A6
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
The airport looks ahead at a busy summer
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant County Regional Airport
will only need $3.3 million of the $6.25
million grant the airport applied for last
year.
Airport Manager Haley Walker said
the airport is saving the taxpayers money
because the project bid from the con-
struction contractor and the engineering
consultants only came out to about half
of what they originally asked for.
The $6.25 million grant was secured
through the federal Department of
Transportation’s Airport Improvement
Program.
The large federal grant with no match
required will allow the airport to “decou-
ple” its two runways and make takeoffs
and landings safer.
Walker said the the construction of
the project will take place this summer.
Runway 9/27, which runs roughly
east-west, and Runway 17/35, which
runs roughly north-south, crisscross
near the south end of the airfield. Walker
said it had been identified by the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration as a poten-
tial hazard.
“As a result of completing this proj-
ect, we will be able to make future
improvements at the airport such as wid-
ening taxiways,” Walker said.
Additionally, the airport received
$20,000 through the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security Act to
tackle maintenance projects, such as the
purchase of a pod sweeper and improved
fencing.
“The $20,000 through the CARES
Act was excellent news that doesn’t
have to come out of our current budget,”
she said.
Also, Walker said the north apron
reconstruction project, repairs to the
deteriorating apron, began on May 26.
“If I was to tell you what the number
one thing that local airport users wanted
from day one when I started four years
ago, it would be that project so that’s
exciting news to get that taken care of,”
Walker said.
Meanwhile, Walker said, the envi-
ronmental assessment project, which
looks at the next several years of projects
and getting the environmental clearance
for those future projects will save time
and money, starts this summer as well.
Walker said the grants and funding
are a combination of both state and fed-
eral funding streams.
She said the total comes to roughly
$7 million.
“Yeah, it’s kind of neat where I
believe it’s only gonna be about $40,000
out of our airport budget for almost $7
million,” Walker said. “So I would defi-
nitely call that a good use of funds and
leveraging of grants that are available.”
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant County Regional Airport Manager Haley Walker addresses the Grant
County Court May 27.
Oregon lawmakers to meet in special session next week
Budget cuts don’t make the agenda — yet
— but police accountability is top of mind
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
Bills to tighten the
accountability of police after
the death of George Floyd
in Minneapolis would lead a
list of about two dozen action
items proposed for a special
session of the Oregon Leg-
islature targeted for Wednes-
day, June 24.
Gov. Kate Brown called
for a session Tuesday morn-
ing. The session will exclude
talks of potential spend-
ing cuts in the current two-
year state budget. Legisla-
tive budget subcommittees
are just starting to look at
the cuts submitted by agen-
cies, hearing from the pub-
lic and coming up with their
own proposals. Two of them
have scheduled meetings for
Wednesday, June 17.
Topping the list are bills
dealing with police account-
ability, as proposed by the
nine-member People of Color
Caucus and supported by
Brown and Democratic legis-
lative leaders in the aftermath
of street protests in Portland
and other cities. Floyd died
May 25.
One bill would bar a labor
arbitrator from reducing dis-
cipline against a police officer
if the employing agency con-
Laycock
Creek
Firewise
Project
released for
public scoping
cluded there was misconduct
on the officer’s part. This bill
has passed the Senate with-
out dissent in 2019 and 2020,
but failed to reach a vote in
the House before the abrupt
close of the 2020 session on
March 5.
Others may prove to be
more controversial. There are
proposals to set up a state-
wide database for police dis-
ciplinary cases, designate
the attorney general instead
of district attorneys to inves-
tigate police when use of
force results in death or seri-
ous injuries, require police to
report misbehavior by other
police and outlaw the use
of chokeholds, tear gas and
other methods.
Several proposed action
items stem from Brown’s
executive orders during the
coronavirus pandemic, such
as moratoriums on residential
and commercial evictions,
changes to public meeting
requirements and shielding
payments made under the
federal coronavirus aid act.
Others are bills that
were proposed but failed to
advance in the 2020 session.
One of them would make
technical changes in the com-
mercial activity tax that Ore-
gon lawmakers enacted in
2019. Business groups have
urged a suspension of the tax
for the first two quarters of
2020, but Brown has declined
so far to do so. The Depart-
ment of Revenue did defer
payments by the smallest
businesses subject to the tax
to April 2021, and it will not
penalize businesses for late
reports if they show good-
faith efforts.
One bill would adjust
deadlines for court cases, par-
ticularly for some crimes that
are subject to speedy-trial
requirements. The courts do
not have the legal authority to
change the deadlines, which
were affected when courts
curtailed operations during
the pandemic.
Charles Boyle, spokesper-
son for the governor, said her
office expected to make an
announcement on special ses-
sion early this week.
Once a session is under-
way, issues are not lim-
ited, but legislative lead-
ers can control the flow of
bills through the committee
system.
The 21-day scoping
period for the Laycock Creek
Firewise Project on the Mal-
heur National Forest’s Blue
Mountain Ranger District
will begin on Thursday, June
18, and end on Thursday, July
9.
Specific scoping com-
ments will help the team
determine if other actions are
needed, explore alternative
proposals, or identify con-
cerns or gaps in information,
according to a Forest Service
press release.
The
Laycock
Creek
Firewise Project proposes
thinning (which may produce
commercial products) and
prescribed fire to reduce fuel
loads on approximately 3,000
acres of National Forest Sys-
tem lands adjacent to private
property to (1) minimize the
spread of wildfires onto pri-
vate property, (2) improve
wildlife habitat and forage,
and (3) restore overall forest
resiliency to disturbances.
The scoping package,
which contains maps and pro-
posed activity descriptions,
can be accessed on the Mal-
heur National Forest website
at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/
project/?project=58212.
Written comments can be
submitted to: Robert Fox-
worth, c/o Bethany Parke,
Blue Mountain Ranger Dis-
trict, P.O. Box 909, John Day,
OR 97845.
Electronic comments can be
submitted to: comments: pacif-
icnorthwest-malheur-blue-
mountain@usda.gov.
For more information,
contact Bethany Parker,
NEPA planner, at 541-575-
3031 or by email at bethany.
parker@usda.gov.
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