A16
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Committee
Continued from Page A1
“I thought that was the end
of it,” he said. “I’ve never once
seen the position advertised
publicly.”
Myers said Dec. 30 that the
court appointed roughly 20 vol-
unteers to various boards and
committees in its Dec. 9 session.
He said the court did not require
those volunteers to reapply for
their seats.
“Those were not declared
vacancies,” he said. “They were
not put out for new members
because the current standing
and/or sitting members on those
committees agreed to stay on.”
Myers said the county’s pol-
icy has always been that those
incumbent members of those
committees keep their seats
unless the number of terms lim-
its them.
March 13 Budget
Committee meeting
Quinton said he believes
County Commissioners Ham-
sher and Sam Palmer want
him off the committee because
he and the other two at-large
committee members opposed
increasing the number of hours
the county pays them during a
March 13 Budget Committee
meeting last year.
According to the approved
meeting minutes, the commit-
tee discussed the court’s request
to change the county commis-
sioner position to half-time
instead of one-third time.
According to the minutes,
the three public members that
sit on the Budget Committee,
which include Quinton, Long
Creek resident Amy Kreger
and Rob Stewart, said the vot-
ers — not the Budget Commit-
tee — should decide to increase
the commissioners’ hours and
pay. The two commissioners
and county judge are also on the
committee.
Quinton said that is his “per-
sonal opinion of the matter”
and that he ultimately does not
know why the county commis-
sioners are considering another
applicant.
According to the Budget
Committee meeting minutes,
Myers — on two occasions
— said both Palmer and Ham-
sher should declare a poten-
tial or actual conflict of interest
and recuse themselves from the
discussion.
“Scott advised the commis-
sioners should not be offer-
ing input because this would
be a direct conflict of inter-
est for them,” according to the
approved minutes.
Both Palmer and Hamsher
recused themselves from the
vote.
“I don’t know if it did not sit
well with them,” Quinton said.
“I’m not sure.”
According to the meeting
minutes, increasing the com-
missioners’ hours to half-time
would have been a roughly six
and a half hours a week increase
in paid commissioner hours.
Quinton said he remarked
at the meeting to both Ham-
sher and Palmer — with no dis-
respect to either of them — that
they knew the number of hours
for which the county would pay
them before they ran for office.
He also said Kreger told
the commissioners they both
receive full-time health benefits.
In the minutes, Kreger also
mentioned that raising the com-
missioner’s paid hours came
right after the filing deadline for
the open commissioner posi-
tion. The committee stated that
maybe there would have been
other people who would have
filed for the primary if the pay
was different.
“The bottom line is we felt
it was more the voting pub-
lic’s decision than the Bud-
get Committee’s decision,” he
said. “And I would stand by that
decision.”
Quinton told the Eagle he
does not know if that is why
the court “mysteriously” has
another applicant for the seat.
Hamsher and Palmer both
said that is not the reason why
they are considering Camarena
for the position.
“When you get appointed to
a committee or board, it’s not
a lifetime appointment,” Ham-
sher said Dec. 30 after a County
Court session.
Palmer said Thursday that
someone he did not name went
to the courthouse to apply for
the Budget Committee and was
told they could not.
“If you’re a taxpaying cit-
izen in this county and there’s
an opening on a board, you
should have the right to apply
for it, just like everybody
else,” he said. “And if nobody
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applies for it, we’ll look at the
reappointment.”
Hamsher said he thought the
county advertised all open posi-
tions on boards and commit-
tees to the public. He said he
also thought all of the people on
the board had an opportunity to
apply for reappointment.
Predator Control
Program
Palmer said Dec. 30 that
he is “struggling” with who
to appoint due to the county’s
Predator Control Program’s
demise.
Last month, predator con-
trol officer Nick Lulay accepted
a full-time position in Wallowa,
according to USDA Wildlife
Services District Supervisor
Shane Koyle.
Palmer said he received
phone calls from unhappy res-
idents saying they wanted the
Budget Committee replaced
for not increasing the funding
for the predator control officer
position.
Quinton said that Palmer sits
on the Budget Committee as
well.
Palmer said there was
roughly $9,100 left in the preda-
tor control program budget, and
the committee cut the $40,000
allocated by $5,000.
Myers said that other mat-
ters precipitated cutting the pro-
gram’s budget by $5,000.
Myers said, as the budget
came forward last year, there
was money “left on the table.”
“So when you look at a bud-
get and the expenditures, and
you’re trying to reduce your
spending, you’re looking at pro-
grams that had money leftover,”
he said. “Is there a way to pay
for wiggle room? What we did
then was we worked on $5,000
out of the $40,000 budget.”
Myer said he would “hate”
to lose a committee member
and potentially others over the
decision. He told Palmer that
the three committee members
are all property owners and can
identify with the unhappy con-
stituents who called to complain.
According to Grant County
Treasurer Julie Ellison, the
county spent $36,055.64 on
the program last year. She said
Thursday that, since the pro-
gram started in 2017, the county
has spent roughly $116,000 on
the position.
According to Budget Com-
mittee meeting minutes, Elli-
son estimated high costs for
the program unless the county
received more contributions.
She said the county received a
little over $12,000 in total dona-
tions for the program from vari-
ous organizations.
Palmer said he is trying to
do what his constituents elected
him to do.
“We don’t represent our per-
sonal thoughts,” Palmer said.
“We represent the people and
what the people want us to do.”
Quinton said the committee
discussed the predator control
program nearly a year ago. He
said the county addressed the
possibility of bringing Lulay on
as a county employee and addi-
tional costs, including a coun-
ty-owned vehicle and what the
county’s liability would be if an
employee were to mistake a per-
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
son’s pet with a coyote.
Ellison said she remembered
the meeting but did not know
why there was not a more exten-
sive record of the discussion in
the minutes.
The court intends to meet in
early spring to discuss increas-
ing the position’s funding to full
time.
“THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS FOR
THE PEOPLE. IT’S NOT ABOUT
A HIDDEN AGENDA. IT IS THE
PEOPLE’S OFFICE.”
—Todd McKinley, Grant County sheriff
Potential conflicts of
interest
Hamsher and Palmer both
said that Camarena serving on
the committee presents no more
potential conflict of interest than
Quinton’s wife, Amber, who
serves as the county’s deputy
treasurer.
Myers said Quinton is not
his wife’s direct supervisor.
Ellison said Thursday
that she disagrees with Ham-
sher and Palmer’s comparison
but declined to comment any
further.
In an email Monday, Quin-
ton said it was “interesting” that
his wife’s employment came up
because it was never an issue
before.
He said he would have
declared a conflict of interest
and not voted if there had ever
been a budget request for the
Treasurer’s Office.
He said the only increase to
the Treasurer’s budget was the
cost-of-living wage increase
that all county employees
received, which brought him no
“extraordinary” benefit.
“She is not in my direct
employ,” Quinton said. “She has
been employed in her capacity
as Deputy Treasurer for the past
ten years.”
As mayor of Prairie City,
Hamsher is Camarena’s direct
supervisor. Hamsher said he had
not spoken to Camarena about
his interest in being on the Bud-
get Committee.
Hamsher said that, should
Camarena get appointed to the
committee, he would not have
to recuse himself from discus-
sions on whether the commis-
sioners’ paid hours should be
increased.
“I don’t know how that
would have any bearing on any-
thing,” he said. “It wouldn’t
matter to me if he recused him-
self or not.”
Hamsher
said
asking
whether Camarena should
recuse himself from such a dis-
cussion or vote would be ques-
tioning his and Camarena’s
integrity and suggesting that
he would take action toward
Camarena based on his decision
as a committee member.
He said Camarena voting
on whether the commissioners
should get paid for more hours
does not pose a potential con-
flict of interest. Hamsher said a
conflict of interest would occur
if he or a family member were
to benefit financially from a
decision.
Camarena said he would
recuse himself from any discus-
sions or votes that could be per-
ceived as a conflict of interest
on anything, including the mat-
ter of whether to increase the
county commissioners’ number
of paid hours.
The county will revisit the
Budget Committee appointment
in its next session.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Todd McKinley, left, is sworn in by Grant County Judge Scott
Myers Monday at the county courthouse.
Ceremony
Continued from Page A1
McKinley said he was
surprised at the number of
people who showed up for
the swearing-in ceremony.
He said he wanted to be
careful how he phrased it
when he said that it gave
him “some new hope” for
the county.
“The sheriff’s office is
for the people,” he said. “It’s
not about a hidden agenda.
It is the people’s office.”
Incoming Circuit Court
Judge Rob Raschio took the
oath in Burns.
Raschio said he was on
the bench “making deci-
sions” hours after being
sworn in by outgoing Cir-
Lawsuit
Continued from Page A1
Great Northern applied
for a grant through two Ore-
gon-based community orga-
nizations designated by the
state to review and admin-
ister funds earmarked for
Black-owned
businesses
and families, the Contingent
and the Black United Fund
of Oregon, in early October.
According to the Dec. 6
complaint, the online appli-
cation asked what percent-
age of owners of this busi-
ness identify as Black? Great
Northern answered zero.
The complaint goes on
to say that Great Northern
sued the state on Oct. 29 to
“stop them from enforcing
their racial exclusionary pol-
icy.” The complaint states
the Contingent denied Great
Northern’s application on
Nov. 9.
The logging company
intends to reapply for a
relief grant when “the
courts enjoin the enforce-
ment of the racial exclusion
that renders Great Northern
ineligible for relief for the
Fund.”
Salem-based Dynamic
Service Fire and Security
saw their business go from
cuit Court Judge William D.
Cramer Jr.
“I’m excited to finally be
on the job. I feel the grav-
ity of the moment,” he said.
“I’m going to really enjoy
doing the work.”
Raschio said his biggest
goal right now is to make
sure that people in both
Grant and Harney coun-
ties have “access to justice,
openly, fairly and quickly
and that the Constitution is
front and center in all the
decisions that are made in
our courtroom.”
Incumbents also took
the oath, including Trea-
surer Julie Ellison, Surveyor
Mike Springer, County
Commissioner Jim Ham-
sher and Assessor David
Thunnel.
grossing roughly $40,000 a
month to nearly $10,000 to
$18,000, according to the
Dec. 6 complaint.
The business tried to
apply for relief from the
state’s small business grant
program in November, but
by the time they logged on
to the website they could not
submit an application as the
funds were exhausted, the
Dec. 6 complaint stated.
The complaint states:
“Dynamic Service wishes
apply for relief from the
fund, but is disqualified
from obtaining relief on
account of its race.” The
complaint goes on to state
that the owner Walter Leja
is disqualified individually
from applying for relief due
to his race as well.
According to court doc-
uments, the Oregon Cares
Fund offered to deposit its
remaining $8.8 million with
the court, which, for the
time being, has halted the
program while the lawsuit
continues.
Palmer said in a phone
call Thursday that, while he
owns equipment and prop-
erty with Great Northern, he
has not been involved in the
lawsuit.
Houpt declined the
Eagle’s request for comment.
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