NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
A5
John Day seeks county
partnership road investments
Investments could be
paid back by urban
renewal agency
Eagle file photo
Rebekah Rand, director of emergency medical services at Blue
Mountain Hospital fills a syringe with the Moderna COVID-19
vaccine last month at the Grant County Fairground’s Trow-
bridge Pavilion during a vaccine clinic for educators.
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
John Day plans to talk with
the Grant County Court on
road investments that could
lead to housing opportunities.
John Day City Manager
Nick Green said the county
court asked if he could pres-
ent to them on Feb. 24 and
introduce the topic of how the
urban renewal agency could
be used to help offset land
development costs.
Green said the way that
could work is if there is a
public-public
partnership
between the city and the
county and the URA. Under
the proposal, the county
would pay to install roads up
front, and the URA would pay
the county back for the cost of
the roads when new develop-
ment increased the taxes paid
to the URA.
“We could do our piece for
the utilities, but we couldn’t
do the utility and the streets,”
Green said. “We would need
county road dollars to build
roads in the county, and then
we would pay back the road
reserve funds or any kind
of contribution through the
URA.”
The URA freezes the
taxes that all taxing dis-
tricts receive from a property
at the level they were when
the URA began in 2017-
2018, and the tax revenue
from any increases in prop-
erty value are funneled to the
URA for the life of the pro-
gram, which cannot exceed
20 years.
Green said that before the
hospital, school, city and the
county taxing districts get
Vaccinations moving
to those 75 and older
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County adminis-
tered shots of the Moderna
COVID-19 vaccine to the
roughly 60 people in the 80
and over group whom the
health department put on the
waiting list last week.
The county reported three
new cases in both the Prairie
City and John Day ZIP codes
over the week as the county
moved back to the “lower
risk” category, according to
the county’s public health
administrator,
Kimberly
Lindsay.
Lindsay said, in addition to
moving into the 75 and older
age group, the health depart-
ment would also be getting
booster shots to people who
received their first dose four
weeks ago.
She said the county would
administer 100 first and sec-
ond doses on Tuesday at the
Trowbridge Pavilion at the
Grant County Fairgrounds.
The clinic is by appointment
only and closed to the general
public.
She said Oregon Health
Authority did not send enough
doses to vaccinate everyone in
the 75 and over age group, but
the health department would
be administering every avail-
able shot.
Lindsay said she antici-
pates that 60 people in the 75
and over group would need to
remain on the waiting list.
Lindsay said the county
must have 20 doses for any-
one that moves into residen-
tial facilities or people who
move to Grant County and
need a second dose.
She said the county must
vaccinate people in previous
groups — health care workers
and educators — who now
want the vaccine.
She said she does not
know when the county will
get more first doses from the
state after this week. How-
ever, she said, the county is
guaranteed to receive all sec-
ond doses.
Lindsay said Monday that
Grant County is on the lower
end for vaccine equity across
the state but is among the top
five counties receiving the
least amount of vaccines per
10,000 people.
She said the positivity rate
and the number of cases in a
county should drive vaccine
distribution.
According to data Lindsay
shared with the Eagle Tuesday,
in Grant County, there were
577 people vaccinated per
10,000 during the week of Feb.
2 and 417 the previous week.
OHA’s website listed the
county’s total case count at
220 and the positivity rate at
5% as of Monday.
Eagle file photo
The city of John Day is asking Grant County to form a partnership to spur growth in the area.
tions,” Green said.
Under the URA’s hous-
ing incentive program, the
city provides a cash rebate
equal to 7% of the increase in
assessed value and pays for
system development charges
for new home construction.
“It’s a slight change from
what we originally pro-
posed, but the reason we’re
considering it is if we run
out of buildable lots, the
URA would decline because
there’s nowhere else to
build, which I think is proba-
bly going to happen,” Green
said.
Green said a good project
to work on with the county
would be on Ironwood
Estates Phase One since
much of the preliminary
work has been completed.
“I think that’s the project
I would suggest you do the
test case with, iron out any
kinks in the development
agreement, and once we fig-
ure that out, let’s just repli-
cate it, adjust on the market
and don’t saturate the mar-
ket with too much supply,”
Green said.
Green said, with this sce-
nario, the county controls
their own investment risk
since the county assessor
captures the tax before it’s
remitted to the URA, and if
an individual owner were to
default, it’s the county that
goes through the foreclosure
process.
“I just don’t see any way
the county doesn’t get their
money back,” Green said.
“They’re both the lender and
the collector by statute.”
fraud in Prairie City.
Feb. 12: Responded to a
theft in Canyon City.
Feb. 12: Bryon Freniere of
John Day was cited for care-
less driving, driving while
suspended and uninsured.
Feb. 12: Responded to a
report of a theft at a business
on West Main Street.
Feb. 14: Advised of a
theft on Bridge Street.
• John Day ambulance
Feb. 8: Dispatched for an
elderly man with possible
heart issues on Happy Val-
ley Lane.
Feb. 10: Along with
GCSO, responded for an
83-year-old woman with
heart palpitations on North
Cozart.
Feb. 10: Responded to
Prairie City for a medi-
cal alarm. The patient was
coughing, wheezing and had
back pain with painful lungs
on Johnson Street.
Feb. 11: Dispatched for
a woman with an infected
tailbone.
Feb. 13: Along with Sen-
eca ambulance, responded
for a 61-year-old man with
chest pain.
• Prairie City ambulance
Feb. 11: Paged for a
woman who was not breath-
ing on North Johnson
Street.
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
From left, John Day Councilor Shannon Adair, City Manager Nick
Green and Mayor Ron Lundbom during the city council meeting
Dec. 8.
their share of the underly-
ing tax base, the investments
made by the city and the
county would be paid back.
He added that it’s a sustain-
able investment model, but
it does defer the tax increase
for all eight tax jurisdictions
a couple of more years.
“The idea is that we buy
out the negative equity, and
then we recover through the
URA’s tax base so we all get
repaid for our investments,
and then we release the URA
area to the other tax jurisdic-
COPS AND COURTS
Arrests and citations in
the Blue Mountain Eagle are
taken from the logs of law
enforcement agencies. Every
effort is made to report the
court disposition of arrest
cases.
Grant County Circuit
Court
Melinda J. Moss, 42,
pleaded guilty Jan. 14 to a
count of criminal driving
while suspended or revoked
committed on June 5. She
was sentenced to 24 months
of supervised probation, 40
hours of community service
and ordered to pay a $200 traf-
fic fine.
Garrett E. Lovell, 24,
pleaded guilty on Jan. 7 to a
count of second-degree bur-
glary and first-degree theft
committed on Sept. 11, 2019.
He also pleaded guilty Jan. 7
to a count of first-degree fail-
ure to appear committed on
Feb. 20, 2020. He was sen-
tenced to 364 days in jail, 12
months of post-prison super-
vision, 24 months of super-
vised probation and 40 hours
of community service. He was
also ordered to pay $1,586 in
restitution to Adam Schum-
acher. A count of first-degree
theft was dismissed.
Warrants processed: 2
Assistance/Welfare check: 0
Search and Rescue: 1
Thomas Pfeifer, 51, of
Prairie City was cited for a
failure to appear warrant.
Shawn Kite, 52, of Prai-
rie City was cited for driving
while suspended and unin-
sured and for failure to install
ignition interlock device.
Grant County Sheriff
John Day dispatch worked
125 calls during the week of
Feb. 8-14, including:
• John Day Police
Department
Feb. 10: Cited Jessica
Thomas, 37, of John Day for
Dispatch
The Grant County Sheriff’s
Office reported the following
for the week of Feb. 10:
Concealed
handgun
licenses: 12
Average inmates: 12
Bookings: 5
Releases: 6
Arrests: 0
Citations: 2
Fingerprints: 1
Civil papers: 7
allowing dog as a nuisance
on Highway 26.
Feb. 10: Jared Bake, 25,
of John Day was arrested
for furnishing alcohol to a
minor.
Feb. 14: Advised of snow-
mobilers riding on the city
streets on Main Street.
Feb. 14: Warned a driver for
expired license plates on High-
way 26 near milepost 162.
• Oregon State Police
Feb. 10: Responded to a
crash between a deer and vehi-
cle on Highway 26 near mile-
post 163.5.
• Grant County Sheriff’s
Office
Feb. 11: Took a report of
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