LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
A7
Joseph City Council starts the road back
Names new pro-
tem, agrees to
deal with Braden
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The Joseph
City Council began the
road back from dysfunction,
Tuesday, July 20, by vot-
ing in a new mayor pro-tem
and taking other measures
in the wake of the censure
and resignation of one of its
members.
Councilor Lisa Collier
was elected by her peers
to serve as mayor pro-tem,
the position former Coun-
cilor Kathy Bingham was
removed from June 30, as
well as from committee
assignments for a year and
banning her from contact
with city employees after
several complaints against
her were received by City
Hall.
Although the council
has a new pro-tem — who
serves as mayor in the may-
or’s absence — fi lling Bing-
ham’s former committee
assignments will have to
wait. The same is true for
IN BRIEF
Wallowa County
sees spike in
COVID cases
ENTERPRISE — There
were 12 new coronavirus
cases reported in Wallowa
County in the past fi ve days,
the Oregon Health Authority
reported Monday, July 26.
The largest single-day
count came Thursday, July
22, when fi ve were reported.
Another seven cases were
reported over the week-
end, the OHA said in a press
release. There were no coro-
navirus-related deaths in the
county during the reporting
period.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph City Councilor Lisa Collier, center, listens as a resident addresses the council. She was voted as the mayor pro-tem
Tuesday, July 20, 2021. At left are Pro-Tem Administrator Brock Eckstein, and at right is Administrative Assistant Jamie Collier.
applications for other com-
mittee assignments. Mak-
ing such assignments is the
mayor’s job, and Mayor
Belinda Buswell was absent
from the last council meet-
ing. Pro-tem Administrator
Brock Eckstein said she was
home sick.
One other item from
recent diffi culties had to
be postponed. A response
to Parks Department Lead
Dennis Welch’s accusations
against Public Works Lead
Levi Tickner will have to
wait for the Aug. 5 council
meeting, since Welch was
not present to rebut Tick-
ner’s statements. Welch, too,
was home sick, Eckstein
said.
But the council did
accomplish one major chore
from recent months —
that of agreeing to a sever-
ance agreement with for-
mer Administrator/Recorder
Larry
Braden.
Braden
resigned April 11 citing
harassment by members of
the council.
The council went into
executive session to discuss
details of the agreement.
Once back in open ses-
sion, Eckstein said that after
negotiating with Braden,
they agreed the city will pay
Braden $25,000 and Braden
will agree to make no further
claims against the city. Bra-
den worked for the city for
just less than two years.
The
council
also
approved new job descrip-
tions for several city
employees, but decided to
hold off on details of the
Parks Department lead, the
position Welch now holds.
In other matters, the
council:
• Heard a complaint
The OHA does not give
information on where in the
county or who was involved
in the reported cases.
in the past year, according to
Jude Graham of the Joseph
Chamber of Commerce. In
addition to the return of the
robbery reenactment, new
displays are on hand and
the museum’s entire collec-
tion is being digitized for
research purposes.
The Stangel Bison Ranch
of Enterprise donated a bison
skull and hide for the muse-
um’s Nez Perce exhibit.
Also at the museum will
be a display of Chief Joseph
Days memorabilia to mark
the 75th anniversary of the
rodeo.
Fire Chief Gary Hulse, the
Wallowa City Council held
its usual meeting Tues-
day, July 20, city Admin-
istrator Carolyn Harshfi eld
reported.
“It was pretty quiet,” she
said Monday, July 26.
The council approved a
$2,000 grant received by the
city library for teen activ-
ities, Harshfi eld said. That
was the only action of sub-
stance conducted at the
meeting, she said.
Hulse, in his capacity
as fi re chief, has been tak-
ing one of the city’s water
trucks to the Promise area to
help battle the Elbow Creek
Fire for the past two weeks,
Harshfi eld said. She said he
usually takes one other vol-
unteer fi refi ghter.
— The Chieftain
Bank robbery
reenactment
returns
JOSEPH — A reenact-
ment of the 1896 robbery of
the First Bank of Joseph will
take place Saturday, July 31,
following the Chief Joseph
Days Parade at the Wallowa
County Museum in Joseph,
according to a press release.
The museum is at 110 S.
Main St. in the former bank
building. The robbery took
place Oct. 1, 1896, accord-
ing to Chieftain fi les.
The museum has gone
through numerous changes
Wallowa aids
fi refi ghting eff orts
WALLOWA — Despite
the absence of Mayor and
about the cost of water and
sewer hookups from resi-
dent John McColgan, who
called the city’s current rates
“exorbitant.” Tickner and
Brad Baird, of Anderson
Perry Engineers, explained
the reasons for the high
cost was largely about pay-
ing for infrastructure a prop-
erty owner hadn’t been pay-
ing for prior to building a
new home. The council took
no action on McColgan’s
complaint.
• Heard a complaint
from Chuck Anderson,
“alpenmeister” of Oregon’s
Alpenfest, who considers
Joseph’s $475 fee for tran-
sient merchants too high. He
requested that the council
enact an exemption for non-
profi t fees such as his Wurst-
wagen. It sells bratwurst
sandwiches to raise money
for the annual Alpenfest,
which will be held at the
Chief Joseph Days Rodeo
grounds this fall and he’ll
have to pay the $475 fee,
cutting deeply into his prof-
its and thus, into funds for
the Alpenfest. Anderson
asked the council to consider
a nonprofi t fee for opera-
tions such as his. Collier said
it was worth discussing and
several councilors agreed,
but no decision was made.
• Approved all liquor
licenses en masse. Eckstein
told the council they could
handle it that way or one by
one, if they had a problem
with the holder of a liquor
license.
• Heard a request for a
crosswalk at the intersec-
tion of Highway 82 and 4th
Street, but explained that
such an intersection will
be addressed when hand-
icapped-access ramps are
installed.
We are on the front lines of the fire again, this time with a
local firefighter making a difference. Jeff Weer of Lostine is
among the Wallowa County citizens helping tackle the Elbow
Creek Fire. Thank you Jeff for your hard work and
dedication to Wallowa County!
udly
Pro onsore d b y
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