News
Wallowa County Chieftain
wallowa.com
Agency
seeking
committee
volunteers
City Hall in Joseph gets facelift
By Katherine Stickroth
For The Chieftain
The addition of new siding
to the Joseph City Hall is an
indication of change on the
way.
“We’ve been talking for
some time about updating the
appearance of City Hall,” said
Mayor Dennis Sands. “We’ve
had some real problems here
on the south side of the build-
ing with rot. Where big dou-
ble doors once stood at this
former garage, the wall was
pulling away from the struc-
ture, allowing water to pour
in.
“For years we’ve had a line
item on the city budget where
money is regularly put away
for a building fund. Over time
that account has built up. We
had a goal-setting session,
and repairing and the east and
south walls of the building
were priorities.”
At the entrance to the of-
fi ce stands a bronze bust of
Chief Joseph, donated last
summer to the city by Fred
Weatherford Phillips and his
The Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department is
seeking volunteers for posi-
tions on two recreational ad-
visory committees.
Four vacant positions are
available on the All-Terrain
Vehicle Advisory Committee.
The positions are for an
ADA representative, rural fi re
protection district representa-
tive, emergency medical ser-
vices provider representative,
and Oregon Vehicle Dealer
Association representative.
The ATV Advisory Com-
mittee meets two to four
times per year at locations
throughout the state to advise
the Parks Department on ATV
issues relating to safety and
vehicle classifi cations.
The ADA representative
will also serve on the ATV
grant subcommittee, which
meets about twice per year to
recommend grant application
funding for ATV related proj-
ects.
The interest form and ap-
plication are available on-line
at www.oregonohv.org under
the ATV Committees section,
or by contacting the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment.
The department is also
seeking to establish a list of
candidates to serve on the
State Scenic Bikeway Com-
mittee in an at-large position.
One seat is open on the
11-member committee. Mem-
bers of the committee are ap-
pointed by the OPRD director
to a four-year term and are
eligible for reappointment.
The committee meets about
fi ve times per year, usually in
Salem, for an all-day meet-
ing with additional fi eld trips
throughout the state to pro-
posed and designated Bike-
ways. The at-large position is
a volunteer appointment and
authorized for travel reim-
bursement.
The committee advises
OPRD on ways to strength-
en the existing program and
the proponent groups asso-
ciated with each designated
Bikeway. The committee also
makes recommendations to
the department on matters
pertaining to the Bikeways
program.
Those interested in serving
must submit a Bikeway Com-
mittee Interest Form by Feb.
28.
For information or to ob-
tain an interest form, go to
http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/
BIKE/Pages/info.aspx
or
contact Alexandra Phillips at
alex.phillips@oregon.gov or
503-986-0631.
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph Mayor Dennis
Sands is about to take the con-
dition of Joseph’s roads to the
state house.
Sands is one of the regional
representatives for small cit-
ies with populations of 5,000
or less in Morrow, Umatilla,
Union and Wallowa counties.
In an October meeting
sponsored by the League of
Oregon Cities in Elgin, Sands
met with two representatives
from Oregon Department of
Transportation. It was an op-
portunity for the small cities
to talk about their transporta-
tion and infrastructure issues.
Sands brought up the is-
sue of Special City Allotment
grants for infrastructure im-
provements in small cities in
his region.
“ODOT used to give
$25,000 grants to cities begin-
ning in 1991 but they realized
that wasn’t much and upped it
to $50,000 about three or four
years ago,” Sands said.
However, when that
change was made, ODOT
did not up the total amount
of funds available for the
grants — effectively cutting
the number of small cities
that would receive the grant
in half.
Joseph received a grant
two years ago, but has not
been able to garner one since.
Enterprise received one in
2013 and City Administrator
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We
Student of the
ENTERPRISE HIGH SCHOOL
Katherine Stickroth/For The Chieftain
Joe Vinni places new siding on the Joseph City Hall building.
wife, Evelyn Phillips.
Their daughter, Marti S.
Abbott who lives in Bend,
says, “They had an interest
in Chief Joseph, which began
when we were children and
we camped at Wallowa Lake.
My parents visited a local
foundry, and the bust was lat-
er purchased from the Lincoln
City Art Gallery in 1985.”
Abbott’s father had ties
to Eastern Oregon. Though
he grew up in Portland, Phil-
lips was a descendant of the
A3
Weatherford family, one of
the oldest wheat ranching
families in Oregon.
The sculpture created by
artist Gary M. Hornbeck of
Hood River will have a place
of prominence in the future
large-scale renovation and ad-
dition to the Joseph City Hall
building.
“The repairs currently un-
derway were the fi rst step in
updating the building. Future
plans include expanding the
building to better serve our
residents. Right now our of-
fi ces are laid out ineffi ciently
and do not afford privacy for
the discussion of bill pay-
ments. We need to get better
organized,” Sands said.
“The expansion will in-
clude enlarging the library
and adding a meeting room
for public use. Funds are
available for City Hall’s por-
tion of the new construction.”
Preliminary plans for the
project have been drawn and
the Friends of the Library will
soon begin a fundraising cam-
paign to complete construc-
tion of their portion.
Sands will fi ght for city street money at capital
THRIFT SHOP
Whitney
Evans
February 1, 2017
Whitney Evans has earned a
cumulative 3.83 GPA here at
EHS. She values education as
evidence by her participation
and success in such classes as
AP Literature and Composition,
Pre-Calculus, Advanced Biology
and Chemistry. She excels in
the sciences currently taking 3
advanced science classes this
year in Physics, Animal Science,
and Anatomy. She recently
completed a 200 level college
math class. Congratulations
Whitney on an outstanding
performance here at EHS.
Proudly sponsored by
Joseph
432-9050
Enterprise
426-4511
Wallowa
886-9151
The Student of the Week is chosen for
academic achievement and community
involvement. Students are selected
by the administrators of
their respective schools.
Michele Young said that al-
though they apply every year
she thinks they will be lucky
to get one every nine to 10
years.
As a result of the informa-
tion and encouragement gath-
ered at the October meeting,
Sands encouraged Eastern
Oregon Cities to go on a letter
writing campaign, informing
legislators that they needed
the ODOT Grant budget to be
increased.
Sands will again discuss
the issue with ODOT at the
North East Area Commission
on Transportation bi-monthly
meeting Feb. 2 in La Grande.
THANK YOU
The family of Tom
Morgan would like
to thank all of those
who sent cards,
made phone calls
and offered words
of sympathy for
the loss of our
youngest brother.
There will be a
memorial service for
Tom on April 8th,
at 1:00 at the
Community Church.
The Morgan Family
He will be in Salem on
“City Day,” Feb 8. City Day
at the Capitol is local govern-
ment’s major event of the leg-
islative session and includes
personal visits with legisla-
tors.
The League of Oregon
Cities will also approach
Reps. Greg Baretto, R-Cove,
Greg Smith (R-Heppner) and
Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena)
as well as lobbyists for the
League to address the appro-
priate committees that have
some say in how the money is
appropriated.
Citizens can write their
legislators and ask them to
request ODOT funding is in-
creased for the Special City
Allotment.
In its March 2016 Infra-
structure Survey Report the
League of Cities identifi ed
$3.7 billion in capital needs
for highway and non-high-
way transportation projects
($2.6 billion highway/$1.1
billion non-highway). In ad-
dition, for the 120 cities that
participated in the survey,
the report shows a budget
shortfall for operations and
maintenance of about $217
million per year.
This week’s athlete of the
week is Enterprise High School
graduate David Ribich. He is a
student and track star at Western
Oregon University in Monmouth.
Last week, Ribich, 21, was rated
the nation’s top-ranked runner
in the mile race for Division II
colleges. He is also a member of
WOU’s mens distance medley
team, also the top-ranked team
in the Nation.
This week the National
Collegiate Athletic Association
named Ribich as its Div. II
national track athlete of
the week.
Proudly Sponsored By:
Eastern Oregon’s Full Service Propane Supplier
201 E. Hwy 82, Enterprise
541-426-0320
www.edstaub.com
David
Ribich