A14
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Pool
ing together to mitigate those
concerns.
Continued from Page A1
Secret meeting?
According to Parks and
Rec’s Aug. 11 neighborhood
meeting minutes, the board said
it had successfully managed
Gleason Pool with a smaller
staff than the district has now
and would not need to go to the
public for staffing and mainte-
nance costs.
Weigum said a majority
of the concerns at the meeting
had to do with pedestrian and
traffic safety. She said Parks
and Rec and the city are work-
In the Aug. 11 planning
meeting, the Parks and Rec
board responded to allegations
that the meeting was illegal
because the public had not been
properly notified.
Weigum told the Eagle that
the board was required to hold
a neighborhood meeting before
applying for a site design review
with the John Day Planning
Commission.
John Day’s municipal code
states that neighbors within 100
feet of the proposed project site
are allowed to comment on a
project before the formal plan-
ning process begins.
John Day’s code requires
that those living within 100 of
the site get notice of the meeting
at their addresses of record at the
Grant County Assessor’s Office
at least 14 days before the meet-
ing and at least 21 days before
applying for the site design
review with the city.
Weigum said the board had
met that notification require-
ment and expanded the invites
out to nearly 200 feet. “We
wanted to make sure we were
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
being mindful of potential
property owners who may be
impacted,” she said.
Background on the pool
The city of John Day
scrapped an earlier plan to ask
voters to approve a bond for
construction and a taxing dis-
trict for operations costs for a
replacement for Gleason Pool
after Canyon City and Mt. Ver-
non elected officials voted
against supporting the taxing
district last summer.
Those cities would have
been in a taxing district that
would have covered John Day,
Canyon City, Mt. Vernon, Prai-
rie City, Seneca and their rural
fire districts. Without their sup-
port, the project was rendered
infeasible, Green said at the
time. Although Grant County
could have still placed the con-
struction bond on the ballot, the
county could not include cit-
ies that did not pass resolutions
supporting the proposed taxing
districts.
Green told the Eagle in June
that there would have been
no way to raise the estimated
$90,000 per year to operate and
maintain the pool.
While Canyon City Mayor
Steve Fischer and representa-
tives from the Grant County
Farm Bureau focused on repair-
ing Gleason Pool, Green said
that option was not feasible
as the cost would have been
between $540,000 and $810,000
to extend the old pool’s life by
10-15 years. Weigum said the
pool was built in the early 1960s.
Fischer and Mt. Vernon
Mayor Kenny Delano also
expressed concerns with the
taxing district. Delano said last
year that he wished there was
a way to provide a pool that
wouldn’t be a long-term burden
on taxpayers.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain/La Grande Observer
A customer enjoys the outside seating Wednesday, Sept. 15, at La Laguna Family Mexican Restaurant in Enterprise. The restaurant, along with a similar one in Joseph and the Rusty Spur Saloon in Jo-
seph, got by through the summer largely with college students as employees.
Workers
Continued from Page A1
since 2017, when it reached its
peak, according to U.S. Cen-
sus Bureau data.
The rate at which the
baby boomer generation has
been retiring is accelerating,
according to Pew Research
Center. From 2019 to 2020,
approximately 28.6 million
baby boomers — those born
between 1946 and 1964 —
retired, a 3.2 million uptick
from 2019. On average, that
number had previously been
increasing by around 2 mil-
lion retirees per year.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain/La Grande Observer
A “now hiring” sign greets customers coming into Heavenly’s Hamburgers in Enterprise. The
restaurant has had a tough time getting and keeping employees, co-owner Cindy Ellis said.
The impact
Branch and Benchwarmer’s
Pub & Grill in La Grande.
“Everyone’s getting the bump
up to those higher positions, if
they did have them, and so it’s
causing a vacuum down to the
X, Y, Z generation.”
On the ground, restau-
rants and service industries
reported having to hire much
younger staff than in normal
years — though the restau-
rant industry has historically
been staffed by younger work-
ers and those looking for part-
time work, and the data from
the U.S. Census Bureau and
Oregon Employment Depart-
ment indicate there hasn’t
been any significant changes
in the employment level for
those younger than 18.
Angelica Zurita, who with
her husband, Jose Lopez,
owns the La Laguna Family
Mexican Restaurants in Enter-
prise and Joseph and the Rusty
Spur Saloon in Joseph, said
they employ about 15 people
at the three establishments.
During the summer tour-
kids to think about trades,” he
said. “You can make a good
family wage right out of high
school.”
He does have an opening
for a counter person, which
he’s not gotten many adequate
applications for.
“We get a lot of random
resumes dropped off, which I
guess is people trying to sat-
isfy job-search requirements,”
Hillock said.
Renaissance Design, Fab-
rication & Powder Coat-
ing, which opened in May in
Joseph, has well-paying posi-
tions available that remain
unfilled, owner Rick LaFave
said.
“I’m still trying to hire
three or four more weld-
ers,” LaFave said. “People
don’t want to work, I guess.
… I’ve talked to several peo-
ple who’ve put feelers out, but
I’m not getting people who
want to go to work.”
Though he doesn’t have
concrete evidence, he has his
opinion on the cause.
“My opinion is because
the (unemployment) money
hasn’t run out,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll get people
wanting to go back to work
once that runs out.”
B
S259431-1
“One of the other factors
is that boomers are retiring at
an enormous rate, which is,
in a way, sucking everybody
up the the corporate ladder or
corporate world,” said Matt
Scarfo, a Union County com-
missioner and owner of Long
ist season, they were fortunate
to hire college students who
were eager to work. But now,
as the students return to cam-
pus, finding reliable help is a
problem.
“They really don’t want a
job,” Zurita said of some of
the locals who have applied.
“They show up drunk, call in
sick, don’t show up at all or
they show up late.”
Still, as the tourist sea-
son ends, she’s optimistic the
restaurants and saloon will
manage.
“It’s slowing down to
where I think we’ve got it cov-
ered,” she said.
The trades, too, are hav-
ing a tough time finding
workers. Jared Hillock, man-
ager and co-owner of Hill-
ock Electric, said the biggest
problem is a lack of qualified
electricians.
“There are just not enough
people in the trades right now,”
he said. “I think it’s important
we get kids in trades and not
preach so much college.”
He said a starting electri-
cian right out of high school
— after a four-year appren-
ticeship — can make $32 an
hour, with benefits.
“We’re trying to push more
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