BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, AuguST 27, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Convoy
School
Continued from A1
online auction and drove to
Oklahoma to pick it up, which
earned the bus the nickname
“Sooner.”
Her brother, Kenny Adams,
had already been collecting
military memorabilia, includ-
ing vehicles, for about 50 years,
a collection that started with
their father’s mementoes from
the Navy.
Their vehicles are two of the
largest in the current convoy.
Because of the trip’s extended
length and the bus’ small gas
tank, Ann has to fill up with
diesel every night, which can
be quite the process when her
brother has to fill his two-and-
a-half-ton 1951 M35 Com-
mand Center vehicle from the
Korean War at the same time.
Each one takes up the space
of two pumps, and both gar-
nered compliments and second
glances from those filling civil-
ian vehicles when the rigs lum-
bered into the Maverik station
on Wednesday afternoon.
Mine
Continued from A1
The area is one of Baker
County’s historic mining dis-
tricts, and includes the former
town of Clarksville, founded in
the early 1860s.
K&E Excavation has a per-
mit that authorizes miners to
store water in three settling
ponds, but not to allow water to
flow into Clarks Creek, which is
close by, according to DEQ.
“The mine is permitted
to discharge wastewater to a
closed-loop three-pond sys-
tem,” Laura Gleim, a public af-
fairs specialist at DEQ’s Eastern
Region office in Bend, wrote in
an email to the Herald.
“What our inspectors discov-
ered when they went out there
is that the mine had created
two additional unpermitted
wastewater ponds, which are
connected to both groundwa-
ter and surface water,” Gleim
wrote. “The mine was pumping
wastewater from its permitted
ponds (which are supposed to
be self-contained, closed-loop
ponds) to the “east wastewater
groundwater pond/infiltration
pond,” then through an unper-
mitted conveyance ditch to the
“west wastewater groundwater
pond,” which is fed by ground-
water and so is a water of the
state. Wastewater then over-
flows from that west pond into
conveyances that reach Clarks
Creek.”
According to the violation
notice, a representative from
K&E Excavating sent multiple
engineering reports in the win-
ter and spring of 2022 showing
the closed-loop system with
three ponds. None of those
showed that a pump had been
installed in one of the ponds “to
discharge overflow water” into
the creek.
DEQ officials inspected the
mine on May 11, 2022, and ac-
cording to the violation notice,
they found that water was flow-
ing from one pond, “through a
series of wetlands, channels and
other conveyances associated
with Clarks Creek before even-
tually discharging to Clarks
Creek.”
Kerry Kuenzi, president of
K&E Excavating, had not re-
turned a phone message by
press time on Friday, Aug. 26.
The DEQ notice breaks
down the total fine based on
several types of violations.
• Exceeding the pH limit
in settling ponds based on re-
ports the company submitted
to DEQ. There were 14 viola-
tions between Aug. 16, 2021,
and Dec. 8, 2021, according to
DEQ. The total fine is $5,400.
• Discharging wastewater
without a permit, for a fine of
$16,800.
• Discharging stormwater
without a permit, for a fine of
$23,187.
• Making “false representa-
tions on documents required
to be submitted to DEQ,” a ref-
erence to the engineering plans
that didn’t show the use of a
pump. The fine is $12,000.
Company’s second
DEQ fine in 2 years
In May 2021 the DEQ is-
sued an $8,400 fine to K&E
Excavating for releasing about
2,000 gallons of wastewater
from a pond at a different mine
in Baker County in December
2020.
The water flowed into the
Burnt River, according to DEQ.
That incident happened at
the High Bar mine along Pine
Creek about 6 miles northeast
of Hereford. The area is several
miles northwest of the Buck-
land mine.
The company reached an
agreement in which it paid a
$4,200 fine, according to DEQ.
Eric Miller/Contributed Photo
A tanker drops retardant ahead of the Crockets Knob fire, on the Malheur National Forest north of
Prairie City, on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.
Blaze on Malheur
forest grows rapidly
Smoke from Crockets Knob
fire drifted over Baker
County Thursday evening
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker County hasn’t had much in the
way of wildfires over the past week but on
Thursday evening, Aug. 25, the county got
some smoke.
A plume from a lightning-sparked fire
more than 30 miles away in Grant County,
near the Middle Fork John Day River, par-
tially blotted the sun as it sank below the
Elkhorn Mountains.
The Crockets Knob fire in the Greenhorn
Mountains grew from about 225 acres on
Thursday morning to an estimated 1,000
acres by 7 p.m. that day, said Courtney
Wood, a public information officer at the
fire camp.
The fire was spurred by gusty west and
north winds, Wood said.
Although the blaze grew substantially,
Wood said fire behavior was moderate
rather than extreme. That’s mainly because
the fire is burning not in a mature forest but
in an area that was scorched by the Summit
fire in 1996.
That blaze killed most of the mature trees,
and in the ensuing quarter century a dense
forest of young lodgepole pine has colonized
the area, interspersed with clumps of snow-
brush up to 10 feet tall, Wood said.
The snowbrush, which can be all but im-
penetrable, has made it difficult for firefight-
ers to reach parts of the blaze, Wood said.
Crews on the ground have been helped,
though, by a variety of aerial resources,
including a pair of heavy air tankers that
dropped retardant Thursday along the fire’s
south flank, where the blaze was spreading,
Wood said.
The fire is in a remote area and is not
threatening any structures, Wood said.
A larger incident command team has
been ordered to take over from the current
team, she said.
The Forest Service has instituted an area
closure due to the fire which includes about
5,100 acres, as well as sections of several
roads and trails. A map and other details are
available at www.fs.usda.gov/malheur.
Fire district tries again to get tax levy
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.co
The Baker Rural Fire Pro-
tection District, which came
just short of passing a 5-year
property tax levy in the
May election, will try again
Nov. 8.
But this time the district is
asking voters for less money.
The May levy would
have boosted property taxes
within the district, which
covers much of Baker Valley
between Haines and Baker
City, but not either city, by $1
per $1,000 of assessed value.
The measure failed by 362
votes to 329.
The most common con-
cern district officials heard
this spring was that the levy
would cost property owners
too much, said Collin Kase-
berg, a member of the dis-
trict’s board of directors.
The measure on the Nov.
8 ballot reflects the financial
complaints, Kaseberg said.
This version calls for
boosting property taxes by
75 cents for $1,000 of as-
sessed value.
For the owner of a prop-
erty with an assessed value
of $250,000 (assessed value
is different from real market
value, the latter typically a
higher figure), the new levy
would boost taxes by $187.50
per year during the levy’s
5-year duration.
That’s $62.50 less per year
than the levy that failed
in May — a difference of
$312.50 over the life of the
levy.
Kaseberg said the board,
after reviewing the May elec-
Fish
Continued from A1
Lemanski sent several fish
carcasses to ODFW’s fish
pathology lab for examina-
tion. He said he hopes to
have results within a couple
weeks.
There are several poten-
tial causes, he said, any of
which alone, or a combina-
tion, could have killed the
trout, which were released
in the 22-acre lake on July
26.
Possibilities include ac-
cidental injuries during
loading, transporting, and
releasing fish, mechanical
failure of instrumentation
on the transport trucks,
shock from the difference in
water temperature between
the truck and the lake, and
possible infection or disease
exacerbated by any one of
these factors.
“We’re trying to piece it
together,” Lemanski said.
He said it might not be
possible to pinpoint the
tion results and considering
the concerns district resi-
dents cited, decided it was
necessary to trim the amount
requested through the levy.
He said the new levy is a
“bare bones” request, raising
just enough to keep the dis-
trict operating as it is.
Reducing the tax increase,
and thus cutting the reve-
nue the levy would raise,
any more wouldn’t solve the
district’s budget issues, Kase-
berg said.
The failed May levy would
have boosted the district’s
budget by an estimated
$182,000 the first year, with
amounts projected to in-
crease, due to rising prop-
erty values, to $187,500,
$193,000, $199,000 and
$204,500 for the four sub-
sequent years — a total of
$966,000.
The new, smaller levy
would produce an estimated
$726,000 over 5 years —
$240,000 less.
Since the district was cre-
ated 39 years ago, its work-
load has increased due to sig-
nificant population growth,
particularly along the base
of the Elkhorn Mountains
in the Pine Creek, Goodrich
Creek and other areas, Kase-
berg said.
Costs have also increased
for equipment — turnouts
for a single firefighter cost
about $3,500, Kaseberg said,
and must be replaced at least
every decade.
The district’s fleet also in-
cludes a total of 72 tires, with
an average replacement cost
of $600 per tire, he said.
Although the surge of con-
struction has boosted the
district’s tax base and thus its
revenue, it hasn’t kept pace
with inflation and other fac-
tors, Kaseberg said.
District’s budget issues
Kaseberg said the district,
since it was formed in 1983,
has relied almost solely on a
permanent property tax levy
of 67 cents per $1,000 of as-
sessed value.
That levy, which has never
been increased and would
continue even if voters ap-
prove the new 5-year levy,
yields about $125,000 per
year now, although Kaseberg
said after reductions for peo-
ple who pay early and other
factors, the district actually
receives a little more than
$100,000.
New fire station not
involved
Kaseberg acknowledged
this spring, before the May
election, that the timing
wasn’t ideal, since the district
had recently announced that
it was buying a building to
serve as its man fire station.
But he said the district
would have sought the 5-year
levy regardless of the pur-
chase of the station, which
is on 23rd Street in the Elk-
horn View Industrial Park in
northwest Baker City, south
of the Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative headquarters.
The new levy is needed to
keep the district’s service level
consistent, Kaseberg said,
which is a separate issue from
the station.
cause of the fish deaths.
Lemanski said there is no
evidence, however, that the
problem is not solely with
the lake conditions, or any
mechanical failures or is-
sues during transport — the
dieoff seems to have been
limited to some of the fish
released July 26, and is likely
a combination of a few fac-
tors.
He said ODFW didn’t
receive any reports of dead
fish following a release of
2,000 trophy rainbow trout
in Anthony Lake, from the
same hatchery, three weeks
earlier, on July 5.
Nor were there any re-
ports of dead fish at nearby
Grande Ronde Lake, where
rainbow trout were also re-
leased during July.
Anglers have continued
to catch fish in Anthony
Lake, Lemanski said, and he
said the lake remains a good
place to hook rainbow or
brook trout.
Lemanski said ODFW
began to get reports from
anglers soon after the July
26 release, including one re-
port from a Forest Service
employee who took photos
of dead fish.
The dead trout were con-
centrated near the boat
ramp at the southeast cor-
ner of the lake — which is
where the hatchery truck
disgorges its load of rainbow
trout.
Lemanski said it doesn’t
appear that a large num-
ber of fish were dead before
they were released, however,
since there were no reports
of dead fish floating near the
boat ramp during or imme-
diately after the release.
He suspects most of the
fish died within a day or
less, based on the timing of
the reports.
Lemanski encouraged
anglers and others who see
more than a few dead fish
in one area to document the
scene with photographs and
a tally of the fish, then re-
port the incident to ODFW
by calling 541-963-2138.
tion manager/general contrac-
tor approach.
Continued from A1
Rather than put out the
project for bids, as the district
“There is a lot of passion
did earlier this summer, the
about getting that building
idea is to hire a con-
done,” Lair said on
tractor that can work
Thursday, Aug. 25.
with the district to
The school board
come up with an af-
voted March 3 to hire
fordable proposal for
Lair, a 2004 Baker
the middle school
High School graduate
project that also
and former math and
meets the district’s
language arts teacher
goals, Lair said.
at Baker Middle
Huntington
McDowell said she
School.
believes that chang-
She started her new
ing to a construction
job earlier this sum-
manager/general
mer.
contractor method
A priority for the
will help the district
district is hiring a
devise an affordable
contractor to build
plan for the middle
the 5,000-square-foot
Lair
school project.
cafeteria/multipur-
“This shift will al-
pose building at the
low us to work with the con-
middle school, which lacks a
struction manager/general
cafeteria. The project also in-
cludes upgrades to the school’s contractor as a team partner
during the pre-construction
heating and ventilation sys-
tem, and improvements to the period,” McDowell wrote in an
building’s security.
email to the Herald. “It should
The district estimated the
also give us more predictabil-
total cost at about $4.5 mil-
ity on construction costs and
lion.
flexibility on choosing scope
But the one bid the school
based on market conditions
board considered during its
and subcontractor availability
Aug. 18 meeting, from Sid
and interest.”
Johnson & Co. of Baker City,
The cafeteria and other
was for $9.1 million, more
projects are separate from the
than double the district’s pro-
work that’s been happening
jected cost and budget.
this summer at the middle
Accepting that bid would
school to make the gym more
have left the district unable to
able to withstand the effects
do most of the other work that of earthquakes. The seismic
officials pledged to do when
upgrades are not part of the
they asked voters to approve
bond measure.
the bond measure, Lair said.
Bond revenue combined
The board voted unani-
with other sources
mously to reject the lone bid.
Lindsey McDowell, the dis-
The $4 million from the
trict’s public information and
taxpayer-approved bond is
communications coordinator, less than half the district’s total
emphasized on Thursday that budget for building improve-
district officials believe Sid
ments.
Johnson & Co.’s bid was a re-
The district also has a $4
alistic reflection of the current million grant from the state,
construction market, one that $2 million from its capital
takes in supply chain issues,
projects budget, $2 million
rising costs and uncertain
from the state Student Invest-
availability of both materials
ment Act, $1.5 million from
and labor.
federal COVID-19 aid, and
“The economic climate is
$1 million from another state
to blame for a lot of this,” Mc-
program earmarked for work
Dowell said.
at the Baker Early Learning
Julie Huntington, chair of
Center (BELC), which is in the
the Baker School Board, said
former North Baker School
the $9.1 million bid “caught us building.
all off guard.”
The $2 million from the
Huntington agreed with
Student Investment Act will
McDowell that the bid,
help to pay for security up-
though fair, dramatically
grades at schools, including
demonstrated the escalating
new entry vestibules at South
costs of construction.
Baker and at Brooklyn Pri-
“It reminded us of just how
mary, McDowell said.
dramatically COVID affected
The federal COVID-19
all areas of our world, includ-
aid will be used for the new
ing the incredibly rising costs,” HVAC systems, as improv-
Huntington said on Friday,
ing ventilation to reduce the
Aug. 26. “We are in a different spread of infectious diseases
world than the world when we is one of the goals of federal
passed the bond. We can’t for- legislation during the pan-
get that.”
demic.
Receiving the bid, Hunting-
Although district officials
ton said, has forced the district and the school board are fo-
and the board to “stop and re- cusing on the middle school
group.”
cafeteria and other work, cur-
She said the board’s goal is
rent cost estimates for other
to ensure that the district does bond projects as of Aug. 1
the work, including the mid-
also exceed by a considerable
dle school cafeteria, that the
amount the district’s original
district outlined when it pro-
budget.
moted the bond measure.
Work at South Baker, for
“As a board we know what
instance, was budgeted at $1.8
the intent of the bond was,
million, but the current cost
and what people are hoping
estimate is $3 million.
to see out of it,” Huntington
The budget for work at
said. “Clearly (the cafeteria)
Baker Early Learning Center
is still part of what we want
(BELC), in the former North
to see happen. It is near and
Baker School, was $1.1 mil-
dear to our hearts. But so are
lion, but the estimated cost is
the safety and security issues.
slightly more than $2 million.
I think in some way we’re go-
The budget for that building is
ing to get what we wanted. It
$1.4 million.
may not be quite what we en-
The bond oversight com-
visoned.”
mittee, whose 11 members
were appointed by the school
District plans to try
board in June 2021, reviewed
new strategy
the new cost estimates re-
The $4 million bond was
cently and made the following
the first voter-approved mea-
recommendations:
sure for district capital im-
• The middle school cafete-
provements since 1948.
ria should be the first priority.
Although the cafeteria/
• Look at reducing the
multipurpose building at the
scope of work for the HVAC
system at Baker Early Learn-
middle school is the most ex-
ing Center to stay within the
pensive single project on the
$1.4 million budget.
list, the district also plans to
• Install safety/security proj-
replace the heating, air con-
ects at all buildings.
ditioning and ventilation sys-
• District to evaluate ad-
tems, and upgrade security,
ditional funding resources
at all schools, and replace the
available to complete as many
roof at South Baker Interme-
bond projects as possible.
diate.
• Baker High School gym/
Lair said the district’s new
auditorium HVAC is lowest
strategy, which will be un-
priority.
veiled during a public forum
• District is reviewing avail-
as part of a special board
able funds for replacing roofs
meeting set for Sept. 12 at
at BELC, Keating, and Haines,
noon at the district office,
2090 Fourth St. and by Zoom, which were not in the original
is what’s known as a construc- bond scope.
Fine
Continued from A1
According to a press re-
lease from the U.S. Attor-
ney’s Office, “the settlement
reached is not an admission
of liability by Idaho Power
Company and the company
denies the United States’ con-
tentions.”
Sven Berg, a spokesman for
Idaho Power, said the com-
pany did not have any com-
ment on the matter.
The fires were investigated
by the Bureau of Land Man-
agement with assistance from
the U.S. Forest Service.
The U.S. was represented
in the civil complaint against
Idaho Power by assistant U.S.
Attorneys Carla McClurg and
Alexis Lien for the U.S. Attor-
ney’s Office in the District of
Oregon.