FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Politics
Qualifications to file for Walden votes to
County Commissioner enhance hydropower
Submitted by Baker
County Clerk Cindy
Carpenter
This next year, 2018,
is a busy election year.
The Primary and General
election will have several
County office positions
open. This information
given is to encourage and
inform the public to look
into possibly running for
an office or to help you
to research the candidates
that will be running. There
are two commissioner
positions that will be voted
on in 2018.
Commissioner position
#2 is currently held by
Mark Bennett. This posi-
tion is part –time.
Commissioner #3 is cur-
rently held by Bill Harvey.
This is the only full-time
position of the three Com-
missioners.
Each Commissioner is on
Boards and involved with
Special Interest Items. A
flyer showing the involve-
ment of each Commis-
sioner for 2017 is attached.
Part-time positions will
attend the regular Wednes-
day Commission Sessions
and any joint sessions or
related boards or commit-
tee hearings.
Commissioner #3 – full
time position- is also
involved in all the above
responsibilities but also
works full time in the
Court House. To get an
idea of the scheduling go
to Bakercounty.org and
browse the County calen-
dar that shows scheduled
meetings. The public is
always welcome to attend
these scheduled meetings
and this would definitely
be an interesting time to
learn of all that is going on
in our County.
Filing Information:
Baker County Commis-
sioner Position #2 and #3
– File by fee ($50.00) or
signature petition pending
approval for circulation
from the County Clerk’s
Office (90 signatures).
Must be at least 18 years
old and be a resident of the
county one year prior to
election (ORS 204.016).
The term is 4 years.
COUNTY
COMMISSIONER
INTRODUCTION
This classification directs
and coordinates as a mem-
ber of the County Court
the business of the County
government as prescribed
by Oregon Revised Stat-
utes; does related work as
required. The three Com-
missioners need to work
together to communicate
for effective rulings and
decisions to be made.
EXAMPLES OF PRINCI-
PAL DUTIES
(Duties assigned to this
classification include, but
are not limited to, the fol-
lowing examples. Any one
position may not perform
all listed duties.)
1. Participates in the
development, enactment,
interpreter, and monitor-
ing of County policies,
ordinances and procedures;
assists in the coordination
of County Court responsi-
bilities.
2. Acts as a member
of the County Budget
Committee; estimates and
determines amount of rev-
enue required; review rates
necessary for appropriation
of funds; supervises all
County financing.
3. Holds public hearings
on land use matters; adopts
ordinances on zoning and
planning,; hears appeals of
such matters and renders
decisions.
4. Appoints and em-
ploys department heads;
confers with department
heads on matters of policy
or on difficult or unusual
problems; participates in
filling vacancies in elective
positions when required
under ORS.
5. Authorizes purchase of
land, land exchanges, land
leases, and timber sales,
directs purchase of equip-
ment and contracts for
buildings and/or repairs.
6. Authorizes all county
purchases, payrolls, con-
tracts, deeds, leases and
acquisitions whether real
or personal property with
the exception of certain
business transactions con-
ducted by departments of
county government pursu-
ant to state law.
7. Authorizes the filling
of vacant positions and
approves or disapproves
salary adjustments; ap-
proves collective bargain-
ing agreements; adopts and
revises the county person-
nel rules and the classifica-
tion and pay plans.
8. Appoints members to
county boards, committees
and commissions.
9. Supervises all county
property; provides for the
construction, repair and
usage of county buildings;
awards all bids.
10. Establishes, vacates
or alters county roads
within the county.
11. Directs expenditure
of funds for promotion of
county resources including
recreational and industrial
development.
12. Meets with officials
from cities within the
county, adjoining counties,
state and federal govern-
ment officials in matters of
coordination, cooperation
and matters of policy at
various levels of govern-
ment and for the purpose
of agreements relating
to land and water uses,
cooperative projects, and
matters of mutual interest;
meets with various boards
and organizations in mat-
ters of local interest; meets
with members of the public
to explain county functions
and answer questions.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILL
AND ABILITY RE-
QUIRED OF THIS POSI-
TION
Thorough knowledge
of county government
organization, powers and
functions and relationships
with other governmental
jurisdictions; thorough
knowledge of the princi-
ples and practices of public
administration, particularly
as applied to the manage-
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
County Press reserves the right not to pub-
lish letters containing factual falsehoods or
incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or
detracting from specific for-profit business-
es will not be published. Word limit is 375
words per letter. Letters are limited to one
every other week per author. Letters should
be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty-
Press.com.
Advertising and Opinion Page Dis-
claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
ment of diversified county
governmental services;
thorough knowledge of the
principles and practices of
public budgeting, finance,
reporting and personnel
management; considerable
ability and skill in estab-
lishing and maintaining
cooperative and harmoni-
ous working relationships
with county administrative
officials and employees,
representatives of business
and government organiza-
tions and the general pub-
lic; ability to appraise the
quality of varied municipal
services through inspection
and review of work reports
and to develop and effec-
tively initiate improvement
in management methods;
ability to speak effectively
before varied groups.
QUALIFICATIONS
Elected position. Must
possess the requirements
of the position of County
Commissioner as set forth
in ORS 204.016.
SUPERVISORY CON-
TROLS OVER THIS
POSITION
Works with the respon-
sibility directly to the
electorate.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
AND WORK ENVIRON-
MENT
Work is primarily
performed in an office
environment with physical
demands of bending, hear-
ing and speaking conver-
sations, kneeling, lifting
up to 50 pounds, pulling,
pushing, reaching, sitting,
standing and walking. A
considerable amount of
driving is required.
Other Projects That
Could Be Reviewed
The Boardman to
Hemingway is a transmis-
sion line project proposed
by Idaho Power to con-
struct, operate and main-
tain a new electric trans-
mission line. Research can
be done online at www.
boardmantohemingway.
com. This project first
comes up in County com-
missioner records in 2009.
All records from Com-
missioner Meetings are
recorded and available for
public use to research.
The Governor’s Sage
Grouse Association of
Oregon Counties is rep-
resented by Mark Bennett
for Baker County. Do not
hesitate to ask him your
questions and his observa-
tion on the progress of the
Sage Grouse Initiative.
Research www.westgov.
org/news/western-gove-
nors-species-conservation-
and-endangered-species-
act-initiativ will give you
some background.
BLM Resource Manage-
ment Plan has been a dis-
cussion in Baker County
for some time. The subject
has been covered in the
newspaper and in Commis-
sion Sessions. These are
good resources to obtain
information to research for
possibly running for office
or even to see if you agree
with the position your
commissioner is taking on
the subject.
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
the opinions of The Baker County Press, any
of our staff, management, independent
contractors or affiliates. Advertisements
placed by political groups, candidates,
businesses, etc., are printed as a paid
service, which does not constitute an
endorsement of or fulfillment obligation
by this newspaper for the products or
services advertised.
Continuing his efforts
to promote renewable
hydropower production
in Oregon and through-
out the Northwest, Rep.
Greg Walden (R-Hood
River) voted to pass
the Hydropower Policy
Modernization Act (H.R.
3043) through the House
of Representatives on a
strong bipartisan vote.
The Hydropower Pol-
icy Modernization Act
originated in the Energy
and Commerce Commit-
tee—where Walden serves
as Chairman—and would
modernize and streamline
the licensing process for
hydropower projects.
“Hydropower plays an
enormously important role
in electricity generation
across the country and es-
pecially in my home state
of Oregon,” said Walden.
“Hydropower generates
43% of electricity in my
state. It is dependable; it
is baseload; it is carbon
free; it is renewable; and
it is very important to our
region. Nationally, hydro-
power is the largest source
of renewable electricity
generation and a recent
Department of Energy
report found that U.S.
hydropower could grow by
almost 50 percent by the
year 2050. However, as my
colleagues from the Pacific
Northwest and across the
country know, we are not
taking full advantage of
this valuable resource.”
Walden said the leg-
islation will enhance
Oregon’s ability to utilize
hydropower. Specifically,
the Hydropower Policy
Modernization Act would
modernize the permitting
process for hydropower
projects by:
Clarifying that hydro-
power is renewable under
federal law,
Improving administrative
efficiency, accountability,
and transparency,
Requiring timely decision
making, and;
Reducing duplicative
oversight from the mul-
tiple federal agencies that
review hydro applications
by designating the Federal
Energy Regulatory Com-
mission as the lead agency.
The current licensing pro-
cess of new hydropower
facilities and relicensing of
existing facilities is often
costly and time consum-
ing. Walden said that
the Hydropower Policy
Modernization Act will im-
prove hydropower licens-
ing, which will ultimately
benefit ratepayers and
consumers.
“As these entities go
to relicense, sometimes
it costs tens of millions
of dollars just to get a
renewal of a government
permit to continue doing
what you’ve been doing.
And it can take seven-to-
ten years to work through
the process,” said Walden.
“By the way, guess who
pays for all of those costs?
The ratepayers, the people
paying their electricity bill
end up paying for all of
this out of control review
and regulation.”
The Hydropower Policy
Modernization Act passed
the House on a bipartisan
vote, and now awaits ac-
tion in the Senate.
Wyden, Merkley want
weed program funded
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley today
urged federal officials to
provide full funding for
a successful 40-year pro-
gram that conserves and
restores healthy landscapes
and waterways threatened
by invasive weeds.
The Oregon senators’
letter to Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke notes that
full funding in 2018 for
the decades-old Strategic
Integrated Noxious Weed
Management partner-
ship between the Bureau
of Land Management
and Oregon Department
of Agriculture would be
$290,000.
Yet the current agreement
calls for just $70,000—
less than one-quarter full
funding for assistance with
weed control on federal
lands, including education
and outreach, prevention,
physical and mechani-
cal treatments, biological
agents, herbicides, cultural
methods including targeted
grazing, and replanting.
“Failure to continue a
fully-funded agreement
puts ranchers’ grazing al-
lotments in jeopardy, could
affect critical invasive
plant work on federal lands
in Oregon and protects
adjoining private lands and
our agricultural economy,”
the senators wrote.
Wyden focused on LGBTQ
people in Azerbaijan
A bipartisan group of
senators today called on
Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson to investigate
news reports that authori-
ties have conducted raids
and detained people in
Azerbaijan because of
their sexual orientation or
gender identity.
In a letter to Tillerson,
the senators, led by Sens.
Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and
Pat Toomey, R-Penn.,
called for the investiga-
tion following recent news
reports of raids conducted
in September in Azerbai-
jan’s capital, Baku, when
authorities detained more
than 50 gay and transgen-
der people.
“We write to share our
concerns about press
reports that Azerbaijani
authorities have detained
— Contact Us —
dozens of gay and trans-
gender persons simply
because they are gay or
transgender,” the senators
wrote. “We urge you to
investigate these reports
and, if they are credible, to
publicly condemn these ac-
tions in the strongest terms
and to push for perpetra-
tors to be held account-
able.”
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