A12
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Commissioners shuffl e positions for coming year
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — It was
largely personnel matters
addressed by the Wallowa
County Board of Commis-
sioners during its fi rst meeting
of the new year, Wednesday,
Jan. 5, including shuffl ing of
positions on the board itself.
Commissioner Susan Rob-
erts took the gavel as chair-
woman for the coming year,
succeeding Todd Nash.
Nash’s stepping down as
chairman works out timely
for him, as he now has the
responsibilities of the new
president of the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association. Roberts
took a moment before con-
ducting the regular business
to acknowledge Nash’s new
duties for the two-year term.
“I don’t believe we have
brought that to anyone’s
attention yet, so I would like
to ask Commissioner Nash
if you would take about two
minutes and tell us what that
might mean,” Roberts said.
“It’s a huge honor to be
able to represent cattlemen
in Oregon,” Nash said. “It
means that I’ll probably be on
the road a bit more the next
couple of years as I fi ll out
this term. There’s a myriad of
things that impact the cattle
industry. It’s the most prom-
inent agricultural commod-
ity here in the state, the No.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Commissioner Susan Roberts took the helm as chairwoman of the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners for 2022 at the
board’s fi rst meeting of the year Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Also seated there are Commissioners John Hillock, left, and Todd Nash.
voski) that Crystal Broad-
band no longer has a presence
in Wallowa County — a
working employee — and
they have lines down,” Hill-
ock said. “I have Paul work-
ing on contacting them and
if we don’t get any response,
we’re just going to start chop-
ping them down. We’ll talk
to the sheriff about that and
make sure we’re within our
rights to do that. If they aren’t
going to maintain things then
they’re a hazard to the pub-
lic. There’s one down where
the UPS trucks can’t get in
and out. They need to either
come here and have a pres-
ence and maintain their facili-
ties or we’re going to have to
take action and fi x it.”
Hillock said he’s put Kar-
voski in charge “Because it’s
more his bailiwick.”
Other business
1 commodity in the nation
and here in Wallowa County
it represents about 40% of
what is our agricultural base
here. I’ll work on issues with
my various committees that
are tasked to diff erent things
and the executive board and
members scattered through-
out the state. I asked when I
was fi rst elected a (county)
commissioner … if they
would support me taking on
such an endeavor and they did
at that time. The commission-
ers have been very supportive
of the role, my community
has been, my family — and
I do need support, because it
does mean time away from
home, and neighbors helping
out. It’s a huge honor and a lot
of responsibility.”
The weather
The commissioners also
brought up issues created by
recent winter storms.
“It’s a little obvious that
we’ve had a little weather
event here. People are saying
that it’s just a good, old-fash-
ioned winter, but I don’t
remember it being quite this
old-fashioned before, but
maybe I’m not old enough,”
Nash laughed. “The wind
event and the accumulation of
snow is a substantial struggle
for many. I will say that the
community has been so toler-
ant of waiting to get dug out.
The road crew has been heroic
in their eff orts to stay out late
and get out early and get roads
punched out and they must
be getting somewhat hag-
gard. I really appreciate the
community’s patience.”
“We really appreciate the
employees who came in,”
Roberts added. “I asked Mon-
day (Jan. 3) that most employ-
ees stay where they were at
home and give the road crews
time to get in. Maybe in a
couple of days we’ll be doing
fl oodwaters.”
Commissioner John Hill-
ock added another concern.
“One thing I’d like to bring
to your attention is, and I’ve
talked to (Emergency Ser-
vices Director) Paul (Kar-
In other matters, the
commissioners:
• Approved a wage increase
and classifi cation change for
Suzan Hobbs in the Building
Codes Department.
• Approved a resolution
to appoint members to the
Wallowa County Natural
Resource Advisory Commit-
tee. A full list is available at
the courthouse.
• Approved an easement
for Ziply Fiber Northwest
on Fish Hatchery Lane in
Enterprise.
Wallowa County denies amendment to airport zoning law
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — An
amendment to a county
ordinance that would have
expanded permitted uses
on land adjacent to airports
in the county was denied
Wednesday, Jan. 5, by the
Wallowa County Board of
Commissioners.
The move came on a
2-1 vote, with Commis-
sioner John Hillock voting
against denying the amend-
ment at the conclusion of
a public hearing on creat-
ing an airport adjacent zone
held after the board’s regu-
lar meeting.
County Planning Direc-
tor Franz Goebel read a
report from the County
Planning Commission in
which the planners rec-
ommended denial of the
amendment.
“This is the second offi -
cial hearing as required
for an offi cial amend-
ment,” Goebel said. “The
fi rst was before the Plan-
ning Commission. In sum-
mary, their recommen-
dation to the Board of
Commissioners was to deny
the application.”
In voting against denial
of the amendment, Hillock
said there is still informa-
tion needed to determine
how best to accomplish it.
“We need to do more
research on this,” he said.
The request for the new
zone was submitted by
S&Z Properties LLC, rep-
resented by local attorney
Rahn Hostetter.
Goebel said there have
been multiple hearings on
the amendment, after which
it was continued several
times to gather more infor-
mation from the Oregon
Department of Aviation. He
said both the ODA and the
city of Enterprise have been
opposed to the amendment.
He said the amendment
would have applied to not
only the commercial air-
ports in Enterprise and
Joseph, but to private land-
ing strips on private land in
the county.
“The application was to
create a new zone type that
could be applied (for) by a
landowner near an airport,”
Goebel said. “The primary
point of contention is that
in their application, they
included a residential ele-
ment for apartments and
condos near an airport, and
that’s contrary to what the
Oregon Department of Avi-
ation believes is an allow-
able business.”
Goebel said that at this
point, there has been no
direction from the com-
missioners to rework the
proposed amendment to
address objectionable ele-
ments of it. It could be done,
if S&Z Properties wishes to
appeal it.