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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2020)
COMMUNITY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020 FINALISTS BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A State. Cannon holds a bachelor’s degree Continued from Page 1A in landscape architecture from West Councilors Lynette Perry, Doni Virginia University at Morgantown, Bruland and Larry Morrison voted West Virginia, with a minor in urban against picking McClure as a fi nal- planning. Information from their ist. He has served as city manager resumes: Prior to voting on McClure as of Saluda, North Carolina, a city McClure most recently served a fi nalist, Perry had this to say: “I of about 700, since August 2015. would just like to go on record that I as Canby city administrator. He He also serves as the city’s zoning did not feel that he would be a good was employed in the community of administrator, public works director, fi t for Baker City.” 16,950 people from October 2019 to deputy fi nance offi cer and human The three men will be brought February 2020. resources director. to Baker City in November for Prior to that he worked as city From May 2014 to August 2015 in-person interviews and will meet manager for the city of Monmouth, he was the Saluda zoning adminis- with various community leaders and population 9,890, from January 2007 trator and prior to that he was the to October 2019. He also has worked owner of Cannon Works LLC, a gut- others interested in the selection as the city manager at Coos Bay in ter construction company, beginning process during that time. Oregon and for the city of Brush in They were chosen from 14 in August 2011. Colorado. applicants, and were among six He worked as a gardener for the He began his career in city pared from that group. One of the Corporation of the President in government as an intern at Glad- six withdrew prior to the online Bountiful, Utah, from January 2010 stone where he served for 6 months to July 2011, and in landscape archi- interviews. Councilors interviewed the remaining fi ve via Zoom Oct. 5-6. beginning in January of 1989. From tecture from March 2008 to January there he spent nearly 7 years with On Tuesday councilors met fi rst in 2010. He was project manager for executive session (closed to the pub- the City of Gresham, beginning in Luther Smith and Associates P.A. lic) to discuss the candidates before July 1989. of Hendersonville, North Carolina, McClure earned a master’s degree from July 2003 to February 2008. convening in open session to choose in public administration from Port- the fi nalists. Steve Ashworth also holds a bach- The two candidates who were not land State University in 1989. He elor’s degree in landscape architec- earned a bachelor’s degree in politi- ture. He earned his degree at Iowa picked as fi nalists asked that their cal science in 1986 from Portland names not be released unless they State University. POLICE Continued from Page 1A If the council does not ap- prove the policy, which Warner said dates to 1990 with chang- es made in 1996, the grant for the New Directions Wellness Center could not move forward. The two-paragraph, 64-word policy is aimed at ensuring that the city’s police offi cers do not use excessive force against people participat- ing in nonviolent civil rights demonstrations. The policy left the councilors divided, and led them to postpone a decision Tuesday. The policy states: “It is the policy of the City of Baker City that 1. Its law enforcement per- sonnel shall not use excessive force against any individuals engaged in nonviolent civil rights demonstrations, and 2. Applicable state and local laws that prohibit physically barring entrance to or exit from a facility or location which is the subject of such nonviolent civil rights demonstrations within its jurisdiction shall be enforced.” Councilor Doni Bruland was the fi rst to speak against accepting the policy. “I am adamantly opposed to this policy,” Bruland said. “I do not believe a state bureaucratic agency should dictate to a com- munity what laws or policies we need to do.” She said that all of the two dozen people she had talked to about the policy earlier Tues- day were opposed to it. Bruland called the require- ment to place the proposed wording in Baker City’s policies were chosen to continue the process, said Robin Nudd, the city’s human resources manager. She did say that one was from Virginia and the other from Missouri. regarding conduct of its police department as being “close to extortion — if you don’t do this you do not get your money.” Bruland cited ongoing dem- onstrations in Portland over the past fi ve months to make her point. “We have honestly seen what they consider nonviolent protest in Portland and I do not want Portland in Baker City,” she said. “This is huge and needs to either be taken up with the full community that knows that it’s coming on the agenda ... or we need to turn it down now. And I’d prefer we turn it down now.” Councilor Lynette Perry agreed with Bruland. “This terrifies me,” Perry said. “Our state laws are chang- ing on a dime and I’m really in fear that if we pass this we would really be putting our populace in danger.” Police Chief Ray Duman told the council, however, that in his view the policy would not affect the way his officers do their jobs. “We are there to enforce the laws uniformly,” Duman Duman said. “We took an oath to uphold the laws of the State of Oregon and so that’s what we’re governed by. “To me this is more of a language — and granted it might be forced upon us — but it doesn’t change the way the police in this community would handle any event,” he said. Perry said she supports the police department, but she is concerned about the state being involved in setting city policies. “I want to support the po- lice department,” she said. “I want you to have the ability to do what you need to do and I want the citizens of our com- munity to be safe and I just think that when we tie into some of the mentality of the state, we’re opening ourselves up to danger.” Bruland’s motion to post- pone a decision on the policy was approved by a 4-3 vote. Bruland, Perry and councilors Arvid Andersen and Larry Morrison voted in favor of the postponement. Mayor Loran Joseph and councilors Randy Schiewe and Jason Spriet were opposed. “I think we have time to allow the public to weigh in on this,” Warner said. “We’ll put together a much better packet and talk, hopefully at the next meeting. “If this is the only thing that holds up that million- dollar grant to help our most vulnerable population that would be unfortunate,” he said. In other business Tues- day, the Council agreed to seek more community involvement in its continuing discussion of the best way to enforce the city’s property maintenance ordinance, and in particular properties that have been identifi ed as violat- ing the ordinance. Of the six possible solutions presented for their consider- ation, councilors found that the most palatable would be to form a committee to look at the underlying issues that result in nuisance complaints. “There are just not a lot of easy answers in this realm,” He has been employed as the executive director of Parks and Recreation at Jackson, Wyoming, since November 2009. Other job experience includes planner and as- sistant director of the Teton County/ Jackson Parks and Recreation from April 2002 to November 2009; and Boise Parks and Recreation planner and project manager from February 1998 to March 2002. From October 1993 to Janu- ary 1998 he worked as landscape architect/department manager for Hillside Nursery in Boise. And from October 1990 to September 1993 he was employed as landscape archi- tect for Rosehill Gardens in Kansas City, Missouri. Plans for in-person visits Nudd stated in an email to the Herald Wednesday that the three fi nalists will be invited to spend 2 days in Baker City. The visits will happen after the Nov. 3 election. Joseph, the city’s mayor, has said that he wants to ensure that newly elected coun- cilors, who won’t take offi ce until January 2021, have a chance to meet the fi nalists. From three to six Duman told the council. “It’s going to take more than a code enforcement offi cer and the abatement process.” Duman said there are many reasons for accumula- tion of garbage and lack of care for problem properties. They range from drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness to the belief by some residents that they can do whatever they want with their private property. The city has worked with some people to provide a Dumpster for their use if they agree to do the necessary cleanup, he said. Other property owners have been offered help mul- tiple times and continue to be a problem, he said. In some cases the resi- dents cannot afford to do the cleanup on their own or in the case of others, their health doesn’t allow them to do the work needed to bring their property into compliance with city ordinances. “This is a community is- sue and it’s going to take a community solution,” Duman said. Members of the committee will include representatives of City Council, the police department, justice court, the district attorney’s offi ce, community residents, mental health and alcohol and drug services, the school district, the Department of Human Services and other groups and organizations. “I think it would be a good conversation for the com- new councilors will be elected, the number depending on whether any of the three incumbents on the bal- lot are re-elected. “During those 2 days, I would like the candidates to have the opportu- nity to tour our city facilities/depart- ments and to schedule a ‘meet and greet’ on one of the nights,” Nudd stated. Because of the COVID-19 pan- demic, there will not be an open forum in the selection process as there has been in the past. Instead, Nudd said she hopes to advertise three meeting locations (City Hall and two other locations to be determined). Each location would allow 10 people to come in and meet the candidates and have candid discussions with them. After 30 minutes, candidates would move to the next location until they’ve had a chance to visit all three locations, she said. Nudd said she hopes to have the dates determined by the end of this week. She added, however, that she would remain fl exible and make adjustments or hold multiple meet and greets if not all of the candidates are able to attend at the same time. munity to have,” Duman said Wednesday. In other business, the Council: • Approved a 5-year lease agreement for management of the city-owned Quail Ridge Golf Course at 2801 Indiana Ave. with Quail Ridge Golf Management. The agreement calls for the managers to pay the city $5,500 per year for the fi rst 5 years of the lease, with the amount to increase every 5 years, beginning Jan. 1, 2026. at 10 am PDT at 10 am PDT Gratefully sponsored by Christian Science churches in Boise, Caldwell, Moscow, Payette, Ketchum, Cody, Jackson Hole, Sheridan, Baker City 2210 Washington Ave, 523-5911 VOTE Beth Spell for State Representative Nominated by Endorsed by www.facebook.com/BethSpellForEasternOregon www.bethspellforeasternoregon.com Paid by Beth Spell for Oregon House of Representatives District 60