The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current, April 03, 2019, Page A18, Image 18

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    A18
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Pool
Continued from Page A1
ing the Hill property for
a new city park to replace
the parkland that would be
sold to the state and agree-
ing on a location for a new
public pool. The Hill prop-
erty acquisition would also
count toward the 20 per-
cent match required for the
new grant, he said.
The parks and rec dis-
trict last year purchased
a 1-acre lot with a dou-
ble-wide home on North-
west Bridge Street immedi-
ately west of its offi ces. The
district’s enlarged prop-
erty would provide space
for a new parking lot for
the public pool and count
toward the match required
for the state grant.
Pool fi nancing
The $653,453 grant is
separate from the revenue
expected from the sale of
the land to the state, Green
told the Eagle. Two fi nan-
cial hurdles need to be
addressed for a new pub-
lic pool: construction and
operating costs.
The lowest-cost design
option is for a six-lane,
25-yard outdoor compe-
tition pool with locker
rooms, offi ces, equipment
rooms and other related
building space costing
about $4.5 million.
The city wants $1 mil-
lion in grants and sales
funds from the state
through the sale of the park
and pool land near Kam
Wah Chung and will try to
get another $1 million in
grants from other sources,
leaving about $2.5 mil-
lion to pay for a new pool
through a bond measure,
Green said.
That fi gure could be
further reduced to perhaps
$2 million by using local
contractors, city crews,
county road department
equipment and in-kind
donations, he said. Green
also noted that the county
might be able to contrib-
ute funds it receives from
the federal Secure Rural
Schools program. The
sunset of the Blue Moun-
tain Hospital District bond
in 2021 will reduce prop-
erty taxes and might help
a pool construction bond
pass.
The suggested timeline
calls for using seed money
from the OPRD Large
Grant to cover prelimi-
nary design costs for a new
pool and preparing a ballot
measure for a bond by the
end of August. The bond
measure would then go to
the voters in November
— preferably to include
more than just John Day
and Canyon City voters
and perhaps even voters
countywide.
If voters turn down
the bond vote, the state
might not provide grants
for a new pool, Green
said, but the city could
include a “claw-back” pro-
vision allowing the city
to “unwind” the Gleason
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Walden
Pool sale. Green also noted
that, if the city doesn’t get
the deal it wants from the
state for the sale of the park
and pool property, it won’t
sign it.
Continued from Page A1
O&M expenses
The parks and recre-
ation district has faced dif-
fi culties for years in oper-
ating and maintaining the
Gleason Pool. Operat-
ing expenses for an out-
door pool could run about
$100,000 per year, includ-
ing setting aside money in
a pool replacement fund,
Green said.
Some of those expenses
could be reduced by hav-
ing a brand new pool
that doesn’t leak and has
fewer maintenance issues.
Mayor Ron Lundbom said
40 percent of pool users
don’t pay their fair share
because they come from
outside the district, which
taxes residents for operat-
ing funds.
One option for address-
ing the pool’s operating and
maintenance costs would
be to increase the tax base
by expanding the geo-
graphical size of the parks
and recreation district to
include possibly Prairie
City, Mt. Vernon and Sen-
eca. Voters would have to
approve the expansion.
Green presented the
council with three options
for how a larger parks and
recreation district could
operate, but he noted that
he doesn’t have a com-
plete operations and main-
tenance strategy.
Andy Day asked if the
city had ever paid to have
a professional assess-
ment to determine if Glea-
son Pool could keep oper-
ating. Dusty Williams said
he spoke to parks and rec-
reation district Executive
Director Art Thunell and
was told nobody from the
city had checked out the
pool’s condition.
Green conceded that a
professional
assessment
has not been done and the
city shouldn’t have said the
pool could not be fi xed, but
he noted that such an assess-
ment could be very expen-
sive and was not included
in this year’s budget.
Councilor Dave Hol-
land explained that con-
crete has a limited life-
time and noted that the
city spent signifi cant time
and money assessing the
sewer treatment plant in
an unsuccessful effort to
salvage it. Green pointed
out the economic develop-
ment benefi ts of Gleason
Pool being replaced by a
Kam Wah Chung interpre-
tive center that will attract
tourists.
Dusty Williams advised
caution: If the city sells the
pool and the bond elec-
tion fails, the city could
end up with no pool. He
cited the failure of the 911
local option tax election
in November 2017 and
personally noted that he
would vote for a $2 million
bond but not a $4.5 million
bond.
Eagle photos/Richard Hanners
John Day’s commercial greenhouses are nearing completion at the former Oregon
Pine mill site now that better weather has arrived.
Address
Continued from Page A1
Green said. That’s something he would
never do, he noted. A main focus of
the city’s strategy for growth will be
to improve housing stock.
With so many city projects under-
way, Green said he didn’t want to
burn out or for city staff to burn out.
Now was the time to slow down a bit
and focus on consensus building and
developing partners in a more collab-
orative style.
Looking forward, a possible dou-
bling of the state phone tax to sup-
port 911 dispatch could save the city
about $40,000 and the county about
$100,000 annually. Green also called
on making the local transient tax
more competitive with other recre-
ation areas in the state as a new source
of revenue.
Green also said he wanted the
county to help pay for the city’s roads.
He pointed out that the county col-
lects about 20 percent of the property
tax from city taxpayers.
Green concluded by saying that he
will not always be the city manager
here, and he wants to build a legacy.
He said he wants to leave the city in
better shape than he found it.
The audience generally reacted
positively to Green’s address. Sherrie
Rininger, who owns the business Etc.
on Main Street, asked about the future
of the Weaver Building remediation.
She also wanted to know when city
streets would be cleaned of gravel and
dust and when parking space lines and
crosswalks would be repainted.
Dusty Williams asked if there was
a way to get residents to clean up
their properties and remove old cars
and junk. Stephanie Williams noted
that visitors who come to John Day
for events at the Seventh Street Com-
plex leave with a bad impression of
the city.
Green applauded the idea. The city
has a public nuisance ordinance that
covers old cars and junk, he said, but
he would need to hire a temporary
enforcement offi cer to implement the
law.
In response to a question from
former councilor Louis Provencher,
Green said construction of the green-
houses was held up by permitting and
weather, but even with some unex-
pected material expenses, the project
was close to expected costs.
Green also noted that the green-
house venture poses some risk but
included a “safety relief valve” — if it
doesn’t work out, the business could
be handed over to a private party
and the city could use revenue from
a lease to pay off the low-interest loan.
City Manager Nick Green said the greenhouse venture poses some risk but included
a ‘safety relief valve’ — if it doesn’t work out, the business could be handed over to
a private party.
Elections
Continued from Page A1
for a corporation, a union, a
nonprofi t, a political commit-
tee or an individual.
Democrats on the com-
mittee rejected Knopp’s
amendment. As it became
clear that the Republican
amendment wouldn’t pass,
Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton,
grew frustrated.
“This is the very exam-
ple of what I fear the most:
the majority party doing what
they want, without incorpo-
rating what the minority party
wants into a bill, and cram-
ming it down our throats,”
Girod said. “I want election
reform like anybody else. But
I want it done fairly, and I
don’t think that the majority
party is interested in that.”
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powers it provides. Congress holds
the power of the purse, he said, and
allowing a president to circum-
vent that process creates a “slippery
slope.” He said he voted to over-
ride Trump’s veto because it was
his principle to stick with his ini-
tial vote.
Walden applauded the Forest
Service’s decision to withdraw the
Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revi-
sion. He said the agency put a lot
of work into the plan, and it was a
tragedy how it fi nished.
In response to a question by
King Williams, Walden said he
would support eliminating the
“east side screens” rule that prohib-
its cutting trees that measure more
than 21 inches in diameter at breast
height. Sales of merchantable tim-
ber could help support forest man-
agement that is needed to prevent
wildfi res, he said.
Mark Webb noted that Trump’s
proposed budget cuts to the Forest
Service would be counterproduc-
tive to forest management. Walden
responded that he hadn’t seen a
Trump budget yet that could pass
in Congress. He also noted that he
supports legislation to ensure con-
tinued Secure Rural Schools and
payment in lieu of taxes funding to
rural Oregon counties.
Susan Church asked about the
Trump administration’s plan to
eliminate Obamacare without hav-
ing a replacement health care plan
ready to implement. Walden noted
that the issue is contingent on a
court ruling that has been appealed
and could take years to resolve.
Walden said he supports protect-
ing people with pre-existing health
conditions and noted that Trump
has leaned in hard to force phar-
maceutical companies to lower the
cost of prescription drugs.
But he also noted that the mil-
itary-industrial complex pales in
comparison to the power of the
health care industry. He wanted to
know why health care costs con-
tinue to increase, and he said he
disagreed with Trump about cutting
funding to medical research.
Walden has held 168 town hall
meetings across Oregon’s Second
Congressional District since 2012,
including one in each of the dis-
trict’s 20 rural counties in central,
southern and eastern Oregon this
year. He has served as chairman of
the Energy and Commerce Com-
mittee’s Subcommittee on Commu-
nications and Technology.
First elected to the Oregon
House of Representatives in 1988,
Walden served in the house until
1995 when he was appointed to
the Oregon State Senate to fi ll a
vacancy. He served in the senate
from January 1995 to January 1997
and was succeeded by Ted Ferri-
oli. Walden was elected to the U.S.
House in 1998 and has won 11 suc-
cessive elections by signifi cant
majorities.
While Knopp supports
campaign fi nance reform, he
said he wants to maintain a
“balance” in the playing fi eld.
“If we pass it as is, I
think you will see different
groups from the left and the
right try to go to the ballot,”
Knopp said. “I can easily see
a group going to the ballot
to try to eliminate the ability
for unions to contribute, and
I can easily see a group going
to the ballot to not allow cor-
porations, or some iterations
of corporations, to … be able
to donate.”
Hass, who doesn’t sit on
the Senate Campaign Finance
Committee, said he under-
stands Knopp’s concerns and
would like reform that both
Democrats and Republicans
can support.
“My biggest accomplish-
ments since I’ve been a legis-
lator have been accomplished
on overwhelming votes,”
Hass said. “And that doesn’t
happen by accident. You have
to spend some time working
on these issues.”
Patrick Starnes, a cam-
paign fi nance reform advo-
cate and former Independent
Party gubernatorial candi-
date, is hoping for “tri-par-
tisan” support to limit dona-
tions. He said, when he
campaigned across the state
last year, he met people all
over who want rails on cam-
paign fi nance in Oregon.
“Republicans, Democrats,
Independents all seemed
ready,” Starnes said. “People
are ready.”
Starnes said he was dis-
appointed that the committee
vote broke along party lines.
He added, “My priority is that
we have some sort of limits.
So whichever party steps up
to pass those, I’m in favor of
getting something passed.”
Meanwhile, a proposal to
lower Oregon’s voting age
to 16 got a boost when Gov.
Kate Brown declared her
support.
“I think it makes sense
to have 16-year-olds vote
in this state,” Brown said
at a bill-signing ceremony
attended by youth voting
advocates. “I look forward to
that conversation in the build-
ing, and hopefully we get to
have that conversation with
Oregonians across the state.”
Oregon would be the fi rst
state to lower the voting age
to 16. But the state hasn’t
always been friendly to the
idea of allowing teens to vote.
When Congress reduced
the voting age from 21 to 18
in 1970, Oregon successfully
sued the federal government
to keep 18- to 20-year-olds
from voting in state and local
elections. The 26th Amend-
ment to the U.S. Constitution
was ratifi ed the following
year, giving all citizens age
18 and older the right to vote.
Written testimony on
Senate Joint Resolution 22,
the proposed constitutional
amendment to allow 16- and
17-year-olds to vote, has been
sharply opposed, including
form letters and some sub-
missions from out-of-state.
But with Bus Project sup-
porters and others in Salem
to testify, the feedback on
the proposal at the committee
hearing was overwhelmingly
positive.
At the committee hearing,
Victoria Clark, a 17-year-
old senior at Reynolds High
School, argued that the per-
spective of people her age
belongs in politics.