LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
A9
Commissioners take actions for county fair
Mull land buy,
OK loan to pay
premiums
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — As
the Wallowa County Fair
was preparing to start, the
county
commissioners
took two actions Wednes-
day, Aug. 4, to facilitate
fair activities: the possible
purchase of land adjoining
the fairgrounds and a loan
to fund fair premiums.
Commissioner Chair-
man Todd Nash invited
Brinda Stanley, chair-
woman of the fair board,
to discuss the possible pur-
chase of land belonging to
the estate of Larry Wishart,
who died in June.
“It seems like a really
good fi t,” Stanley said of
the approximately one-
third acre parcel. “We
don’t often have a lot of
opportunities to purchase
property that adjoins our
fairgrounds. … Down the
road it could house staff
for the fairgrounds. There
are a lot of possibilities.
It has a great shop. Years
ago, when I was young,
it was a truck shop where
trucks could pull in and out
of there … so it just seems
like a really good fi t. Our
board is really excited
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Fair Board Chairwoman Brinda Stanley
addresses the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners
about a possible land acquisition adjacent to the fairgrounds
Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021.
about moving forward with
it. Now we’re just trying
to fi gure out how we can
move forward and make it
happen for the fairgrounds
and our community.”
Nash noted there are
legal issues to be dealt
with. Since Wishart died
only two months ago, there
are another 16 months
during which someone
with a lien against his
estate can fi le a claim.
“There are ways in the
private sector in which
people can get around such
things, but it doesn’t work
well for a public entity,”
Nash said.
He suggested the pos-
sibility that, if it’s agree-
able with the Wishart fam-
ily, the county could lease
the property with an option
to purchase it after the 16
months are up.
“We need to have a
work session to get some
clarity on how we direct
our county counsel to
either draft something up
or to negotiate with the
Wisharts, or if there’s even
a desire for this board to
move forward on such a
purchase,” Nash said.
The
commissioners
agreed no action could
be taken at Wednesday’s
meeting on the matter,
since more information is
still needed.
Commissioner
Susan
Roberts said some of the
questions that need to be
answered include how the
property will be main-
tained, the cost of any pur-
chase or lease and whether
the property will be on the
tax rolls of the county.
Nash said some of those
issues are the purview of
the fair board, but agreed
with Roberts that the fi nan-
cial aspects — including
the property’s assessed
value — are of chief con-
cern to the county.
“Appraised value is
really hard to assess right
now. People throw prices
out there and somebody
comes in and off ers them
$40,000 more to make sure
they get it.”
Although
no
deci-
sion could be made, Stan-
ley said she hoped to have
more information for the
commissioners by their
next meeting.
“We wanted to get it out
there in the public eye and
let people know what we’re
thinking about,” Nash said.
“We don’t want to do any-
thing under the radar.”
Fair premium loan
In another matter, the
commissioners approved
taking out a loan of
$75,000 so the county can
pay fair premiums imme-
diately after the fair.
“After the fat stock
sale, sometimes those
checks come in slowly,”
Nash said. “Community
Bank has been really gen-
erous off ering us a no-in-
terest loan for 90 days.
That allows us to get those
checks out to those kids
faster rather than waiting
for the last checks to come
in. We really appreciate
Community Bank doing
that and Brinda (Stan-
ley) working with them to
make that happen.”
The commissioners also
approved sending a let-
ter to the federal Bureau
of Land Management on
its plans to restore lands
aff ected by the Joseph Can-
yon Fire in June. The let-
ter expressed approval of
plans for livestock inven-
tory, treatment of noxious
weeds and aerial seeding,
but suggested additional
measure when it comes to
seeding.
“We understand that
native perennial grasses
are favored over other
varieties,” the letter stated.
“However, they often take
a while to establish so we
recommend supplement-
ing with other perennial
grasses.”
The commissioners also
approved an order reopening
county road that had been
closed for fi re safety issues.
Other actions
In other matters, the
commssioners:
• Approved a request
by Robin Wortman, of
the
county’s
District
Attorney’s Offi ce, that
the county apply for a
$185,320 grant to fund
victims’ advocate services
and hire another full-time
employee.
• Asked for more infor-
mation on a wellness
application for Wallowa
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce
deputies. Stacey Fregulia,
the commissioners’ exec-
utive assistant, said it was
originally thought apply-
ing for the matter would
be simple and Sheriff Joel
Fish appointed her to do
so, but upon investigating
it, she needs legal authority
to do so. Fregulia said she
would continue to inves-
tigate it and return to the
commissioners with more
information.
•
Approved
action
notices for cost-of-liv-
ing pay increases for Hai-
ley Collier, who is on her
probationary period with
911 dispatch, and for Jakeb
Thompson and David
Riley with the Wallowa
Lake Community Service
District.
• Approved an ease-
ment for Joel Schiefelbein
who wants access to a pri-
vate residence on Dunham
Road.
Legislature begins 46-day race Call put out for ‘Little Works’
to redistricting on Thursday
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Eleven state
lawmakers on Thursday,
Aug. 12, will begin a polit-
ically Herculean task with
historically small odds of
success: Draw 96 new polit-
ical districts in 46 days that
will be used beginning with
the 2022 election.
The six Democrats and
fi ve Republicans on the
House and Senate redis-
tricting committees are set
to receive block-by-block
U.S. Census data full of
population and demographic
changes since the last map-
making 10 years ago.
The pandemic and poli-
tics led to a six-month delay
in delivery of the informa-
tion on population changes
and demographic shifts that
is required to draw maps
meeting federal and state
laws.
It took an Oregon
Supreme Court ruling to
give the Legislature the fi rst
shot at redistricting. But the
justices settled on a crushing
timeline that would require
a special session of the Leg-
islature on Sept. 20 to rat-
ify the maps in time to have
them delivered to the court
by Sept. 27.
What they come up with
has even the most seasoned
politicians in Salem scratch-
ing their heads.
“Nobody knows what
their district’s going to look
like right now,” Senate Pres-
ident Peter Courtney said
last week. “Some are going
to be dramatically changed,
and some aren’t.”
The committees’ to-do
list:
• Draw 60 House dis-
tricts, each with about
70,621 residents.
• Draw 30 Senate dis-
tricts, each with about
141,242 residents.
• Draw six congressio-
nal districts — one more
than now exist — each with
about 706,209 residents.
If successful, the law-
makers will create the maps,
win approval in the House
and Senate, and then get
Gov. Kate Brown to sign off
on the plan.
That’s happened once in
the past 110 years, in 2011.
The rest of the time, the Leg-
islature couldn’t agree, the
governor would reject the
lawmakers’ plans, or court
challenges would lead to
revisions.
Plans for a “road trip” of
hearings to present a prelim-
inary plan to the public are
shaky amid a new wave of
coronavirus cases. The com-
mittees could return to the
earlier format of taking vir-
tual and written testimony.
While the district fi nal
lines likely won’t be seen
until autumn, the initial raw
data shows major shifts in
the political landscape.
Oregon received a new
congressional seat by out-
pacing the nation in growth.
The 2020 population is
4,237,256, refl ecting 10.7%
growth since 2010, above
the 7.4% national average.
But the growth has not
been evenly spread across
the state. Traditional Repub-
lican strongholds in Eastern
and Southwestern Oregon
have seen below state aver-
age increases.
The biggest bounce has
been in the Bend area, with
population growth of about
25% since 2010 — the city
now has more than 100,000
people. Democrats fl ipped
the state House seat repre-
senting most of the city in
2020. Deschutes County
gave a majority of its presi-
dential vote to Democrat Joe
Biden over then-President
Donald Trump.
The other big growth area
was a suburban arc around
Portland stretching from
Wilsonville to Hillsboro,
then curving over northern
Portland before dropping
southeast into Clackamas
County. All the current rep-
resentatives in those areas
are Democrats.
House Minority Leader
Christine Drazan, R-Canby,
fi red a warning fl are to GOP
supporters, noting Demo-
crats control all the levers of
power on redistricting, from
the Legislature to the gov-
ernor and secretary of state,
and noting a majority of the
Oregon Supreme Court was
appointed by Democrats.
Summer is ending!
Make sure your child’s immunizations
are up to date before they
head off to school!
JOSEPH — There’s a
new call to artists from the
Josephy Center for Arts
and Culture: The Little
Works Exhibition.
For this exhibit, the
center is asking for lit-
tle works of any 2D or
3D media that fi t into an
imaginary
7-inch-by-7-
inch-by-7-inch box.
Frames, stands and/
or all other presentation
hardware are included in
the space limitation.
All works must be for
sale.
To submit works for
consideration,
email
images to exhibits@jose-
phy.org and use “Lit-
tle Works” in the subject
line.
Include title, medium,
dimensions, year com-
pleted and price for each
piece submitted.
The deadline for sub-
missions is midnight,
Tuesday, Aug. 31.
The exhibit will be dis-
played Oct. 6 through
Nov. 22, with an opening
reception from 7-9 p.m.
Oct. 8.
Works must be deliv-
ered to the center by Sept.
20–30.
— Chieftain staff