OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Expansion:
Continued from Page A1
water damage to logs that
need to be replaced. She said
the sides of the building that
face the sun — all but the
north side — will need new
chinking and the building
needs a new coat of stain.
One of the fi rst jobs will
be to remove the deck out-
side her offi ce on the second
fl oor. It was installed when
a restaurant occupied the
building during a previous
life and diners were seated
out there. However, the
deck has now become rick-
ety and dangerous. It will be
replaced with a stairway and
an emergency exit.
Phase Two will cover the
sprinklers, audio equipment
for the hard of hearing and
expanding the building.
“We’ll be able to expand
the building going south.
We’ll put in a ceramics stu-
dio, as well as a multipur-
pose space for movement,
tech classes, dance, music
practice, a rental space, as
well as possibly bringing our
printing press that we have
in the basement upstairs,”
Coughlan said. “It will
almost double the size of this
building.”
The entrance to the cen-
ter also will be changed from
its current south-side loca-
tion to the north side. Across
Alder Street from the new
entrance is land the center
owns that will be used for
parking, Coughlan said.
She said construction
work is expected to start this
month or next, although con-
tractors’ schedules will aff ect
just how soon work can get
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Cheryl Coughlan, executive director of the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, looks over the
upstairs deck that is one of the fi rst things to be removed under plans for repair and expansion
Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
done. She’s hoping vital
repair work can be com-
pleted before winter.
She said the center plans
to keep the public informed
of progress on the changes.
“We’re shooting for very
big event during the Wal-
lowa Valley Arts Festival,
that would be Sept. 18,”
she said. “At that point, we
might have a much better
idea as to what the expan-
sion’s going to look like and
we’ll know how much it’ll
cost and how much money
we’ll need to raise.”
Building’s background
Coughlan gave a brief his-
tory of the center’s building.
She said it originally was a
bank, then went through sev-
eral occupancies, including
a restaurant, a hair salon, a
place where rummage sales
could be held and then it sat
vacant for several years.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Rich Wandschneider, director of the Alvin M. and Betty
Josephy Library of Western History upstairs in the Josephy
Center, leads a tour through the library Wednesday, June 30,
2021. An elevator to give better access to the second fl oor is
part of the center’s renovation plans.
It was purchased from
Anne and Bradford Ste-
phens, who were instru-
mental in getting the center
going.
Continued from Page A1
PLAY CHESS?
WALLOWA COUNTY CHESS CLUB
Thursdays • 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, 403 Main St., Joseph, OR
For info call Clem at 541-432-6309 or Bill at 541-432-0409
VISITORS AND PLAYERS OF
ALL LEVELS ARE WELCOME
EASTERN OREGONS OLDEST CHESS CLUB
Established 2011
is asked for are the names
of witnesses and specifi c
details that can be checked
out. I don’t want to discour-
age anyone from our city to
bring complaints. We’re just
asking for some substantial
witnesses or other evidences
that will help us pursue the
complaint.”
Jude Graham, who wrote
two of the complaint letters,
said, “They did a good job
tonight.”
She agreed more substan-
tial evidence was needed, as
Bartlow explained.
“Councilor
Bart-
low explained that — he
explained what they meant
by unsubstantiated,” she said.
“They wanted witnesses and
I witnessed some things, but
they wanted more. I under-
stand that. If you have situ-
ations, you need more than
two witnesses.”
“It was mostly Anne,
who was very devoted to the
arts,” Coughlan said. “She
was part of a group of people
who, a couple years before
Michael
Lockhart,
another complainant, also
agreed the council acted
properly.
“They can’t react to
hearsay, but Gary’s wasn’t
hearsay,” he said of Beth-
scheider’s letter. “She (Gra-
ham) saw it and I saw it. I’m
not upset. The council did the
best job they could and the
consequences are there.”
City Parks Director Den-
nis Welch also was satisfi ed.
“I think they’re doing
the best they can, but I think
everybody was lacking on
information,” he said. “I
think it’s fair that (Bing-
ham) is not to interact with
city employees or be in any
committees.”
Graham said the council’s
actions Wednesday could
lead to healing for the here-
tofore dysfunctional city
government.
“They did what they
could do and I think it’ll help
the city heal,” she said.
The council originally
had intended to hear Public
Works Director Levi Tick-
ner’s response to complaints
against him by another city
employee after the issues
with Bingham were resolved.
Tickner had opted to make
his response in open session.
However, since the meet-
ing had run past 9 p.m.,
Buswell asked for a motion
to postpone hearing Tick-
ner until just before the July
council meeting, which was
moved to July 15. It will
begin at 5:30 p.m.
“Slowly but surely, we
were able to hire art teach-
ers and a person who could
manage the volunteers, we
started an art shop,” she
said. “Basically, I was doing
everything up until a few
years ago when people came
in and relieved me of some
A15
of my several tasks. Now,
what I’m doing is oversee-
ing the programs and staff .”
The center now has seven
paid staff and three interns.
The interns, mostly high
school and college students,
“help in the classrooms, they
help in the gallery, they do
a lot of what the volunteers
couldn’t do during COVID,”
Coughlan said. “We have
one person who does all of
the education and youth pro-
gramming and we also have
someone doing all of the
exhibits and we have one
person who’s doing all of our
technical needs and creating
our systems. We also have a
development director who
writes all the grants — and
that’s Kellee Sheehy — and
then Rich, who’s the library
director. He does a lot of spe-
cial programs.”
He managed the pro-
cess of getting bronze sculp-
tures out front done. He’s
also working on a fi lm about
places relating to Nez Perce
in the county.
Coughlan said it cost the
center’s board $450,000 to
purchase the building, but
they had to raise $575,000 to
help cover the cost of repairs
and expansion. Those fund-
raising eff orts netted nearly
$600,000, she said.
Coughlan said commu-
nity support has been instru-
mental in the progress the
center has made.
“Who knew this would
ation when we were going
through a pandemic?” she
said. “We’re very grateful.”
To learn more, visit www.
josephy.org.
BRENDEN MOORE
onship
on two state-champi
Brenden Moore ran s-country teams for Wallowa
winning cros
eet in
at the state track m tter of
ed
ac
pl
en
th
y,
lle
Va
ly signed his le
the 3,000, and recent AA Division III program
intent to run for NC . For reaching the next
Randolph College ts this week’s athlete
level, Moore ge
of the week.
roudly
P onsore d b y
Sp
OF
THE
Hope for healing
Several of the complain-
ants said they were sat-
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph City Councilor Kathy Bingham leaves an open session
of the Joseph City Council Wednesday, June 30, 2021, after
refuting fi ve written complaints against her by Joseph
residents. The council agreed to censure her in open session.
isfi ed with the council’s
actions, even though their
complaints were deemed
unsubstantiated.
But there appeared to be
enough evidence that Bing-
ham acted improperly and on
enough occasions that a fi nal
motion was made to censure
her.
Councilor Matt Soots
read that motion in open ses-
sion, as agreed upon during
executive session: “I make a
motion that, based on Coun-
cilor Bingham’s behavior
and decorum at public meet-
ings that she be censured by
removal as mayor pro-tem,
removed from all commit-
tees for one year and banned
from interaction with city
employees in her role as city
councilor except for contact
with the city administrator.”
Mayor Belinda Buswell
seconded that motion — and
all the motions — and it was
passed.
During the discussion of
a motion he made, Coun-
cilor Stephen Bartlow said,
“We keep hearing the word
‘unsubstantiated.’
What
buying the building, said
they wanted to start an arts
center.”
They found the current
building for sale in early
2012 and were able to get it
for a good price.
“At the very beginning,
we promised we would buy
it back from her,” Coughlan
said. “But there were many,
many repairs that needed to
be taken care of.”
The center was opened in
late 2012, after the repairs
were completed and the cen-
ter obtained its nonprofi t sta-
tus. Coughlan came aboard
as executive director in Sep-
tember 2013.
Early on, the center also
became the home to the
Alvin M. and Betty Josephy
Library of Western History
with Rich Wandschneider as
director. It had been housed
in the basement of Fishtrap’s
building in Enterprise and
all concerned believed the
move would be benefi cial.
“This was a good move
for the library,” Coughlan
said, “because Alvin had a
background in art as well as
culture.”
At fi rst, it was just just
her and Wandschneider and
about 50 volunteers. She was
doing a lot of it with his help.
The center now
Council:
accused him of “fl ipping her
off ” during a heated discus-
sion at the February council
meeting. He denied that hap-
pened in his letter.
In a motion agreed upon
during executive session
and made formal during
the open session, Councilor
Tammy Jones moved, “I
make a motion that regard-
ing Gary Bethscheider’s
complaint that he did not
‘fl ip off ’ Councilor Bing-
ham. Furthermore, the coun-
cil fi nds that Councilor Bing-
ham did not make a formal
complaint against Mr. Beth-
scheider. Finally, the coun-
cil regrets the way this mat-
ter was handled and letting
the accusations become pub-
lic and formally apologizes
to Mr. Bethscheider.”
Other claims against
Bingham detailed during
executive session but sum-
marized in motions made
during the open session that
followed included harass-
ment of city employees, vio-
lation of executive session
privacy and letters support-
ing the claims.
Repeatedly,
council
motions found the allega-
tions “unsubstantiated” and
thus, no action against Bing-
ham was taken. However,
while claims such as harass-
ment did not “rise to the level
of harassment,” Bingham
was found to have not acted
appropriately under council
rules.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021