NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Project Turnkey faces
community opposition
Grant County offi cials face
community opposition as they
enter into the fi nal phases of a
grant process that would allow
them to acquire a local hotel
and convert it into transitional
housing for people impacted by
wildfi res, COVID-19 and those
released from incarceration as
they enter back into society.
Grant County offi cials
applied for a Project Turnkey
grant, a statewide program that
converts motels and hotels to
permanent transitional or emer-
gency housing, earlier this year
and formed a steering commit-
tee in March.
In a Friday Zoom meeting,
Community Counseling Solu-
tions CEO Kimberly Lind-
say said the Oregon Commu-
nity Foundation would provide
$1.8 million to purchase the
Dreamers Lodge hotel in John
Day. Additionally, she said, the
grant would provide $110,000
for startup operations, $39,000
for renovations and $36,000 for
deferred maintenance.
Probation offi cer Mike
McManus said during the pre-
sentation Friday that the refer-
ring entities would be Grant
County Probation Offi ce, Com-
munity Counseling Solutions,
Families First and Veterans
Services.
Rhiannon Bauman with
Families First said the tar-
get population would be Grant
County residents on parole or
probation or those who lost
their jobs due to the pandemic.
In addition, there are homeless
veterans coming out of drug and
alcohol treatment, she said.
Opposition
Grant County resident Paul
Sweany told the county court
May 12 that he found out about
the project during a Firewise
meeting. He said what caught
his attention was the location of
the transitional housing a block
from Main Street. Sweany said
he is concerned about the tran-
sitional housing in the middle of
John Day’s economic revitaliza-
tion project.
“I’m looking at two projects,
both that have a great narrative,
but I don’t see them really lin-
ing up supporting one another,”
he said.
He said he has spoken with
others in the community who
feel the same way.
Sweany said he wanted peo-
ple to be aware that he worked
at family treatment centers and
a drug and alcohol detox facil-
ity, in addition to volunteering at
a transitional housing facility in
Eugene.
“I certainly don’t need to be
sold on the need for transitional
housing,” Sweany said.
Kati Dunn of Strawberry
A3
County denies city’s request to
help fund Fourth Street repairs
TOWN HALL
PLANNED MAY 19
Commissioners
question why city
didn’t use relief funds
A public meeting to dis-
cuss the Project Turnkey
grant will take place
at 6 p.m. Wednesday,
May 19, in Trowbridge
Pavilion at the Grant
County Fairgrounds in
John Day.
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Mountain Law said she sees the
need for transitional housing as
a 20-year public defender.
She said it is nearly impossi-
ble for people to progress when
transitioning back into society if
they do not have a home.
“We need to make sure that
we’re able to reintegrate them,”
she said. “We can’t just give up
on them.”
Charlene Morris, a Grant
County resident who said she
worked for the state court sys-
tem, told Dunn that the crimi-
nal justice system is a “revolv-
ing door perpetuated generation
by generation.”
Morris asked how many
chances the system should give
someone when they fail multi-
ple drug tests.
Dunn said that is not the
metric on which success should
be measured. She said that is
a question better left between
a treatment provider and that
person trying to get clean and
sober.
Amanda Bogan, a Grant
County resident who said she
has been in recovery for two
and half years, said one thing
she did not have that is a “des-
perate necessity” was access to
transitional housing.
Bogan said her mother
passed away, and she did not
have a family to move in with
when she got out of treatment.
“Transitional housing made
a world of diff erence for me,
especially in a controlled envi-
ronment where you’re still held
accountable, you still have to be
sober,” she said.
What now?
Bauman said the project
would not move forward with-
out the support of the commu-
nity. She said the county could
turn the hotel into permanent
housing for people with vouch-
ers from the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment program. Or, she said,
it could be used as transitional
housing for workers coming to
Grant County to work for the
Forest Service or the hospital.
Nate Conklin, an outreach
specialist with the Fletcher
Group, said they would gauge
the support by their feedback in
the public meetings.
Lindsay said the CCS board
would decide whether to move
forward at their June 7 meeting.
Grant County offi cials
denied the city of John Day’s
request for $400,000 to help
fund repairs of Fourth Street
April 12 in a contentious
county court session.
John Day Mayor Ron
Lundbom called into the coun-
ty’s conference with Council-
ors Shannon Adair and Elliot
Sky. Other city councilors
were also on the call.
Lundbom told the court
members that the city locked
in a $1.2 million grant from
the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency to fi x dam-
age caused by fl ooding in
2019. He said FEMA would
cover 75% of the cost with a
25% match required.
Lundbom said Fourth
Street is a critical access route
to the Grant County Regional
Airport and other emergency
services. He told the court that
the city spent $270,000 on
the preliminary design, engi-
neering and secured the grant
funding.
“We at least should have
some kind of dialogue as to
what direction we should pro-
ceed together,” he said.
County
Commissioner
Sam Palmer said the city
received roughly $350,000
in COVID-19 relief funds
and asked if the council ear-
marked any money for infra-
structure. He told Lundbom
he spoke with Rep. Mark
Owens, R-Crane, about poten-
tially helping the city with the
project.
Lundbom told Palmer the
city would need to have the
project completed within eight
weeks. The city does not have
time to see if the other funding
sources would come through,
he said.
Adair told Palmer the pan-
demic money did not have
anything to do with the Fourth
Street project. She said the
council had not discussed
using the American Rescue
Plan money for the repairs.
County
Commissioner
Eagle fi le photo
Spring fl ooding in Canyon Creek in 2019 eroded the steep em-
bankment on Fourth Avenue Southwest in John Day leading
to the Grant County Regional Airport, creating a serious road
hazard.
“WE AT LEAST SHOULD HAVE
SOME KIND OF DIALOGUE AS TO
WHAT DIRECTION WE SHOULD
PROCEED TOGETHER.”
—Ron Lundbom, John Day mayor
Jim Hamsher said the money
could be used for water,
sewer and other infrastructure
projects.
Hamsher said the county
sent John Day upwards of
$157,000 in February, over
$168,000 the year before and
$2.2 million since 2006.
County Judge Scott Myers
told Lundbom it was federal
Secure Rural Schools fund-
ing. SRS provides funding for
rural counties to replace reve-
nue from falling forest receipts
due to the decline in timber
sales for schools, roads, law
enforcement and other essen-
tial services.
Myers told Lundbom he
thought the money would
have gone to the maintenance
line in the city’s budget.
“Evidently, that mainte-
nance line has been zeroed
out, and I’m kind of curious
as to where that money goes
instead,” he said.
He said it was “clear” the
streets in John Day had not
been kept up and that he had
read the money allocated for
maintenance of the roads had
been used to cover other items
in the budget.
Myers told Lundbom he
was surprised the city needed
a match for the repair given
that it had been two years that
he knew the city needed to
repair Fourth Street.
Lundbom told Myers those
were questions the city could
have answered in a work ses-
sion the city requested, but the
county had been giving the
city the “cold shoulder.”
He told Myers the money
had gone to street mainte-
nance over the years and that
the city had been using other
funds to support the police
department.
“We need to do something
with Fourth Street,” Lundbom
said. “It serves the county. It
serves the county airport. It’s
emergency access.”
Lundbom said the street
repairs are an “extraordinary
situation,” which the city
could not budget for.
He said Canyon City had
a similar situation with its
bridge that was damaged due
to fl ooding in 2018.
Myers said Canyon City’s
bridge was damaged during
an emergency, and the cost
was $38,000. He said the
county had a partnership, and
the cost to the county included
engineering.
Austin resident Billie Jo
George asked why the Forest
Service, who shares the air-
port with the county, could not
help fund the repairs.
Lundbom said the For-
est Service would not be obli-
gated to help the county repair
streets and bridges in the
county.
Myers said he was “dis-
gruntled” the city budgeted
that the county would chip in
$400,000 without any “bud-
geting authorities” from the
county.
“That in and of itself is a
violation of trust,” he said.
Lundbom, owner of Napa
Autoparts in John Day, told
Myers the city had hoped the
county would want to partici-
pate in the project.
Myers said he hoped that
if his engine went out in his
truck that Napa would foot the
bill.
After Myers’ comment, an
unidentifi ed caller said, “what
a (expletive) (expletive).”
Myers said politics could
become a good gauge of
friendship. He said politi-
cal issues have put distance
between him and people he
once considered friends.
Myers said he had seen
emails that blame the county
for increases to the city’s water
rates and developers opting
not to build in John Day.
“The court has been
threatened with recall, belit-
tled, bullied and blamed for
the fi nancial situations and
delays John Day’s projects,”
he said. “...If I have to be one
of those to protect the peo-
ple’s assets in this particular
situation, so be it. I’m willing
to do that.”
Palmer said the Fourth
Street repairs are a “public
health issue.” He said, how-
ever, the $400,000 request
was “steep.” He said more
people oppose than support
the project and that he has to
consider that.
“A lot of it is personality,”
Palmer said. “A lot of it is the
project.”
Several days after the
meeting, Lundbom said nei-
ther he nor anyone else on the
city council made the explicit
comment about Myers on the
call. He also said the state
may be able to “kick in”
the $400,000 needed for the
project.
TOM CHRISTENSEN
CHRISTENSEN
TOM
CONSTRUCTION
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