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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2019)
McCracken qualifi es for National High School Finals Rodeo The PAGE A10 Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Wednesday, May 8, 2019 151st Year • No. 19 • 18 Pages • $1.00 BlueMountainEagle.com GRANTS WILL ASSESS, REPAIR GRANT COUNTY SCHOOLS The Eagle/Richard Hanners A state grant will help Len’s Drug upgrade its storefront on Main Street. Expanding on Main Street Grant award will support Len’s Drug remodel By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter Prairie City School students enjoy lunch on Tuesday in the cafeteria, which will be upgraded with a $2.5 million seismic grant. Four schools receive assistance, including $2.5M for Prairie City By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle F our Grant County schools were recently awarded Technical Assistance Program grants from Oregon Department of Educa- tion’s Offi ce of School Facilities. Three of the grants assess deferred maintenance issues for school build- ings and a fourth determines if seismic upgrades are needed. Prairie City, Monument, Grant and Dayville school districts received word on March 14 they’d received the TAP grants. Prairie City School District was also recently awarded a $2.5 million grant from the state’s Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program. Monument School District for $20,000, which addresses the current physical condition of the buildings and determines needed renovations; a Long- Range Facility Plan grant for $25,000 to prepare for the future; and a Seismic Assessment grant for $25,000 to deter- mine the condition of district buildings to withstand a signifi cant earthquake. A fourth TAP grant is also available, called the Environmental Hazard Assess- ment, which checks school buildings for mold, radon and asbestos. School districts can apply for match- ing grants through the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Pro- gram in order to complete the work rec- ommended by professionals for the long-range, facilities and environmental hazard assessments. Monument received three TAP grants, including a Facilities Assessment grant See Grants, Page A18 Prairie City fi fth- and sixth-graders learn Mexican folk dances Tuesday in the school gym, which will be upgraded with a $2.5 million grant. “THESE GRANTS GIVE US THE OPPORTUNITIES TO HAVE PROFESSION- ALS COME IN AND DEVELOP A SOUND PLAN AND FOR US TO BUDGET FOR THE NEAR FUTURE AND THE LONG TERM.” Superintendent/Principal Casey Hallgarth, Prairie City School District One of downtown John Day’s key busi- nesses will see a facelift and expansion sooner than later, thanks to a major grant award from the Oregon Parks and Recre- ation Department. Greg and Marla Armstrong were awarded a $200,000 Main Street Revitalization grant through OPRD’s Oregon Heritage division. Thirty grants totaling $5.2 million were awarded to Oregon Main Street Network organizations. The projects included facade improvements, housing projects and seismic upgrades, with grants ranging from $56,731 to $200,000. The grant application was submitted by John Day on behalf of the Armstrongs after the city council approved their submis- sion Feb. 26. The Armstrongs will provide $448,000 for the $648,000 project, which calls for increasing retail space by about 4,500 square feet. The Corner Cup building, which the Armstrongs own, likely would be removed as the store expands west. The drug and vari- ety store has expanded into adjacent spaces since 1977, which created unusable areas that will be turned into uniform retail space during the remodel. The project also calls for improvements to the Main Street storefront with updated energy-effi cient windows and insulated walls. Marla Armstrong told the Eagle she wasn’t sure when the project would begin, as architects were still working on plans. Like many small businesses, the Arm- strongs saved up a little each year toward the project. The state grant would enable them to move forward more quickly, she said. A grant application was also submit- ted for the 1188 Brewing Company, which completed a major interior remodel in 2018. They had requested $90,860 with a $23,500 match to create an integrated facade cover- ing the original location and the company’s expansion into adjacent space to the west. John Day City Manager Nick Green had noted at the Feb. 26 council meeting that OPRD likely would limit awards to no more than $200,000 per city. Nine of the 30 projects that were awarded Main Street Revitalization grants offered matches over $200,000. The largest match was $635,300 from the city of Woodburn for a complete renovation of its city hall building. The second largest was $525,000 for a major remodel of the Litch Building in Enterprise. Len’s Drug’s match was the third largest at $448,000. 911 phone tax bill awaits fate in Revenue Committee Legislation sponsored by Findley would provide more funding for dispatch centers By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle A bill that would double the existing 75 cent fee on phone bills to support 911 dispatch centers across the state has seen consid- erable support from law enforce- ment and emergency groups as well as urban and rural cities and counties. House Bill 2449 is sponsored by Reps. Lynn Findley, R-Vale; John Lively, D-Springfi eld; Pam Marsh, D-Southern Jackson County; and Greg Smith, R-Uma- tilla, Morrow, Gil- liam, Sherman and Wasco counties. The bill also would reduce administration fees collected by Oregon Rep. the Department of Lynn Findley Revenue from 1 percent to 0.5 per- cent and collected by the Offi ce of Emergency Management from 4 percent to 2 percent. Rising costs Supporters note that the phone tax hasn’t increased in 24 years, which puts a strain on rural coun- ties with small populations. In John Day, the minimum cost of staffi ng a 911 center year-round in 2015 was $445,000, but the 911 tax provided $248,982, leav- ing the city, county and other tax- ing jurisdictions to come up with about $196,000 to fund the dis- patch center. Grant County voters in Novem- ber 2017 turned down a local option tax proposal intended to fi ll the funding gap by 1,503 to 1,194. The city of John Day then received a $420,000 special appropriation from the state legislature to help cover the funding gap for the next biennium while the city looked for a long-term solution. A 2018 intergovernmental agreement between the county, eight cities, one community and three rural fi re districts established a new agency to operate 911 dis- patch in Grant County under an Intergovernmental Council. The See 911, Page A18 The Eagle/Richard Hanners The logo for the Grant County Emergency Communications Agency was created by Grant Union High School senior Avery Hughes for her senior project.