A10
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Joseph gets ‘good
surprises’ in grants
Administrative
roles focus of
heated debate
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The fl at-top membrane roof of Enterprise High School will be replaced with a peaked roof this year in an $8 million
refurbishment project planned by the Enterprise School District. Other improvements, such as energy-effi cient windows
and HVAC, also are planned.
Roof replacement major
component of bond project
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The
Enterprise School District’s
plan for how it intends to
use the funding from the
bond tax levy approved by
voters in November is in
place.
Roof repair, HVAC
update, asbestos abatement
and installing energy-effi -
cient windows are among
nine projects that will
be performed at all three
schools in the district and
paid for by the $8 million
the district has on hand —
$4 million from the bond
levy 57% of voters said
yes to late last year and
$4 million matching from
an Oregon School Capital
Improvement grant from
the Oregon Department of
Education.
The roof at all three
schools will be tackled
fi rst, as Superintendent
Erika Pinkerton called that
the most urgent component
of the project.
“We’re in crisis mode
with the roof, to be hon-
est,” Pinkerton said.
She shared a story of
being at a Christmas play
in the school her fi rst year
on the job and felt a drip of
water hit her shoulder. She
asked high school Principal
Blake Carlsen, who was
standing next to her, about
it, and he pointed to a tarp
on the ceiling full of water
that was starting to drip.
A fl at membrane roof
is currently what is on
the building, but there are
ENTERPRISE BOND PROJECT
Below is a list of the
projects the Enterprise
School District will perform
with the funding passed
through a bond levy voted
on last November.
For all three buildings:
• Remove and replace
damaged asphalt.
• Safety and security up-
grades.
• Remodel key restroom to
ADA standards.
• Replace membrane roof.
For the high school and
junior high school:
• Address stormwater
runoff .
• Remodel and update
science rooms.
• Install hydronic water
piping to serve new HVAC
distribution system.
• Install elevator.
• Abate asbestos.
• Install energy effi cient
windows.
• Remove and replace
damaged sidewalks.
times that there is standing
water on it, and when the
water freezes then thaws,
it causes cracks in the roof.
“The installation quality
was not at par,” Pinkerton
said of the roof, which she
said was put in place about
15 or 16 years ago. “There
were multiple issues when
that roof was installed.”
The new roof will have
a pitch on it to allow bet-
ter runoff .
Of the $8 million in
the project, Pinkerton said
$1.12 million is budgeted
for the roof. She added that
had the bond not passed,
the district still would have
addressed the problem, but
it would have been build-
ing by building and not the
three schools at once.
For the junior high school
only:
• Remodel locker rooms.
• Install a ramp and a lift
from the gym foyer to the
gym fl oor level.
Source: Erika Pinkerton
“The roofs, there are
multiple leaks throughout
the entire campus, (and)
there are harder-hit areas
than others,” she said.
Construction on the roof
is slated to begin in June.
The rest of the resto-
ration or replacement proj-
ects will begin later in the
year and will run through
next summer.
Among them is another
project of high impor-
tance — getting the
school to ADA standards.
That includes remodel-
ing restrooms and upgrad-
ing wheelchair ramps cur-
rently in the school that are
too steep, Pinkerton said.
Part of the upgrades also
include installing elevators
in the junior high and high
schools, and at the middle
school installing a lift and a
ramp from the foyer to the
gym.
“I’m really excited
about the lifts,” Pinkerton
said. “There’s going to be
an elevator. Our ramps are
going to be at an appropri-
ate incline.”
She said that because of
the current ramp slant, por-
tions of the school are more
diffi cult to access by some-
one in a wheelchair.
“There are parts that
they cannot (access) or
they are not equitable,” she
said.
Other parts of the proj-
ect, such as remodeling and
updating the junior high and
high school science rooms,
are still in the development
stage. The architecture fi rm
on the job, Design West —
based in Meridian, Idaho
— is meeting with science
teachers this week to look
at the four rooms set apart
for the subject and how
they need to be improved,
as well as other facets of
the job.
Another part, which
Pinkerton said should be
completed by the summer
of 2022, is replacing the
asbestos fl ooring through-
out all three schools. The
superintendent said how
much is in the fl oors is
uncertain.
“You just don’t know
until you get in there,” she
said.
Pinkerton added a
$600,000 contingency is
built into the budget for the
remodel and upgrades.
‘Fire Stories’ exhibit coming to Josephy Center
Chieftain staff
JOSEPH — A new
exhibit of forest photos
called “Fire Stories” will be
on display at the Josephy
Center for Arts and Culture
April 23 to June 15, accord-
ing to a press release.
The photos were taken
from fi re towers with
Osborne panoramic cam-
eras 80 years ago paired
with modern replications
from photographer/naturalist
John F. Marshall. The con-
trasts show how fi re and fi re
suppression have changed
the Wallowa and Blue
mountain landscapes.
Fire Stories is a historic
and contemporary explora-
tion of wildfi re in Northwest
landscapes, according to
the release. As humans, our
relationship with fi re is tan-
gled with how we live on the
land and use its resources,
the release stated. Native
Americans had long learned
to live with fi re and made it
useful. European settlement
brought a diff erent sensibil-
ity and the tools and orga-
nization to control fi re. Lit-
tle was it known how fi re
is essential to the function
of nature, and in attempting
SCHOLARSHIP
to eliminate fi re, man has
brought worse fi re on, the
release said.
How does nature live
with fi re, and how can we?
According to the release,
these are questions that can-
not be ignored in this unprec-
edented time. This exhibit
will provide some answers
and stimulate more thought
and discussion.
Two special fi re programs
also are planned at no cost.
“Fire in the West” will
be presented from 2-4 p.m.
May 20. Stephen J. Pyne,
author of Fire in Amer-
ica and Between Two Fires,
considered seminal texts on
fi re, will be the presenter via
Zoom.
“The West is Burning” is
a fi lm that will be presented
via streaming at the cen-
ter at 7 p.m. May 27. It will
be introduced by producer
Cody Sheehy.
The Josephy Center is
presenting the “Fire Sto-
ries” exhibit in partnership
with Wallowa Resources.
For more information,
Megan Wolfe of the cen-
ter is the coordinator and
can be reached at coor-
dinator@josephy.org
or
541-432-0505.
Conatact Elaine at 541-263-1189
OPPORTUNITY
The Wallowa County Fair Board Scholarship(s)
will provide scholarship assistance to Wallowa County 4-H/FFA
members. Applications are available from the Fair office for
graduating high school students who will be attending college,
vocational or trade school during the 2021 – 2022 school year.
Amounts will range from $250 to $1000.
Applications are available and can be picked up at the
Wallowa County Fair office or e-mailed to you from
wallowacountyfair@gmail.com.
Candidates must submit the following by May 15, 2021
1. Completed and signed application.
2. High school transcript or statement of GPA from Registrar.
3. Three letters of reference with one being advisor or leader.
Cats
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Brought to you by,
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JOSEPH — The Joseph
City Council received some
“good surprises” from city
Administrator Larry Braden,
at its Thursday, April 1, meet-
ing when Braden passed on
word of two major grants the
city is receiving.
According to recorded
minutes of the meeting pro-
vided to the Chieftain, Bra-
den told the council that each
year, the city applies for a
small-cities paving grant that,
although it’s usually only
awarded every other year,
Joseph was one of two cit-
ies to score high enough this
year to receive a grant with-
out aff ecting its eligibility for
next year.
“We were notifi ed a cou-
ple weeks ago that our appli-
cation scored high enough
that we actually will get
$100,000 this year and we’re
still eligible for the following
year,” he said. “So we’re sit-
ting currently on $200,000
of paving that we’re going
to start going out for bid next
month probably. For a town
our size, that’s really good
news. We were not expecting
that and I thought, ‘No, this
can’t be right.’ So I made the
call and was told it’s exactly
right and they explained it to
me. … We’re still 100% eligi-
ble for the upcoming (grant).
We’re looking at — if we
play it right — we could pos-
sibly fi nish our goal, which is
paving the city way ahead of
schedule.”
The other “surprise,”
Braden said, was the fed-
eral American Rescue Plan
Act that President Joe Biden
signed March 11 that will pro-
vide the city with $229,109.
“That’s also a lot of
money for us,” Braden said.
“It’s not in concrete, either,
exactly what the program
will look like … it is COVID
relief. We’re going to have
a lot more freedom to spend
the money than with the CRF
(Coronavirus Relief Fund) …
it’s not a reimbursement. We
get half up front and then half
a year after that.”
He said the two grants
should help the city
considerably.
“With those two grants
for the city, those were two
very nice surprises in the past
month,” he said.
In another matter, Braden
introduced an issue that led to
a heated exchange between
Mayor Belinda Buswell,
Councilwoman Kathy Bing-
ham and elicited a couple
comments from audience
members. Braden said there
appears to be confusion over
the role of the mayor and the
city administrator and the
day-to-day function of what
he is supposed to do.
“It’s very frustrating for
me to do my job. We cur-
rently are not compliant with
the city charter. We are not
compliant with the council
rules and almost every sin-
gle aspect of my employ-
ment contract has been vio-
lated. Doing my job in a
functional, effi cient man-
ner is almost impossible
right now. … There are seri-
ous lines being crossed in the
charter, the council rules and
my contract,” Braden said.
“You, the council, need to
make the decisions now, not
later, and this talk has been
going on for three months.
You need to decide if you’re
going to support the charter,
the council rules and in what-
ever capacity to support my
employment contract to run
this city. You will make that
decision. You have to. Now,
not later. It has to be done,
because you have to decide
what the role of the mayor is
and you have to decide who
holds administrative respon-
sibility on a day-to-day basis.
Is it the administrator or is it
the mayor?”
Bingham pointed out that
the mayor’s duties are limited
to conducting meetings and
appointing committees.
“We as the council can-
not be involved in running
the city. That has to stop,” she
said, adding that some city
residents appear to not under-
stand that, either. “We need
to send out letters to every
single business, professional
organization, consultant that
the city has used to make
sure they understand that
their only contact is the pub-
lic works supervisor, if it’s a
public works issue, or the city
administrator/recorder. … No
one on this council has the
right to call an attorney, has
the right to call an accounting
fi rm, has the right to call any-
one we work with. That has
to be the administrator.”
Buswell said there appears
to be confusion between her
and Braden’s understanding
of her role as mayor.
“He has a set of person-
nel policies that also stip-
ulates that the council will
make certain contracts and
that is where, when I spoke
with Larry, we asked to have
a document created … I just
want a document that clearly
stipulates for him and myself
that says what he’s going to
do from now on. We have
confl icting documents.”
After nearly an hour of
discussion, it was agreed to
abide by the city charter and
council rules and leave the
actual day-to-day admin-
istration work to Braden.
Buswell, Bingham and others
on the council voiced their
support of Braden and his
work and agreed there was
nothing personal about the
misunderstanding, but that it
was purely professional.
The council also approved
lists of long- and short-term
goals for the city, which will
help with the upcoming bud-
geting process that must be
completed by June 30.
The list of short-term
goals, aimed for completion
in the next couple of years,
includes a citywide cleanup
day, work on the city’s web-
site, work on the city library
and the city park.
The long-term goals, with
a 2- to 5-year time frame,
include developing an indus-
trial task force to research
possible industries for city,
fi nish paving all city streets,
committee for recreation
space
programs/commu-
nity center and a commu-
nity recreation center. Other
goals were included in each,
but were not audible in the
recording. A list of each
group of goals is to be posted
at City Hall.