NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
A3
Rookstool wins tie-breaking coin toss for John Day City Council seat
New councilor wants
people to feel their
voices are heard
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
Heather Rookstool won
the final spot on the John Day
City Council by the toss of a
coin.
Rookstool and Chris
Labhart remained tied with
470 votes each after a hand
count on Nov. 16.
The John Day City Coun-
cil motioned to break the tie
between Labhart and Rook-
stool through a coin toss on
Dec. 8, which was recom-
mended by the city’s legal
counsel.
Councilor Paul Smith des-
ignated Labhart as heads and
Rookstool with the other side
of the coin, which depicted a
handshake.
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Heather Rookstool and Chris
Labhart look on to see who will
join the John Day City Council
during a coin toss Dec. 8.
John Day City Manager Nick Green flips a coin to break the tie for
the final city council seat between Heather Rookstool and Chris
Labhart on Dec. 8.
John Day City Manager
Nick Green flipped the coin
as Rookstool and Labhart
watched the proceedings.
The coin landed on the
handshake, sending Rook-
stool to the city council.
Both Labhart and Rook-
stool were satisfied with
the decision to break the tie
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
through a coin toss.
Rookstool said it was a
“cool” election experience
but also an odd way to win.
“When Nick flipped the
be a voice for those busi-
nesses and our community
as a whole.”
Rookstool said positive
things have been happen-
ing in the community such
as the planned Dollar Gen-
eral store, the Thadd’s Place
grief center and the devel-
oping parks in the city, but
some of the small busi-
nesses feel like their voices
are underrepresented at
times.
“I think the community
as a whole needs to feel
like their voice is heard at
the city council,” Rookstool
said, “and that was my drive
to hopefully be that voice.”
Rookstool will join
incumbents David Holland
and Elliot Sky, who were
both reelected in November,
as well as councilors Shan-
non Adair, Paul Smith and
Gregg Haberly, who were
not up for reelection.
the coin I was like uhhhh (in
anticipation),” Rookstool
said. “I always pick tails
when flipping a coin, but
I thought it was funny that
Paul actually picked tails
for me because that’s always
my go to.”
Rookstool said a big rea-
son why she wanted to join
the city council was to bet-
ter support small businesses.
She said she wants to be
an advocate for small busi-
nesses in John Day, talking
to them and represent-
ing their voices to the city
council, especially with the
impact COVID-19 has had
on businesses this year.
“My biggest passion and
reason to get on the council
was to help budget-wise and
mainly support small busi-
nesses,” Rookstool said.
“Without small businesses,
we don’t have a community
to live in, and I hope I can
John Day plans to restore water to Boring Properties rentals
Tenants could pay for
water directly while
issues with landlord
are being resolved
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
Tenants at Boring Proper-
ties rentals in John Day could
soon have water again.
The John Day City Coun-
cil moved Dec. 8 to allow ten-
ants of Boring Properties LLC
rentals on Southwest Brent
Drive to establish temporary
utility accounts directly with
the city while issues with the
landlord paying the utilities
are being resolved.
John Day City Man-
ager Nick Green said the city
decided to shut off water ser-
vice to several rentals owned
by Boring Properties because
the company owed the city
more than $2,700 in past due
utility fees and a leak on the
property was never addressed.
Green said they did not receive
a response from the landlord
after reaching out to them
regarding the issues. Boring
Properties has not responded
to messages left by the Eagle.
“I don’t have the authority
to incur losses to the city when
the landlord isn’t paying their
bills and isn’t correcting the
issue,” Green said. “However,
that impacted the tenants, and
they’ve been without water
for two weeks.”
The leak on the property
is about 2 gallons a minute,
which is roughly 86,000 gal-
lons a month, according to
Green.
Councilor Dave Holland
asked if the city could repair
the leak and charge it to the
property owner. Holland said
he hated seeing people forced
to live in poor conditions
because of something that is
out of the their control.
“To have them without
water because the landlord is
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
The John Day City Council discusses Boring Properties rentals
and utility services at the Dec. 8 city council meeting.
unwilling to pay, I don’t know
that that’s the way it should be
handled, other than using our
remedies available to recoup
our money in the long run,”
Holland said.
Green said the city is cur-
rently giving the property
owner due process after the
city sent a letter to Boring
Properties LLC owner Dar-
rinn Manuel on Dec. 2. This
gives Boring Properties 15
days to address the leak and
make their account current
with the city.
On day 16, if the property
owners fail to respond to or
act on the request, Green can
request an administrative war-
rant and have the city fix the
leak and restore water.
The city can take an action
sooner if the property owner
gives permission for the city
to fix the leak and negotiates
an agreement for repaying the
city for the cost.
Green said the city’s sewer
and water funds can absorb
the extent of the losses they
would incur while fixing this
issue.
Another option discussed
was finding transitional hous-
ing for the tenants so the city
could proceed to revoke the
certificate of occupancy for
the violations identified at the
property.
“Personally, I would like to
see city do what we can to help
the tenants not live anymore
miserably than they already
have to,” Holland said.
Councilor Paul Smith
asked if something could be
done in the short term to help
the tenants while waiting on
the landlord.
Green said, if the ten-
ants would be willing to pay
the utility bill directly to the
city and the council approved
that as a temporary measure
until the abatement issues are
resolved, then water could be
restored for now.
The city council passed
a motion to allow the ten-
ants of Boring Properties to
establish temporary, individ-
ual accounts with the city to
make payments for their util-
ities until the leak has been
repaired and code enforce-
ment issues have been abated,
at which point the charges
would go back directly to the
landlord.
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The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Sean McGee of John Day said he gets water from Canyon Creek so he can flush his toilet after the
city shut off water to his rental property when the landlord stopped paying utilities.
THE JUNIPER ARTS COUNCIL / GRANT
COUNTY CULTURAL COALITION IS SEEKING
GRANT PROPOSALS FOR OREGON
CULTURAL TRUST GRANT AWARDS
The coalition has $7,000 from the Oregon Cultural
Trust to distribute in Grant County to organizations
for projects relating to culture and / or heritage.
Applications are available from Karin Barntish,
131 W. Main Street, John Day, Oregon, or call
Kris Beal at (541)932-4892 for more information
or an application.
Grant applications will be accepted until
January 8, 2021 5 P.M.
S216737-1
eomediagroup.com
Wishes you a
Joyous Holiday Season
and a
Merry Christmas!
Together, let’s make
2021 a year of Health, Happiness
and Thriving Community Growth.
JOHN DAY
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