A8
OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Elections: Lathrop, Moeller voted to Wallowa School Board
Other winners
Continued from Page A1
for the seismic work could
be used for the new bond,
and in that way, the assess-
ment wouldn’t need to be
done twice.
“You don’t have to
duplicate things,” she said.
“There will be some nice
ways” that helps out.
The next part of the pro-
cess, Jones said, is to work
with the bond counsel.
The
following
step
would be “requesting archi-
tect, engineering and design
services,” she said. “Getting
that on board, you can start
looking at the schematic and
design. It’ll be a community
team that will be a part of
that process — community
members and school mem-
bers, as well. Once you have
a design and a plan, then it’s
working on getting a con-
tractor on board.”
Jones said that, with
all those elements to still
be taken care of, “We’re
probably a year out from
construction.”
Wallowa School Dis-
trict was also the site of
two of the three contested
school board elections Tues-
day night, with the third
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa School District maintenance head Jake MacDonald stands next to pipes that carry hot water through the school
buildings for heating. The heating and cooling systems are among those in the district in need of improvement, and that
improvement is on the way thanks to Wallowa voters passing a $7 million bond during the Tuesday, May 18, 2021, district
election. The bond passage also means the district will get a $4 million grant from the Oregon Department of Education.
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The Chieftain
Chieftain office
office will
Monday,
30 for
Memorial Day
Day
Monday, May
May 31
for Memorial
being in Joseph.
In a three-way race, Zach
Lathrop edged out incum-
bent Mike Lowe and fellow
challenger Joseph Miles for
Position 2 on the Wallowa
School Board. Lathrop won
with nearly 45% of the vote,
edging Lowe, who had just
over 41.5%, by 20 votes,
278-258. Miles ran in third
with just over 13% of the
vote, or 82 votes.
The other race in Wal-
lowa, which was for Posi-
tion 5 on the school board,
went to Mark Moeller, who
eked out a nine-vote victory
over Bill Robb, 318-309, or
50.48% to 49.05%.
Jones said she had not
had much previous interac-
tion with the two new mem-
bers of the board.
“And I don’t know Mr.
Lathrop really well. I know
Mr. Moeller,” she said. “I’ve
interacted with him some. ...
It’s exciting to have people
ready to serve.”
In Joseph, Kathy Zach-
arias topped incumbent
Rachel Sykora to win a four-
year term in Position 4 with
a 339-136 victory, garnering
more than 71% of the vote.
Joseph:
there’s a couple diff erent
options, and I’ve seen about
every one under the sun get
exercised. … (The council
is) going to have to decide
on those recommendations.”
Eckstein said he hopes
the May 27 actions resolve
— or begin to resolve —
some of the issues that have
me over the past 10 years or
so that have had a lot of suc-
cess,” he said. “Sometimes
they’re not always met with
open optimism; it can be
really hard for people accept
change, and I get that. Some-
times I try to change things
too fast, so I’m going to be
patient and slowly integrate
Continued from Page A1
session, Eckstein anticipates
discussion of particular
council members — or the
mayor — and their actions
in relation to the alleged
harassment. He and Baum
expect to make recommen-
dations as to punishment
that the council must take
action on in open session.
Possible punishments
“Obviously, we can’t
force anyone to resign, but
we can make a strong rec-
ommendation,”
Eckstein
said. “There can be things
like censuring, restrict their
right to vote, pull them off
committees, you could lock
them out of City Hall —
plagued Joseph city gov-
ernment. He said he was
pleased that Welch felt his
situation was resolved and
that a heavy burden had been
lifted from city Administra-
tive Assistant Jamie Collier,
as well as city residents.
“I’m just implementing
some tried-and-true sys-
tems that have worked for
systems that have worked
for me in the past.”
Among those methods
will be educational work
sessions he hopes to hold
with the council that will
inform them about how they
are allowed to interact with
each other and with city
employees.
“We understand this
aff ects the public as much
as it does the employees,
so we want to be as clear
and transparent as we can,”
Eckstein said. “At the same
time, we want to maintain
people’s rights and privacy.”
Thursday’s
executive
session agenda includes the
options to:
• Consider the employ-
ment of a public offi cer,
employee, staff member or
individual agent.
• Consider the dismissal
or disciplining of, or to
hear complaints or charges
brought against a pub-
lic offi cer, employee, staff
member or individual agent
who does not request an
open hearing.
• Consider information or
records that are exempt by
law from public inspection.
The open session agenda
includes:
• Consideration of a sev-
erance agreement.
• Council decision on
alleged violation of council
rules.
• Public comment.
Drought:
determine that.”
Hillock agreed, saying
he and the other commis-
sioners have sought that
input.
“You drive around and
you talk to the producers,
the grass (for grazing) isn’t
growing,” he said.
But the drought extends
beyond traditional agricul-
tural areas up into the tim-
berlands. Nash told of one
resident who conducted a
controlled burn recently and
was amazed how dry it was.
“Those were fi res like
we’d see in late July,” he
said. “They burned some
trees they didn’t intend to.”
“WE UNDERSTAND THIS AFFECTS
THE PUBLIC AS MUCH AS IT DOES THE
EMPLOYEES, SO WE WANT TO BE AS
CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT AS WE CAN.”
— Brock Eckstein, interim city administrator
Continued from Page A1
input from county residents.
“We determine here as to
whether we’re in drought,”
she said. “Our producers
and people here help us
EASTERN OREGON
2021
All other election win-
ners, in uncontested races,
were:
• In the Enterprise School
District, Heather Melville
(Position 1), Kate Fent
(Position 4) and Mandy
Decker (Position 5).
• In the Joseph School
District, Olivia Losby
(Position 6).
• In the Troy School Dis-
trict, Rene Crawford (Posi-
tion 2) and Dustin DeHaan
(Position 5).
• In the Lower Val-
ley Water District, Kim
Werst (Position 4) and Rick
Schaeff er (Position 5).
• In the Evergreen Water
District, Rob Burns, Jason
Crenshaw and Gary Willett.
• In the Wallowa Rural
Fire District, Larry Wight-
man and Bobbie Baker.
• In the Wallowa Lake
Rural Fire District, Bob
Young (Position 3), Dave
Hurley (Position 4) and
Greg Johnson (Position 5).
• In the Wallowa Cem-
etery
District,
Bonnie
Henderson.
• In the Lostine Ceme-
tery District, Muriel Jones,
Les Carlsen and Shirley
Doud.
• In the Enterprise Ceme-
tery District, Tim Kiesecker
(Position 5).
• In the Alder Slope Cem-
etery District, Reid Kooch.
• In the Joseph Cemetery
District, Tom Schaafsma.
• On the Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital Board, Nick
Lunde (Position 3) and Kate
Loftus (Position 4).
• At the ESD, David
Flynn and Bre Austin.
Conatact Elaine at 541-263-1189
PHOTO CONTEST
Offi cial Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the fi nal
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for fi rst, second and third
place.
Meet Twins
Eden &
Bartlett
They were born approx. April 8,
2021. They have their first round
of vaccines, been dewormed, are
litter box trained and will be fixed when
of age. This duo are very bonded but do have
different personalities. Both are dreaming
of a fur-ever home together.
Available for Adoption
Call Mary at 541-398-2428
$110 adoption fee
Submit all photos
online at:
wallowacountychieftain.com/photocontest
for the pair ($20 discount)
http://www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org/
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