A16
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Green
Continued from Page A1
Blue Mountain Eagle, File
The planer shed at the former Oregon Pine mill site could be used for farmers markets and other community or tourist-related events
as part of the Innovation Gateway project.
Deal
Continued from Page A1
members or businesses the offi cial is
associated with if the opportunity for
the fi nancial gain or avoidance of debt
wouldn’t have been available were they
not holding their position.
Adair points out that the city has tried
to sell the land in the past and no one
raised the issue of putting it up for public
bidding. The land was the proposed site
of a hotel at one point, but that deal fell
through.
“Nobody argued with the city about
that,” she said. “Nobody said, ‘Why are
you selling this to that hotel without fi rst
off ering it to other people?’”
She adds that nobody else approached
the city to buy the property following the
failure of the hotel deal.
Adair also cited other times the city
has sold land to others without the prop-
erty going public, saying those deals
weren’t under the same level of scrutiny
hers was due to her position on the City
Council.
“During that same (May 10) meet-
ing we had just signed a letter of intent
for the greenhouse,” she said. “It’s hap-
pened all around us. Because it was me
on City Council, it became diff erent. It’s
been handled just like every other piece
of property the city has sold has been
handled.”
Andrew Ellis of Team Birtola High
Desert Realty in Bend said the deal has
the appearance of being questionable but
that deals of this sort do happen often.
“My thought initially is that this is a
touch unethical. If somebody is aware
of something because of their city ser-
vice and it doesn’t hit the public, maybe
that’s not the best way to do it. In other
instances, that kind of happens all the
time. As long as the seller is aware of
what they may be leaving on the table,
because you generally get more money
if you hit the open market. That’s not
always the case and money isn’t always
the end goal of the seller. Everyone
needs to go into it with their eyes wide
open. In this specifi c situation, I proba-
bly wouldn’t have felt great about putting
something together without the city and
the area knowing what’s going on and
having the opportunity to jump on it,”
Ellis said.
If he had been involved in the trans-
action, Ellis said, he would have advised
the city to use every means possible to
make the public aware the property was
for sale, including a listing with the Mul-
tiple Listing Service.
At the same time, he stressed, his role
as a broker is to advise his clients, and
as long as the sale isn’t illegal, he would
defer to the client’s wishes.
Another criticism of the deal has been
that the city might have been able to get
more money for the property than Adair
paid for it through competitive bidding on
the property via a public listing. The city
sold the property to Adair for $122,840,
which works out to $43,871 per acre.
Adair repeated the consensus of the
City Council that the city doesn’t want
to simply sell land to the highest bidder:
“Are they going to develop that land or
are they just going to sit on it and bank
it?”
Adair stressed that the city seeks to sell
land to individuals who intend to develop
the land into something that fi ts into the
city’s overall plan and vision for growth.
To a large extent, that plan for growth
is anchored in the Innovation Gateway
property. The city’s vision for the area
includes redeveloping the site of the old
Oregon Pine mill, extending Seventh
Street to Patterson Bridge Road, building
a network of trails to connect the devel-
opment with the west side of town, new
community amenities and sustainable,
complementary economic development.
The end goal, according to a 2019
plan outline, is to turn the former Oregon
Pine site into a welcoming public space
and create a positive impression of John
Day. The plan’s creators are hopeful the
project can help spur the city’s economy
and draw new businesses and residents to
John Day.
‘Everything above board’
Adair said she consulted with her own
personal and business attorneys as well as
the John Day city attorney regarding the
legality and ethics of the deal. All three,
she said, have assured her that the deal
was both legal and ethical.
“I’ve talked to every legal person to
make sure that everything is above board
and done legally and ethically,” she said.
She also rejected the notion that John
Day City Attorney Jeremy Green might
be biased because of feelings of friend-
ship he might have for city employees or
members of the City Council.
“If they knew Jeremy Green, they
would know that’s not the case,” Adair
said. “Jeremy Green doesn’t just repre-
sent the city of John Day. He has more
clients than just the city of John Day. He
is very professional and has always told
us that he does not work for (City Man-
ager) Nick Green. He tells the City Coun-
cil he works for John Day and he doesn’t
personally represent the employees of the
city.”
Adair’s plans are not set in stone and
they still require approval by the John
Day Planning Commission before she
can break ground on the projects she has
planned for her property in the Innovation
Gateway development.
The commission is expected to vote
on Adair’s plans sometime in late June or
early July.
Ketchum is slated to make
$85,000 a year in salary with
a benefi ts package valued at
just over $20,000 annually.
Ketchum’s job as city
manager will not encom-
pass the same scope as
Green’s job as city man-
ager, according to Mayor
Ron Lundbom. Ketchum’s
duties will include prepar-
ing the agenda packets for
City Council meetings and
making sure city projects are
done in a timely manner and
in accordance with contract
terms. Hands-on involve-
ment in those projects will
fall to Green and his consult-
ing fi rm.
The contract with Cat-
alyst includes an immedi-
ate termination clause that
would be triggered in the
event of dishonesty, failure
to comply with applicable
laws related to the consul-
tant’s independent contrac-
tor status or the failure to
perform consultant duties
outlined in the contract with
the city.
City Council Chair Dave
Rescue
Continued from Page A1
out of the car safely.
With recent heavy rains
adding to the strong cur-
rent, Warner said he did not
want to get swept under the
car. But, in the end, War-
ner said, he and Jewell fi g-
ured they could do it — and
should before the driver,
Cheryl Patterson, 69, of
Olivehurst, California, got
hypothermia from the cold
water.
Before wading into the
creek’s rushing water, Jew-
ell lent his jacket to the pas-
senger, Lilly Papadopou-
los, 19, also of Olivehurst,
who by that point was sit-
ting in the backseat of a
passer-by’s vehicle with the
heater on trying to warm
up.
Warner said he and Jew-
Holland said the city reached
out to Green about bring-
ing him on as a consultant
following his time as city
manager. Council mem-
bers had expressed con-
cerns that some of the grant-
funded projects started
during Green’s six-year ten-
ure could fail if someone
with his expertise didn’t
have a role in seeing them to
completion.
In other action at the June
14 meeting, the council:
• Adopted the 2022-
2023 fi scal year budget and
approved the tax rate. The
budget for fi scal year 2022-
23 is $30,303,598, and
the tax rate is $2.9915 per
$1,000 of assessed property
value.
• Approved a request
by Clark’s Disposal, which
holds the local waste hauling
franchise, to impose a 7.5%
fuel surcharge eff ective July
1. The surcharge will remain
in eff ect until the price of a
gallon of diesel fuel drops
below $4. The surcharge,
which will be assessed once
per month, raises residential
pickup rates by up to $2.80
per month and commercial
rates by up to $10 per month.
ell bring clothes for all
occasions when they’re on
the job.
“We never know how
the weather is going to be,”
Warner said.
Warner said there are
fi ve linemen who work
at the co-op, and they are
about to add a sixth. He said
Columbia Power has a com-
munity-oriented outlook.
“We kind of just look
out for everybody out here
because we’re such a small
co-op,” Warner said. “We
try to take care of the com-
munity, and when we see
somebody that needs help,
we just try to help them
out.”
According to an entry
in the OSP media log, both
Papadopoulos and Patterson
were taken to St. Anthony
Hospital in Pendleton with
minor injuries and their
vehicle was towed.
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