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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2020)
NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, September 9, 2020 A3 County hosts EOC software demonstration County hopes to recoup some of the roughly $41,000 cost for custom incident tracking software to get FEMA reimbursements By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County hosted an online software demonstra- tion in hopes of offsetting the roughly $41,000 it will have to pay a Portland software com- pany that built the county a cus- tom software suite to track fed- eral reimbursements. The software expenditure, approved outside of county court in May without compar- ing bids from other develop- ers, is part of the $200,000 the COVID-19 Emergency Oper- ations Center spent after being budgeted $125,000, according to a document former Incident Commander Dave Dobler sub- mitted in court May 27. Dobler, a sheriff’s deputy who stepped down as head of the EOC in June, was on the call to members of the Associ- ation of Oregon Counties with the developer, Tryon Creek Software CEO Brendan Joyce. In an email to the Eagle Aug. 26, Dobler said he was off duty during the call and is not being compensated by Tyron Creek, a company he has done business with in the past. “My involvement is to help other counties manage their data and save taxpayers money,” he said. “...The plan, for months, was to share the software with other counties.” Joyce said in an email to Grant County Judge Scott Myers that County Commis- sioner Jim Hamsher asked him to send EOC documents to the state’s auditor, Scott Learn, because the EOC was no longer functioning. Joyce said Learn was frustrated with the “multi- Eagle file photo Grant County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Dave Dobler, the former COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center incident commander, addresses County Court in May. tude of ways Oregon counties reported CARES expenses.” Joyce said he told Hamsher that Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the EOC software might be useful for other counties, and Hamsher agreed. Joyce said he had previously mentioned looking to other counties to partner and share costs on future phases. He said Grant County owns the soft- ware in its current form, and the only ongoing costs are web hosting and data storage. Joyce said those costs could be offset Update hunting app for electronic tagging and ensure it’s downloaded correctly Flood ordinance vote coming in October By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County Court voted Aug. 26 to write a letter to President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt to request assistance to mit- igate invasive plant species and noxious weeds. Grant County Judge Scott Myers said the nox- ious weeds, mainly medusa head, grow back after wild- fires and have to be removed manually. “You can’t burn it away,” he said. “It comes back, eventually.” Myers said, if the county continues to receive Secure Rural Schools Act funding, money the federal govern- ment sets aside for schools, roads, and other munici- pal services, then the ranch- ers can address the noxious weeds problem through that program. Especially through Title II funding, that money is set aside for projects on federal lands. “Title II projects would be just perfect for that,” he said. In other county news: • Grant County Planning Commissioner Shannon Springer updated the court on the planning commis- sion’s proposed flood ordi- nance. She said the proposed amendments are not changes in intent related to require- ments, but instead changes to the wording. She said the county must ensure that its flood man- agement practices comply The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Oregon State Police Sgt. Erich Timko stands with antlers that confiscated by OSP. required to fence or sign their property in order to enforce a trespassing call, Timko said. “In the age now with GPS and apps, it’s pretty simple to go and make sure you track your- self,” Timko said. “If you do shoot an animal, and it crosses onto private property, you need to make sure you contact the landowner or OSP before going onto that property.” Loaning or borrowing of tags is another common viola- tion that hunters make. He said the person who drew the tag is the only person who can har- vest the animal. The exception to this rule is mentored youth hunter pro- gram, where a youth hunter ages 9-15 can use a mentor or guardian’s tag. There are several travel management areas to look out for as well, or green dots, which are road closures meant to cre- ate a better escape habitat for wildlife during the hunting season. “Pay attention to those,” Timko said. “Most of our East- ern Oregon units have at least one or more road closure sys- tems in them, and they are all signed prior to entering.” Timko recommends people to make sure they review and understand the hunting synop- sis and the regulations before hunting — especially if they’re entering a new area. Another violation that OSP sees, which can impact a hunt- ers safety, is hunters riding an ATV with a loaded firearm. “Your firearm has to be unloaded while you’re travel- ing on an ATV,” Timko said. “You can’t have a round in the chamber of your firearm, and you can’t have an arrow nocked” Timko said, if hunters bring alcohol when hunting, make sure they keep it at camp and are not impaired when handling weapons. He said that driv- ing under the influence crashes occur every season on second- ary roads. He also said to make sure a hunter identifies an animal before taking a shot and to use binoculars to look at the subject instead of a scope in case the object is a person. Timko, who is an avid hunter himself, said a hard part of the job is seeing people who paint hunting in a negative light by not following the regulations and taking animals unlawfully. If a hunter witnesses a vio- lation, Timko said they should take the extra time to call it in because OSP can’t be every- where all the time. OSP recently started their Turn-in-Poachers program, which awards people money or preference points for informa- tion leading to an arrest or issu- ance of a citation for the illegal killing or taking of wildlife or illegally obtaining Oregon hunt- ing or angling licenses or tags, according to the state website. To report violations, call 1-800- 452-7888 or *677 from a mobile phone. “We are going to be out there, and we’re going to be diligent in enforcing these regulations,” Timko said. “If they’re consid- ering cheating the system, we ask that they think twice about it because of the repercussions.” 15 OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE * Promo Number: 285 10 OFF SENIOR & MILITARY DISCOUNTS + 5 24 hrs/7 days wk REMODELS • NEW CONSTRUCTION • POLE BUILDINGS CONCRETE EXCAVATION • SHEET ROCK • SIDING ROOFING • FENCES • DECKS • TELESCOPING FORKLIFT SERVICES 19 . 99 $ /mo. where available 2-YEAR TV PRICE GUARANTEE America’s Top 120 Package OFF MO. Including Local Channels! 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According to Myers, the update would work out to a $3 per hour raise. • The court approved Grant County Regional Air- port Manager Haley Walk- er’s request of $4,478 in rent that the airport was owed by the Emergency Operations Center. CCB# 106077 1-855-536-8838 % with federal guidelines in the national flood insurance program. She said the bulk of the wording was changed to mirror the federal govern- ment. Springer said the plan- ning commission reviewed the ordinance and recom- mended approval. She said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is slated to com- plete its remapping of the Silvies watershed by the end of September. It would make more sense, Springer said, to approve the flood ordi- (541) 410-0557 • (541) 575-0192 S206663-1 CALL US TODAY FOR The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Grant County resident Loren Stout addresses the court about noxious weeds Aug. 26. CONSTRUCTION NO MORE GUTTER CLEANING, OR YOUR MONEY BACK GUARANTEED! A FREE ESTIMATE The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Grant County citizen Larry Burton speaks about dwindling mule deer populations at Grant County Court Aug. 26. TOM CHRISTENSEN CHRISTENSEN TOM S206666-1 The big game hunting sea- son began Aug. 29, but com- mon violations can hinder the experience. Oregon State Police Sgt. Erich Timko, who supervises the John Day, Burns and Fossil fish and wildlife troopers, talked about some of the common vio- lations hunters make while hunt- ing for their prize. Timko said a new prob- lem is with electronic tagging, or e-tagging, using the Oregon Department of Fish and Wild- life’s app instead of a paper tag. The biggest issue is that people don’t download the app prop- erly, preventing the ability to provide a hunting license or tag information. “At that point, we have no way to verify if a hunter has a valid tag or license,” Timko said. He said people should sync or update their app to the latest version with the most current information before heading out since hunters could easily lose cell service through many parts of Eastern Oregon. “In theory, the app is sup- posed to work once you down- load the app and sync it,” Timko said. “You should be able to put your phone in airplane mode and still be able to get your con- firmation on your validation.” Timko said what he’s seen is that people properly vali- date their tag electronically, but need to remember to have a tag attached to the animal as well as their confirmation number writ- ten in ink. “As long as it’s written and you can legibly see it and it’s attached to the animal, you’re good to go,” Timko said. Other common complaints and violations OSP receives include road hunting, crimi- nal trespass, and waste of game meat. Timko said hunters can’t lawfully hunt from any pub- lic roadway, which includes the right of way, and must know where they are hunting at all times, and need to make sure they properly salvage meat from harvested game. A landowner in Oregon is not AND! ing other counties on board can help spread out and offset the ongoing costs. In response to whether Grant County is currently using the software, Dobler said it is avail- able to be used, but “software development takes a little bit of time.” He said the first phase of the software was “looked at being used,” but the county “scaled back the EOC substantially.” “It did not get used to its full potential,” he said. “But it is ready to. I plan on using it for search and rescue oper- ations and for fires and floods, where we’ve got to carefully document to get reimburse- ments. And so it is available in its current form. We just have not stress-tested the soft- ware yet, because COVID has dropped off, and it was primar- ily designed for that.” Dobler said the software is versatile and can be used for county road projects and other incidents. County to request noxious weeds assistance from Trump’s secretary of interior Common violations hunters should avoid % if other counties also use it. Dobler said he and Hamsher reached out to the AOC, and the association reached out to the 16 people on the call. Dobler said he was autho- rized to be on the call by Ham- sher, the court’s liaison to the sheriff’s office. Hamsher said the court does not have to allow for a bidding process for purchases below $150,000. Myers said the county had declared a state of emergency, which allowed them to avoid the bidding process. “In an emergency, we can sidestep those requirements,” he said. The county has paid $25,800 for the software so far, and another $16,000 is pend- ing, according to an email pro- vided to the Eagle last week by County Treasurer Julie Ellison. Dobler said the county is on the hook for roughly $200 to $300 in data storage and web hosting fees. He said that bring- *Terms & Conditions Apply BASIC SYSTEM: $99 Parts and Install. 36-Month Monitoring Agreement required at $27.99 per month ($1,007.64). 24-Month Monitoring Agreement required at $27.99 per month ($671.76) for California. Offer applies to homeowners only. Basic system requires landline phone. Offer valid for new ADT Authorized Premier Provider customers only and not on purchases from ADT LLC. Cannot be combined with any other offer. The $27.99 Offer does not include Quality Service Plan (QSP), ADT’s Extended Limited Warranty. 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