FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2017
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
County hears Dispatch updates, Robberies
declines spay/neuter funding
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners held its
last regular session of 2018
on Wednesday, December
20, 2017, 9 a.m., in the
Commission Chambers of
the Baker County Court-
house.
Present from the Board
were Chair Bill Harvey,
Commissioners Mark Ben-
nett and Bruce Nichols,
and Executive Assistant
Heidi Martin.
Attendance also in-
cluded Baker County
Sheriff Travis Ash, Baker
County Health Department
Director Nancy Staten,
Baker County Facilities
Maintenance Foreman Dan
McQuisten, Baker County
IT Director Bill Lee, Baker
County Parole and Proba-
tion Supervisor Lieuten-
ant Will Benson, Carmen
Ott, Suzanne Fouty, Tom
Muller, Adam Nelson, and
Chuck Rouse.
Harvey called the ses-
sion to order, provided
the Invocation, and led in
recitation of the Pledge of
Allegiance. The agenda
was adopted, with noted
changes, with a motion
from Bennett, and a second
from Nichols.
Citizen Participation
included Muller, who again
voiced his concerns over
the Commission’s delay in
making a decision in Plan-
ning Commissioner Rob
Crawford’s compliance
case, for non-permitted
additions made to his home
in Halfway.
Muller said the Board
“passed the buck” to the
Planning Commission to
review the case, which
subsequently voted to
remand the case, without a
recommendation, back to
the Board, for its decision.
The minutes from the
Wednesday, December
6, 2017 regular session
were approved, with noted
corrections, with a motion
from Nichols, and a second
from Bennett.
Harvey responded that
the Board didn’t “pass the
buck,” but followed the
proper process, and Muller
said that, according to the
Planning Commission’s
Bylaws, it should not be
making the decision.
Bennett added that, “We
have, by no means, shirked
the process...” and said
that there will be a due
process involved, though
that complete process isn’t
determined at this point.
Harvey said that he
anticipates the topic to be
addressed in some form at
the next regular session,
Wednesday, January 3,
2018.
The Board held a hearing
in the matter of an Eagle
Valley Rural Fire Depart-
ment Community Develop-
ment Block Grant (CDBG)
application, for a project
to house all of the Depart-
ment’s equipment, plus
space for training.
Rouse briefly provided
testimony in favor of the
application, Harvey closed
the hearing, and asked
for any further testimony.
None was provided, and
the application was ap-
proved, with a motion from
Bennett, and a second from
Nichols.
Ash provided a de-
partmental update for the
Sheriff’s Office, which
included handouts regard-
ing criminal investigations,
and Baker County Dis-
patch statistics for 2017.
Criminal investigations
included 142 for property
violations; 92 warrant; 81
driving; 77 miscellaneous;
61 person; 34 animal; and
9 sexual assault.
Among Dispatch sta-
tistics are the following
details: 52,339 total calls to
Dispatch, which includes
45,410 miscellaneous calls,
and 6,929 911 calls; 2,240
total reports processed by
Dispatch, which includes
1,723 City Police reports,
and 517 Sheriff’s Office
reports.
Staten provided a de-
partmental update for the
Health Department, which
included, among other
details, the following: the
Department handles most
of the immunizations for
the County, having ad-
ministered 4,529 in 2017;
the Department provided
off-site flu clinics for local
businesses in the County;
the Department contin-
ues to partner with the
Baker School District, with
health record registration,
providing on-site service;
the State rated the Depart-
ment’s Quality Assurance
score with health records
at 99%; and between 2004
and 2014, the County’s
teen pregnancy rate de-
creased by 75% (Harvey
said, “That’s awesome.”).
Order No. 2017-173,
Designating General Fire
Equipment Company Of
Eastern Oregon, Inc. As A
Sole Source Provider, to
service the fire suppression
equipment associated with
the County Courthouse,
was approved, with a
motion from Bennett, and
a second from Nichols.
McQuisten spoke with the
Board regarding the order,
prior to its approval.
A purchase request,
from the County Technol-
ogy Department, for a
new video recorder, for
the County’s courthouse
camera system, was ap-
proved, with a motion from
Nichols, and a second from
Bennett.
The bid approved was
from Alpine Alarm, for
$16,169.44. Lee discussed
the details of the request
with the Board, prior to its
approval.
Summit Point Repeater
Site Intergovernmental
Agreement, between the
County and the Or-
egon State Department of
Transportation (ODOT), to
colocate communications
equipment, was approved,
with a motion from Nich-
ols, and a second from
Bennett. Ash discussed the
details of the agreement
with the Board, prior to its
approval.
A letter of support for
a Community Correc-
tions Biennium Plan, and
Intergovernmental Agree-
ment No. 5449, between
the County and the State
Department of Corrections,
for corrections treatment
services, were approved,
with a motion from Ben-
nett, and a second from
Nichols. An associated
letter of support, for a CJC
Reinvestment Grant, was
approved, with a motion
from Bennett, and a second
from Nichols.
Benson discussed the
details of the associated
documents, prior to the
approvals.
A Professional Services
Agreement, between the
County and Saint Alphon-
sus Medical Center, for the
services of Mid-Level Pro-
vider, was approved, with a
motion from Nichols, and a
second from Bennett. Per
the agreement, the County
will pay St. Alphonsus $60
per hour for the services,
and the term is from Au-
gust 31, 2017 through June
4, 2018.
A Regional Housing Re-
hab Revolving Loan Fund
Subgrantee Agreement and
Letter of Understanding,
between the Baker, Union,
Wallowa, and Grant coun-
ties, for CDBG funding for
low and moderate income
housing, was approved,
with a motion from Nich-
ols, and a second from
Nichols.
A second public hear-
ing was held in the matter
of Order No. 2017-172,
Adopting A Baker County
Fee Schedule. There was
no noted testimony or
communication regarding
the order, and it was ap-
proved, with a motion from
Bennett, and a second from
Nichols.
A request for funding
which includes assistance
with pet spay and neuter
services, from Ott and
Fouty, representing the
Best Friends of Baker
and the Mollie Atwa-
ter Foundation, was not
approved due to County
budget issues, but Harvey
said that when that situa-
tion’s resolved, the Board
will hear the request again
(all members of the Board
voiced praise for the efforts
of the organizations).
5J Board selects new CM/GC
BY SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
On Wednesday, Decem-
ber 13th, the Baker School
District 5J Board held a
special board meeting to
view and discuss the scor-
ing committee’s results and
recommendation to select
a Construction Manager
General Contractor (CM/
GC) based on the Request
for Proposal process. The
board voted unanimously
to select Griffin Construc-
tion as the CM/GC.
Board Chair Kevin Cas-
sidy discussed, “Our role
as a school board is the
contracting review board
for the district and by law
the CM/GC process that
has been utilized here for
our seismic piece, we’ve
already hired and engineer-
ing firm to go in and do
the analysis but because
they’re existing build-
ings, it’s helpful to hire
a construction manager
that ultimately will do the
work and be responsible
for it to work alongside
of the designers because
you’re going into existing
buildings and you’re going
to discover all kinds of
things. And so cost wise,
it’s more efficient for the
construction manager to
give input to the designer
and say ‘hey, here’s a tech-
nique we can use to work
on these beams’ and work
together as a team. The law
considers that an alterna-
tive process to hiring these
folks in that relationship
and so we had to approve
that alternative process,
which we did, and so by
doing that we went out
with an RFP to try and find
a firm to work with our
existing engineering firm”.
Cassidy explained they
had received two pro-
posals; one from Griffin
Construction in Prineville
and from Wellen’s Farwell
in Enterprise.
Doug Dalton explained
the scoring was unanimous
in total.
“The RFP, or the re-
quests for proposals, goes
out with criteria that the
district is looking for,” ex-
plained Cassidy. “For them
to respond to, it could be
everything from past CM/
GC kind of relations with
experience, it could be
their cost proposal, it could
be their ability to deliver
the project within the time
frame that we’ve identi-
fied, there can be many cri-
teria that you score based
on how they respond.”
Cassidy said that Griffin
Construction has done
seismic retrofit projects
and new constructions of
schools. They have been in
business for 26 years.
“There’s actually a bit
of construction happen-
ing out there now between
public and private,”
explained Cassidy. “And
costs are starting to in-
crease so people are really
getting active and trying
to get their projects done.
And Griffin is one of those
firms that is sought after.
So, for us to be able to
have them propose one and
then have a great plan to
meet our needs, we need to
connect to them as soon as
we can.”
Cassidy explained
that Griffin said in their
proposal that they want to
reach out locally for sub
contracts for things such as
electrical work.
“These are choices the
district makes and they’re
important that the district
doesn’t miss opportunities
like this,” said Andrew
Bryan. “Whether it’s seis-
mic grants for facilities,
construction projects or
developing charter schools
or post-secondary college
opportunities. To me, this
is a major effort.”
Anthony Lakes to open Dec. 23
After much anticipation,
Anthony Lakes Mountain
Resort announced Open-
ing Day is set for Saturday,
December 23.
This week’s storm has
brought over 9” of new
snow, just in time for some
holiday skiing. Anthony
Lakes will be open Satur-
day, December 23, 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. and & Sunday,
December 24, 9 a.m. to 1
p.m.. The ski area is closed
on Christmas Day and is
scheduled to be open daily
Tuesday, December 26
through New Year’s Day,
conditions permitting.
A short time later an
anonymous tip came in to
dispatch about the bur-
glary, which led officers
to the Eldorado Motel
where they were told Ian
Eastland, 28, was staying
with two other people.
Officers arrived on scene
and subsequent to their
investigation arrested Ian
Eastland and Amanda
Photo courtesy of the BCSO.
Colton (Dixon), 29, for the
burglary and thefts. Many
Amanda Colton (Dixon).
of the stolen items were
recovered from the room.
A subsequent search warrant of the suspect vehicle is
pending.
Richland man
arrested
On December 16, 2017, Charles Shaw Jr. was arrested
for Assault in the Second Degree, Theft in the First
Degree, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Selling a
Firearm as a Felon.
A Baker County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to the area
of 332 2nd Street in Richland, Oregon after receiving a
complaint that Charles Shaw was standing in the roadway
yelling at people. Shaw was ultimately arrested on two
separate Sheriff’s Office cases at 8:05 p.m.
The first case involved the assault of Shyla Melchior
on October 29, 2017. This incident occurred at Shaw’s
residence, which is located at 335 2nd Street, Richland,
Oregon. Melchior and Shaw were roommates, and Shaw
struck Melchior on the arm with metal object. This as-
sault took place over missing items inside the residence.
The second case involved the theft of firearms and a
chainsaw from Joseph Strus, which was reported on De-
cember 13, 2017. Strus also lives with Shaw at 335 2nd
Street in Richland, Oregon. Strus reported that Shaw had
stolen firearms and a chainsaw from him, which were lat-
er pawned at the Baker Exchange in Baker City, Oregon.
Some evidence was recovered from Baker Exchange and
further investigation is ongoing to locate the stolen items.
Shaw was transported to the Baker County Jail where
he was booked and lodged on the two Sheriff’s Office
cases.
Meth arrests
made
On December 13, 2017 at 7:46 pm Baker City Police
Officers contacted and arrested Aiden Lang (06/14/96) on
two Baker County Circuit Court warrants while he was
at his residence, located at 3206 Birch Street in Baker
City. Subsequent to that arrest officers searched Lang and
found he was in possession of approximately 8 grams of
Methamphetamine, which led to him also being charged
for that possession (PCS Meth).
Also at that location with Lang, officers contacted
Cynthia Edison (01/13/74), whom officers believed was
on probation for drug offenses. After contacting Baker
County Parole and Probation, Edison was taken into cus-
tody for a probation violation.
Sergeant Chastain arrived on scene and using Drug
Detection Dog “Capa,” conducted an open air sniff on a
2001 Mitsubishi passenger car that Cynthia Edison had
been driving for the past two weeks. Capa alerted on the
car and a subsequent search revealed approximately 35
grams of methamphetamine and other drug parapherna-
lia. In addition to the probation violation, Edison was
also charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance
(Meth); Delivery of a Controlled Substance (Meth);
Manufacture of a Controlled Substance (Meth).
Subsequently officers also wrote and served a search
warrant on a trailer that Lang and Edison had been associ-
ated with. Additional drug paraphernalia was discovered
during the search.