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NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Police
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its attorneys and get back to them. But,
according to Green, the county has yet to
get back to them.
“There is no reason for the county court
to send us terms for an agreement that
were never discussed or approved pub-
licly,” Green wrote to the City Council.
“It’s essentially just a contract to continue
patrolling John Day for this additional sum
above and beyond our current property
taxes.”
Green writes that it is common knowl-
edge that the county and city are discuss-
ing a proposed law enforcement service
agreement.
He added that Grant County Sheriff
McKinley had said on plenty of occasions
that his office is in “dire need” of additional
resources. “Furthermore, public safety is
a core function of government,” Green
noted.
“There is no reason I can think of to
keep this within attorney-client privileged
communications,” Green said, “and I am
not going to spend my time trying to figure
out how they came up with it.”
Jack Orchard, a lawyer from Ball Janik
LLP who specializes in public meetings
law, said government agreements of any
kind must be disclosed and publicly voted
upon.
“They are available as a public record,”
Orchard said. “No attorney-client privilege
is present.”
Orchard said he did know of a reason
that a public body would have to go into
an executive session or other discussion
closed to the public to deliberate on such
an agreement.
While terms of the agreement have not
been discussed in an open session of the
County Court, Palmer mentioned during
his commissioner’s report at the Wednes-
day, Jan. 27, session that he had been in a
meeting with Grant County Sheriff Todd
McKinley and John Day resident John
Rowell regarding a law enforcement agree-
ment with John Day. Without going into
specifics, Palmer told the court that infor-
mation had been reviewed by the coun-
ty’s legal counsel and had been sent to John
Day’s lawyer.
Palmer said he has documentation
through email that is obvious to Myers
and County Commissioner Jim Hamsher
that he had been asked by McKinley and
John Day City Counselor Gregg Haberly to
meet in a committee to hammer out a law
enforcement agreement.
Palmer added that he “purposefully”
wrote in those emails that he could not
make any decisions without getting the
court’s approval.
The plan, according to Palmer, was to
work with Haberly, McKinley, and others
to form a foundation for a proposal to bring
to the court for discussion and approval.
“I’m not trying to hide anything from
anybody,” Palmer said. “We met in the
courtroom, and I hope this isn’t a parting
shot at the community on Nick Green’s
behalf because they don’t like him. That’s
not what public servants do.”
Palmer, who told the Eagle last month
that Green’s initial offer for John Day to
give the county $300,000 for law enforce-
ment services in exchange for an equal
amount of county road funds is a non-
starter, said Green’s “parting shot” only
hurts the citizens of the county.
Green said in an email Friday, Jan. 28,
that he disagrees with Palmer that roads
and policing should remain separate.
“That he can’t see the connection
between streets for housing and property
taxes from that housing to fund basic gov-
ernment services like law enforcement
should sound alarm bells for all county
residents, regardless of where they live,”
Green said.
For his part, McKinley said Green’s
implication that the county is attempting
to make a backroom deal with the city is
wrongheaded.
“The public knows we’re trying to get
something done,” McKinley said. “I think
a negotiation step would be, ‘Hey, this is
something we’ve come up with, what do
you think of it?’”
Myers concurred with that sentiment
in a Friday, Jan. 28, phone interview.
According to Myers, it would not be prac-
tical to discuss the proposal during an
open session because it would be difficult
— at best — to answer questions from
the public while the county and the city
work to come up with a foundation for the
agreement.
Myers said he only discussed the pro-
posal with Carollo and that he did not dis-
cuss the proposal with the other court
members or deliberate with the commis-
sioners behind closed doors.
He said he tries to be careful about what
he disseminates when asked if the proposal
should have been made public, and that he
tries to maintain a balance of being judi-
cious about what he shares, but, at the same
time, open and transparent.
“It’s tough to do,” Myers said. “It’s
tough to decide what to share and what not
to. We’re not trying to hide anything, and
we never have.”
Myers said he does not know when
the topic will be put on the County Court
agenda.
“No one is prepared to close out a deal,”
he said. “And the county and the city are so
far different on what they want to do with
the money and what we want them to do
with our money and whether or not any of
it’s legal.”
Cycle
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some of the host communities,
and Cycle Oregon has its own
grant program. Through a fund
housed within the Oregon Com-
munity Foundation, the group has
awarded 328 grants totaling $2.5
million to support projects and
programs around the state.
What to expect
After spending the night of
Sept. 10 in John Day, the group
will pedal to Monument on the
first full day of riding. From there
they’ll go to Fossil, then Mitchell,
then Dayville and back to John
Day. There will be a couple of
layover days along the way, with
a selection of activities planned,
and each day’s ride will feature at
least two options to choose from.
Depending on which options
they select, participants will cycle
anywhere from 272 to 443 miles
with about 15,000 to 35,000 feet
of elevation gain.
This year’s Classic is capped
at 1,500 riders, but Schulz has no
doubt it will reach that mark.
“There’s a lot of uncertainties
right now, but we feel like we’ll
hit that capacity,” he said.
Economic impact
As you might expect, Cycle
Oregon is not cheap: The base fee
for this year’s Classic is $1,250
per rider, and the cost can climb
from there with add-on options
such as tent set-up and porter
service.
Smith
Continued from Page A1
Smith said that’s been frustrating
for city officials.
Under the heading of unfinished
business, Smith said he’d like to see
the issue of funding for law enforce-
ment services in John Day settled
soon.
“It’s a big challenge that I think
needs to be resolved,” he said.
Smith said the cost of main-
taining the Police Department had
become unsustainable, outstripping
the city’s entire general fund budget
by as much as $250,000 every year
and forcing the city to borrow heav-
ily from other funds.
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Getting ready
But while those fees go to
Cycle Oregon, there’s plenty of
additional money to go around,
Schulz said.
On average, he said, Cycle
Oregon
participants
spend
between $200 and $250 apiece
during the weeklong Clas-
sic rides. In addition to the rid-
ers, there’s a crew of 50 to 100
service providers (food service
workers, bike mechanics, emer-
gency medical technicians, the
people who set up and take down
the portable toilets and showers)
who travel with the group, and
they also tend to spend money
along the way.
“It’s a full-on operation; it’s no
joke,” Schulz said. “There’s a lot
of people it takes to pull it off.”
On top of that, Cycle Ore-
gon typically reaches out to local
community groups (think Boy
Scout troops, high school sports
teams and service clubs) to do
a variety of chores, from hand-
ing out water bottles to serv-
ing food and cleaning up camp-
sites. In exchange for their hard
work, those groups get stipends.
For a weeklong Classic, Schulz
said, that generally works out to
around $150,000.
When possible, Cycle Oregon
also makes an effort to hire local
service providers and entertainers.
“We’re trying to utilize as
much as possible from the com-
munities without overburdening
them,” Schulz said.
Altogether, he estimated, the
total economic impact from the
Classic would be in the range of
$400,000-$450,000.
Mayor Ron Lundbom said
that event was a boon for John
Day and he expects this year’s
ride will be as well.
“If it’s half as big as the last
time they were here, it’s going to
be great,” he said.
Local officials have been in
touch with Cycle Oregon about
the 2022 Classic since last fall
but were asked to keep the dis-
cussions under wraps until
this year’s ride was officially
announced.
A lot of details still have to
be worked out, including where
the group will pitch its tents on
the first night of the event. John
Day City Manager Nick Green
said he suggested the Hill Fam-
ily Park, the Grant County Fair-
grounds and the Seventh Street
Sports Complex as possible
campsites.
Green predicted the event will
be an economic windfall for the
city, with Cycle Oregon partic-
ipants shopping in local stores
and eating in local restaurants,
not to mention the stipends to
community groups.
But he also sees it as a chance
to showcase John Day to peo-
ple from all over the state and
beyond.
“Some of them could be
potential residents and business
owners, people who would say,
‘Hey, I like this place — I want
to stay,” he said. “They bring
a lot of folks to the area, and I
think it’s important for us to be
good hosts and show them a
good time.”
After a local option levy failed in
August 2021 because of low voter
turnout, Smith said he wanted to
try again at a general election, when
there would be no double majority
requirement, but the rest of the coun-
cil didn’t support that idea. Still, he
stressed that he staunchly supported
the general direction that the city
has taken since he joined the coun-
cil, including efforts to replace aging
infrastructure, incentivize new hous-
ing and revitalize the economy.
He also noted that he’s been bat-
tling a number of health issues,
and that was the primary reason he
decided to step down.
“It was not policy differences or
personal differences with the coun-
cil or the mayor,” he said. “This
was a personal decision for my own
health.”
Nevertheless, Smith said, he had
also grown tired of the constant snip-
ing from critics of the city’s policies.
“I’m battle-weary,” he admitted.
“I believe in the things we’ve been
doing, but I guess you get beat down
so much with all the negativity — it
wears you down.”
While Smith recognizes some
people have concerns about the
direction the city is going, he said
the policy initiatives are necessary to
keep the community, with its shrink-
ing population and stagnant econ-
omy, from declining further.
“We’re not trying to change John
Day,” he said. “We’re trying to make
it thrive.”
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