A8
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
John Day to start enforcing nuisance code
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Following a busy and
productive
Community
Cleanup Day on July 19,
John Day is taking a new
approach to improving the
appearance of city neighbor-
hoods: proactive enforce-
ment of the city’s nuisance
ordinance.
The cleanup day was pro-
moted on Facebook, City
Manager Nick Green told
the Eagle. Boy Scouts Grant
Hall, Kaden Talkington and
Logan Randleas and scout
leaders Green and David
Hall from Troop 800 volun-
teered alongside city crews
to help clean up properties
where residents were unable
to do so on their own, Green
said.
About 2,260 pounds of
bulk waste was hauled to
the transfer station from res-
idences that participated
in the event. Another six
dump truck loads of yard
waste were taken to a city
site for future burning and
disposal.
Savannah Lovell is the
city’s new part-time code
enforcement officer. She
will also do record keeping
for the police department.
The city has a lengthy
and comprehensive nui-
sance ordinance in effect
since 2015. With 10 subsec-
tions, the ordinance runs to
dozens of pages in the city
code. Violations are punish-
able by fines from $100 to
$500 for a first offense and
at least $250 for the second
offense in the same year.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Savannah Lovell will be the new code enforcement officer for
the city of John Day.
Contributed photo
Volunteers and John Day city crews removed 2,660 pounds of trash during a community
cleanup day July 19.
The code chapter refers
to derelict structures, par-
tially completed buildings,
construction in an unskilled
manner, fowl and livestock,
pest control, rank vegeta-
tion, hazardous thickets, tall
weeds or grass, food wastes,
junk, yard debris and poison
oak, hemlock or ivy.
Enforcement of the nui-
sance ordinance is not easy,
Green told the city council
July 23. When he is able to
reach property owners by
phone, positive action usu-
ally follows. He said he
hasn’t run into anyone dig-
ging in their heels.
Some owners, however,
don’t have the ability to get
cleanup work done, Green
said. Other times he talks to
residents who do not own
the property.
The worse situation is
not being able to locate
the owner of what appears
to be an abandoned prop-
erty, Green said. A house
on Second Avenue has not
been occupied for about
five years, he said, although
the property taxes are being
paid.
The property lies in a legal
gray area between foreclo-
sure and total abandonment,
Green said. There is some
rot and overgrown vegeta-
tion, and the roof appears to
be falling in, Green said. He
said he’s been unable to con-
tact anyone who is responsi-
ble for the property.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
A sign on a house on Second Avenue in John Day, which has
not been occupied for several years, was posted by a default
mortgage company.
The city has received
nuisance complaints about
the Second Avenue prop-
erty, Green said. One option
is to serve a warrant to enter
the property and enforce
abatement, but the city
could end up paying all the
legal and cleanup expenses,
he said.
Sky appointed to John Day City Council
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Youth was the predomi-
nant factor in the John Day
City Council’s decision July
23 to appoint Elliot Sky to
fill the seat held by Brandon
Smith.
Sky, a physical thera-
pist with the Blue Mountain
Hospital District, was sworn
in after the unanimous deci-
sion. Brandon Smith, who
has moved away, and Shan-
non Adair were absent.
The city received two
applications,
including
one from Chris Labhart.
Labhart served 24 years on
the John Day City Coun-
cil and served as Can-
yon City mayor and Grant
County commissioner. He
lost a four-way race to three
incumbents for three coun-
cil seats in the November
2018 John Day election.
Councilor Dave Hol-
land noted that while the
outgoing Smith “brought a
lot to the table,” he missed
many council meetings.
Holland also suggested
Labhart missed many coun-
cil meetings in the past
during fire seasons. Labhart
disagreed with Holland’s
characterization.
In his application, Sky
noted that he has lived in
John Day for two years and
moved here because of the
“potential” he saw in the
city.
“I liked John Day’s cul-
ture and loved the idea of
helping to grow the city into
something more,” he said.
Although he has never
held public office, Sky said
he has “reached out and
volunteered my time and
expertise to the city to help
improve John Day’s quality
of life.”
He also noted the impor-
tance of his age by saying,
“I would bring a perspec-
tive from a recent transplant
and younger professional
— one of the target demo-
graphics John Day wants to
attract.”
Mayor Ron Lundbom
started the discussion by
noting that the council has
tried to diversify its makeup
in terms of gender and age.
The average age of the cur-
rent council is far above 50.
One by one, the council-
Richard Hanners/Blue Mountain Eagle
Elliot Sky, left, is congratulated by John Day Mayor Ron
Lundbom after being sworn in as a new city councilor.
ors cited youth as the pre-
dominant factor in their
decision to choose Sky.
Holland said John Day
will be the next genera-
tion’s town one day, so the
city needs new blood. Paul
Smith said change is good,
and young blood is good.
In other city council
news:
• Lundbom reported that
an evaluation of City Man-
ager Nick Green by the
councilors found that he
“exceeded” in 14 of 19 cat-
Grant County Awarded Federal Funds under Phase 36 of the
Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
Grant County has been selected to receive an award of $2,800.00 for the Emergency Food and
Shelter National Board Program to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the
county.
The selection was made by a National Board that is charged by the Department of Homeland
Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and consists of representatives from The
Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Council of Jewish Federations, Catholic Charities USA,
National Council of Churches of Christ USA, and United Way of America. The Local Board was
charged to distribute funds appropriated by Congress to help expand the capacity of food and
shelter programs in high-need areas around the country.
The Local Board will determine how Grant County’s award is to be distributed among
emergency food and / or shelter programs run by local service agencies. The Local Board is
responsible for recommending agencies to receive federal funds made available through Phase
36.
Under the terms of the National Board award, local organizations chosen to receive funds must
be a private voluntary non-profit or unit of government eligible to receive federal funds, with an
accounting system and federal employer identification number. Organizations must demonstrate
the capability to deliver qualified emergency food and / or shelter programs. Private voluntary
organizations must have a voluntary board and practice non-discrimination. Qualifying agencies
are urged to apply.
Grant County has distributed Emergency Food and Shelter funds previously to the Grant
County Food Bank, Prairie City Baptist Church Food Bank and Monument Food Bank. These
agencies were responsible for providing food
to qualifying local citizens. Public or private
voluntary agencies interested in applying for
Emergency Food and Shelter Program funds
under Phase 36 may request an application
by contacting 541-575-0059, Grant County
Court Office, 201 S. Humbolt Street, No.
280, Canyon City, OR 97820. Completed
applications are due before 5:00 pm Friday,
August 16, 2019.
egories and averaged 2.6 on
a scale of 0-3.
Based on that evalua-
tion, the council approved
placing Green on the city’s
new pay scale system with
an $84,048 annual salary
effective next fiscal year.
They also requested that
his contract be modified to
reflect that Green is paid a
1% grant administration fee
for certain grants.
• The council approved
a new three-year collective
bargaining agreement with
the Grant County Police
Officers Association, which
represents John Day police
officers, effective through
June 30, 2022.
Significant
changes
included adding a 10th
vacation day — the day after
Thanksgiving — as well as
changing pay increases for
fiscal year 2020 from 1% to
$1.50 per hour, for FY2021
from 1.5% to 4% and for
FY2022 from 2% to 4%.
• Fire Chief Ron Smith
will retire at end of this
year. Don Gabbard will be
the new fire chief as a part
time position. He will also
work part time in the public
works department. Gabbard
has been a volunteer fire-
fighter for about 12 years.
• The council accepted
a $125,000 bid from Tyler
Sheedy and Krista Qual for
the Weaver Building. The
city will carry the financing.
The couple plan to remodel
the Main Street building in
three phases over 3-5 years.
• After much discus-
sion about an unexpected
request by Robert and Bon-
nie Watt to increase the size
of the lot they wanted to
purchase from the city, the
council agreed to stay with
the original offer and make
changes at a later time if
necessary. The Watts, who
own JD Rents, want the lot
behind their business for
additional storage.
• The council turned
down a $39,640 bid by Har-
ney Rock & Paving to com-
plete the Canton Street cul-
de-sac project. Green said
the city had budgeted about
$25,000, and the council
consensus was to wait until
next spring when other pav-
ing projects were under-
way in the county. If a com-
pany was already working
here, that could reduce the
cost for the small amount
of paving on Canton
Street.
• Green said final con-
struction at the city’s com-
mercial greenhouse is fin-
ished and full production is
next. The council approved
a request by a retired ser-
vice member to work at
the greenhouse under the
Department of Defense’s
SkillBridge program. DOD
will pay 100% of his wages
for six months.
Court considers new maintenance department
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
A plan to create a county
maintenance department was
presented by Nate Hughes to
the Grant County Court at
their July 24 meeting.
Hughes said the idea has
been floated around for a
while. In addition to incorpo-
rating janitorial services, the
department would be respon-
sible for facilities the county
owns at different locations.
Currently some facili-
ties are maintained by the
department that uses the
building. Hughes said track-
ing changes, such as ther-
mostat settings, could help
the county save money on
energy bills.
Grant County Judge Scott
Myers noted that Hughes
needs a shop because some-
times when he works on fur-
niture, the fumes lead to
complaints by courthouse
employees.
Hughes said the court
needs to decide which build-
ings to include in the new
department. It likely would
not include the fairgrounds,
which has its own mainte-
nance staff, he said.
The court agreed to
review the idea and bring it
back at a later date.
In other county court
news:
• Commissioner Sam
Palmer suggested making
payments to the new Grant
County Emergency Commu-
nications Agency on a quar-
terly basis instead of once
a year after confusion over
payments to the 911 dispatch
agency.
A cost-sharing formula
used to pay the agency is
based on revenue from a
statewide 911 phone tax, a
5-year rolling average of call
volume by local dispatch
users and assessed prop-
erty values of affected taxing
jurisdictions.
A new legislative bill will
raise the phone tax over the
next two years, which should
significantly lower contribu-
tions needed from users and
taxing jurisdictions.
Myers noted that 911 dis-
patch “has always been a hit
to the county budget.” He
said he didn’t think the num-
bers for users were accurate.
He and Commissioner Jim
Hamsher agreed with Palm-
er’s suggestion, and the court
will look into whether quar-
terly payments can be done.
• The court approved a
request by Tracey Blood on
behalf of the Community
Health Improvement Coa-
lition for up to $20,000 in
funding from the county’s
share of recreational mari-
juana tax revenue. Some of
the discussion addressed the
paradox of using marijuana
tax money for drug treatment
programs.
• The court discussed a
job description provided by
Grant County Watermas-
ter Eric Julsrud for an assis-
tant watermaster. Julsrud is a
state employee, but the assis-
tant is a county position. The
court agreed to send the job
description to the Local Gov-
ernment Personnel Institute
for review with no obliga-
tion by the court beyond that,
Myers noted.
• A request by Steve
Fletcher, the Grant County
ARES emergency coordi-
nator, to place a repeater
for ham radios on the Fall
Mountain communication
tower was approved. Myers
noted that the repeater can-
not interfere with the coun-
ty’s road department antenna.