A CREATIVE CELEBRATION AMID THE CORONAVIRUS | PAGE A3
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
152nd Year • No. 17 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
E. Oregon leaders ask governor to reopen economy regionally
Brown to release draft plan next week with criteria that must be met
By Dick Hughes
and Ellen Morris Bishop
For the Oregon Capital Bureau
Exactly when Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown might begin
reopening Oregon’s rural coun-
ties is uncertain.
Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Murdock is
thinking May. Wallowa County
Commissioner Susan Rob-
erts is convinced it will be June
— or later. The date remains
uncertain, based on a 90 min-
ute conference call with about
80 county commissioners late
Monday afternoon.
Roberts said a June opening
“...would be a disaster for us.”
Roberts sent a letter to
Brown, signed by commission-
ers from Grant County and eight
other Eastern Oregon coun-
ties requesting a “conversa-
tion” about re-opening for those
counties, on Thursday instigat-
ing the meeting. Pressure from
Republican lawmakers pro-
vided additional motivation.
“Commissioners are under
tremendous pressure in their
counties to reopen for busi-
ness,” Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Murdock
said afterward. “I felt like it’s
actually progressing. The con-
versation about opening up,
with the notable exception of
large groups, is almost pro-
gressing more quickly than I
had anticipated.”
He added, “Now, by moving
right along, we’re talking about
mid-May or so.”
Roberts was far less
optimistic.
“I’m angry and frustrated,”
she said. “We had asked for a
conversation between the gov-
ernor and Eastern Oregon to
ask about opening up our small
communities, and we got noth-
ing. We didn’t get any real
answers for our small business
owners, just ‘we need to review
that, and set up committees.’ So
basically what it is: No, we’re
not going to allow the state to
open, and we’re not going to
talk with Eastern Oregon.”
Roberts was also unhappy
with the seeming unavailability
of funds from the federal coro-
navirus relief bill $1.6 billion
payment to Oregon for com-
munities and counties in East-
ern Oregon.
“We had costs due to
COVID-19 in our county, and
we should be able to recover
those costs out of this fund,” she
said. “And Brown told us she
was not sure she could do that.”
Gov. Brown expects to
release a more detailed draft
plan next week. It will not con-
tain dates for when businesses
might reopen and social dis-
tancing restrictions might be
eased. Instead, it will require
meeting criteria that Brown
announced last week, combined
with President Donald Trump’s
recommendations.
In a statement released after
the meeting, Brown speci-
fied that “timelines for reopen-
ing communities will be driven
by solid data on the spread of
COVID-19, county by county
as appropriate ... We would
expect that the first counties
... eligible to begin the process
of reopening will be in rural
Oregon — but only if we can
ensure those counties have ade-
quate testing capacity, sufficient
supplies of personal protective
See Economy, Page A18
PAYING FOR A POOL
Plans revealed for aquatics center in Grant County
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
for each city, John Day’s average assessed
value is much higher than Seneca’s. So the
average Seneca property owner will contribute
about $25.22 a year, and the average John Day
owner will contribute $110.68 a year.”
The average tax for property owners in
Canyon City would be $66.67 a year, $58.55 a
year for Mt. Vernon and $64.49 a year in Prai-
rie City.
Green noted that this was based on a pre-
COVID-19 pandemic analysis.
“What is interesting to note about that is
that it was based on our analysis from a month
ago when municipal bond rates were hovering
around 3.3%,” Green said. “... We’re borrow-
ing at 2%, and it may go lower.”
I
nformation regarding the taxing district
boundaries, tax rates and design for the
new aquatic center proposal were pre-
sented during a virtual John Day City
Council meeting April 14.
“We kept the team working, and we had fin-
ished a lot of the work prior to the coronavi-
rus,” said John Day City Manager Nick Green.
Green said construction is anticipated to
cost $6 million, and the aquatic center’s opera-
tions, maintenance and equipment replacement
is expected to cost $90,000 per year.
If approved, a proposed ballot measure
could be sent to voters in John Day, Canyon
City, Seneca, Prairie City, Mt. Vernon and
those within their rural fire districts. The pro-
posed measure consists of two parts with one
part covering the operations expenses and
the other part covering the 20-year capital
improvement bond to build the aquatic center.
To cover operations, a new taxing district
would be established with a permanent rate of
20 cents per $1,000 of a property’s assessed
value. For a property assessed at $100,000, this
would cost $20 per year permanently.
To cover the 20-year capital bond, property
owners would pay a temporary rate of about
71 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. For a
property assessed at $100,000, this would cost
A multi-city project
Contributed image
The site concept for a future aquatics center in John Day presented during a virtual meeting
April 14.
about $71 per year for 20 years.
A goal in planning for the proposal was to
have a rate that would come in below the hos-
pital bond rate set to retire in 2020. While the
aquatic district will present a new tax, property
owners would still see a reduction in their over-
all year-over-year net tax with the retirement of
the hospital bond.
Green said the goal was achieved, and
the average savings is 27 cents per $1,000 of
assessed value. This translates to an average of
a $24.91 net tax reduction for a property owner
in John Day going into the 2021 tax year,
$16.03 for Canyon City, $7.08 for Seneca,
$12.06 for Mt. Vernon and $13.75 for Prairie
City, according to figures provided by Green.
“Everyone pays the same rate,” Green said.
“The reason the costs are different by commu-
nity is that that rate is applied to your assessed
value. If you look at the average assessed value
Multiple people throughout the county
assisted in planning for the aquatic cen-
ter: Haley Walker, who is the chair of the
swim board; Art Thunell, Russ Young, Lisa
Weigum and Zach Williams from the John
Day-Canyon City Parks and Recreation
District; Grant School District Superinten-
dent Bret Uptmor; and Rob Raschio, who is
appointed to represent the county’s interests.
Each contributed to the discussions and plan-
ning for the proposal. The plans were also
presented to a steering committee of public
See Pool, Page A18
Eagle file photo
John Day swimmer Sierra May
competes in a butterfly event at
the John Day Swim Meet in 2019.
Local business owners struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic
BEO helped six small
Grant county businesses
secure federal loans before
program ran out of funds
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Bank of Eastern Oregon helped
six Grant County small businesses secure
loans through the Paycheck Protection
Program last week before the funds ran
dry. Congress appeared to reach a deal
to extend the program Tuesday, but the
details were not finalized before press
time.
The forgivable loan, established by
the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Eco-
nomic Security Act, is designed to sup-
port small businesses to maintain their
payroll and some overhead expenses
through the period of emergency. The
purpose of the program is to keep work-
ers employed during the crisis.
Bob Quinton, a commercial loan offi-
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Bob Quinton, commercial loan officer with Bank of Eastern Oregon, said Thursday
that six businesses secured Payroll Protection Program loans through the SBA
COVID-19 stimulus program. Quinton said a total of $3 million has been obligated
between the businesses.
cer with the Bank of Eastern Oregon,
said the PPP loans are for small busi-
nesses with less than 500 people. Com-
panies who maintain or rehire staff can
have the loan wholly forgiven if they
spend 75% of the money on payroll and
the remaining 25% on rent, utilities and
other operating expenses.
Quinton said the Bank of Eastern
Oregon received about 44 applications,
and at one point, the online SBA portal
was completely inundated.
He said in the past 14 days, according
to his SBA representative, the SBA pro-
cessed more loans than it had previously
handled the past 14 years combined.
“It’s been overwhelming,” Quinton
said.
He said some business owners were
hesitant because of the lack of details
and the ever-changing terms of the loan
process.
“There were so many questions and
not enough places to get answers,” Quin-
ton said.
Quinton said he ordered more sets of
loan documents in the event Congress
allocates more funds to the program.
Meanwhile, business owners in Grant
County remain in limbo as Congress
hammers out the details of both the PPP
program and opening up the economy.
Shawn Duncan, the owner of the
Squeeze In Restaurant and Deck, said
that she applied for the PPP loan through
both Umpqua Bank and U.S. Bank. She
said she never heard back from Umpqua,
and U.S. Bank said the SBA stopped
accepting applications.
Duncan said she temporarily closed
to keep her staff and customers safe. She
See Struggle, Page A18