LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
A3
Commissioners mull road vacation, tipping fees
Decisions may
come Dec. 15
on landfi ll
it doesn’t take into account
any envisioning of on-the-
ground current trends,”
Goebel said. “We’re just
looking historically at what
has happened.”
“That was the point I
wanted to make is how
many times have we actu-
ally looked at that when
we were going to make a
decision and it wasn’t very
often.”
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — An
increase in the tipping fees
at the Wallowa County Ant
Flat Landfi ll will be on the
agenda the next time the
Wallowa County Board of
Commissioners meet —
likely to be Dec. 15 — the
commissioners agreed at
their Wednesday, Dec. 1
meeting.
Commissioner Susan Rob-
erts suggested she and her fel-
low commissioners con-
sider the increase based on a
presentation by Solid Waste
Manager Ed Gomes.
Commissioner
Todd
Nash agreed to put it on the
agenda for the next meeting
as an action item.
“The
recommendation
there is a slight increase on
the per-ton rate,” Nash said.
Wallowa County cur-
rently charges $50 a ton.
He said Gomes off ered
comparisons with landfi lls
in Northeast Oregon. He
said Baker charges $57 a
ton, Union County charges
$64.40 a ton and Pendleton
charges $66.30. The proposal
is to increase Wallowa Coun-
ty’s tipping fee to either $55
or $60.
Gomes’
recommenda-
tion, Nash said, “goes on
to describe some of the
needs and reasons for the
increase,” including a short-
fall in the money needed for
maintenance and equipment
replacement and the “even-
tual closure of the Ant Flat
facility.” Nash also noted that
the recycling center in Enter-
prise is subsidized by the tip-
ping fees.
He recommended an
increase to $60 a ton.
“When I look at the other
rates around Eastern Oregon,
we would still be in the low
portion of that at $60 a ton,”
he said. “The circumstances
that we’re in suggest maybe
we go to $60 rather than $55.
But that’s a point of discus-
sion we can have next time.”
Roberts suggested they
may want to increase the fees
in a two-year step: $55 a ton
next year and $60 a ton the
year after and give notice of
Other business
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
From left, Wallowa County Commissioners John Hillock, Todd Nash and Susan Roberts talk to Sage DeLong, a new fi eld
representative for U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., during the commissioners’ meeting Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021.
the plan.
Commissioner John Hill-
ock also suggested notifying
cities and disposal services
that use the landfi ll.
Road vacation
In another matter, the
commissioners discussed
a petition to vacate a road
near Wallowa Lake. County
counsel Paige Sully had
some comments on it.
“It’s a petition for not
necessarily a road vaca-
tion, it appears to be a pub-
lic easement,” she said.
Sully
recommended
the board schedule a pub-
lic hearing on the matter
because a property owner in
the area has objected to it.
“The petition was not
signed by all of the aff ected
property owners,” Sully
said, adding that since one
landowner objects, “It’s not
subject to summary review.”
Roberts said she had
talked to the landowner who
was objecting and asked
when they could attend a
public hearing. The land-
owner said they wouldn’t
be back until after the fi rst
of the year. Sully recom-
mended scheduling a hear-
ing next year.
“There’s no time frame
in which you have to do
this,” she said.
Commissioner John Hill-
ock wanted more infor-
mation about the action
landowners want the com-
missioners to take on the
road in question.
“I’d like to view these
sites from now on before
we work on any of these
road closures,” he said. “The
last time we talked about a
road closure, I was never
provided with a map and I
wasn’t able to preview the
road closure. With this par-
ticular one, I would like to
view the site and look at the
map and also talk to a rep-
resentative who works with
the Wallowa Lake County
Service District to fi nd out
if that easement we would
want to use at a future time
for something else.”
Sully said that in the pro-
cess for the last road closure,
a map was available, but she
opposed Hillock’s idea of
taking a solo trip to view the
site.
“I’m going to recommend
to you folks, where you’re
sitting there in a quasi-ju-
dicial position, that I really
encourage you to not go out
and do independent investi-
gations in which you will be
receiving facts and evidence
that will not be available to
the remainder of the board
and, for that matter, won’t
be in the record,” Sully said.
“You’ll be going out and
making factual determina-
tions based on your own
viewing, which nobody else
involved in the process will
have the ability to evalu-
ate that. I’d discourage the
Planning Commission from
doing that, at least, in terms
of individual commission-
ers going out because what
you’re doing is you’re
receiving information, it’s
not going to be in the record,
it’s not going to be available
for review and it’s not going
to be available … to be able
to refute. So, I discourage
you from doing that.”
“I still feel it’s important
before we act on it,” Hillock
said. “Maybe all three of us
should take a trip up on there
and see it.”
“All I can say is in doing
so, you’re taking extra-ju-
dicial information … to
include in the record, so it
is a basis for a reversal,”
Sully said, adding that she
also discourages them from
speaking to any other parties
involved.
Nash encouraged Sully to
get together with administra-
tive assistant Tera Elliott and
schedule a public hearing.
Economic Opportunity
Analysis
In another matter, the
commissioners heard a pre-
sentation by Planning Direc-
tor Franz Goebel on the Eco-
nomic Opportunity Analysis
conducted for the county.
Goebel said the new EOA
replaces one from 2003.
“This was an extensive
permit process that went
on over a year,” he told the
commissioners.
But it appeared the docu-
ment has little eff ect since it
looks at population increases
but cannot defi nitively pre-
dict where population num-
bers will be in the future.
“If we adopt as writ-
ten, what diff erence does it
make?” Hillock asked.
“I don’t think it makes
much of a diff erence,”
Goebel said. “This is a snap-
shot on time based on data
that is required for us to
use.”
“But it’s just opinion. It’s
not really science,” Hillock
said. “It’s somebody’s guess
of where we’re going to be.”
“There’s a methodology
for how it came about, but
In other business, the
commissioners:
• Accepted a document
submitted by self-described
land-use planning advo-
cate Midred O’Callaghan of
Joseph on the East Moraine
Forest Management Plan.
She has regularly come into
confl ict with the commis-
sioners over her opinions
on people vs. wildlife on
the moraine. The commis-
sioners said that the plan,
which was originally sup-
posed to be ready in Sep-
tember — and then delayed
until December — is now
expected to be ready in June.
• Visited briefl y with
Sage DeLong, who intro-
duced himself as the new
fi eld representative for U.S.
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore.
DeLong said he was just
traveling around Bentz’s
district meeting the county
commissioners.
• Tied up loose ends from
more than two years ago
when they agreed to with-
draw 154.8 acres belong-
ing to Mr. and Mrs. Mel-
vin Stonebrink from the
Wallowa School District
and join it to the Enterprise
School District. The board
has the authority to do so as
the school boundary board
for the districts. Roberts
said some loose ends were
not completed at the time
and made a motion to com-
plete the business started in
June 2019. The motion was
approved.
• Hired Jessica Teeny
with the District Attorney’s
Offi ce.
• Accepted the resigna-
tion of Wallowa County
Sheriff ’s Deputy Wes Garth.
• Approved an easement
for Jesse Micka for a water
line on Lathrop Road.
• Approved an interfund
transfer to the Public Works
Department for vegetation.
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IN BRIEF
Enterprise man dies in
single-vehicle crash
WALLOWA COUNTY — An
Enterprise man died in a traffic
crash at around 5 a.m. Sunday, Dec.
5, according to Oregon State Police.
OSP and emergency personnel
responded to a single-vehicle crash
on Highway 3 near milepost 13 at
about 4:51 a.m.
The response team found that a
northbound pickup driven by Chris-
topher Thacker, 36, of Enterprise,
drifted across the highway and even-
tually crashed into a tree about 200
feet from the road. Thacker was pro-
nounced dead at the scene.
OSP, Enterprise Fire, Wallowa
County Emergency Medical Ser-
vices and Oregon Department of
Transportation responded to the
crash.
Youth ceramics classes to
be at Josephy Center
JOSEPH — Ceramics classes taught
by Pamela Beach will be held for
youths ages 7-17 next month as part of
the Youth Art Fridays Winter Session
at the Josephy Center for Arts and Cul-
ture, according to a press release. Reg-
istrations are being taken now.
Two sessions of the drawing and
painting workshops will be run by Mary
Ambroson. Youths ages 12-17 will
meet from 10 a.m. to noon. Children
ages 7-11 will meet from 1-2:30 p.m.
All will meet from Jan. 7 to March 18.
No classes will be held Jan. 14, 21 or
March 11. Cost is $90.
Young artists will create a wide vari-
ety of forms using handbuilding tech-
niques. Class includes clay, glazes
and fi ring. All classes are eight week
sessions.
Register online at https://tinyurl.
com/youthceramics. For more informa-
tion, call the center at 541-432-0505 or
email director@josephy.org.
Plans underway for
Enterprise Winterfest
ENTERPRISE — After altering
the annual Winterfest in 2020 because
of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city
of Enterprise is coming back this year
for its traditional downtown event
Saturday, Dec. 11 from 2-8 p.m.
Last year, because of the pan-
demic, there were no downtown
events. Winterfest was limited to a
drive-thru visit to lighted displays at
the fairgrounds.
But this year, downtown streets
will be closed by 10 a.m. for down-
town shopping, Santa will arrive
at Santa Central at 2 p.m. and the
The most valuable and
respected source of local news,
advertising and information for
our communities.
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Lighted Parade will begin at 5:20 p.m.
The event is free.
For more information, call City
Hall at 426-4196, ext. 2, email gbirk-
maier@enterpriseoregon.org or go
online to https://www.enterpriseore-
gon.org/
JOSEPH — Create, learn and grow
are the themes for the Youth Art Fri-
days Winter Session at the Josephy
Center for Arts and Culture starting
Jan. 7, according to a press release.
Registrations are being taken now.
Two sessions of the drawing and
painting workshops will be run by
Mary Ambroson. Children ages 5-7
will meet from 9-10 a.m. Children ages
8-12 will meet from 10 a.m. to noon.
All will meet from Jan. 7 to March 18.
No classes will be held Jan. 14, 21 or
March 11. Cost is $90.
Students will be immersed in var-
ious media while exploring art at
the center. Each week, students will
embark on an adventure of celebrat-
ing art while learning drawing, paint-
ing and other disciplines. All classes
are eight week sessions.
Register online at https://tinyurl.
com/josephyyouthart. For more infor-
mation, call the center at 541-432-0505
or email director@josephy.org.
— Chieftain staff
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