Oregon State Weed Board (OSWB) Grant, was added to Park Maintenance, for a new total of $34,540. An emergency Declara- tion Of Local Disaster, in anticipation of the Total Solar Eclipse event, was approved, with a motion from Nichols, and a second from Bennett. Yencopal discussed the details with the Board, and per the declaration, the follow- ing are included in the request: additional funding to prepare and prevent loss of life and property damage; declaration of State of Emergency, to enlist the National Guard to provide air and ground medical resources, and to allow rural ﬁre emer- gency medical responders to transport to a higher level of care; to direct the Oregon State Fire Marshall (OSFM) to be prepared for an Emergency Conﬂagra- tion Act; to be prepared for a Proclamation of Public Health Emergency; ODOT Emergency Waivers, to allow for additional driver hours for the delivery of fuel and food; to make available mobile fuel tanks from the National Guard; and to request Governor Kate Brown contact the Honorable Secretaries of the United States De- partment of Agriculture, the United States Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, to pro- vide additional resources. Resolution No. 2017- 1025, Temporary Permits For Commercial Gather- ings And Events Related To The Solar Eclipse, was adopted, with a motion from Bennett, and a second from Nichols. Kerns dis- cussed the resolution with the Board, which states that the number of visitors expected to the County far exceeds the existing lodging capacity, forcing visitors to gather and stay in areas not traditionally used or zoned for those purposes. According to the resolution, with respect to commercial events or com- mercial gatherings of less than 3,000 people, between August 15-31, 2017, in all land use zones in the County, the enforcement of certain zoning ordinances is temporarily suspended, by the granting of permits for such gatherings. Kerns said this is “very tempo- rary,” as indicated by the resolution. Walden praises VA whistleblower law Continuing his support for legislation to improve the care Oregon veterans receive at Veterans Af- fairs, Rep. Greg Walden applauded a new law that would increase account- ability at the VA. The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protec- tion Act of 2017 will streamline the process for removing poor performing VA employees and expand whistleblower protec- tions for those who reveal wrongdoing in the agency. Walden said this legisla- tion is a big step forward in reforming the VA and getting veterans the care they deserve. “One of the commit- ments we made to the American people, espe- cially our veterans, is to improve the situation at the VA,” said Walden. “We all remember the stories about wait times, where veterans actually died waiting to get access to care, and where the VA actually lied to Congress and the Ameri- can people about their wait time lists. We’re changing all of that with legisla- tion the President has now signed into law, called the Veterans Affairs Account- ability and Whistleblower Protection Act. This sets up a streamlined process to deal with the manage- ment issues faced by the VA when it comes to VA employees who aren’t doing their jobs or are misleading. They can be replaced and we can get good people in positions quickly. This will be really important for those who every day go to work at the VA to do their job, and do it well and help veterans and they see things that aren’t going right. We give them additional protections as whistleblowers so we can get the VA in the place it should be to provide world-class care for the people who protect our freedom.” I need your help. The Oregon House Rules Com- mittee will soon vote on an amendment to institute a special election next January. This special election will waste millions of your tax dollars, will suppress voter turnout, and will keep vot- ers in the dark. As Oregon's chief elections ofﬁcer, I take seriously my responsibil- ity to ensure a fair election process and encourage maximum citizen partici- pation in our democracy. I strongly believe that the A7 amendment to Senate Bill 229 should be rejected because it manipulates the election process and keeps voters in the dark. These political shenanigans are unacceptable. The Oregon Constitution gives you the right to over- rule the legislature through the referendum process. This protection ensures ac- countability and safeguards fundamental rights. This amendment does just the opposite. It is a political ploy to undermine accountability by increas- ing power for politicians at the expense of the people. The key problems with this amendment include: Suppresses Voter Turnout: A special election in Janu- ary is expected to suppress voter turnout by ap- proximately 14%, thereby excluding over 270,000 Oregonians from the politi- cal process. Wastes Taxpayer Money: A special election in January will waste millions in taxpayer dollars that could have paid for more teachers or expanded voter access. Disrupts the Holiday Season: A special election in January means that the holidays will be disrupted with robocalls, political telemarketers, nasty TV ads, and campaign junk mail. This will prevent you from enjoying the holidays in peace with friends and family. Deceives the Voters: This amendment subverts the nonpartisan process for drafting a ballot title by injecting partisan politics and political bias into the process. Please call House Speak- er Tina Kotek at 503-986- 1200 and Governor Kate Brown at 503-378-4582 to ask them to join me in opposing the manipulation of your and your fellow Oregonians' vote. View my video statement here: https://youtu.be/6Uj- dRacwnw Thank you. Dennis Richardson PS You can also email the members of the House Rules Committee to make your voice heard: Rep.JenniferWilliam- son@oregonlegislature.gov Rep.MikeMcLane@ oregonlegislature.gov Rep.DanRayﬁeld@ oregonlegislature.gov Rep.GregBarreto@ oregonlegislature.gov Rep.JodiHack@oregon- legislature.gov Rep.PaulHolvey@ oregonlegislature.gov Rep.BillKennemer@ oregonlegislature.gov Rep.RobNosse@oregon- legislature.gov Rep.BarbaraSmith@ oregonlegislature.gov Parrish says Democrats are stripping voters rights Representative Julie Parrish (R-Tualatin/West Linn) chastised Democrat- ic leadership for passing amendments to SB 229, which would grant the majority party broad and overreaching powers to manipulate election dates and draft ballot titles. Rep. Parrish likened the effort to attack Oregonians’ rights to refer legislation to the ballot akin to voter sup- pression and an abuse of power by majority Demo- crats. “Amendments to this bill have popped up at the eleventh-hour; they’re designed to circumvent our normal election process,” said Rep. Parrish, who tes- tiﬁed in opposition the SB 229 amendments this af- ternoon in the House Rules Committee. “Like many bills in these last few days, citizens of this state are be- ing stripped of their ability to provide input. Today’s committee work session on newly introduced partisan amendments to an other- wise unanimously bi-par- tisan bill from the Senate, allowed not one everyday citizen to speak their con- cerns. It’s precisely why people support the referen- dum process.” Rep. Parrish was spe- ciﬁcally critical of several provisions of the -10 and -11 amendments, includ- ing: Arbitrarily setting a special election date for any measure passed by the Legislature during the 2017 session and referred by Oregon voters to be held on January 23, 2018, which would inevitably drive down turnout; Grant lawmakers the authority to draft ballot titles for potential referen- dums and remove nearly three weeks of the public comment process voters currently enjoy under the existing law. The drafting would be done by a par- tisan committee made up of a majority of legislative Democrats; Allow lawmakers to draft explanatory statements for potential referendums; Requires millions of additional taxpayer dollars to be spent in order to facilitate a special election held in January. Require elections work- — Contact Us — ers in 36 counties to have to cancel holiday plans with their families to run a special January elec- tion. Oregon currently has four regularly calendared elections in March, May, September and November. Representative Parrish noted in the testimony that as someone who grew up in the social system with government-sponsored healthcare, her aim in a referral is not to gut Medicaid, but to hold it accountable for the billions of dollars the state has po- tentially overpaid and the loss of hundreds of mil- lions in failed IT software projects by a mismanaged state agency. Further, Parrish believes there were three other bill possibilities which could have covered a Medicaid shortfall. None were given hearings by House Democrats. Following Representa- tive Parrish’s testimony, the House Rules Com- mittee adopted the con- troversial -11 amendment and referred SB 229 to the Joint Ways and Means Committee for further consideration. YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS The Baker County Press President Donald Trump PO Box 567 Baker City, Ore. 97814 202.456.2461 fax Open Monday-Thursday for calls 9 AM - 4 PM Open 24/7 for emails 202.456.1414 Whitehouse.gov/contact US Sen. Jeff Merkley 503.326.3386 503.326.2900 fax Merkley.Senate.gov Phone: 541.519.0572 TheBakerCountyPress.com US Sen. Ron Wyden 541.962.7691 Wyden.Senate.gov Kerry McQuisten, Publisher Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com US Rep. Greg Walden Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com 541.624.2402 fax David Conn, Advertising and Sales David@TheBakerCountyPress.com Published weekly every Friday. Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas, e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery, Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue, mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only. Payment in advance. A division of Black Lyon Publishing, LLC 541.624.2400 Walden.House.gov Oregon Gov. Kate Brown 503.378.3111 Governor.Oregon.gov State Rep. Cliff Bentz 503.986.1460 State Sen. Ted Ferrioli 541.490.6528 Baker County Commissioners Bill Harvey; Mark Bennett; Bruce Nichols 541.523.8200 Copyright © 2014 -2017 541.523.8201