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East Oregonian
Friday, October 27, 2017
WOOLSEY: Has to run inspections about a half-dozen times before a project is complete
Continued from 1A
and even steer wrestled at the
Round-Up once, he said, but
repeated injuries took their
toll. And when he became
a father at 25, he decided to
retire from the sport.
Woolsey got a degree
in diesel mechanics from
Central Oregon Community
College in 2003, but by the
time he finished the program
he wasn’t interested in that
line of work anymore.
In 2009, he moved to
Boise and took a job with
a construction firm that
contracted with federal agen-
cies like the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and U.S. Department
of Fish and Wildlife for large
scale projects.
As a foreman and equip-
ment manager, Woolsey
crisscrossed the country
while he worked on fisheries,
armories and water treatment
plants. But all the travel
required for the job meant a
lot of time spent away from
his young family.
“When I came home, my
kids didn’t look the same,” he
said.
Coupled with his late
mother’s cancer diagnosis
and his father being involved
in a car accident, Woolsey
returned to Oregon in 2013.
By that time, Chuck
Woolsey had become the
Hermiston building official
and relocated to Stanfield,
weary of Bend’s growth into
a large metro area. Upon his
son’s return, Chuck Woolsey
advised his son to become a
building inspector, utilizing
the skills he learned in the
construction trade.
Woolsey began volun-
teering with Pendleton in
2014, using it as a building
official
apprenticeship.
Immersing
himself
in
Oregon’s building codes, he
said he would sometimes
wake up in the middle of
the night and begin studying
when a question struck.
Woolsey didn’t stay a
volunteer for long. Less than
a half year after starting with
the city, he was promoted to
a part-time building inspector
and was bumped up to
full-time shortly after that.
Woolsey was promoted to
interim building official in
November 2016 and in July,
his job was made permanent.
———
Having worked both sides
of the counter, Woolsey, now
33, thinks one of his best
skills is communicating the
building code in a way that
contractors and laymen can
understand.
Whatever needed to be
said didn’t take long during a
round of inspections in Pend-
leton on Wednesday, with
each visit taking no longer
than five or 10 minutes.
ENERGY: Hansell’s district
has 235 clean energy jobs
Continued from 1A
Oregon hosted a public
meeting at the Pendleton
Center for the Arts to discuss
the benefits of cap and invest.
Speakers included Don
Sampson, climate change
program director for the
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest
Indians.
Sampson, an enrolled
member of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation and former
executive director of the
CTUIR from 2003-2010,
said the effects of climate
change were on full display
this summer across Oregon,
as wildfire smoke filled the
skies and dropped air quality
to unhealthy levels.
“It’s only going to continue
to get worse, unfortunately,
unless we do something,”
Sampson said.
About 15 people attended
the meeting, and Sampson
said they intend to return to
Pendleton for a rally Saturday,
Nov. 4. Details will be posted
on the Renew Oregon website.
“We want to spread the
word and get people excited
about this,” Sampson said.
Also on hand Wednesday
were Jana Gastellum, climate
program director for the
Oregon
Environmental
Council, and Steve Frisch,
president of the Sierra
Business Council in northern
California. Frisch provided
some background on Califor-
nia’s Cap-and-Trade Program,
which took effect in 2012
and has since been renewed
through 2030.
It may not be perfect, but
Frisch said the program has
helped to grow California’s
economy while shrinking
carbon emissions. He empha-
sized that rural Oregonians
and businesses need to be
involved in crafting a bill that
will benefit local communi-
ties, and not just the major
metro areas.
“We can effect what
happens in our future,” Frisch
said.
Earlier in the day, Frisch
and Gastellum met with
Robert Echenrode, general
manager of the Umatilla
Electric Cooperative, and
Gary Neal, general manager
of the Port of Morrow. The
most recent iteration of the bill
— Senate Bill 1070 — would
set a carbon cap at 250,000
tons of greenhouse gases per
year. Beyond that, companies
and utilities would need to buy
emission allowances on the
open market.
Ted Case, executive
director of the Oregon Rural
Electric Cooperative Asso-
ciation in Wilsonville, said
UEC would be one of three
consumer-owned
utilities
over the 25,000-ton threshold.
The association is working to
determine what exactly that
would mean for Umatilla
County ratepayers.
“Nobody knows yet,” Case
said. “We’re looking at this
very carefully.”
A spokesman for UEC
added that the co-op buys
more than 90 percent of
its electricity wholesale
from the Bonneville Power
Administration hydro system,
a carbon-free source of power.
“What’s undeniable is we
do have a clean resource,”
Case said.
Neal, who has overseen
dramatic growth at the Port
of Morrow, said there is some
concern among businesses
about how the legislation will
be drafted. For example, Neal
said the bill needs to consider
what is already being done
locally to save energy, and
avoid putting the area at a
disadvantage.
“We think we’re already
the most advanced area in the
country for pumping water,”
Neal said. “But we don’t get
any credits for what we’ve
done.”
Thanks in large part to food
processors and data centers
at the port, Morrow County
employment has risen more
than 40 percent over pre-re-
cession levels and its workers
are paid the third-highest
average wages statewide.
However, Neal cautioned that
development could be slowed
depending on how cap and
invest is implemented.
“You can see businesses
and industry considering
doing things outside of
Oregon if it’s not crafted in a
way that’s more of an incen-
tive than a penalty,” he said.
Mike Mercer, a consultant
with Environmental Entre-
preneurs in Portland, points
to strides in the clean energy
industry across Eastern
Oregon. According to data
from the organization, there
are at least 235 clean energy
jobs in Senate District 29,
represented by Bill Hansell,
and 95 clean energy jobs in
Senate District 30, represented
by Ted Ferrioli. Ferrioli’s
district also leads the state in
solar power generation, with
50,000 kilowatts of capacity.
Mercer argues that cap
and invest would only bolster
those figures.
“Jobs are being created
across the state,” he said.
“As cost comes down, it just
becomes that much more
reasonable for these renew-
able energy projects to move
forward.”
The bill would gradually
reduce the carbon cap over
time, enforcing the state’s
existing climate goals with
a final target of 80 percent
carbon reduction below 1990
levels by 2050.
A report from the Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality released earlier this
year suggested a carbon
market could be a cost-effec-
tive mechanism for lowering
greenhouse gas emissions,
though low-income and rural
communities may be dispro-
portionately affected since
they spend a higher proportion
of their income on energy and
are more reliant on vehicle
travel using fossil fuels.
A self-described “stickler”
for doing things by the
— Neil Brown, Pendleton city council president, books, Brown said the old
on past problems with in the building department building department would
act “tired and grumpy”
Woolsey drove his truck sewer lines and if it has locate when inspecting projects he
to a manufactured home wires, briefly chats with one was involved with. Brown
construction site on Houtama of the workers, then departs. recalled a conversation with
Road, checking for factors Woolsey remarked that there a foreman on the Pendleton
like setback size and if the isn’t much to note on projects Heights housing development
who told him that the building
ground level would be condu- done by professionals.
cive to draining as a construc-
“They know what’s up,” department had gotten on his
case for the placement of
tion crew worked on the he said.
foundation. Unless a signif-
Woolsey’s work hasn’t electrical outlets.
“It’s the inconsistencies
icant issue arises, Woolsey gone unnoticed. During
said he doesn’t write down an Oct. 10 workshop, the that really hurt,” he said.
Brown said he wasn’t trying
his observations, preferring Pendleton City Council told
to tell the supervisor or Woolsey that they were to “roast” anyone specifically
contractor in person. He will hearing good things from with his comments.
Lindstrom was placed on
have to run inspections about the community and less
a half-dozen times before the complaints than they used to. leave last November without
project is complete, double
In an interview Thursday, public explanation from the
Councilor Neil Brown said city and resigned shortly
for stick-built homes.
Woolsey crossed South- a “previous regime” in the thereafter.
When asked if the building
led
gate for his next inspection building department
at a home on Tutuilla Road, by John Lindstrom could department’s previous reputa-
where contractors from be difficult to work with. tion was earned, Woolsey was
Round-Up City Plumbing are Besides being a city coun- diplomatic, saying there’s
connecting the resident to the cilor, Brown is a former “two sides to every story.”
Brown said he hasn’t
city’s sewer system. Woolsey licensed contractor who owns
heard the same complaints
checks for the depth of the rental properties.
“It’s the inconsistencies that really hurt”
about the building depart-
ment recently and has actu-
ally heard positive comments
from the community. But
he said Woolsey has “a big,
big job,” which is further
compounded by the fact that
the city has a contract with
Wallowa County to provide
inspection services.
While Woolsey started
receiving part-time help from
a retired building official who
lives in Wallowa County, he’s
been trying to find another
full-time building inspector
to fill his department for the
past month.
Woolsey said he’s received
only one application from
a qualified applicant during
that time, and 85 percent
of building inspectors will
migrate out of the profession
within the next five years,
according to the International
Code Council.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
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