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Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
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Tucker Carpenter of John Day and Zeke Mullin of Henderson, Nevada, enjoy the slides at Gleason Pool in John Day.
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www.MyEagleNews.com
John Day adopts housing incentives plan
Rebates won’t
be distributed
until late 2019
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
EO Media Group
A cable gun lock. The Oregon Supreme Court
dismissed three challenges filed to the ballot title for
a proposed Oregon gun-storage initiative.
Oregon Supreme
Court fast-tracks
gun-storage petition
Dirk VanderHart
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Backers of a gun-control
proposal aimed for Novem-
ber’s ballot got some unex-
pected help from the Oregon
Supreme Court on Monday.
The proposal, Initiative
Petition 44, has less than
three weeks to collect and
submit more than 88,000
valid signatures. The peti-
tion had been tied up after
opponents with the National
Rifle Association, Oregon
Firearms Federation and
other groups challenged its
ballot language.
No longer. In a surprise
move, the Supreme Court
announced it wouldn’t en-
tertain those challenges,
which it said were “not well
taken.” The court instead
certified ballot language
drafted by the Oregon De-
partment of Justice.
That means supporters
can begin collecting signa-
tures immediately. They had
been bracing for a weeks-
long delay that likely would
have doomed their chances
of gathering enough signa-
tures by the July 6 deadline.
Challengers Keely Hop-
kins, state director for the
National Rifle Association,
and Paul Donheffner, leg-
islative committee chair
for the Oregon Hunters’
Association, had expressed
concerns about regulating
how gun owners store their
weapons.
See BALLOT, Page A10
The John Day City Coun-
cil unanimously approved
an ordinance at the June 12
meeting that creates a housing
incentives plan, with the goal
of seeing 100 new homes built
in the 20-year life of the pro-
gram.
City Manager Nick Green
said city staff have worked on
the plan for 18 months. The
plan was reviewed by com-
munity and technical adviso-
ry committees and the city’s
planning commission.
To encourage new home
construction within bound-
aries established for the
plan, the city will waive
system development charges
for water and sewer service
and provide property own-
ers a 7-percent rebate on the
increase in the property’s as-
sessed value.
The plan also proposes an
incentive for home remod-
eling that includes a 15-per-
cent rebate on the increase in
the property’s assessed value,
with a $10,000 minimum in-
crease required.
The city will recoup the
cost of the incentives through
tax-increment financing. Tax-
es on properties within the
plan’s boundaries will be fro-
zen this year at their current
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
John Day City Councilor Brandon Smith, right, explains how property taxes are used
to support the John Day Housing Incentives Plan during a public hearing June 12.
Councilors Gregg Haberly, left, and Steve Schuette listen to the discussion.
levels, and any future increas-
es will go toward paying back
the city for the incentives. Re-
bates will not be paid until a
property’s new assessed value
is on the tax rolls.
Green estimated incentives
will be paid back in full in
seven years, at which time the
full tax revenue on improved
properties would be made
available to all taxing juris-
dictions. Many tax-increment
financing plans don’t return
the full tax revenue to taxing
jurisdictions for 20 years,
Green noted.
“In year eight, the other tax
jurisdictions begin benefiting
financially from the increased
tax revenue that would not
have occurred but for this
program,” Green said in his
report to the council.
Grant County Assessor
David Thunell told the council
that he has received numerous
questions about the plan but
none from representatives of
the affected taxing jurisdic-
tions. He also expressed con-
cerns about the administra-
tive costs for the plan, which
Green said could be high.
Former councilor Louis
Provencher, who said he op-
posed the plan from the very
beginning, provided the coun-
cil with numerous concerns
and two recommendations.
For one, the plan benefits a
limited number of people and
basically redistributes tax rev-
enue, he said.
He was also concerned
about the effective date of the
plan and asked about prop-
erties where home construc-
tion on lots inside the plan’s
boundaries was already un-
derway. Providing benefits to
those property owners would
“defeat the purpose” of the
plan, which is to encourage
new home building, he said.
Provencher also wanted
the city to focus instead on
financing a new sewer treat-
ment plant, which might re-
quire a bond. The city has
too many projects and needs
to slow down and work out
the costs of these projects, he
said.
See HOUSING, Page A10
Engle named Regional Teacher of the Year
Monument educator
will be considered for
statewide award
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Monument School teacher Mi-
chele Engle said she was honored
and excited to learn she is one of 13
people in Oregon named as Regional
Teacher of the Year.
“It really makes you feel good
that people notice how hard you’re
working at trying to make children
successful,” she said. “I’ve taken on
some pretty hard tasks. ... It fuels
your motivation to continue doing
what you’re doing.”
Engle, who was born and raised in
Monument, has taught at Monument
School District for 23 years with one
year at Dayville School prior to that.
She teaches English for grades
7-12, as well as courses in welding
and agriculture, which includes wood
shop, and a leadership class.
Grant County Education Service
District Superintendent Robert Wal-
tenburg presented Engle with the
award, and a check from the Oregon
Lottery for $500, at a school assem-
bly with Monument’s interim Su-
perintendent/principal Michael Lane
present.
“I have seen many teachers in my
time in Grant County, but few show
the dedication, the love, the commit-
ment to kids, school and community
that Michele has shown,” Waltenburg
said. “These are some of the reasons
that she was selected as the 2019
Regional Teacher of the Year for the
Eastern Region.”
He added, “As she moves into the
next level of the competition, ... I be-
lieve that she will win this award as
well and be named the 2019 Oregon
State Teacher of the Year.”
Oregon Department of Education
Deputy Superintendent Colt Gill stat-
ed in a letter to school officials that
he was pleased they were able to ex-
pand the program to recognize dedi-
cated educators across the state, and
to raise awareness of best practices.
“These teachers, their schools and
districts should be very proud of the
innovation and collaboration that
helps deliver students a well-rounded
education,” he said.
Along with her classroom teach-
ing, Engle is also the middle school
advisor. She recently returned from a
field trip to the coast with the eighth-
grade class.
In her first 18 years in the field of
education, she mainly taught fourth-
through sixth-grades, then third
through sixth. She also received a
science teaching certificate.
“I was fortunate when I grew up
here to have a wonderful science
teacher,” she said. “I love this school
See TEACHER, Page A10
Contributed photo
Monument School teacher Michele
Engle receives an Oregon’s
Regional Teacher of the Year Award
and $500 presented by Grant
County Education Service District
Superintendent Robert Waltenburg,
at right, on May 30 at the school.