GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE | INSIDE
1
JUN E 22�2
9, 202 2
SE CT IO N H
EA D ER
SECTION
DESCRIPTION
JUNE 22-2 9,
2022
WWW .GOE
ASTE RNO REGO
LANEY
JONES
a
N.CO M
Celebrate
High Co
Days untry
PAG E 4
nd the
Spirits
Create
Challen
art show ge
PAG E 16
PA GE 8
Enjoy
Shakes
Festival peare
PAG E 19
Laney Jone
s, on tour from
Nashville,
Tennessee,
plays at
Churchill Scho
ol in Baker
on Saturday,
City
July 2, along
Kathryn Clair
with
e and Marg
ot
Libby Danf
orth/Contribut Merah.
ed Photo
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
City signs
Green as
consultant
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Nick Green
is no longer the John Day city
manager but will continue to
work for the city as a consul-
tant — at more money than he
was making previously.
Green’s
previously
announced resignation was
made offi cial during the June
14 session of the John Day
City Council, which opened
the door for him to take on a
consulting role with the city
starting July 1.
G r e e n ’s
consulting
fi rm, Cata-
lyst Public
Policy Advi-
sors
LLC,
entered
a
contract with
Green
the city that
was unanimously approved
by the council at the June 14
meeting.
The
contract
allows
Green’s fi rm to provide con-
sulting services to John Day
for one year. The move makes
Green an independent contrac-
tor and transitions him off the
city’s books as an employee.
The services Catalyst will
provide include administra-
tion of the city’s current grants
portfolio and debt manage-
ment for the city’s loan port-
folio. The fi rm will also be
responsible for coordinating
bridge loans for city projects
such as the wastewater treat-
ment plant and fi nancial man-
agement of the city’s urban
renewal area. Catalyst will
also provide asset manage-
ment for the city’s land sales
and property transfers.
Catalyst is set to make
$12,500 a month for its con-
sultation services, which
works out to $150,000 a year.
The fi rm will be paid $225 an
hour for any additional ser-
vices that are outside the scope
of its normal duties, such as
any additional grant writing
requested by the city.
Terms of the contract state
that Catalyst’s compensation
can not exceed $200,000 a
year.
As city manager, Green’s
total compensation from the
city was $107,526 in salary
and benefi ts. He also received
a 1% fee from many of the
grants he brought in.
Interim City Manager
Corum Ketchum is being
paid a comparable amount to
what Green made in that role.
154th Year • No. 25 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Business and politics
Land deal could
spark development
in John Day, but
critics raise ethical
concerns
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
A
local business’s ex-
pansion plans could
get the ball rolling on
development of John Day’s
Innovation Gateway project,
but they’re also raising ques-
tions about how the city does
business.
1188 Brewery owner Shannon
Adair — who also sits on the City
Council — has closed on her pre-
viously reported purchase of 2.8
acres in the Innovation Gateway,
the large parcel of city-owned land
centered around an abandoned lum-
ber mill at the western entrance to
John Day, and is set to begin devel-
oping the property.
It would be the fi rst commer-
cial development on the Innova-
tion Gateway property, which the
city acquired in hopes of revitaliz-
ing the local economy in the face
of a shrinking timber industry and
a declining residential tax base
due to decreased population. Grant
County was the only county in Ore-
gon that saw a population reduction
following the 2020 census.
The land sale is not without con-
troversy, however. Because Adair
is a member of the John Day City
Council and the city did not put the
parcel up for the public to bid on,
some observers have suggested the
transaction may have been unethi-
cal and perhaps even illegal.
Adair insists she’s done every-
thing according to the law and that
there’s nothing improper about the
deal.
Expansion plans
1188 Brewing Co. has been
looking for ways to expand since it
started in 2012, Adair said. Those
plans led to the creation of a new
venture called 1188 Destinations.
The new company’s plans for
developing the 2.8-acre Innovation
Gateway parcel call for a distill-
ery that is separate from the brew-
ing operations 1188 currently has
in downtown John Day, as well as
a restaurant with a diff erent menu
from 1188’s pub fare.
Also proposed are a small num-
ber of cabins that would be rented
as overnight lodging. Adair said
plans for the cabins were inspired
by conceptual drawings that an ear-
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
From left, 1188 Destinations business partners Julie Bowling, John Spencer, Shannon Adair and Jeremy Adair sit
outside 1188 Brewing in John Day on Monday, June 20, 2022. The partners plan to build a distillery, restaurant and
other facilities as part of the Innovation Gateway development.
Blue Mountain Eagle, File
The John Day Innovation Gateway.
Contributed Image, File
An early site concept for the John Day Innovation Gateway.
lier would-be developer had pro-
duced for a motel with separate
cabins.
“I saw the cabins and thought,
I can do that. Defi nitely not some-
thing the scale of a hotel, but I can
do cabins,” she said.
A small outdoor pavilion that
can be used to host musical perfor-
mances is also planned for the site.
Adair said big name musical acts
like AC/DC probably won’t be per-
forming at the venue, but it will be a
place that hosts live music. A num-
ber of walking paths and appealing
landscaping will also be a part of
the project, Adair said, adding that
eff orts would be made to segregate
the area from nearby residences.
A matter of appearances
Adair’s position on the John
Day City Council and the property
not going out for bid are at the heart
of ethical questions surrounding the
deal that would make the plans out-
lined above a reality.
Adair signed a letter of intent
to buy the property in December,
with the approval of the City Coun-
cil. That letter of intent was formal-
ized during contentious discussions
at the May 10 City Council session.
At one point, the council consid-
ered shelving the sale of the prop-
erty and putting it up for the public
to bid on. Adair said she was upset
that the suggestion was brought up
as she was under the assumption
that she and the city had already
come to an agreement.
Another concern was raised
about the optics of withdrawing the
letter of intent, with some in atten-
dance questioning whether backing
out of the deal with Adair would
cause future developers to have sec-
ond thoughts about the city’s hon-
esty in making land sales.
The resolution to sell Adair the
property passed 3-1, with Councilor
Chris Labhart voting no. Labhart
said he doesn’t think Adair got a
“sweetheart deal” but argued that
the land should’ve been put up for
public bidding. He stressed the need
for transparency in land sales by the
city.
Adair did not vote on the res-
olution to approve the sale of the
property.
Ethical questions
A representative of the Oregon
Government Ethics Commission
declined to off er an opinion on the
propriety of the transaction, say-
ing the panel can only issue fi nd-
ings in response to formal ethics
complaints.
Section 244.040 of the Oregon
Revised Statutes deals with prohib-
ited uses of public offi ce. It says, in
part, that a public offi cial may not
use or attempt to use their offi ce for
fi nancial gain or avoidance of debt
for themselves, relatives, household
See Deal, Page A16
See Green, Page A16
Linemen rescue stranded crash victim, dog
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
DALE — Good Samar-
itans jumped into the water
Monday, June 20, and helped
rescue a woman and her dog
from a Kia minivan that
crashed into Camas Creek
on Highway 395 near the
Grant/Umatilla county line.
According to Oregon
State Police Trooper Mike
Mayer, the van started slid-
ing and the driver overcor-
rected and hit the gravel on
the shoulder of the road,
going around a curve before
fl ipping over two to three
times and rolling into the
middle of the creek near
milepost 53.
While the passenger was
Contributed Photo
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
A wrecked minivan sits in Camas Creek off Highway 395 on
Monday, June 20, 2022. Two passing utility workers stopped
and rescued the driver and her dog, who were trapped in the
vehicle.
able to escape the damaged
van, the driver and her dog
had a tougher time getting
out.
Two linemen with the
Monument-based Colum-
From left, Garrett Warner and Jack Jewell. The two linemen for
Monument-based Columbia Power Co-op saw the wrecked car
in Camas Creek and stepped in to help.
bia Power Cooperative, Gar-
rett Warner and Jack Jew-
ell, pulled up on the scene of
the accident roughly 15 min-
utes after it happened and
assessed whether they could
run a rope to the vehicle and
pull the driver and her dog
See Rescue, Page A16