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Wednesday, February 10, 2021
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“ALMOST EVERYTHING IN OUR OFFICE IS EITHER SOLD OR
PENDING. THERE’S NOT ENOUGH SUPPLY FOR THE DEMAND.”
—Wendy Cates, principal broker at Country Preferred Realty
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See Idaho, Page A16
See Hospital, Page A16
HOUSING IS HOT
Demand for homes in Grant County is
exceeding the limited supply, driving up prices
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
I
By the numbers
At the current rate of sales per month, Grant
County’s residential property inventory would
only last 1.7 months if no new properties were
listed, according to a November 2020 Mar-
ket Action report from Regional Multiple List-
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
A list of property and homes for sale at Country Preferred Realty with nine of the 14 properties listed
as either sold or pending Feb. 7.
ber from $164,800 in 2019 to $249,800 in 2020,
a 51.6% rise, according to the Market Action
report.
“The values are going up, and that’s good for
the sellers,” Franklin said, “... (but) our prices,
compared to different areas around the state and
surrounding states, is like a kid in a candy shop
with how low they are.”
Cates said several homes that sold a year ago
See Housing, Page A16
Groups seek to spur discussions on Greater Idaho movement
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
A measure related to moving
Idaho’s border to encompass East-
ern Oregon may be on the upcom-
ing ballot.
A group is gathering signatures
to put a measure on the ballot that
would require Grant County com-
missioners to hold meetings to dis-
cuss the county joining Idaho.
Grant County petitioner Sandie
Gilson said she has until Feb. 11 to
gather 231 signatures. She said she
had 320 Tuesday, but some of the
signatures may not be valid county
voters.
The petition is about the
“Greater Idaho” effort, a movement
that advocates for
adjusting the cur-
rent state boundar-
ies of Idaho, Cali-
fornia and Oregon,
thereby
increas-
ing Idaho’s size
Sandie Gilson to encompass sev-
eral rural counties
in California and Oregon. Grant
County is one of the 19 Oregon
counties the group seeks to have
moved into Idaho’s jurisdiction.
In November, 51% of Jefferson
County’s residents voted for the
measure, and in Union County, 52%
of their voters supported it.
Gilson’s view
Gilson, a fifth-generation Ore-
gonian, said she got involved with
the with the group in May. She said
the state government no longer rep-
resents the value system she was
raised with while growing up in
Paisley, Oregon.
She said she noticed the shift in
the 1990s when the northern spot-
ted owl was placed on the endan-
gered species list, beginning in
1990, which resulted in the loss
of thousands of logging jobs and
effectively changed the face of the
timber industry in the northwest.
She said both she and her hus-
band were in the timber industry at
the time and switched careers.
“I was pregnant with my third
child and on state assistance and
went back to school, and I was not
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
rewarded for wanting to work to
come out of welfare and that sys-
tem,” she said. “And so I knew that
being a worker, and somebody who
works, is no longer appreciated.”
Gilson said a $100 raise resulted
in her losing her food stamps, hous-
ing assistance and child care.
Gilson said the state pursues
“constant taxation, and small-town
Oregonians are often mocked by
the media.
She said rural Oregon’s repre-
sentatives in the minority are not
heard in Salem.
“What’s the point of voting on
anything about Oregon?” she said.
“Portland’s going to rule us, and we
Contributed photo/Traci Frazier
ing Service. The metric divides active residential
listings at the end of the month by the number of
closed sales that month.
Since June 2020, the inventory has been 4.3
months or less. In 2019, only two months had
such a low inventory, and in 2018, the lowest
inventory was 6.2 months, according to RMLS.
Homes spent an average of 76 days on the
market in November 2020, compared to 96 days
in November 2019, according to RMLS.
Average sale prices also increased in Novem-
Contract expiring
March 31 will not be
renewed as task force
works on next steps
Blue Mountain Hospital Dis-
trict is parting ways with its long-
time management company.
Derek Daly, the hospital’s
CEO and an employee of the
management company, Health
TechS3 Management Services,
told the Eagle Thursday that the
hospital board opted not to renew
the company’s contract at its Nov.
19 meeting.
The contract with Health
TechS3 — which provides vari-
ous services ranging from finan-
cial audits to a group purchas-
ing organization to reduce costs
for supplies — officially expires
March 31, Daly said.
Daly said the board appointed
a task force made up of four hos-
pital board members to make rec-
ommendations on the transition.
He said Amy Kreger, the board’s
chairperson, is heading up the
task force.
“(The board) authorized the
task force to work through the
next steps,” he said. “And we
are progressing with those next
steps.”
In a Thursday phone call,
Kreger declined to comment on
the specifics of the board’s deci-
sion, the task force and what the
hospital’s management will look
like as of April 1. She said she
would discuss the specifics in late
March or the first week of April.
According to the Nov. 19
meeting minutes, the board was
nearly unanimous in decid-
ing to sever ties with Health
TechS3, with six in favor and
one opposed. There was only one
dissenting vote to appoint Karla
Averett, Levi Manitsas and Dotty
Parsons to the task force, who
will work with Portland-based
law firm Miller Nash Graham &
Dunn LLP to begin the transition
process.
Mike Lieb, regional vice pres-
ident of Health TechS3, said in a
Nov. 19 report that he was disap-
pointed with the decision to end
the contract, but Health TechS3
would be “graceful” through the
remainder of the contract and
is available for the hospital, if
needed.
Averett said the company’s
years of service had not gone
“unnoticed or unappreciated” and
said she hoped the hospital and
Health TechS3 would have a rela-
tionship in the future.
According to the Dec. 10
meeting minutes, the board unan-
imously authorized the task force
to “engage in negotiations to
employ executive leadership”
and to negotiate any continuing
“ancillary services” from Health
TechS3 or an extension of the
management services contract.
Mary Ellen Brooks, a for-
mer hospital board member who
voiced concerns about quality of
care, access and customer service
at the hospital, said Saturday she
supported the board’s decision to
part ways with Health TechS3.
“I am happy with their deci-
sion,” she said.” They’ve got
A contributed image of a home under contract by East Oregon Realty.
t’s a seller’s market for real estate in Grant
County and most of Eastern Oregon.
The demand for housing skyrocketed
in 2020, and brokers in the county remain
busy into the new year, selling houses and
land as the supply of available homes run low.
Jerry Franklin, the principal broker and owner
of East Oregon Realty, said in his 35 years of
experience, he has never seen such a drastic
increase in interested buyers.
“The real estate market has been very active,
and last year was the busiest year I’ve had in 35
years,” Franklin said. “This year is starting to
look the same way.”
Wendy Cates, the principal broker at Country
Preferred Realty, said many homes spend a short
time on the market as abundant offers are coming
in over the asking price.
“It’s been really busy, and we about sold
everything in our office,” Cates said. “Almost
everything in our office is either sold or pend-
ing. There’s not enough supply for the demand.”
Hospital
cutting ties
with longtime
management
company