EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Greater Idaho asks for County officials grapple with unexpected
support from incoming costs for Boardman Circuit Court Site
-Continued from PAGE ONE into account by the budget somebody, ‘Well, it’s not ward with a $50 million
Trump administration footage.
estimate. Morrow County 25, it’s 50.’”
project,” stated Sykes. “If
The Greater Idaho movement, which has been slowly gain-
ing ground since 2020, is now seeking support from Trump.
-Contributed photo
LaPine, OR—Leaders
of the Greater Idaho move-
ment are asking President
Trump and his incoming ad-
ministration to get involved
in supporting border talks
between Idaho and Oregon.
In a letter released last
Wednesday, Citizens for
Greater Idaho praised the
former and future Presi-
dent as a “practical prob-
lem-solver” whose support
could bring a “peaceful res-
olution to Oregon’s long-
standing east-west divide...
and cement (Trump’s) leg-
acy as a peacemaker and
transformational presi-
dent.”
“It’s become clear to
the people of eastern Or-
egon that our own state
government is not going to
listen to us and enact what
we’ve voted for, which is
moving the border,” said
Matt McCaw, Executive
Director of the movement.
“But we believe that Pres-
ident Trump, whom the
people here overwhelm-
ingly voted for, can help us
achieve the self-determi-
nation we have a right to
by bringing attention and
support to our cause.”
President of the move-
ment, Mike McCarter,
agreed.
“For the last four years
we’ve been going directly
to the people to hear what
they want. They’ve made
clear they want to start bor-
der discussions,” said Mc-
Carter. “We’ve also reached
out to the Oregon Legisla-
ture and Governor Kotek
but gotten no response.
Oregon state government
hasn’t been willing to listen
to eastern Oregonians, but
we believe the President
will.”
The Greater Idaho
movement began putting
votes to counties in 2020
and seeks to move the Ore-
gon/Idaho border westward
so that the traditionally
conservative eastern coun-
ties would join the state of
Idaho, which the movement
says better matches eastern
Oregonian values. So far,
13 counties have passed
their measures, including a
Morrow County vote to fur-
ther discussion on the topic.
The group believes that
moving the border would
create a win-win situation
for both Oregon and Idaho
by better matching voters
to state governance and
would lower political ten-
sion across the state.
State lines can be
moved through a process
called an interstate com-
pact. The change would
require the approval of both
states’ legislatures, as well
as the U.S. Congress.
In 2023, the Idaho
house passed a Memorial
resolution inviting the state
of Oregon to begin border
talks, and the Governor of
Idaho has publicly support-
ed border talks, as well.
A copy of the Dec. 4
letter to Trump can be found
at https://greateridaho.org/
view/104.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
When the BOC was
considering putting the
court building at the high-
ly-contested site near the
Morrow County Fair-
grounds, the estimated
square footage was around
24,000.
Design plans for the
Boardman location have
increased to 28,500 square
feet, partly due to the site
change and partly due to
added functional space.
Aside from the circuit
court and accompanying re-
quirements—such as office
space for public defenders
and a Sally port and hold-
ing area for prisoners—the
building is also planned
to include offices for the
Morrow County District
Attorney, the juvenile de-
partment and a new and
larger Justice Court space
to replace the Justice Court
in Irrigon.
Stewart said the de-
sign team had met with the
Oregon Dept. of Justice
and other occupants of the
building, and the 28,500
square feet was “optimal”
for users to have all the
spaces for their departments
to fully function within the
building.
Additionally, to fit on
the two-acre lot on Co-
lumbia and Olsen roads,
the building will need to
be at least two stories. That
added the requirement of
an elevator, which would
not have been needed at the
fairground site.
Jensen said, though,
that not all the growth was
tied to the new site. For
instance, space for public
defenders was a new addi-
tion by the state.
“It’s something the
state’s asking for and is a
new initiative that they’re
that they’re implementing
that will be required over
the next five years,” said
Jensen. “And we figure, if
they’re going to require it,
we might as well incorpo-
rate that into the into the
space planning.”
Stewart agreed and
added that the Justice Court
courtroom grew from a
half courtroom to a full
courtroom. The design also
added an intake office and
fingerprinting for the sher-
iff’s office to fully function,
as well as a grand jury room
for the district attorney.
Another variable was
exactly what was taken
Commissioner Jeff Wen-
holz pointed out that the
original estimate of $800
per square foot only includ-
ed construction costs, while
the $50 million included
so-called “soft” costs such
as interior work, furniture
and various fees.
The design team said
they estimated that total
cost at $34 million for the
circuit court itself, with the
other $16 million being the
other offices and spaces in
the building.
Still, Morrow County
Board Chair David Sykes
wasn’t happy with the fig-
ure.
“So basically, the coun-
ty is doing $16 million dol-
lars’ worth of office space
for itself,” he said. “I mean,
if it was just a standalone
circuit court building, they
pay half, we paid half, 17
million apiece.”
Carl and Earl Eastman,
also of Alliance, said the
price tag was “as big as
it’s going to get. They said
they build in contingency,
and that the number usually
whittle down over time.
“I know these numbers
are conservative,” put in
Jensen, “but they’re high.”
Jensen added that the
county could bring down
the cost by stripping away
the Justice Court and other
offices, but that would still
leave the county splitting
a $34 million bill with the
state.
“We have the 12.5 (mil-
lion). We’ve had an addi-
tional 1.5,” he said. “But
we would have to be going
back to Judge Hill and say-
ing, ‘Your site is 17 million,
and unless we can curtail
the court side of things,
we need to bring in some
money to do the project.”
If the current design
stays on track, Stewart said
they could have a contractor
hired and a better cost esti-
mate by March 7. Realisti-
cally, she said, construction
would begin about a year
from now, with the building
open by February of 2027.
Sykes, though, resisted
the idea of moving forward
with the current estimate.
“I think we need to go
back to ground zero and
start looking at everything
we’ve added on, all the uses
of county offices and who
we had in there,” he said. “I
mean, it’s going to be tough
for me to walk out and tell
We n h o l z s a i d h e
thought it was important to
note that $25 million was
never a set amount.
“The complete cost
never was 25,” he pointed
out.
“That’s what we put
out,” he said. “When you
put it out, that’s what it is.”
Jensen said the easi-
est way to bring the cost
down would be to pull out
the county offices, but the
circuit court was still a sig-
nificant cost.
“Those are statutorily
required space require-
ments. It’s going to feel
palatial compared to what
they have over here, but
it is what’s set in Oregon
statutes,” said Jensen. “And
so we did not have much
design latitude with that,
unfortunately.”
Stewart said the adver-
tisement had already gone
out for a general contractor.
Sykes questioned whether
the BOC had any say going
forward.
“Did we approve a cer-
tain cost for this building, or
we just said, ‘Go for it.’?”
he asked. “Is that how it
works?”
The design team re-
sponded that the presenta-
tion had been purely infor-
mation, and the BOC could
change course at any time,
just as it had when it moved
the site from Heppner to
Boardman.
“So if you come back
and ask us to do something
different than what we’ve
shared with you—because
today is just an update—we
would certainly change
gears and do something
different,” said Carl. “As
a team, we assumed there
was going to be sticker
shock and that you guys
behind the scenes might
having your own discus-
sions.”
“If we don’t do any-
thing, you’re moving for-
the price doubled, you’re
not asking us to approve
anything. You’re going to
move forward with sche-
matic design now irregard-
less of the doubling price.”
“I think we ought to do
a little more deep dive into
what we’re doing here,” he
added, “take a fresh look at
where we’re spending
our money.”
Carl reiterated that this
was the first time the design
team had gotten to this point
in the process.
“This is the first time,
even though we’ve been
working together for a year,
first time we’ve been able to
get to this spot, put a total
project cost in front of you
guys. You know, it was a
start, stop, start, stop,” Carl
said. “This is a spot where
you can say, okay, hold on.
“We didn’t prepare
what-if scenarios because
we just need to give you
guys an update. Here’s
where we’re at,” he added.
Sykes responded that
the commissioners have a
responsibility to the public.
“I just hope everyone
realizes or is sensitive to
the fact that we interface
with the public. Nobody
else does,” he said. “Our
reputation, our, you know,
truthfulness or whatever
you want to say is on the
line.
“If I’d have known that
from the beginning, I would
have told people, it could be
50 million.”
Wenholz said he would
like to see the staff come
back with different cost
scenarios, but that the BOC
needed to act sooner rather
than later.
“We kicked this game
down the road,” said Wen-
holz. “We’ve all seen how
the price of building mate-
rials goes up.
“The cost is just going
to escalate,” he added.
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