THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2017
Business / Agriculture
City Council and County
Commissioners meet about
SAFER grant, finances
— Weekly Hay Report —
Friday, October 13, 2017 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady in a limited test.
Sporadic rain showers and thunderstorms in hay
growing areas has hindered haying process. Retail/
Stable type hay remains the largest demanded hay.
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa / Large Square Premium
100 180.00-180.00 180.00
Alfalfa Large Square Good
220 160.00-160.00 160.00
Orchard Grass Small Square Premium
75 175.00-175.00 175.00
Timothy Grass Small Square Premium
45 200.00-200.00 200.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 1,917
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk 181.00-209.00 Top 217.00
400-500# Bulk 159.00-193.00 Top 200.00
500-600# Bulk 145.00-163.00 Top 164.00
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
County and City held a joint meeting last week.
• ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT, 911
ALSO DISCUSSED
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Last Wednesday evening
the Baker City Council
joined the Baker County
Commissioners in a joint
meeting. The reason the
two separate governing
bodies came together was
to address the recently
awarded SAFER grant the
city received from FEMA.
Before the topic was ad-
dressed, County Commis-
sioners heard a marketing
update from Timothy
Bishop, a 911 Center
update from Sheriff Travis
Ash and an Economic
Development from Greg
Smith.
Bishop quickly gave his
update, stating, “Tourism
for us is clicking along this
year.”
He noted the August 21,
Total Solar Eclipse as a
largely successful event
that drew large numbers,
but noted that aside from
that tourism numbers were
strong for the year.
He stated that Transient
Lodging taxes up 8% at the
end of the Fiscal Year June
30, 2017.
He said that he was
expanding his marketing
to include more locally
sourced products and expe-
riences to draw visitors to
the area.
He also told Councilors
and Commissioner that the
number of privately owned
vacation rental and B&B
rentals was increasing in
our area.
Sheriff Ash Spoke about
the 911 Center, which
was recently returned to
the control of the Sher-
iff. Since taking over the
center three months ago
Ash said, “We are at full
staff with eight full-time
dispatchers.”
As of October 1, an as-
sistant was hired to help
manage the center.
Morale is high and the
transition to his taking
over control has been
smooth, he said. He has
already seen some savings
by implementation of new
scheduling. He advised
that they had lost one
repeater site due to cost
increases but were able
to transition the users to
another repeater without
serious issue and he is
working to find a cost-
effective replacement for
that site.
Ash advised that some
new systems were on the
horizon for the center with
new equipment, that was
State-provided.
Commissioner Mark
Bennett told Ash ,“We
should say thank you
for your staff during the
eclipse; they put in above
and beyond.”
Economic Develop-
ment Director Greg Smith
updated City Council and
County Commissioners
next.
Smith began by stat-
ing that unemployment in
Baker County was at just
4.5% and he was aware
of at least 85 available
jobs currently though the
Employment Department.
He said, “Ranging from a
dishwasher to a teacher to
administrative to profes-
sional. One of the things
we’re hearing quite often
from our employers is that
they are struggling to find
adequate labor.”
These statistics and open-
ings are available to any
member of the public via
www.worksourceoregon.
com.
Smith told Council and
Commissioners that he and
his staff assist local busi-
nesses and do outreach. He
stated they work with be-
tween 13 and 18 business
every month to help them
improve. He and his staff
are assessing empty build-
ings within the city and
evaluating what type of
businesses might fit well in
that space then sending out
informational packets to
business that fit the model
to let them know that these
buildings are available.
Smith stated he is cur-
rently working to bring
additional business to
Baker City that would
add several well-paying,
benefited jobs to the com-
munity much like the plans
to rehabilitate and open a
“destination” truck stop in
adjoining Malheur County
at Farewell Bend.
However, the concern
remained with the Com-
missioners that there was
still a problem with finding
adequate workers to fill
positions, albeit still a
positive bringing addition-
al employers to the area.
The final discussion of
the evening was in regard
to the SAFER grant. The
City is proposing to the
County that part of the
funding for the grant fall
upon their shoulders, to the
tune of $90,000 to $95,000
over the course of the
three-year grant period.
Currently Baker City
Fire responds to all calls
within the County except
for Richland and Halfway
and Unity.
Baker City Fire cur-
rently provides this service
outside its City Limits
without additional cost to
the County.
Statistics provided to
Commissioners show that
the average of County calls
for service was at about
22% and that recorded
call volume has increased
every year and that trend
is expected to continue to
increase.
With many of the County
calls being paid by Medic-
aid or Medicare, which pay
only a portion of the bill,
the City is barely covering
their expenses.
As call volume increases,
staffing will also need to
increase.
As budget concerns
continue to plague both
City and County budgets,
in part due to rising PERS
costs, the SAFER grant
seemed the best feasible
way to fund additional
needed staff at minimal
cost.
Warner addressed the
Commissioners saying that
he realized the grant was
forcing them to make some
very tough decisions, one
being reducing the service
area of Baker City Fire in
the County adversely ef-
fecting residents. Another
being not accepting the
grant at all.
Warner said, “Regard-
less of whether or not we
accept this SAFER grant,
we’re going to have to
have a conversation about
how we deliver ambulance
service in Baker County.
“This is a good time for
us to try to come up with
money for the SAFER
grant to where we could
assure that we have good
ambulance service for the
next three years and hope
that we can do something
in those three years to
keep ambulance service
for those that have been
receiving it over the last
twenty years.”
He also noted that he
understood that these were
big decisions that affected
a lot of people’s lives.
Commissioner Bruce
Nichols said that he felt
there was some confusion
and said, “We are right at
the end here.” He referred
to the October 31 deadline
to accept the grant or not.
He felt that they (the
Commissioners) were
being asked to make a
decision too quickly. He
said, “It would be nice if
we could study this a little
bit, talk about it a little bit
and see if we can get some
ideas. We are down to a
deadline is there a way we
could extend it out?”
Warner replied to
Nichols saying, “I don’t
think we can extend the
acceptance of the grant we
can extend the debate. City
Council could accept the
grant and then continue the
debate moving forward.”
Commissioner Bennett
asked, “If we approached
them saying you were
bringing in an additional
partner, which the County
would be, use our elected
Federal officials to help us
carry that forward while
we work on some of the
issues here ... There are
some extreme complexi-
ties here. It’s challenging,
there is a variety of issues.
If the County says we can’t
come up with the money
and the City says we can’t
come up with the money
and we miss this window,
and the City is forced to
reduce its response area,
then we have large number
of folks without services—
and we determine as a
County we can’t come up
with an alternative and
we come back to you then
it’s going to be something
like, ‘We’re going to need
$200,00.’ That is signifi-
cantly more.”
Bennett stated that while
this was the eleventh hour,
he felt an extension was
necessary since the dynam-
ics are changing and more
time was needed to try and
put together a partnership.
He said, “We need to
have more discussion on
this. The County needs
to. We are extremely late
coming into the game
here.”
Nichols even suggested
ODOT kicking in some
money or some of the
other smaller communities
within the county but said
on short notice that was
difficult to do.
Bennett also stated that
he knew that they had re-
ceived commitments from
the office of Rural Heath
and the Oregon Health
Authority office of EMS.
SEE CITY / COUNTY
PAGE 5
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk 154.00-181.00 Top 182.00
400-500# Bulk 136.00-161.00 Top 173.00
500-600# Bulk 129.00-147.00 Top 147.75
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 134.00-158.00 Top 163.50
700-800# Bulk 132.00-143.00 Top 145.50
800-900# Bulk 123.00-137.00 Top 139.00
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 131.00-144.00 Top 146.75
700-800# Bulk 119.00-128.00 Top 132.00
800-900# Bulk 117.00-126.00 Top 130.00
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 42.00-59.00
Butcher Cows 63.00- 69.00
Butcher Bulls 65.00-79.00
Stock Cows N/A
Younger Hfrts. 76.00-103.00
Stock Cows Young - 1275.00 - 1610.00
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Prices are based on the majority of saw mills in
Northeastern Oregon and Central Idaho. The prices
listed below are a composite prices of various saw-
mills willing to visit with me about this topic.
Ponderosa Pine—small diameter class 8-11 inches
diameter class $250 per mbf. Only one sawmill was
willing to buy small diameter pine at this time.
Ponderosa Pine—medium diameter class 12-17
inches diameter class $300 to $350 per mbf
Ponderosa Pine-large diameter class 18 plus inches
diameter class $380 to $410 per mbf
The Pine prices are still approximately $40 per mbf
below average lumber/log market due to 2017 fire
salvage
Doug Fir & Western Larch—$380 to $420 per
mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $425
to $475 per mbf.
White Fir-$300 per mbf. Normal prices typically
ranged between $340 to $360 per mbf.
Engelmann Spruce—$350 at one Idaho sawmill,
other sawmills including with White fir prices.
In general, the log prices still impacted from 2015
fire season and fire salvage that resulted. Sawmills
are starting to get log yard inventory in line with
sawmill production needs. With a new Administra-
tion as of 1/20/2017, a more normal economic envi-
ronment should result and hopefully a more healthy
housing situation will result in a better climate for
Northeast Oregon Sawmill and private forest land-
owners.
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,289.70
Silver: $17.10
Platinum: $934.82
Palladium: $986.25
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $350.00/bu/USD
Wheat: $434.00/bu/USD
Soybeans: $984.75/bu/USD
Oats: $264.00 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $12.12/cwt/USD
Canola: $507.00 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $115.98//lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $150.40/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $62.18/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com