OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
A7
County in liability crosshairs with agreement
Pact with OHA
protects state,
but not county
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — In their
efforts to maintain state ser-
vices for Wallowa County,
the county commissioners
felt pressured into signing
an intergovernmental agree-
ment for a variety of auxil-
iary services at their Wednes-
day, Feb. 17, meeting.
The one-year agreement
with the Oregon Health
Authority is for commu-
nity mental health; addiction
treatment, recovery and pre-
vention; and problem gam-
bling services. But it puts the
county in the liability cross-
hairs if any problems should
arise.
Commissioner
Susan
Roberts said she wanted it
in the record that, “while the
state manages to avoid lia-
bility, counties like Wallowa
can’t.”
She cited a case in Lane
County’s mental health court
where there was a massive
lawsuit against the county
after a person murdered two
people, tried to murder a
third and the families of the
victims sued the county.
“There’s everything in
there that protects the state;
there’s nothing in there that
protects the county,” Roberts
said.
She said she felt that in
order to obtain the state ser-
vices, Wallowa County has
no choice but to sign the
agreement.
“We have started looking
at every one of these (con-
tracts) and we would prefer
Hillock
Nash
that the state not hold itself
harmless but put all of that
penalty on the counties that
we can ill afford to pay — a
$5 million lawsuit or more,”
she said. “With almost every
one of these contracts, the
state takes itself out of the
realm (of liability) but leaves
the county in the fi ring line
but … we’ve had some dis-
cussion about this and we’re
just letting the public know
that these things are hang-
ing out there for our counties,
that we’re not protected …
we’re not given that protec-
tion from the state when we
Roberts
sign these contracts. We
don’t have much choice if we
want to give these services to
the people in our community.
We sign them, but we’ve got
our fi ngers and toes crossed
that nothing will occur that
will come back to punish us.”
Commissioner John Hill-
ock said some counties are
able to fi nd an alternative.
“A lot of counties have
opted out of doing it and …
could then put in their own
provider,” he said.
Roberts acknowledged
that was a possibility for
wealthier counties, but said it
wasn’t feasible for Wallowa
County.
“We have tried in the past
to get out of this and there
doesn’t seem to be a way,”
she said. “They provide their
own; they hire and contract
their own. That’s the differ-
ence. We don’t have that abil-
ity. I just wanted to get that in
on the record.”
Hillock agreed the county
is caught in the middle in a
variety of areas.
“It seems like everything
we do, whether it’s this or
the sheriff’s offi ce or what-
ever, there’s a certain amount
of liability that comes back
on the county,” he said. “It’s
no different than running any
of our businesses or spray-
ing on weeds. There’s always
liability.”
In other matters, the
commissioners:
• Approved members to
Thunder: Sponsors donated more than $15K
the county Board of Prop-
erty Tax Appeals. Claresse
O’Connor and Ross Rooper
were the members approved.
• Approved three resolu-
tions appointing members
to Wallowa County Weed
Board. Those appointed
were Jean Jancaitis, Saman-
tha Bernards, Mike Beachy,
Teresa Smergut, Kelly Birk-
maier, Kris Crowley, Beck-
ijo Smergut Wall, Mike Hale
and Chris Cunningham.
• Approved a resolution
appointing 45 members to
the Wallowa County Natural
Resources Advisory Com-
mittee. The members were
appointed along with their
affi liations and alternates
to various terms. Commis-
sion Chairman Todd Nash
declined to read the entire
list, but said it was available
for public review to anyone
who wished to see it.
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Continued from Page A1
ple, forbade the Thunder
Room’s indoor dances and
socializing, those kinds of
activities could probably be
moved outdoors. Jones also
was upbeat about holding the
Back Country Bash, a music
event at the rodeo arena the
week following CJD.
“Even if regulations are
what they are now,” he said,
“we could hold it because it’s
outside.”
The exception to holding
all the “normal” events might
be the Nez Perce friendship
gathering and feast.
“The Nez Perce have
been hit hard by the corona-
virus,” Jones said. “Many of
the people who participate in
that feast are elders. We don’t
want to create a situation that
would be bad for them, or
anyone who attends.”
The CJD board will con-
sult with those who usu-
ally attend, including tribal
elders from Lapwai, Idaho;
the Umatilla Reservation;
and Nespelem, Washington,
before making a decision
about that event.
Jones credited the gener-
osity of the community for
providing the fi nancial foun-
dation to move forward pos-
itively in planning this year’s
CJD Rodeo.
“We refunded a ton of
ticket money,” Jones said.
Recycling:
Continued from Page A1
we have a problem with plas-
tics. Cardboard, tin, paper,
aluminum, it’s a pretty clean
process. Paper comes in, it
gets turned into the paper
processor and into new paper
products. Tin, aluminum,
etc., too,” he said. “Most
of the plastic that is being
accepted now is all being
turned into a new plastic
product. The challenge is that
all the plastic that is produced
isn’t accepted by processors,
which is actually the majority
of the plastic.”
He has noted in stores that
many of the plastic items —
often food containers — are
not the No. 1 and 2 plastics.
“I realize how big a per-
centage of plastics are not
recyclable in today’s world,”
he said. “They’re recyclable,
but nobody makes enough
money to do it to make it
worthwhile for them. That’s
a problem beyond our abil-
ity here in the county to col-
lect and process as much as
we can.”
There also is a problem
with plastic six-pack holders
such as beer and soda come
in. Ferré said they’re labeled
No. 2, but processors won’t
take them as such.
Nash said that could come
under a “truth in labeling”
bill before the Legislature.
“If there are those arrows
on the bottom, it’s misleading
people into thinking it’s recy-
clable when it’s oftentimes
not,” the commissioner said.
“I’d appreciate your response
on what pieces of legislation
have merit and … we would
be glad to advocate for those
that seem responsible.”
Ferré agreed.
“The truth in labeling one
Michelle Britt joined our team in the
Fall of 2020. She has generously
volunteered her time to breathe new
life into our GED program, helping
nearly 20 adults on their path to
completing their education. Thank you,
Michelle, for sharing your talents and
making a difference in
our community!
MICHELLE
BRITT
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Carol Ward, manager of Wheatland Insurance in Enterprise, holds one of the 2020 rodeo
buckles that were presented to event sponsors who chose to donate their 2020 sponsorship
payment to Chief Joseph Days Rodeo. Wheatland sponsors the all-around events and award.
“But there were a lot of gen-
erous people who donated
their 2020 ticket purchase
to the rodeo rather than tak-
ing refunds. That’s appreci-
ated more than anyone will
know.”
Many sponsors also
donated their 2020 spon-
sorships to CJD at a time
that was fi nancially diffi -
cult for some of them. Their
donations totaled more than
$15,000 and provided fund-
ing for scholarships, repairs
to the arena and other facil-
ities and helped the rodeo
get set up for this year, Jones
said.
As a thank you to those
businesses and individuals,
the CJD Board gave each
sponsor donor a framed CJD
buckle that bore the 2020
date.
“It would have cost $100
per buckle to have the dates
on the buckles changed to
2021,” Jones said. “So we
ordered display cases for the
buckles instead and gave the
buckles to the donors as a
thank you. We tried to match
the event on the buckle to
the donor’s interests. Peo-
ple were very appreciative.
We’re starting to feel really
positive about this year’s
rodeo. We are moving ahead
with the 75th CJD Rodeo
planning just as we do every
year.”
is a huge one,” he said. “From
the research I’ve done, those
arrows really aren’t recycle
arrows … what’s confusing
about it is so many of those
numbers are, nobody’s pro-
cessing them.”
Baling twine also is an
issue in the county, with all
the beef cattle feeding on
baled hay. Nash, who raises
cattle, said there used to be
a woman who collected the
twine a couple times of the
year, but she’s no longer
doing it.
Ferré said the woman
stopped because Agri-Plas-
tics, the processor, decided
the value is so low the fi rm
can’t afford to pay for it.
“I’ve talked to them and
they will still take baling
twine … and we’re going to
start doing that again in some
capacity,” he said.
But that brings up the
transportation
dilemma,
which affects many of the
recyclables.
“Since there’s no money
in it, we need to fi nd a way
to get it to the west side in
the back of my pickup truck
or somebody else’s where
it’s not going to be a liability
issue for the county,” he said.
Ferré and Jandt said
they’re also working to edu-
cate the public, both in gen-
eral and at schools and
businesses. They speak to
individuals at the center and
have seen success. The plas-
tics accepted at the recycling
center have proved a prob-
lem in the past, with peo-
ple discarding unacceptable
plastics or not removing the
lids from acceptable ones.
But that’s improved dramat-
ically, they said.
“It’s interesting because if
you just look in the plastics
window you see very few
lids on anything,” Ferré said,
noting that the lids on plas-
tic bottles must be removed.
“We’re just really apprecia-
tive of the (people in) the
county who are very delib-
erately taking lids off of
bottles.”
On the budget side of
things, he said, the task force,
through the county, also is
seeking grants to be able
to more effi ciently cover
baled recyclables and pos-
sibly even purchase a more
effi cient baler. Already it
has increased its revenue
by about 42%, going from
$4,293 in 2019 to about
$6,600 in 2020.
“I think that’s meaning-
ful,” Ferré said. “It’s still not
enough money, but it’s 42%
more money than we did in
the entire prior year. So, each
step along the way, we’re get-
ting closer … we’re making a
difference … 42% is 42%.”
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