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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2020)
NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, October 21, 2020 The hurdle of financing a pool in Grant County Even if a new pool can be built, the ongoing operational costs need to be covered By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Gleason Pool’s final season has passed as COVID-19 prematurely cut the facility’s last year for open- ing, but conversations on how to move forward continued between the Grant County Court and John Day City Council. John Day City Manager Nick Green opened the discussion on the pool during a joint work session on Oct. 14 by saying the city spent all the funds they can planning for the replacement and plan to sell the land to the state. He added that the state is actively working on plans for the new Kam Wah Chung Interpretive The John Day City Council and Grant County Court discuss covering operating costs if a pool was ever built in Grant County Oct. 14. Center at the Gleason Pool site. Green said, even if voters were to put construction of a new pool on the ballot through a citizen initia- tive, operational costs still must be covered. He said he believes a reason other cities were against the plan was because of the permanent tax rate proposed in the aquatics district that would cover John Day, Prairie City, Mt. Vernon, Canyon City, Seneca and the corresponding fire districts. To cover operations, the proposal detailed a new taxing district 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 tempo- rary rate of about 71 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. For a property assessed at $100,000, this would cost about $71 per year for 20 years. “I can understand that. I can appreciate that. I don’t know how else you fund it unless there’s an intergovernmental agreement where we all agree to cost share out of our current tax base,” Green said. Green said the concern about the permanent tax rate to fund the pool’s operations is a solvable problem if the communities choose to solve it. “Getting it built wasn’t really the challenge so much was figuring out how we operate and sustain it,” Green said. Grant County Commissioner Jim Hamsher said a reason why commu- nities might not want to participate is because of bad timing with the cur- rent economy, unemployment and shutdowns caused by the pandemic. “Sometimes it’s bad timing when you start surveying people who are wondering how to buy groceries,” Hamsher said. “I think a lot of it is timing.” Hamsher asked if it were possible to retain the the property specifically for Gleason Pool and put time into remodeling. This was also a concern A9 brought up by other leaders in the community who wondered if Glea- son Pool could still be retained. Green said the challenge would be building for the future. He said it was not an ideal location, the size of the pool does not allow for growth and it would not allow Kam Wah Chung to expand at its site. “We’re going to be giving up cash that we can realize from the sale, and put toward a new facility, and we’re going to lose the tourism dollars and benefits of that multi-million dollar state investment that the state is pro- gramming to do,” Green said. Green added that the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department plan has a building sitting on the foundation of the current pool. Grant County Judge Scott Myers said, when surveyed earlier this year, he supported Canyon City being included in the proposed aquatic dis- trict but said moving forward now would be difficult. Additional funding available for Grant County small businesses Sheriff recognizes deputies By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County small busi- nesses have an additional $500,000 available to them through the Greater East- ern Oregon Development Corporation. Stephanie LeQuieu, Ore- gon RAIN rural catalyst, said during a session of Grant County Court Oct. 14 that businesses that have already received grant money in a pre- vious round are eligible for a supplemental grant. She said the thresh- old increased from $2,500 to $5,000. Businesses that received $2,500 during the first round of funding can now apply for an additional $2,500. While the county’s grant money is available until the funds are exhausted, the dead- line for the grants through GEODC is Nov. 16. Tory Stinnett, the county’s director of economic devel- opment, said the process can seem overwhelming, but all businesses must do is fill out the application and send it to tstinnett@grantcountyoregon. net or stephanie@oregonrain. org. “It’s a lot, so that’s why we’re just asking people to fill out the application and send it to us,” she said. “And we’ll send it off to the differ- ent places because we want to make sure that everyone is get- ting the money.” County Commissioner Jim Hamsher said the “time is of the essence” to get the applica- tions turned in. Full applications are avail- able at grantcountyoregon.net/ DocumentCenter/View/871. Supplemental applications are available at grantcountyore- gon.net/DocumentCenter/ View/872. The court also approved Stinnett’s request to hire a full- time assistant. She said she is budgeted for 30 hours, but she needs a full-time staffer to get resources to businesses “espe- cially during COVID.” She said she was not sure if there were any grants to pay for an assistant, but she said part of her department’s funding comes from the Oregon lottery. She said the lottery funding does not show up on her bud- get, but that under “transpar- ency in Oregon” on Oregon. gov, it will show how counties spent the money. Stinnett said it shows Grant County spent part of the money on an assis- tant in the economic develop- ment office. According to the county expenditures on the State Lot- tery Fund page, $59,532.87 was used: “A .31 full-time equivalent Economic Devel- opment Coordinator was employed during this time to work with cities and non-profit entities securing grants and event planning to bring tour- ism into the county. The bal- ance of these funds was used to sustain employees at the fair- grounds and airport who also host events to bring tourism into the county.” Stinnett said as a third of it goes to both the airport and the fairgrounds. She said she did not want to take the funding away from either department but wants to meet with them to see how the lottery money is spent. Myers said funding the part- time position raises a “question of sustainability.” Palmer moved to fund the position, and Hamsher sec- onded the decision. LeQuieu asked if the court intended on renewing her con- tract as manager of the John Day Farmers Market. Myers said, if funding is left, that it would continue. Sheriff recognizes deputies Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer recognized Sgt. Josh Wolf and deputy Wade Wadell, who completed 52 hours of supervisory training through the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training and the Command Council. Sheriff Palmer said Under- sheriff Zach Mobley and Sgt. Danny Komning completed the DPSST supervisory train- ing too. The sheriff said the office had issued Komning’s certifi- cate, but he still wanted to rec- ognize him, nonetheless. “The training is very, very intense,” he said. “And it goes right into the evening, so I just wanted to recognize these gentlemen.” Flood ordinance hearing postponedPlanning director Shannon Springer requested the court push back its approval of the flood ordinance to Nov. 18. Springer asked the court to postpone adopting the ordinance in August so that the maps could include the Sil- vies watershed. At the court’s direction, the Planning Depart- ment sent notices. Since then, Springer said she received calls on behalf of a couple of prop- erty owners who would like to participate in the hearing. Rock crushing on Highway 395 County Roadmaster Alan Hickerson said the rock crush- ing project on Highway 395 near Izee is set to enter the intent to award process. He said the low bid came in at $287,850. Hickerson requested approval to exchange the snowplow the department pur- chased last month. He said there was a miscommunica- tion with the sales represen- tative and the one that arrived “will not work.” He assured the court that there would not be a return fee. The plow will cost an additional $2,300. Hickerson requested approval to have the air ducts cleaned at the Road Depart- ment building. The office manager, Hickerson said, is having breathing issues, and they believe the cause is the air ducts. The air ducts in the 15-year-old building, he said, have not been cleaned, but Ryan Palmer cleans the air fil- ters every three years. The court approved $886 to be written into the budget to have the air ducts cleaned and to have it done as “routine maintenance.” AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE I’d like to address two points regarding Mr. Carpenter’s endorsement of my write-in candidacy to be your Circuit Court judge that have been raised with me. 1. Should I be “tarred with the same brush” that caused Mr Carpenter to withdraw from this race? Keep in mind that Mr. Carpenter endorsed my candidacy, not the other way around. When he decided to suspend his campaign, Mr. Carpenter could have done three things: A. He might have endorsed my opponent. B. He might have remained silent on the issue; or, C. He could endorse me. Mr. Carpenter endorsed me, and he explicitly asked those of you who have been his supporters to cast your write-in votes for me. When Mr. Carpenter weighed his options, he decided I was the best, most feasible, candidate to run for this position. How did he know that? Simple. If the same citizens who voted for Mr. Carpenter in the primary vote for me now (as he’s asked you to do), and the same citizens who voted for me in the primary do so again, I win. 3193 to 2814. If the numbers didn’t support the decision, I would not be running. 2. People have concerns regarding the allegations surrounding Mr Carpenter and, somehow, those concerns apply to me. They don’t. My record is clear and unblemished. Mr. Carpenter suspended his run for reasons specific only to him. He wanted Grant and Harney voters to have a real, feasible, logical, CHOICE for Circuit Court judge, and he did the math. If you were previously supporting Mr. Carpenter, please follow his endorsement and write in John Lamborn for Circuit Court Judge. Thank you. S211869-1