Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 14, 2024 -- SEVEN
ASA contracts and county administrator reports
-Continued from PAGE ONE
find out where we’re at on
that,” he said, adding that he
hoped to have it by the end
of the week.
Jensen also said the title
report done by the Port of
Morrow was not as “robust”
as they had thought, so the
county will also be doing
a new title report on the
specific area they are look-
ing at for the circuit court
building.
“Just to be sure we’re
clear on any easements or
anything else that might
impact development there,”
said Jensen.
On a positive note, Jen-
sen said Judicial District
6 Presiding Judge Daniel
Hill had reached out to see
if the county needed to put
additional financial requests
in as the new legislative ses-
sion begins. Hill has put in
a request for an additional
$2.5 million to make sure
the county is covered in the
case of budget overrun on
the project.
“We’re hoping we don’t
have to use that, but we’ve
got the request in there as a
placeholder,” said Jensen.
The $2.5 million would
be a matching grant.
Also in his report, Jen-
sen said he met with several
parties regarding the water
nitrate issue. He said the
county is still awaiting final
determination on the grant
from Business Oregon.
As the county moves
forward, Jensen said, it will
be putting out a request
for proposals for public
outreach. He said there has
been delay in public out-
reach, but he’s hoping to get
into affected communities
this fall and discuss options.
He also reported that
the alarm regarding fires in
Morrow County has dialed
back for the moment and
they are now looking at
recovery, specifically for
those who have grazing
lands in affected areas.
“We know that those
cattlemen have been im-
pacted by this, and so we
are looking to see what we
can do to get updates and
resources to them,” he said.
Jensen also reported
that he attended the Let’s
Build Boardman hous-
ing event Aug. 6. He said
Boardman is looking for
options on how to address
middle-income housing.
“More or less, low-in-
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come housing gets subsi-
dized. High income hous-
ing, they’ve got the money
to do it. It’s those people in
the middle-average income
range who are really im-
pacted by things,” he said.
Other Business
In other business, the
BOC unanimously ap-
proved an IGA with Oregon
Department of Transpor-
tation to develop an Inter-
change Area Management
Plan (IAMP) for the Tower
Road and Interstate 84 in-
tersection area.
Morrow County Prin-
cipal Planner Daisy Goebel
said the county has done
IAMPs in the past, but not
since 2014. She said it is
a “pretty standard agree-
ment,” though it does con-
tain a caveat for a technical
advisory committee and
public advisory committee.
To w e r R o a d i s i n
Boardman, but Goebel said
the transportation system
falls within the jurisdiction
of the county and the state.
Jensen said that the city
owns adjacent property,
but the county owns the
road, so Boardman will be
a stakeholder in decision
making.
In other business, the
board of commissioners
authorized Jensen to pursue
a ChangeX grant of up to
$10,000 for an ABI TR3
“E” arena groomer to take
care of both the indoor and
outdoor arenas at the fair
and rodeo grounds.
The board also ap-
proved a lease for a weed
department facility on Lin-
den Way in Heppner. The
space is a two-bay garage
with office space, which
will allow the county to
store weed equipment in an
environmentally controlled
area. The lease is $1500
per month and will require
a supplemental budget
change. The county will be
responsible for mitigation
and cleanup of any weed
chemicals on the property.
In department reports,
Morrow County Public
Works Administrative Man-
ager Sandi Pointer reported
on the use of Lexington Air-
port by Oregon Department
of Forestry and Oregon Air
National Guard. The groups
used the airport July 24 to
Aug. 2 for their command
center and fuel location
when fighting wildfires in
the area.
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“It was exciting,” said
Pointer.
The firefighters brought
their own fuel tanker, and
Pointer and Morrow Coun-
ty Public Works Director
Eric Imes agreed that the
airport’s fuel supply proba-
bly wouldn’t have support-
ed that much air traffic. In
addition to air traffic, there
was a command center
trailer at the airport.
Pointer said it was good
for the county because it
brought in a little revenue,
as well as more exposure
for the airport. She said
several state officials com-
mented that, if they had
known the Lexington air-
port was this accessible and
easy, they would have used
it more often.
Imes said the com-
mand teams were great to
work with. He said they
addressed his concern about
the extra noise over the
small town and explained
the operation thoroughly.
“They took really good
care of town,” said Imes.
Public works is also in
the process of getting bids
for new scales at the coun-
ty’s two transfer stations,
and Imes is creating a list
of road signs that need
replaced. If it cannot be
completed this year, he said
he hopes to have it in next
year’s budget.
“The road signs around
the county are in terrible re-
pair,” said Imes, adding that
the map of the county was
covered with dots where
new signs are needed. “It
looks like chicken pox.”
Morrow County Transit
Manager Benjamin Tucker
reported that ridership is
picking up on The Loop’s
fixed-route service.
Sykes commented that
he didn’t think the online
schedule was easily read-
able on a phone and asked
if an app could be created
for phone users. Tucker said
the feedback they received
was that people did not
want to download another
app. He also said the web-
site has an interactive map
that shows stops and times,
He did agree that the site
still needed optimization
for phones.
Tucker also said The
Loop had worked with Sues
Gibbs to create a route with
a stop at the fairgrounds
during fair week. “We are
excited about being able to
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offer that,” said Tucker.
Morrow County Fi-
nance Director Kevin Ince
said the finance department
is busy with several proj-
ects, including closing out
the last fiscal year by the
end of September.
At the top of the list
are four different audits,
including finishing the 2023
single audit and the public
transit Agreed-Upon Proce-
dures audit while beginning
those same audits for 2024.
In Oregon, the State-
wide Transportation Im-
provement Fund (STIF)
requires audits for entities
that receive STIF mon-
ey. These audits follow
Agreed-Upon Procedures
established by ODOT.
Meanwhile, Ince said,
work continues on the En-
terprise Resource Planning
(ERP) program. Enterprise
resource planning is a busi-
ness management software
system that is designed to
manage and streamline an
organization’s functions,
processes and workflows
with automation and inte-
gration.
The department has
also finally begun work on
the Internet Technology
Disaster Recovery Plan,
which was pointed out as
a weakness in a previous
audit.
At the end of the meet-
ing, the board of commis-
sioners went into executive
session to consult with
counsel concerning the
legal rights and duties of a
public body with regard to
current litigation or litiga-
tion likely to be filed.
After executive ses-
sion, the board voted to
engage Bend law firm Bry-
ant, Lovlien & Jarvis, PC
as legal counsel for the
Columbia Development
Authority (CDA) lawsuit.
The move appears to
be in response to a lawsuit
Umatilla County has filed
against the CDA. The law-
suit seeks at least one mil-
lion dollars for an alleged
breach of contract over
a March vote that turned
over control of the CDAs
industrial property to the
two ports.
Morrow County, the
Port of Morrow and the Port
of Umatilla are also named
as defendants in the lawsuit.
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