News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
A3
Hazardous materials to be removed from Weaver Building
Asbestos was
found throughout
the structure
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Hundreds and hundreds of
pounds of asbestos removal
may be needed at the Weav-
er Building on Main Street,
City Manager Nick Green told
city councilors at their June 12
meeting.
The city closed on the
12,000-square-foot complex
of four connected buildings
sharing one roof in November
2017 using a $100,000 Main
Street Revitalization Grant and
began to line up a $200,000
loan to complete Phase 1 ren-
ovation work.
That work would consist of
interior demolition of the top
floor, removal of hazardous
materials, required structural
reinforcement and construct-
ing a fire separation between
the first and second floors.
The city expected that rental
income from the four ground-
floor businesses would pay off
that loan in 10 years, he said.
The goal is to develop
a mixed-use property, with
commercial businesses on the
ground floor and six condo-
miniums on the second floor.
Pinnacle Architecture estimat-
ed the completed project could
cost nearly $2 million.
Green reported to the
council that during an envi-
ronmental evaluation, Paulsen
Environmental Consulting of
Vale had identified asbestos
throughout the structure and
lead in numerous locations.
He said he was working
with the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality to
obtain grant funding to hire an
asbestos abatement contractor
to remove the hazardous ma-
terials.
That could amount to strip-
ping the building down to its
timber frame, Green said, leav-
ing a clean building that would
attract outside investment. At
that point, the city could con-
sider putting the building back
on the market.
The cost to the city would
be a “small match” for the
Eagle file photo
The Weaver Building, which was purchased by the city of
John Day, will require asbestos removal and fire safety
improvements.
grant funding, Green said,
which he said was well worth
the expenditure because it
would leave the city with
new residences and a “clean,
healthy” building. He also not-
ed the public sector needed to
step up and take on this proj-
ect because the private sector
would not.
Green also reported that
during an inspection of the
ground-floor unit once used
by the Naturally Yours store,
city staff discovered an open-
ing between the ceiling and the
apartment above. Decades-old
magazines, beer cans and oth-
er debris had fallen from the
apartment.
Green said the hope was to
put the ground-floor unit back
on the market, but the city may
now have to install adequate
fire protection between the two
floors before renting the unit.
In other city council news:
• The council unanimously
approved the 2018-2019 fiscal
year budget. Appropriations
and expenditures totaled $11.5
million, which included $1.4
million for the general fund,
$1.2 million for the water
fund, $1.5 million for the sew-
er fund and $521,000 for the
street fund.
The $4.7 million for the IT
fund included the $1.8 million
state legislative appropriation
to improve broadband in Grant
County and an anticipated $2.9
million U.S. Department of
Agriculture Community Con-
nect grant not yet awarded.
• The council unanimously
approved applying for a 2018
Recreational Trails Program
grant from the Oregon Parks
& Recreation Department,
which was primarily for rec-
reational trail projects rather
than utilitarian transporta-
tion-based projects.
The city will apply for
$180,000, with the city’s
20 percent match bringing
total funding for the proj-
ect to $240,000. The match
can be cash or in-kind
labor, Green said.
The goal is to improve
access to the John Day River
within the city limits, includ-
ing connecting Prospector
Trail at the Seventh Street
Complex to Innovation Gate-
way. Four miles of inter-
connected paved and gravel
paths, much of it ADA-acces-
sible, would be developed.
Four trails are proposed —
one along the river from the
sports complex to Innovation
Gateway, one looping up to
Northwest Bridge Street and
back down to the river, one
north up Charolais Heights
and Davis Creek to Northwest
Valley View Drive and one
along Canyon Creek to the
Kam Wah Chung State Heri-
tage Site.
Plans call for a pedestri-
an bridge over the river west
of Canton Street and gravel
parking lots near the pedes-
trian bridge and on Northwest
Valley View Drive.
• Consultants will pres-
ent results from a wastewa-
ter treatment plant feasibility
study at the council’s June 26
meeting.
Foreclosure auctions considered a success
Natural resource
adviser may be
provided by OSU
Extension
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County earned
about $168,000 from an open
auction held May 17 to sell
tax-foreclosed properties and
about $155,000 on a silent
auction with bids opening
June 15 for the remaining
properties.
Thirty-one tax-foreclosed
properties were deeded to the
county April 10, and 13 of the
properties offered at the open
auction did not have buyers.
The minimum bid at the open
auction was set at 50 percent
of market value.
Grant County Assessor
David Thunell told the Grant
County Court at their June
13 meeting that 58 bids were
submitted for the properties
that didn’t sell at the first auc-
tion. One property in Kimber-
ly had 13 bids, he said.
The
court
approved
Thunell’s suggestion to accept
the top two bids in the silent
auction. If neither bidder pre-
sented a check on June 15, the
county would hold onto the
properties for now.
Checks for 12 of the 13 re-
maining properties were sub-
mitted, and the second bid for
the 13th property was a good
offer, Thunell told the Eagle.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Ochoco National Forest
Supervisor Shane Jeffries
updates the Grant County
Court on upcoming
projects during their June
13 meeting.
All the sold properties will be
on the tax rolls by July 1, he
said.
Thunell told the court de-
linquent taxes on some prop-
erties dated back to the 1980s,
and he was glad to see them
back on the tax rolls. He cred-
ited District Attorney Jim
Carpenter for fulfilling his
campaign promise to file for
judgment on properties that
owed back taxes.
County Judge Scott Myers
said the earnings would be
used to reimburse the vari-
ous county departments that
worked on the foreclosures.
In other county court news:
• The court approved
changes to the draft fiscal year
2018-2019 budget. The gen-
eral fund totals $5.1 million,
Grant County Treasurer Julie
Ellison told the Eagle.
Included in the changes
was $40,000 budgeted for a
new natural resource adviser
position. Myers said he was in
talks with Oregon State Uni-
versity to provide someone
to fill that position through
the extension service, with
the costs shared between the
county and the university.
• Following an executive
session, the court agreed to
offer to sell the county health
department building at 528 E.
Main St. in John Day to Com-
munity Counseling Solutions
for $400,000 and to retain
the “L” Building next door at
530 E. Main St. for use by the
county.
The vote was 2-1, with
Commissioner Boyd Britton
opposed. The “L” Building
is currently occupied by the
Economic Development Of-
fice, Veteran Services Office,
Emergency Management and
the food bank.
• New Ochoco National
Forest Supervisor Shane Jef-
fries introduced himself to the
court and provided an update
on the forest. Jeffries pre-
viously worked as a deputy
supervisor and district rang-
er in the Deschutes National
Forest.
The Ochoco Forest man-
ages about 740,000 acres,
including 57,826 in Grant
County. About half of the
Black Canyon Wilderness is
in Grant County, with access
at the South Fork John Day
trailhead. Volunteer and For-
est Service crews will clear
hiking trails in the wilderness
this summer, Jeffries said.
About 230,000 acres of the
forest is included in the pro-
posed Blue Mountains Forest
Resiliency Project planned
for the Ochoco, Umatilla and
Wallowa-Whitman national
forests, Jeffries said.
The Ochoco Forest is
working with the South Fork
John Day Watershed Council,
Bureau of Land Management
and Rockpile Ranch to con-
duct a restoration assessment
for about 15 miles of Wind
Creek, Jeffries said.
A draft environmental im-
pact statement on the man-
agement of wild horses that
wander from Big Summit
Territory in the Ochoco for-
est to the Murderers Creek
area in the Malheur forest is
planned for release this sum-
mer, Jeffries said. Currently
there are more horses than
the environment can support,
and reproduction is faster than
mortality, he said.
• The court tabled a request
by Grant County Clerk Bren-
da Percy for a stipend to com-
pensate her for handling pay-
roll. Myers initially motioned
to deny Percy’s request.
• The court’s next meeting
will be June 27.
Authors!
Meet other local authors
and sell your books at the
Blue Mountain Book Fair
Sponsored by the Juniper Arts Council
August 18 12:00-4:00pm
Canyon City Community Center
Canyon City Oregon
Contact Dave Driscoll
phone:248-719-2122
email:driscolldg@gmail.com
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Funded by a grant from the Grant County Transient Room Room Tax fund
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For more information contact
Grant County Veterans 541 620-8057
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