News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
A7
Cell tower lease could help well upgrade
Hamsher: A win-win for
Prairie City
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Relocating a cell tower initially op-
posed by neighbors to city-owned land
near the former Prairie Wood Products
mill could also help the city address its
water issues.
Income from the lease to U.S. Cellular
could be used to help pay for upgrading
one of the city’s main water wells, Mayor
Jim Hamsher said.
“To me it’s a win-win — good cell
coverage for Prairie City residents with
a lease that provides income to the city,”
he said.
The communication company’s re-
quest for a conditional-use permit for
a cell tower was turned down Oct. 11
during a standing-room-only hearing at
city hall.
U.S. Cellular wanted to join Verizon
and AT&T as a local cellphone provider,
but their choice for the 195-foot tall tow-
er at 10th Street and Hall Avenue next to
the school drew a number of concerned
neighbors to the hour-long hearing. The
city council unanimously voted to ap-
prove a U.S. Cellular tower if it could be
located in the city’s industrial park.
Hamsher told the Eagle negotiations
with U.S. Cellular have begun. In ad-
dition to being located
on city property zoned
industrial, the proposed
tower will only be 70 feet
high — less than half the
height of the original pro-
posal.
Jim
The city would like to
Hamsher
use income from the cell
tower lease to pay for an
upgrade to one of the city’s water wells.
Last June, a perfect storm ensued when
lightning struck a power pole near the
city’s No. 2 well, just as crews were in the
process of TV-scanning the well casing.
Not only was work on the No. 2 well
delayed, but damage to the city water
system’s electrical controls led to the
water level in the million-gallon reser-
voir dropping to only four feet during the
summer, triggering water restrictions.
Hard water deposits had plugged
perforations in the No. 2 well’s casing,
which not only impeded water flow into
the well but caused sand to be drawn into
the pump’s impeller.
Work on the No. 2 well is complete
now. Public Works Director Chris Ca-
marena said the city had been running the
pump as low as 50 gallons per minute,
but now it’s up to 100 gpm.
“It’s back to normal,” he said.
The city would now like to upgrade
its No. 3 well, which was engineered for
an 800-foot depth but was only drilled to
400 feet. The city contracted with a well
driller to deepen the No. 3 well on March
1, but the work hasn’t started yet, Ham-
sher said.
“It should be done before summer
starts,” he said, adding that the cost of
deepening an existing well should be
much lower than for starting a new well.
Hamsher said there never would have
been a need for water restrictions last
summer if the lightning strike had not
occurred.
“But this past winter was very dry,”
he said. “We’re hopeful no water restric-
tions will be necessary this summer.”
He noted that the reservoir tank needs
to be kept full in case of a fire in town.
Work on the city’s sewer system also
will take place this summer and fall,
funded by a U.S. Department of Agri-
culture loan and a grant, Camarena said.
Four lift pumps and several check valves
will be replaced at the booster site and
treatment plant, aging pipe in the forced
main alongside Highway 26 will be re-
placed and leaking collector pipes on
North Johnson Avenue and other sites
around town will be replaced, he said.
The work will take place in late sum-
mer or fall because of high groundwater
levels, Camarena said. How much addi-
tional work can be done will depend on
how far the funding lasts, he said.
In other Prairie City news, Glenda
Harvey has been hired to fill the city
clerk’s position. Bobbie Brown is the city
recorder.
Four-way stop proposal draws debate
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
A request by Leanna Per-
kins for a four-way stop at the
intersection of Third Street and
Northwest Bridge Street was
discussed at length by the John
Day City Council at their April
10 meeting.
The proposal was not new.
Both Public Works Director
Monte Legg and Councilor
Dave Holland, the former pub-
lic works director, were famil-
iar with the idea.
Perkins reported seeing sev-
eral near-accidents at the inter-
section. In one case, a teenager
on a bicycle was struck by a
car, but the incident was not
reported. She also said Police
Chief Richard Gray put an
electronic radar speed sign at
the intersection, but she wasn’t
sure if it made a difference.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Perkins said the problem
becomes worse during base-
ball season, when she typical-
ly sees more vehicles speeding
on Northwest Bridge Street.
She said she’s seen people
jumping onto the curb to avoid
being hit.
Holland said he didn’t
think a four-way stop would
address the issue and noted
that the council opposed a
four-way stop there in the past.
Stop signs provide a “false
sense of security,” and bicy-
clists often ignore stop signs,
he said. He also noted that the
city was laid out with north-
south through-streets and stop
signs on east-west streets.
Holland asked if the coun-
cil wanted to “chop up” the
city with stop signs. Speeding
is a problem all over town,
he said, suggesting that the
problem could be addressed
through social media. He also
said he expected more acci-
dents would occur if a four-
way stop was put in place at
the intersection.
Councilor Paul Smith
agreed that speed was the real
issue, and Councilor Shan-
non Adair suggested that
stop signs would slow vehi-
cles down. Councilor Steve
Schuette, however, noted that
vehicles would get back up to
full speed within a short dis-
tance after stopping at a stop
sign.
John Day resident Beth
Spell said she was famil-
iar with the intersection and
felt the neighborhood had
changed. The safety of chil-
dren and pedestrians was im-
portant, she said, and if the city
did not install a four-way stop,
then it should consider install-
ing speed bumps.
Councilor Gregg Haberly
said he supported using speed
bumps, and Perkins said she
would be happy with that.
Mayor Ron Lundbom rec-
ommended that the matter be
brought to the city’s safety
committee, which is com-
posed of three councilors.
Income survey results qualify for wastewater grant
More than half
of families report
low or moderate
income
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Results from the John
Day and Canyon City local
income survey indicate 57.3
percent of residents qualify
as low or moderate income,
according to census criteria
established by the U.S. De-
partment of Housing and Ur-
ban Development.
The Survey Research Lab
at Portland State University
worked with the city of John
Day to conduct the survey,
which will help determine if
they can qualify for a feder-
al Community Development
Block Grant to partially fund
the new wastewater treatment
plant to serve both cities.
To qualify for the CDBG
funds, 51 percent or greater
was needed. A total of 362
families in the service area
responded to the anonymous
survey, providing an overall
response rate of 77.4 percent.
The survey found that 209
families representing 461
residents were in the low or
moderate income categories.
But the results also revealed
a polarized distribution of in-
comes in the city, Green said.
A total of 157 families or
43.4 percent of the respond-
ing families reported family
income below $29,900 and
54 families or 14.9 percent
reported family incomes
from $29,901 to $34,150,
while 81 families or 22.3 per-
cent reported family incomes
of $56,301 or more. The six
income categories in the
middle accounted for only
19.4 percent of the families.
Councilor Paul Smith
commented that the city
lacked median wage jobs.
Councilor Dave Holland said
timber mill jobs paid those
median wages, but the mills
are gone. Mayor Ron Lund-
bom said he believed the city
has been in this state for a
long time.
Public wastewater proj-
ects could receive as much as
$2.5 million from the CDBG
program. According to City
Manager Nick Green, the
city will submit the income
survey results to Business
Oregon for certification and
then begin the application
process for preliminary en-
gineering funds to design the
new wastewater treatment
facility.
According to the city’s
time line, Anderson Perry &
Associates of La Grande and
Sustainable Water of Rich-
mond, Virginia, will com-
plete a Wastewater Facilities
Master Plan and reclaimed
water feasibility study by
June. The city will then
choose a design, and prelim-
inary engineering will begin
after July 1, Green said.
Eagle file photo
Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer speaks during a
past Grant County Court Meeting in this file photo.
Unexpected events
add to sheriff’s costs
Rainbow
Gathering, two
shootings add
to workload
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant County Sher-
iff’s Office has accumulated
about $17,000 in overtime
costs since last July, but suf-
ficient funds exist in the cur-
rent budget to handle the un-
anticipated expenses, Sheriff
Glenn Palmer told the coun-
ty court April 11.
While the county could
anticipate increased needs
for the eclipse event last
year, they were not able to
plan for the Rainbow Gath-
ering. Palmer said a few
Rainbow members are still
in the county, and deputies
have had to respond to do-
mestic disturbance calls for
two of them.
Two shooting cases add-
ed to the sheriff’s workload
since last July, from securing
the crime scene and investi-
gating the case to providing
courtroom security and tes-
timony.
There also have been five
suicides and 12 search-and-
rescue missions since last
July. SAR missions tend to
be late at night or off-shift
and labor intensive, Palmer
said. He said he’s trying to
limit deputy assignments to
the more serious ones.
In other county court
news:
• The court approved an
intergovernmental
agree-
ment for the Grant County
Digital Network Coalition
by 2-1, with Commission-
er Jim Hamsher opposed.
The amended ordinance that
created the coalition was ap-
proved by 2-1 on March 28
with Hamsher opposed.
Grant County Judge Scott
Youth &
Technology
– Are our
Children
At Risk?
Myers held off signing the
intergovernmental
agree-
ment until April 11 so Ham-
sher could speak more with
county counsel Ron Yockim
before giving his approval.
Hamsher said he still had
concerns with the agreement
as a matter of policy and vot-
ed against it.
The court also appoint-
ed Dan Becker to represent
the county on the coalition’s
five-member board. Becker
owns a computer and tech-
nology support business.
Members from the county,
John Day and Seneca will
choose two at-large mem-
bers to fill the remaining
seats.
• The court approved a
request from Blue Mountain
Hospital CEO Derek Daly
and Community Counseling
Solutions Executive Director
Kimberly Lindsay to provide
Grant County’s share of state
marijuana tax revenue to the
Community Health Needs
Assessment
Substance
Abuse Committee.
Myers said the county
will provide $15,175 of its
marijuana tax revenue to the
program. He also noted that
future funding for the pro-
gram was possible if the ini-
tiative to legalize recreation-
al marijuana use in Grant
County passes this year.
• The court reviewed and
approved an order for the
sale of 31 tax-foreclosed
properties, which were deed-
ed to the county April 10.
The court earlier approved
Grant County Assessor Da-
vid Thunnell’s suggestion
that the minimum bids be set
at 50 percent of each prop-
erty’s real market value. An
auction will take place in the
county court meeting room
at 10 a.m. May 17.
• The court approved hir-
ing Salem-based attorney
Gerald L. Warren to repre-
sent the county for certain
legal services.
Brought to you by:
The Grant County Ju
venile
Department
Community Counseling
Solutions
The Department of
Human
Services
The Grant County Dis
trict
Attorney‛s Office
Grant Union High Sc
hool
April 23,
2018 at
6:30
Grant Union
Library
Heart of Grant County
541-620-1342
Grant County Victim
Assistance Program
541-575-4026
Remember: sex without consent = sexual assault
This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WR-AX-0008
awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S.
Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and
recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of Justice
policy, this organization is prohibited from discriminating on the
basis of race, color, national origin, disability, religion, sex, or age.
Designed by the Blue Mountain Eagle
45054
Sergeant
Keizer Police
ning
Trevor Wen
08
5
3
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503-8
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ke
winningy@
For more details contact: Cindy Tirico
541-575-1722
juvenile.cindy@yahoo.com
52188
Help is available for victims of sexual
assault in Grant County. If you or
someone you know has been a victim
of sexual assault, please call:
• Social media use
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Target Audience:
• Commercial sex
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trafficking
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members who want • Safe Oregon
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