NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
A3
John Day to apply for economic recovery funding after floods
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
John Day may be eligi-
ble for economic recovery
funding after last spring’s
floods.
On Jan. 14, the John Day
City Council discussed its
interest in seeking assis-
tance from the Economic
Development Administra-
tion, which could poten-
tially provide funding for
various projects in the Inno-
vation Gateway.
John Day City Manager
Nick Green said the EDA’s
Economic
Adjustment
Assistance program pro-
vides funds for communities
under a federal disaster dec-
laration. Because the floods
were declared a federal
disaster and because the city
has a Comprehensive Eco-
nomic Diversification Strat-
egy approved and funded by
the EDA, the city can apply
for economic assistance and
recovery, Green said.
“They have a lot of fund-
ing allocated and approved
to spend that no one has
applied for,” Green said.
“Within the scope of the
EDA grant, you have to
have a nexus to your disas-
ter, CEDS and projects. In
other words, they don’t just
look at it as fixing a street
that failed, they look at it
as fixing a street that failed
and also installing fiber-op-
tic lines that could help the
economy.”
Green said the applica-
tions are not easy because
of an abundant amount of
paperwork and due dili-
gence required, but added
that much of the work was
already done when applying
for the BUILD and broad-
band grants and from the
work involved in the Inno-
vation Gateway Area Plan.
The goal is to receive $15
million, Green said. The
grant funding would require
a 20% match, and while
local and state funding can
be used for the match, fed-
eral funds cannot be used,
Green said.
“We are estimating we’ll
spend $5-6 million in local
funds on the new waste-
water treatment plant, and
the new hotel is another $6
million,” Green said. “Our
goal would be to use those
investments, plus the local
contribution for our planned
street improvement projects
at the Innovation Gateway,
to secure federal funding
through the EDA.”
A $15 million federal
grant means the city would
need $3 million in local
investment. Green said the
city already has four times
that amount committed to
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
The John Day City Council starts their first city council meet-
ing of 2020 Jan. 14.
these projects.
The components of the
Innovation Gateway Project
outlined in the area plan and
CEDS would be the focus of
the application, Green said.
Councilor Elliot Sky
asked if having a broad
or narrow focus would
increase the chances of suc-
cess for funding.
“Reading through the
application
instructions,
they want to see that it’s
an investment priority, they
want to see a return and
are encouraging multi-di-
mensional projects,” Green
said. “Anywhere we go with
new streets for new hous-
ing, OTEC and Ortelco and
our other utility providers
would go to their capital
outlay to service those lots,
which would count towards
our local contribution.”
Green said it could be
viewed as a broad-based
public-private partnership
where an electric cooper-
ative, a local government
and two for-profit compa-
nies would share resources
with the federal govern-
ment and three private util-
ity providers.
“What’s not to like,”
Green said. “This is max-
imizing public benefit, it’s
syndicating risk, creating
value and we are exceed-
ing the requirements. The
nexus is clear in my mind
because of the disaster from
the flood.”
The city council will
hold a work session to pri-
oritize project elements and
help frame the narrative for
the application. This will
be sent to the program offi-
cer in Seattle, Washington,
for feedback. Green will
then present the final scope
of the project to the council
for approval before the final
submission.
The application must be
submitted by July, Green
said, and a decision will
be made within 60 days
of the city submitting the
application.
“Regardless of the out-
come of this particular
grant, our goal is to continue
to pursue multiple invest-
ment partners and funding
sources to help our com-
munity succeed and recover
from our extended reces-
sion,” said Green.
In other city council
news:
• The city approved a res-
olution that raised the base
monthly rate of water by $1,
making the rate $33.
The resolution also offi-
cially adds a drip allowance
for all customers during
periods with freezing tem-
peratures. While this has
always been a city prac-
tice, it has never been docu-
mented. The allowance will
allow up to 500 gallons per
unit, but will be determined
by the director annually
based on need, according to
the resolution.
The raise will help with
future improvements and
keeping up with increasing
costs of labor and equip-
ment, Green said.
A community member
asked the council why the
city continues to raise rates
because one of the reasons
cited was to help the city
compete for grants, which
seems to have been fulfilled.
“Auditors that we have
recommended it because
we are barley in the black,
and we are not high enough
in the black to cover major
break downs and stuff like
that,” Councilor David Hol-
land said. “They want us to
get a little better in the black
and recommend that we
slightly raise rates.”
• The city approved a res-
olution that raised the base
monthly rate of the sewer
service by $1, making the
rate $48 for living units
and schools, $54 for ser-
vice stations, garages and
tire shops, $64.50 for hotels,
motels, RV parks, laundries,
food, meat and dairy pro-
cessing units and $52 for all
other units.
John Day appoints Aleman to fill planning commission vacancy
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Elizabeth Aleman of John
Day introduces herself to the
council after being appoint-
ed to the planning commis-
sion Jan. 14.
One of two vacant John
Day Planning Commission
positions has been filled.
The
city
council
appointed Elizabeth Ale-
man of John Day to serve a
four-year term, which ends
on Dec. 31, 2023, at the city
council meeting Jan. 14.
Aleman holds three decades
worth of professional plan-
ning experience with tim-
ber, natural resources man-
agement,
wildfire
and
fuels, realty and recreation,
according to her application
for the position.
“I am excited about
learning and discovering
more about the needs and
the challenges, and I will be
posing questions because I
will be on a learning curve,”
Aleman said. “I find the tra-
jectory that this commu-
nity is moving towards is
quite positive and challeng-
ing, and I find that to be
intriguing.”
Aleman worked in small
communities before by help-
ing with rural economic
development and always
sought to solve problems.
She also spends time vol-
unteering by helping out at
the Painted Sky Center for
the Arts and cleaning for the
Adopt-a-Highway program.
“I worked with small
communities in terms of
rural economic develop-
ment, and I found that to
be very enjoyable, and we
put heads together to solve
problems that benefited cit-
izens,” said Aleman.
Aleman’s goal right now
is to enhance what John Day
has and understand what
people in the community
desire. She plans to advocate
for thoughtful development
that promotes economic and
environmental stability.
In the year that Aleman
has spent in the commu-
nity, she has been pleasantly
surprised.
“In living here, I am
just amazed by the people
I have met, their passion,
and they’re fun people to
be with,” Aleman said. “I
am just impressed with how
people come together for
one another, and that mat-
ters to me. We shouldn’t
be surprised, but yet, to see
it manifest itself regularly
here just underscores the
fact that my husband and I
made a really good decision
to move here.”
Aleman looks forward
to serving a community she
cares deeply about.
The city council also
reappointed Tom Wilson to
the planning commission
to serve another four-year
term.
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