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MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
A3
Grant County Budget Committee begins diffi cult process
Forest patrol, predator
control positions among
early discussions
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County’s Budget Commit-
tee held its fi rst meetings to make
diffi cult decisions to balance this
year’s budget.
After Grant County Trea-
surer Julie Ellison said in the bud-
get message that the only way the
county could avoid perpetual short-
falls would be to cut positions, the
committee heard from justice court,
the sheriff ’s offi ce and revisited its
predator control position.
Predator control
The committee deliberated on
whether it should hire a full-time
animal control offi cer after the
county lost its federal animal con-
trol offi cer in December when Nick
Lulay accepted a full-time position
in Wallowa County.
In December, USDA Wildlife
Services District Supervisor Shane
Koyle asked the county if it could
put in more than $35,000 it had
previously contributed for the job.
He said he could get a better qual-
ity applicant if they advertise it as a
full-time position.
Budget Committee member
Amy Kreger said, when she “steps
Eagle fi le photo
Eagle fi le photo
Justice of the Peace Kathy Stinnett addresses the Court May 27.
Grant County Sheriff ’s Deputy Dave
Dobler.
aside” from her role as a committee
member and looks at the program
from a property owner’s position, it
is a position that 100% benefi ts tax-
paying property owners.
She said the county has a badger
and coyote problem and that Lulay
would come out and take care of
them in the past.
“This is the one thing that every
edge of the county benefi ts from,”
she said. “Maybe one year they
don’t need it, maybe one year they
do.”
Koyle said he believes it looks
good on USDA’s side that they
could get funding. However, he
said, that is a small portion. He said
USDA also relies on funding from
the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife and counties.
Bob Quinton, Budget Commit-
tee president, said the county is just
getting into the budget and cannot
promise anything yet.
Ellison asked rancher Jim Doven-
burg if he had collected donations
from any of the ranchers. He said he
had in the past, but he can no longer
do so.
work” into the job and should not be
punished.
Dobler puts in 30 hours a week
and, with benefi ts, earns roughly $50
per hour. Ellison said he is one of the
most expensive deputies within the
sheriff ’s offi ce.
McKinley said he would like to
see $20,000 from the general fund be
transferred to the forest patrol fund.
McKinley said he would also like to
see COVID-19 stimulus money put
toward that fund to get back into the
black.
Emergency Manager Paul Gray
told the Eagle Friday that he pro-
posed the county put $100,000 of
COVID-19 stimulus money into the
sheriff ’s offi ce to cover the offi ce’s
budget holes.
Sheriff ’s offi ce
Grant County Sheriff Todd
McKinley said he could not speak to
why full-time Deputy Dave Dobler
had been patrolling the forest when
the position was initially supposed to
be a part-time job, budgeted at $14
per hour with no benefi ts. However,
he said, Dobler puts in “yeoman’s
Additionally, McKinley said the
Forest Service opened up $8,000
that was not expended in the previ-
ous year to kick into this year’s bud-
get cycle.
McKinley said forest patrol is
funded entirely through the For-
est Service’s contract. However, he
said, Secure Rural Schools Title III
funds will also pay for forest patrol,
but the hours cannot be charged to
both the Forest Service and Title III.
He said part of the reason why
there is such a shortfall within the
sheriff ’s offi ce budget is that the
offi ce had not been billing Title
III correctly for Dobler’s position.
McKinley again emphasized that
none of this was Dobler’s fault.
McKinley said he would like
to get the hole fi xed in this budget
cycle because this occurred in the
past cycles.
Justice Court
Justice of the Peace Kathy Stin-
nett said cutting a position in her
offi ce would inhibit the county’s
ability to collect revenue from traf-
fi c tickets and other court fi nes.
Quinton said the county is left pay-
ing out more than the county is
bringing in.
“We’re back to paying $2,525
a month, and we’re collecting
$1,600,” he said. “I’m not pick-
ing on you, but that seems to be the
reoccurring theme when we look at
all of these recurring budgets and
general funds.”
High cases, low vaccinations risk Grant County summer events
Motorcycle rally
canceled, other
events in limbo
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County risks missing
out on summer events again this
year with the highest COVID-
19 infections per capita in Ore-
gon and the state’s worst vacci-
nation rate.
Grant County Fair Manager
Mindy Winegar said in an email
Thursday that the BMW Rid-
ers of Oregon’s Chief Joseph
Rally, scheduled in June to take
place at the Grant County Fair-
grounds, has already canceled.
Winegar said the Grant
County Fair, scheduled for
August, is being planned as
usual.
“I am still planning as nor-
mal,” she said. “I hope we will
get this all under control, and
we can move forward.”
Steve Schulz, executive
director of Cycle Oregon, said
they put out a “save the date”
for the event, which was ten-
tatively scheduled Sept. 11-18,
Eagle fi le photo
Contributed photo/Cycle Oregon
The Whiskey Gulch Gang fi res off shots from their fl oat during
the 2017 ‘62 Days Parade in Canyon City.
Cycle Oregon will decide by May or June whether to hold a large
event in Grant County this year.
and are in a “wait and see”
mode for now.
Schulz said Cycle Oregon
very much wants to have the
event, but all of the counties
they go through have to be “on
the same page” when it comes
to rates of infection and vacci-
nation rates.
“All the counties are diff er-
ent,” he said. “Grant County
doesn’t seem to want to get
vaccinated.”
He said Cycle Oregon
would decide by late May or
early June whether the event
will go on or not.
Meanwhile, Colby Farrell
of the Whiskey Gulch Gang,
which organizes the ‘62 Days
Celebration in Canyon City,
said some people in Grant
County — no matter what —
are not going to get the vaccine.
Farrell said, if the vaccine is
available to anyone who wants
it, people should be allowed to
choose for themselves whether
they should attend large
gatherings.
“To me, it seems like it
should be about personal
responsibility and choice at that
point,” he said. “Not everybody
is going to get the vaccine, no
matter how much some peo-
ple may want that. It’s just not
reality.”
Farrell, 45, has lived in
Grant County his whole life.
He said he had seen commu-
nity events come and go by the
wayside over the years. From
Monument’s Grasshopper Fes-
tival to Kam Wah Chung Days
in John Day, community events
have gone away under normal
circumstances.
“We don’t want to lose these
events,” he said, “especially
ones that are unique like ‘62
Days and the demolition derby
you won’t really see anywhere
else.”
Farrell said he rolled up his
sleeve to get the vaccine when it
was his turn. He said getting the
vaccine is a “personal choice”
that people need to make for
themselves.
Farrell said what drove his
decision in getting the shot was
so that Grant County “could
move forward and get back to a
sense of normalcy.”
“Getting the vaccine — so
that we can get back to getting
things going like they need to
be — outweighed my fear of
it,” he said.
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