[0:03] [music]

[0:10] [music] All right, it is 10:00. This is the

[0:13] Gillum County Court regular meeting. We're in Condan today. It's September

[0:17] 2nd. Meeting is called to order. A quorum has

[0:22] been established. All county court members are present and we will now have

[0:25] the flag salute.

[0:29] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:35] republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:42] justice for all. Welcome.

[0:49] Okay. Are there any additions or revisions to the agenda?

[0:53] None. All right. Item 3.0, zero correspondence public comment. We'll

[0:59] begin with uh public comment. Individuals wishing to address the

[1:03] county court may do so at this time and at other times throughout the meeting.

[1:07] Speakers asked to raise their hand and be recognized by the chair give name and

[1:11] city and limit comments to three minutes. Any um items that are not

[1:16] agendaized we can um take at this time. Are there any comments in in person?

[1:24] » No. One online. >> Huh?

[1:26] » There is one. >> Okay. All right. Who do we have?

[1:30] » Dr. F. >> Okay. All right. We will go with Dr.

[1:34] Foss. This is Arlington School District's superintendent.

[1:40] » Good morning, Judge Pat Node and commissioners. Yes, this is Dr. Jonathan

[1:43] Foss, superintendent, Arlington School District. I also have our uh CTE shop

[1:49] teacher, Mark Moore, with me here. And what I'm presenting to you this morning

[1:53] is uh to let you know we are looking into daycare options for the school

[1:58] district to take on for our community here in Arlington School District. We

[2:03] have facilities available that are unused at this current time frame that

[2:07] are set up for preschool. We're turnkey ready if we were to start this. We have

[2:12] a playground that is going into place later this fall that is uh suited

[2:16] specifically for our preschool children. We currently have um preschool promise

[2:22] and 10 kids uh with that program and also or OPK program, the Oregon

[2:28] preschool uh program uh that are attending in another program. So, we're

[2:32] looking at expanding this for a daycare option. We also have uh policies in

[2:37] place as a school district that allow us to be able to move forward um for the uh

[2:42] in addition um we reached out to the Oregon Department of Early Learning and

[2:46] Care otherwise known as DELK uh to see about our requirements for lensure as a

[2:52] school district. We are not required for lensure uh for a daycare. So uh because

[2:57] they know we have practices and uh things in place to be able to move

[3:00] forward. Uh so we're pursuing pursuing different funding sources for this and

[3:06] uh we just wanted to inform uh the county the commissioner of this uh

[3:10] possibility that we're exploring. Let us know if there are any questions.

[3:14] » All right. >> All right. At this time that's good

[3:18] news. >> Okay. Um

[3:23] Dr. Ross, both both commissioners um indicated a positive response to what

[3:28] you said. >> Yes. Uh, is there anything you wanted to

[3:32] ask? >> Uh, I don't think right now.

[3:36] » Okay. >> I'd like

[3:37] » We'll we'll hear more as this moves forward.

[3:40] » Absolutely. >> Commissioner Watkins, do you have you

[3:43] gathered your thoughts? >> I'm just wondering how how much space do

[3:46] they have available? >> How much space?

[3:49] » Yes. Uh, we currently have a couple modulars that are completely open. one

[3:54] is currently set up as a preschool space um that was used by the uh play and

[3:59] learn program that's in our entire region. So, it's already preschool

[4:03] ready. You can just walk in the door and go. Um and we have another classroom

[4:07] that is available and a third classroom. So, we have up to three classrooms that

[4:10] are ready to go and set up and they're adjacent to the playground area. So very

[4:15] convenient and also uh giving a sense of community being included in our school

[4:20] um as part of school property that already exists.

[4:25] » Those are the modulars on the east side, right? Yeah,

[4:28] » that is correct. >> Okay.

[4:30] » Okay. And when you say just trying to visualize the three classrooms, does

[4:36] that encompass the current preschool classroom

[4:41] » that you're currently using? Oh, so you're in

[4:43] » that's a separate classroom. Yep. >> Okay. Okay. All right. That's a lot of

[4:47] space. >> Yeah.

[4:48] » Right. Mhm. Okay. Um this is all good news is I think it's um

[4:57] you know it's concerning when you hear that a child care is closing and I'm

[5:02] hopeful of a solution for Arlington. We all I think we all agree we want we want

[5:08] a stable solution. Um, so thank you for pursuing this for the community and for

[5:13] the kids. >> You are welcome.

[5:16] » Um, so what's the next step for you? >> Our next step is to present this to our

[5:22] school board for their review and depending on what they decide, we will

[5:26] uh either move forward or have additional work sessions uh uh depending

[5:30] on their guidance. So and that is >> okay.

[5:32] » In our board meeting for this month, which is uh next week.

[5:36] » Oh, next week. Okay, good. Maybe after the board meeting.

[5:40] » Week after. Yeah. Sorry. [laughter]

[5:43] » All right. Maybe after that next next board meeting, I'll catch up with you

[5:48] and touch base. >> Sounds good.

[5:51] » Okay. >> Okay. Great. Good. Thank you for the

[5:54] update. >> You are welcome. Thank you for the

[5:57] opportunity. >> That's good. Good news.

[6:02] » All right. Any any other online comment? All right.

[6:07] Item 3.1, Gillum East John Day Water Council annual report. Callen Wilkins,

[6:15] come on up. Ken, I'll show your Yes, that would be great.

[6:23] » Um

[6:39] Um well, good morning. My name is Callen Wilkins and I am the new watershed

[6:43] coordinator for the Gillum S or the Gillum East John Day watershed council.

[6:48] Um and I am reporting on the annual report for the year of 2025.

[6:55] Um and then I just wanted to start with our mission statement. Um the mission of

[7:03] the watershed council is to include a broad and diverse representation of

[7:08] geographic and natural resource interests in the watersheds to work

[7:12] collaboratively with land owners, businesses and communities to develop

[7:16] and carry out voluntary on the ground watershed protection, restoration,

[7:21] enhancement and community engagement activities.

[7:26] Um and then my next slide talks about our governance and accountability. Um

[7:31] our council is made up of seven council members. Meetings are held every third

[7:36] Monday of the month. Um there are five me representatives and two atlarge

[7:42] members. Meetings are held um every month except for July and August due to

[7:47] the summer hiatus. Meetings also have a Zoom link for anyone in the public that

[7:52] would like to listen in. Um meeting records and minutes are also available

[7:56] upon request.

[8:01] The fiscal and operational structure. The Gillum SWCD serves as the fiscal

[8:07] sponsor of the watershed council and is the employer on of record. Physical

[8:12] controls include budgeting, monthly financial reporting, expense approval,

[8:17] and recordkeeping. This reporting period, the Gillum SWCD

[8:21] continued to serve as a physical sponsor for the Gillum East John Dave wershed

[8:25] council. The water or the Gillum SWCD has also carried out and completed the

[8:30] duties of the watershed council coordinator over the past year along

[8:34] with the assistance of a hired consultant.

[8:38] The current capacity funding um the OA council capacity grant was awarded to

[8:43] the council for $175840,000.

[8:48] This is for the grant cycle 2025 to 2027. This grant supports staffing,

[8:54] planning, technical assistant, technical assistance, monitoring,

[8:58] outreach, and reporting. Um, and this budget is split over two years.

[9:06] The accomplishments that the wershed council has had over the reporting

[9:10] period um are two small virtual fence projects were funded and this supports

[9:16] upland pasture management. The wershed was also able to implement two small

[9:21] grant projects. Um one was a spring development and the other was pasture

[9:26] fencing. The wershed council is also leading project management on a

[9:29] large-scale restoration project on Rock Creek. This includes enrolling 100 acres

[9:35] of crepe, installing 38,680 feet of riparian fencing, and close to

[9:42] 6,000 plants and installing 20,000 ft of cross fence.

[9:47] Um the partnerships on pepper rock. >> Yes, it's closer to like um where the

[9:53] Gweat family lives and where the Macintosh family lives.

[9:56] » Okay. Um and then the partners that the

[10:00] watershed council works with are the lower John Day working group. This is a

[10:04] place-based planning partnership that is voluntary and locally initiated. This

[10:09] creates a framework that is brought together by people of diverse interest

[10:12] in a defined area to better understand local water resource issues. Together

[10:17] the partnership can build and plan for pursuing projects. In 2025, the group

[10:22] requested funding from the Oregon Water Resources Department to implement the

[10:26] lower John Day integrated water resource plan. 2000 or $250,000 was awarded for

[10:32] this plan. The John Day Basin Partnership, which is another

[10:36] partnership the watershed council participates in, um brings together

[10:40] colleagues from across the basin with an interest of restoring and maintaining

[10:44] wersheds to maximize their ecological, economic, and social and c cultural

[10:50] benefits. Or the Gillan Watershed Council has held

[10:54] six meetings since July of 2025. The watershed council maintains a Facebook

[10:59] page and a website to engage with the public and land owners. We also have

[11:04] served as project manager for the municipal needs assessment associated

[11:08] with the lower John Day working group. The watershed council continues to

[11:12] participate in the lower John Day working groups quarterly meetings as

[11:15] well as the John Day council or the John Day partnership meetings. The watershed

[11:20] council has also participated in going to outdoor school as well as the

[11:25] community cleanup day that the school puts on at the end of every year.

[11:32] And then looking ahead, the council plans to continue regular board

[11:36] meetings, support restoration, monitoring, and outreach projects,

[11:40] maintain funding for new and existing small grants, and a new watershed

[11:45] coordinator is now in place to continue work and plan for the implementation of

[11:49] the future. And then I just included um a picture of what the bianual grant

[11:55] budget looks like. And that's all I have. Do you have any questions for me?

[12:02] Do you have any questions? >> I don't.

[12:06] » Good job. Excellent job. Thank you. >> Very good.

[12:19] » All right. Next on the agenda, 3.2 treasures report for June and July 2026.

[12:27] Do we have any questions? We do have our treasure present.

[12:34] » Oh, it's all >> No. Do you have anything to add?

[12:38] » Yeah, I'll point out that we do still have a um $62352

[12:45] um difference in our cash allocation. >> I saw that. Yeah,

[12:48] » that's just the last little bit that Marina and company said was immaterial

[12:52] and um would have take it on small little transactions. it would have taken

[12:59] entirely too much work to sort out for the dollar amount.

[13:03] » So, we're hoping that um either the auditors will propose a correcting entry

[13:07] to um get that balance to zero or if they don't, then we'll have

[13:13] » make an adjustment >> adjustment.

[13:17] Other than that, okay. >> Um I also added a revenue expense report

[13:20] at the end of the um regular report. I know like to see that and move out so

[13:30] that's in there too. >> Oh, okay.

[13:34] » All the way down the bottom,

[13:40] » right? >> I have question.

[13:44] » Good. >> The that tax appeal was that like we're

[13:47] still running like about 373,000. Is that what is being held back? Um the

[13:52] total that's being held right now is just over 3 million. I think it's 3.4.

[13:58] Okay. >> Yeah. Um I don't know exactly the

[14:01] portion per district, but the total is about 26.

[14:06] » So if you go to the allocation page, I believe with all of the trying to find

[14:14] it exactly >> 6.6 6 million

[14:20] » fund number 698.

[14:26] » Yeah. So on the back of page So it's in the combined cash investment

[14:33] June 30th 2026. Um

[14:37] » 3.6. >> Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah. And so that's the

[14:42] appeal repayments, right? Okay.

[14:49] All right. >> And you guys have it figured out. So

[14:56] if it ever resolves itself, the distribution to the different entities,

[15:00] it'll go to Yes. So we just follow the regular property tax distribution

[15:05] schedule um to distribute when the case is decided. the DO will tell us they'll

[15:12] present us with a judgment and tell us how much needs to be refunded or charged

[15:16] or you know how we settle it. Yeah. >> And then we distribute the money either

[15:21] back to the taxpayer or to the districts or

[15:25] » hopefully that will happen soon. >> And so once do we know once that's

[15:30] decided how quick is the turnaround that the funds go back to the districts? Is

[15:34] there any delay >> notice from the do? It should be, you

[15:39] know, matter of a week or so to get our records

[15:43] » up and make sure we're data processed properly.

[15:47] » Just need to go ahead. >> Yeah.

[15:52] Okay. 3.3

[15:55] uh Port of Arlington. This is the uh rural infrastructure fund grant. Um, we

[16:02] were contacted by the Port of Arlington to request a letter of support for that

[16:06] grant. Did you did you have anything to say? Uh, we're in support of writing the

[16:11] letter of support, but I think you were going to have a meeting first before we

[16:17] write that. >> Um, Leah Shannon, Arlington,

[16:20] » do you want do you want to come up? I should have probably initially had

[16:23] decided that we wanted to pioneer CDC. you were in on that conversation

[16:27] » and Pioneer CDC was going to actually apply for the

[16:31] » However, what we discovered was because they're a nonprofit, they're not

[16:35] eligible. >> So then we had to kind of shift what we

[16:38] were going to do. So um the Port of Arlington is going to go ahead and apply

[16:43] for the Rift Grant. Um Jed has it almost ready to go, but we need the letters of

[16:48] interest of support for it. So, the last I spoke with him, which was Monday, he

[16:52] said he wanted to wait until your meeting on the 10th to verify that your

[16:58] board wants to proceed. We can have the letter done the very next day.

[17:02] » Yeah, we just have to have a um >> we have a resolution.

[17:06] » Okay. >> But Pioneer CDC, we're having a special

[17:09] meeting this afternoon. >> So, we'll talk about how we're going to

[17:12] move through that because we're going to continue to work with them, right?

[17:15] » But it's just going to be structured. We wanted to make sure that our letter of

[17:19] support is crafted according to and first of all are we are we comfortable

[17:24] with writing a letter of support? Yes, we

[17:26] » okay I and so I

[17:32] wanted to make sure when we write the letter of support we're specific enough

[17:36] about what you're specifically asking for. Okay.

[17:38] » Okay. So once we get through this couple meeting then we'll get information back

[17:42] to you and then right it'll be because we'll have it better figured out what it

[17:46] look like. >> All right.

[17:48] » So good. >> We'll be in touch.

[17:49] » We're hopeful that it works. So >> any other questions?

[17:53] » Yeah. Is the is the R2 is that completed? So you guys were changed.

[17:57] » The R2 is completed. We have approval on that. Um there's four or five different

[18:02] lots that are now zoned R2 which will um increase our ability to perhaps

[18:10] you know get a developer to come in and do multiple housing um like apartments

[18:16] that would be the best. >> Yeah. Okay.

[18:19] » So yes we are finally through that. Took some time. I know I spoke with a

[18:22] developer that was for duplexes or something like that was looking for R2

[18:27] also but >> yes you know

[18:29] » well and we're we've got some things that we're interested in doing. We have

[18:33] kind of a plan in the back of our minds. Um of course we'll have to go out for

[18:36] RFPs and everything but um if we get grant money and we should know pretty

[18:41] soon. I think they award that in October.

[18:44] » Yeah. The deadline September 16th. So I >> I think the the reward is October

[18:50] sometime. Yeah. Okay. And the other point of clarification is this would be

[18:55] for alkali ridge. >> Yes.

[18:57] » This Okay. So, just in general before we just so the public understands,

[19:06] um, the Oregon legislature earmarked $10 million, and please correct me if I'm

[19:11] wrong for anybody else who who knows otherwise for the rural infrastructure

[19:17] fund grant administered by business Oregon. It's for entities 25 public

[19:22] entities 25,000 or less

[19:26] » and housing is the top priority in this. Um I haven't dug into it because but

[19:33] what I did do is I've um been in contact with Nate Styis who's regional solutions

[19:39] and he encouraged applications from every you know from all of the regions

[19:44] um because the legislature stepped up and made this funding available. We need

[19:50] to make sure we have applications. So, >> make sure we try.

[19:53] » Out of fairness, you know, I contacted all who might be interested, the city,

[19:59] both cities and the port. It sounds like there could potentially be applications

[20:03] from all three. >> And that's fine because I if we all

[20:08] three apply, >> yeah,

[20:09] » there's an opportunity for someone to get, you know, so it still benefits

[20:14] regardless of who gets it. It shows we're trying Yes. to access funds that

[20:19] are made available for our our communities and especially since this is

[20:23] a rural initiative, it's it's good to >> put inations, right?

[20:29] » So, um >> so is that counties of 25,000 and less?

[20:33] Is that >> is it I think all-encompassing

[20:38] » any government? Yes. Right. So, >> so,

[20:44] uh, the other thing I wanted to say is, are

[20:48] you in support? If any of those three ask for a letter of support, we would

[20:52] write that. That's what it >> Yeah, absolutely.

[20:54] » Okay. And, um, yeah, we'll just be in touch and get

[21:00] we're we're ready to to proceed with the letter whenever when we know what the

[21:03] details. >> Thank you. Yes,

[21:05] » we'll meet this afternoon and then um with our regular court meeting and we

[21:10] should have more information for you. >> Okay, sounds good. Thank you.

[21:12] » Thank you.

[21:17] » All right. 4.0 consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda include consider

[21:23] approval of IGA for city of Conan for swimming pool funding. Um that is our

[21:29] normal um ongoing allocation to support a swimming pool.

[21:36] Um and it is in the packet. Consider approval of bills pending

[21:41] review and consider approval of meeting minutes from August 19th. Are there any

[21:45] questions? >> Um I have one on the uh swimming pool

[21:50] committee. >> Um it was the secretary that went on and

[21:53] like said I don't recall. Maybe this was in the last one too, but the last

[21:58] sentence basically it says in the event operating costs contemplated by this

[22:03] agreement increase over 70,000 the parties agree to renegotiate the funding

[22:08] amount provided by county to cover was that I is that st I mean

[22:14] » same

[22:18] increases over the last change.

[22:21] » Okay, that's I'm good then. I just on it.

[22:26] » And for the $70,000

[22:30] we've been I mean we're I'm bumping up against that, right? I mean that's

[22:37] » with our major repair. We're at 98,000 >> but our rate of operating expenses are

[22:44] about 63 to 64,000. >> Okay.

[22:47] » For the summer. >> Okay. And did the pipe repair um was

[22:51] that successful?

[22:55] Okay. Uh, it's mainly the over we still we're still going water. So, we fixed

[23:04] one leaf and I think we still >> Okay. All right. Okay.

[23:11] » Okay. Move to approve the consent agenda.

[23:15] » I'll second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve

[23:18] the consent agenda. All in favor? I >> I motion carries.

[23:32] » Okay. 5.0 unfinished business. Continuation of fire recovery

[23:37] discussion. 5.1.

[23:41] Okay. Um,

[23:47] I guess I'll just start this by saying there's been a lot of outreach, a lot of

[23:53] uh constituents, um, government entities, the governor's

[23:58] office, um, people with fire backgrounds who've, um,

[24:05] reached out maybe to you as well. Um, and so I've done a lot of listening, you

[24:11] know, through through this. Um, and

[24:20] this is new ground. But I think two things we've identified, you know, we

[24:24] have a common goal. Let's put the fire out quickly, right? And how do we

[24:28] organize to best use our local resources? Those are the two things that

[24:31] we I think would all agree on. um and identifying solutions for future

[24:38] fires because we can't just say, "Okay, fire's over." I think we've all come to

[24:43] realize we just need to prepare for the future because these are these are

[24:46] ongoing. So, um there's [clears throat] been discussions about rangeland fire

[24:52] protection associations, how those would interact or conflict

[24:57] with our rural fire protection district covering our entire county and how would

[25:01] that be worked out. We talked about holding meetings to um

[25:07] in the off season to move a plan forward, whatever that plan may be, so

[25:13] that we're just we're better prepared um for a catastrophic situation like we had

[25:19] um or any fire, I guess, for that matter. So um

[25:26] you know a lot of discussion was around a facilitator who's going to lead this

[25:30] charge and if that's the way we want to go. So I guess I'll just open it up to

[25:36] the two of you about what are your what are your thoughts?

[25:41] » I mean you go you want to go ahead. Um yeah, I guess you know my thoughts were

[25:47] you know something immediately that we could do and then future um know we

[25:52] talked about trying to do something for possibly like

[25:56] » fuel >> u you know this was

[26:00] [snorts] unlike we've never had before but um

[26:05] then are we setting president and then >> you know there is some with the the

[26:13] information that her got here the RS477123,

[26:16] » right? >> You know, somebody's already getting p

[26:20] there's a it's

[26:23] » could open a lot of things, >> right?

[26:25] » And

[26:29] I mean, I' I've went through it numerous times and it's like if we do something

[26:32] like this, maybe we're really opening Pandora's box. I don't you know um

[26:39] uh I visited with her about some things um trying to do um you did say the

[26:46] seating you just was fulfilled right you're able to get that

[26:51] » I think that we have >> for restoration right

[26:53] » yeah I think that we have um the majority of funding for seating secured

[26:59] » we're waiting on one more proposal that we're giving to the Ford family

[27:02] foundation so the we mapped all the acres of um the dozer lines. So, we're

[27:08] able to get a concrete number on that. Um and so the dozer lines I think we can

[27:13] take care of. Um we also got some funding from the troughs. Um we had

[27:18] their producer meeting uh last Wednesday and we kind of asked about would there

[27:23] be a need for water hauling? We didn't get a lot of interest in that and so

[27:28] kind of made the decision to just we'll we'll have these troughs that we can

[27:32] lend out to people and maybe they can build up with their own water trucks or

[27:36] something might come up down the road. >> Um that's kind of where we're at. Um

[27:42] another thing that we're pursuing is like the uh more virtual fence. Uh we've

[27:46] had after that meeting we had a handful of producers come talk to us um

[27:51] expressing interest. Um and just yesterday or the day before the foreign

[27:57] service agency put out a notice saying that they would pay uh for virtual

[28:02] fencing which is a great thing that they're doing but they have a a minimum

[28:09] head number on that and it's 125 head and so that um takes a lot of people out

[28:15] of the running and every single person that has come to us um asking for there.

[28:20] So, um, that's a just a new development. We're seeing if we can get that changed.

[28:24] This is a national thing. So, that we might be able to get it changed, but not

[28:29] anytime soon. Um, so >> that's not cows and cows. That's

[28:34] » it's a gray area. Okay. So, um, they make it sound like it's all cows, all

[28:40] livestock. Um, but then we'd have to, you know, call everybody and be like,

[28:43] "All right, how many how many goats and >> other things going horses?"

[28:49] » Yeah. Yeah. So, >> so it's a they are moving in the right

[28:53] direction. Um, I think they they can learn a lot. You know, I know that Gil

[28:57] County is kind of a a spotlight on this where we were able because of, you know,

[29:01] your guys's investment um to get our virtual fencing program up and running.

[29:05] So, they saw the cost savings. So, they what they will do in the future is they

[29:10] will pay um for like the perimeter fencing. And so if it's cheaper to do

[29:15] virtual fencing for rather than replace the interior fencing, the federal

[29:19] government's going to save money, which is what we were trying we were telling

[29:24] um back after the 2020 fire. So that's a great thing that they're doing it, but

[29:28] um this head minimum is a problem. Yeah. >> So

[29:32] » okay, >> um we're trying to find funding, another

[29:35] way to um help these folks out. So um >> step in the right direction, Ellis.

[29:41] » Yeah. Okay. >> Well, and I spoke with um both fire

[29:46] chiefs, both fire districts, Casey, uh Joe, Greg, um you know, and and like I

[29:52] say, I I thought it would be fairly simple to just try to help out this

[29:58] year, you know, do something, but whereas we really don't have anything

[30:02] set up, >> um I I just think that uh

[30:06] » this is something we need to proceed cautiously and and I'm not saying that

[30:09] maybe down the road maybe we could put something, you know, with few further

[30:13] discussions and and information, but uh um you know, uh the one the conversation

[30:19] I did have with her like some of the water needs just for the cattle troughs

[30:25] » and even you know the fire chiefs portable water storage,

[30:30] » you know. So uh >> so out of out of the organization of

[30:34] these meetings, these are the things that we could

[30:38] » uh >> I think possibly maybe try to pursue,

[30:42] » you know, um I know Gary brought up like, you know, like the farming

[30:46] practices. It's just there's so much that's changed, you know, with the no

[30:50] tail and we don't have a lot of the natural fire breaks, but you know, I I

[30:54] think that uh this is just we just need to continue conversations. Uh I

[31:03] I would really like to to see the possible some uh have some water storage

[31:10] for next year somehow. You know, how we do that, I don't know. But

[31:16] » yeah, >> my thoughts were on that was the

[31:19] portables. They could use it for fire or livestock, you know, whatever we have,

[31:24] » right? >> Just a resource to to help out with

[31:27] situation. But

[31:31] Mr. Watkins, do you have >> I I still think that they need to, you

[31:36] know, come up with what what do what do people have because you can have water,

[31:42] but that's not going to I mean, equipment is what really

[31:47] » with the fire breaks, then you can use the water to help

[31:50] » back up the fire breaks. Well, and one of the suggestions too was possibly to

[31:54] maybe um just I'm using like land owners uh

[32:00] equipment grant for you know with a cap or something on it for

[32:05] » sprayer or a p you know I to help them be prepared that they go everywhere.

[32:12] » Yeah. >> You know something like that. But uh how

[32:14] that's roer, you know, I I don't I don't know. But I like the thought of it,

[32:19] » right? >> How we get there, I don't know.

[32:23] So, I'll I'll agree that the feedback, the

[32:28] general feedback is, you know, maybe utilize a a group or a concerted effort

[32:34] to make a plan to create some way to help everyone rather than doing

[32:38] something right now because you could create a can of worms or a legal mess by

[32:43] doing that right now. So, I think that how I think we should proceed right now.

[32:51] um with any immediate help. Um it's just too hard to track, no documentation

[32:58] um as much as we would want to for now, >> right?

[33:02] » And then so facilitating

[33:07] a process forward. Um I have not talked to this person, but I

[33:13] believe Corey Michelo, I don't want to put you on the spot, Corey. We haven't

[33:17] talked, but are you are you there? Are you online?

[33:22] » Yes, I am. >> I don't want you to have to commit to

[33:26] anything, but your name has come up so many times about potentially

[33:30] facilitating a fire discussion countywide about a path forward for a

[33:36] plan. Um, would you be interested in

[33:41] discussing the possibility of that? >> Yes, I'm I'm very interested. My orders

[33:48] are up January 31st. >> So, uh, I will be back in Gillum County

[33:54] fulltime the first week of February, whether, you know, as long as the

[33:58] weather's good and I can we can drive up from San Diego that fast. Um, but I I'm

[34:04] very interested. I'm already Casey and I have been exploring uh grant options and

[34:12] with those that last grant option had to come up with a bunch of ideas for moving

[34:17] forward. >> Um and I'm already planning on applying

[34:23] for a special projects grant to do some sort of home preparedness outreach event

[34:29] in the spring. Um, I have both I've haven't fleshed it out, but I have both

[34:34] talked to Chris Fitz Simmons and Casey about it that this was something I was

[34:37] interested in and trying to get everyone just to work on their own home

[34:40] preparedness and maybe help build um emergency kits.

[34:45] » Uh, but yeah, I'm I'm very interested. It is uh

[34:50] Yep. >> Okay. All right. Let's let's talk about

[34:54] that. Okay. Chris Chris is Chris Fitz Simmons is here. Corey, um I know that

[35:00] you were the last one to do it, but what about the community wildfire

[35:03] preparedness plan, too, than the Gil County already has in place, the CWPP

[35:08] plan that you did? >> Yes. So, the the caveat is I'm a lot

[35:13] better at that now than I was in 2022 when I did Gillum County's plan. But you

[35:19] do actually have projects in the CWP that talked about trying to do a road

[35:26] inventory. And then there was a project in the CWPP that talked about wanting to

[35:31] explore funding and types of reimbursement for farmers.

[35:35] » Okay, great. >> I it it specifically said fuel,

[35:40] » but at the end of the like looking at a fuel reimbursement program for farmers

[35:47] » or anyone who participates. Um I and then there was a lot of stuff for

[35:53] there was a big overarching one for outreach and I could bring it up on my

[35:57] computer so I'm not just spewing it out of my head but there are projects in

[36:02] there and then also um >> the CWPs are still like a really big

[36:09] priority. So there's usually like a lot of opportunity to get funding for CWPP

[36:15] updating that can expand to we're going to update the CWPP but in that process

[36:21] we're going to have all these meetings. We're going to do all this outreach. So

[36:25] that brings other avenues, but having that farmer reimbursement plan, at least

[36:31] the inkling of it in your CWPP does open up funding opportunities because you

[36:37] specifically cited it in that plan. Also, um part of that CWPP, I don't know

[36:43] if you did this or not, but the resource inventory listing. Um it would be nice

[36:48] to have um just a matter of somebody going through the list and calling the

[36:53] farmers and getting that resource inventory listing done because I know a

[36:56] long time ago I actually did that and I just started reaching out to all the

[37:01] different farmers and had different lists of different farmers and what they

[37:05] had available and if they would go um to the far to the different fires at the

[37:10] time. So um at one time we had that resource inventory as well. So like what

[37:16] you just talked about, but getting them in a room together. Yes. I think and

[37:20] having literally inerson meetings. So okay, we have a

[37:25] plan. How do we put in action? What does this plan say? How do we get all of

[37:30] everybody on board? >> Who has the water trucks? Who has the

[37:32] cats? Who has the doers? And >> yeah.

[37:35] » Okay. >> Great conversation. I think that gets

[37:39] some Oh, >> Brooklyn. Um Corey, I think a good term

[37:43] I guess that we would utilize as a mobilization guide.

[37:46] » Yes. like those [clears throat] all of that that they're talking about,

[37:49] you know, all your land owners, all your your gate locks, all your water sources,

[37:53] all your cotton channels, like it's >> I think a Gaddy mobilization guide would

[37:57] be something that beneficial >> across the board when an incident starts

[38:02] because I think that communication is one of the pieces that's lacking is, you

[38:06] know, farmer, whoever here has this piece of equipment but has no idea how

[38:09] to communicate with everybody whose land's burning up. Yeah. How are we able

[38:12] to offer that piece of equipment? And MO guides are what they used to do in all

[38:16] the districts before we had these preseason agreements. Same thing that

[38:19] Chris was talking about. We've got admin in the office that sit there and call

[38:22] all land owners to get that information from them. And it is a big workload up

[38:26] front, but when it comes to an incident breaking, it's a very critical document

[38:31] to have for someone to be able to call those post.

[38:34] » So I think a mobilization should be priority throughout this process.

[38:38] » Okay. Um Herb Wyers. Yeah, we have like an example, not not necessarily like a

[38:44] mobilization guide, but uh we uh I think I brought it up before, but back in

[38:49] 2000, so this after the 2018 fires, a stouble field fire out in Fairy Canyon,

[38:54] uh we did an analysis of the entire Ferry Canyon wershed. We mapped all the

[38:58] roads, what you could take down on those roads, where all the water sources were

[39:02] at. We had brought all the producers into the office and did those

[39:06] inventories. So, it's a really useful example, I think, to show what what can

[39:12] be done. Um, but it is a lot of work like getting all these folks in the door

[39:16] up front. It is a lot of work, but super valuable.

[39:18] » Good. >> The only last thing I have was and I and

[39:23] I think it was already [snorts] you may have already addressed it or talked to

[39:28] it, but I know when this whole thing broke over open and the 911

[39:33] overwhelming. Had that ever happened, something like that before? It just

[39:37] overwhelmed the facility.

[39:42] » Uh, sheriff, do you know? >> I was holding that on.

[39:46] » Oh, [laughter] >> I was I was just I just had a question

[39:49] about >> address. Sorry, but I thought maybe

[39:52] » I was just out there. I I when when this whole big fire thing that the 911

[39:56] facility was overwhelmed and was was this the first time something like

[39:59] that's ever happened to No, I I mean, yes. I mean, we've had

[40:07] shootings during Parad and Jefferson County and, you know, everything else

[40:11] going on. So, yes, we've been overwhelmed, but a lot of that had to do

[40:15] with staffing issues. >> Yeah.

[40:17] » And now dispatch has a auxiliary center over in Jefferson County, so we

[40:22] could >> put people two bus seats over there that

[40:26] can man take that load on. So, we we've made uh some changes to accommodate

[40:34] those. >> I I guess along the lines that

[40:38] everybody's talking about here, I mean, I think if you start the plan, get

[40:45] everybody together, all of these things you're talking about are going to come

[40:48] up and be discussed, be planned out. >> But, I mean, leadership and

[40:53] communication on these fires is key. Having everybody on the same page and

[40:57] fighting the same direction. Right. >> I think if you get that started, all of

[41:02] this will come. >> Yeah. Okay. Good. And the only thing I

[41:07] would add is not to limit your finding out from just farmers because there's

[41:12] other people that have resources. >> For instance, my family that used the

[41:17] cat and the water truck on the fire. So, >> okay.

[41:22] » There's other individuals probably in the county that have that equipment

[41:26] also. Corey uh had another um statement.

[41:33] » Yes, I um took the opportunity to bring up Gil County's community wildfire

[41:37] protection plan. And we do also have a uh project in there that is complete a

[41:43] countywide inventory of water sources and heavy equipment available for

[41:47] firefighting within individual water shed districts. Um and the partners in

[41:53] that were S SWCD fire services and the uh our old community wildfire risk

[41:59] reduction specialist Simone had recommended to put hire an additional

[42:03] staff member or contractor to complete the inventory at the end of pretty much

[42:08] every project. So that opens up a lot of funding avenues for the county fire

[42:15] services or SWCD to apply for grants since it it to help with that project um

[42:21] since it is in the CWPP.

[42:26] So when there's a plan like this rather than I mean how does it how does

[42:32] it get put in motion? I mean, it's a it's a plan we've had. That's great

[42:38] because we don't have to reinvent the wheel, but

[42:42] um I guess that's a question for a later

[42:45] day. Um >> how do you implement it?

[42:49] » Yeah. I mean, it's just like, okay, we have the plan and I I guess that's what

[42:54] we're doing now maybe is the answer to that.

[42:58] It just

[43:02] » Yeah. will call me. I'm retiring. >> Right. Go ahead.

[43:08] » Okay. Corey, thank you so much. Um, I really did not want to put you on the

[43:13] spot with this question because I wanted to call you but hadn't we were still in

[43:16] the gathering of information phase. So, thank you for your willingness to assist

[43:21] us um and have further conversations about that. Um,

[43:28] and we'll be we'll be talking January. Yeah. first part of February, you'll be

[43:33] back. Then maybe we can get some meetings scheduled now for that time. Uh

[43:38] because the momentum's now, you know, 6 weeks out is all we are right now from

[43:43] when everything happened. Um [clears throat] and I want to I also

[43:48] wanted to address the um film SWCD about the receding. I think from what I'm

[43:56] hearing it it's receding is really important and

[44:01] I would like us to think about um the possibility of future stable funding to

[44:08] make sure that every year the SWC doesn't SWCD doesn't have to go scramble

[44:14] for that funding every year um because it needs to happen. Um so just a

[44:20] thought. So, um,

[44:25] we had a meeting in Analopee a couple weeks ago. It was, um, the all the North

[44:30] Central FWCDs and all the watershed councils. We just all met together

[44:34] because this keeps happening and we aren't getting any funding for it. So, I

[44:39] think the idea is to kind of band together. Uh, we're basically creating

[44:45] like a need statement right now to send to Salem. Um, and you know that because

[44:50] it is this thing that we constantly are struggling to get funding for. Um, we

[44:55] started out with the North Central counties. I think we might just expanded

[44:59] out to all of Eastern Oregon. >> Um, a big thing that we're talking about

[45:03] is >> we need to be able to stockpile this the

[45:06] seed to have it on hand so that we aren't fighting over ordering it. Um,

[45:12] whether there's a shortfall. Um, there's complications with that. the seed has a

[45:16] shelf life, you know, but I think it can be those complications can be but um

[45:22] those are the kind of things that we're working on. Um we also learned

[45:27] » I haven't got been able to have much been able to dive into it much yet, but

[45:31] there was a a national FSA representative out in Primeville

[45:35] yesterday in our local FSA office went. Um they learned that FSA may be able to

[45:40] actually help us with seed in the future. So, that's another something um

[45:45] in development. So, that might be something that would fill gaps, but

[45:48] we're working on it and we'll keep the court updated on what we find as far as

[45:52] the seat goes. But thanks for thank you and thank you for your efforts.

[45:58] » Okay. Is there anything further on that right now?

[46:02] Fire recovery. All right. 6.0 new business. Uh 6.1 Consider adoption of

[46:08] resolution R202609 implementing the 2027 edition of the

[46:16] Gillum County Employee Handbook. This has been a long time coming.

[46:23] Um yes, it's been it's been something that

[46:26] we've been working on um regularly since August of last year. We

[46:31] were meeting monthly. Um we you guys had your work session on December 10th where

[46:36] we reviewed all of our proposals. Uh really there's been no updates since

[46:40] then that it went to CSI review and they had some like language updates for us

[46:44] policy updates that were um you know pale Oregon stuff of that nature FMLA

[46:49] » CIS CIS right CIS said yes CIS um and then from there it went to legal council

[46:57] uh they also just provided some minor edits to resolve legality talk. There

[47:01] was no additions aside for a grievance policy which was a new chapter there

[47:06] which just laid out the three steps for a grievance um as there was never really

[47:11] anything in there beforehand. So now we have a grievance policy form plus that's

[47:16] in the handbook. But aside from that there was no major edits. Um we haven't

[47:21] had a lot of communication regarding it to the employees because nothing has

[47:24] changed since December. It's all been status quo. Um,

[47:29] yeah. Now it's here before you guys be adopled.

[47:32] » Okay. And there were there was one change

[47:37] recent change that's included in in this.

[47:40] » Yeah. >> And it was pointed out by by the sheriff

[47:43] of regarding um use of county

[47:49] equipment. Um and he spelled out a scenario where it's

[47:56] important we um preserve that situation.

[48:03] I guess I'll just go into it. when when our sheriff's department helps other

[48:07] counties, excuse me, sheriff's office, when our sheriff's office um helps other

[48:13] counties and they may help us on their off time and utilizing their own

[48:19] vehicle, they may wear they do wear a Gil County Sheriff's uniform and other

[48:24] equipment, utilize other equipment, and we want to make sure that that is

[48:28] protected and preserved. So, we added wording that we can allow in that

[48:33] situation if it's approved by the elected department.

[48:36] » There are some instances where, you know, it's talking about secondary

[48:40] employment and they will go to help out at an event in another county. Um, and

[48:47] it's basically secondary employment, but they the need is for them to be in

[48:52] uniform. They don't necessarily take a vehicle, they take their private

[48:56] vehicle, but they have to be in uniform. right?

[49:01] » Representing the county still the other secondary

[49:06] » and there are times that other sheriff's offices um have helped us as

[49:11] well like eclipse time and things like that. So

[49:16] » yeah, >> so that was a change and then um I guess

[49:21] there was one other thing if we are adopting it today for it to become

[49:25] effective January 1. Do you want to point that out? I guess that's that's

[49:28] kind of a big note. Um >> there's logistical reasons for that.

[49:33] » Yes. >> Date.

[49:34] » We are choosing January 1st. I think the only kind of setback that an employee

[49:41] might have from something that was added or changed in the handbook would be um

[49:47] the observed like career recognition pay. And we have one employee meeting

[49:52] that milestone in this period. So, I guess my request would just be that um

[49:57] which we can I can come and request a county court later or now that that

[50:00] employee be honored that career recognition pay is that the other

[50:04] changes we're making in the handbook are not neither negative. Most of them are

[50:08] positive for the employee. They wouldn't be losing out on anything aside from

[50:11] this one benefit. It's one employee. Um >> I would support that employee

[50:17] » um receiving that that because of the date

[50:22] adop adopted. >> Correct. Like if we if I we had adopted

[50:25] it effective today, that employee would get their career recognition pay within

[50:29] the next two months. But since we're we're adopting it effective January 1st,

[50:33] that would be something they're losing out. So my request is that that employee

[50:36] be honored that career recognition pay since we are waiting four months for it

[50:40] to be if that makes sense.

[50:44] » Right. Okay. >> And you've been working on this two

[50:47] years. >> Yes. And remember we we had work

[50:51] sessions. We worked through it. There's been a lot

[50:54] » there's been a lot >> a lot of opportunity for employees to go

[50:57] forward with the changes because again nothing there have been no changes since

[51:00] that December work session where you guys already preemptively approved the

[51:05] proposals. >> So in the motion you need to say

[51:09] effective I would say yes.

[51:12] » Okay. >> Is there any other input?

[51:17] » Yes. Mhm.

[51:20] » Uh, and I talked to Judge Pat about this,

[51:25] but I um I I'm against uh any more holidays,

[51:35] employee time, [clears throat] uh well, basically for holidays. So, the

[51:39] Junth has been added in here adds a 12th holiday to the thing. And if you figured

[51:46] out the amount of hours worked in a year, then you figure in sick time and

[51:53] vacation time. Uh, fortunately, Gillum County has a good retention of of

[52:00] employees. So, that sick time, vacation time really, really adds up for people

[52:06] who have been here 33 years and um, 27 years. Uh, it it adds up. But we have

[52:14] other employees been here long periods of time. So if you take those 280 hours

[52:21] in in a year and then figure out the 11 days of holiday, the sick time and the

[52:26] vacation time, which you have no control over, it's their time and they they get

[52:31] it. So that's that's one aspect of it. The second aspect is you have employees

[52:36] that have to be out there on holidays. Uh and then you know there's a day

[52:41] before, a day after. Uh then you take those employees that work the holiday

[52:45] and you got to find a day off for all the employees for their holidays that

[52:50] are required to work out there. So I just

[52:56] think adding another holiday is we have a good benefits package if we treat our

[53:02] employees well. I just don't see and you might think it's just another 10 hours

[53:06] but it it adds up. So the employees that have to work those days I'm just asking

[53:13] the court to remove Junth it's compile the request.

[53:19] My thought on that is it is a state recognized and federally

[53:25] recognized holiday

[53:29] and I guess >> so aren't you going to be in

[53:33] negotiations with the union >> and I think that's might be a stickler

[53:39] with the union contract if you don't proceed with the

[53:44] » yeah you know >> and you know the other think it might be

[53:52] uh it might be uh >> easier for

[54:00] you know the person who makes the decision, me currently to be a little

[54:06] more um uh strict on additional days the courthouse

[54:14] is closed around Christmas time and just say no, you can take your leave on that

[54:18] You can use a floating holiday. We're we're giving this other day a lot of

[54:23] times anyway for Christmas Eve. Well, that's not that's not a recognized

[54:28] holiday. It just might kind of if we do this, I'm going to have an easier time

[54:32] saying, you know what, the courthouse is open because we're kind of giving

[54:36] another day in a lot of instances anyway because of Christmas time.

[54:41] So that's my thought and um

[54:47] think it would be difficult to go backwards on something we've already

[54:51] discussed. >> Yeah. on this one.

[54:55] » I I mean >> um

[54:58] » I personally I don't [snorts] you know they can't use that but it is a

[55:04] state federal um I looked at some of the other counties around that they are

[55:09] doing it also. Um, I know it's another day.

[55:15] I think, you know, we're very fortunate that we have who we have and we do not

[55:22] have a lot of turnover and we have a good, you know, this is I just see it's

[55:29] kind of a give give and take and

[55:33] um I think I think need to go forward.

[55:41] I think if you don't if you because I think two years ago the

[55:46] employees wanted the Junth and because it wasn't in their

[55:52] uh union contract Kelly it wasn't was it?

[55:58] » No. >> Yeah. So they pretty much got it denied

[56:01] but it's >> I had to tell everybody no this year

[56:04] because they thought it was already approved. So that everyone was expecting

[56:06] to have a consumer negotiating,

[56:11] » right? Um the other thing a few years ago and I haven't fully researched this,

[56:19] so this is from memory. One of the things that happened with the leave here

[56:24] is there was a big move that was made to allow a payout of sick leave

[56:29] for um more than just retirement.

[56:35] or death. That meant on resignation, too, which cost Gillum County a lot of

[56:40] money. So, if we're talking about expense, that was a big expense that

[56:46] we opened up for ourselves a few years ago. So, it's kind of related,

[56:53] but yeah.

[56:58] » Can I ask another question? the uh 20 25 and 30 year and I think Brooke spoke to

[57:04] it but I didn't hear that one. Um, [clears throat] so I know that like me,

[57:09] I got this 20 year $2,500 plus. Now there's 25 and 30 years. Is

[57:16] that in addition? >> We'd have to get the specific language

[57:21] » the uh Yes, it's each year. It's that amount at 25 20 25 and 30.

[57:27] » So is that retro or is that from >> No, they voted not to retrograde any of

[57:33] the career recognition pay. >> Okay. We decided to do that in our work

[57:37] sessions that we had. >> Sure. They didn't vote on it.

[57:39] » Yeah. >> There was a discussion not to move

[57:41] forward with that, >> right?

[57:43] » Yeah. Just to move forward. >> Yes.

[57:48] » Okay. What What do we think?

[57:53] » Okay. You >> Okay. Thank you for your input.

[57:58] [laughter] >> I didn't like Martin Luther King Day,

[58:00] but that's been around for a while. >> Well, we're here to approve.

[58:04] » Yes. [laughter] You can adopt the resolution.

[58:06] » Okay. So, do we need to create any specific language to allow the one

[58:11] employee affected by the retroactive pay or just by consensus allow that person

[58:15] to be um receive that?

[58:19] » You can make a separate motion that just says I move to allow

[58:22] any affected employee reaching career recognition

[58:26] between today and January 1st to be paid that career recognition pay.

[58:33] » Okay. and then a second motion to adopt resolution.

[58:37] » Okay, >> I'll make a motion to just I I'm going

[58:42] to start with the career recognition pay just so that's out of the way. Um I move

[58:48] to um recognize any employee that would benefit from career recognition pay

[58:53] prior to January 1st, 2027 to be allowed that

[58:58] career recognition pay. Second.

[59:04] » It's been moved and seconded. All in favor?

[59:06] » I did do we need any discussion first? Okay.

[59:10] » I >> I motion carries. Okay. Now

[59:15] » I'm Did you want to go ahead? >> I'll move to adopt resolution 2026-09

[59:22] adopting the Gillum County Employee Handbook 2027 edition as presented.

[59:28] » Effective. effective January 1 of 2027. >> Good. Second.

[59:34] » It's been moved and seconded to uh adopt resolution 20269. Is there any further

[59:41] discussion? >> Thank you guys.

[59:44] » All in favor? >> I

[59:45] » I >> I motion carries. Thank you for all of

[59:48] your help and work and everybody on the committee uh coming forward, all the

[59:54] input we received. Thank you. Right.

[1:00:01] [clears throat]

[1:00:05] » All right.

[1:00:08] 6.2 Consider adoption of joint resolution JR202601203

[1:00:15] with the cities of Colon and Arlington Lone Rock respectively for the emergency

[1:00:19] operations plan. Um, Brisket Simmons, did you have anything

[1:00:25] to help? Do you want to come up? >> There's actually um

[1:00:31] the the letter of promulgation that's actually in the plan is what you Yeah.

[1:00:36] is what you're signing um to actually approve the plan. And then the three

[1:00:40] resolutions that you have for each of the cities. Um we're going to the city

[1:00:44] of Conga tonight. Um city of Arlington and Mil Rock next week. Um this is the

[1:00:49] old plan that to show you. >> Do you wanna do you want to come up?

[1:00:53] » 700 792 pages. Um Dedra um is the new EM coordinator.

[1:01:01] Come on up. Dedra um she will um is taking the EM coordinator position and

[1:01:08] Rick Brown is going to be I think the her and Rick are going to um

[1:01:15] work together um with the emergency management um going forward. Um Corey

[1:01:20] Melo is on the phone. She was hired um with the homeland security grant um

[1:01:26] about a year, a little over a year ago um to do a new emergency operations plan

[1:01:32] for us. So um we took this old one and put it into about a 300page new one with

[1:01:39] checklists, much more um workable plan for us. Corey, you want to talk about it

[1:01:49] maybe? >> Sure. Sorry, I tried to unmute and my uh

[1:01:52] mouse didn't want to work. Um, yes. So, basically the emergency operations plan

[1:01:57] is Gillum County's guide for all phases of emergency management, preparedness,

[1:02:02] response, recovery, mitigation. Um, this one is it's supposed to help us

[1:02:09] basically make it through any emergency. It's it's all hazards. Um, so cut out a

[1:02:15] lot of stuff and re completely reorganized it trying to make it more

[1:02:20] user friendly, something that Chris or the new EM could actually like pull off

[1:02:25] the shelf and be able to use. So, um, we've added we've streamlined a roles

[1:02:32] and responsibilities, uh, an emergency declaration chapter because it seems

[1:02:37] like emergency declarations are happening every instead of having it

[1:02:42] super buried in the old plan, made that its own chapter, so it would be easy to

[1:02:46] quickly reference. We have a communications and public warning

[1:02:50] section. Uh and then also our like a general initial response and emergency

[1:02:57] support function crosswalk. Um emergency support functions are how Oregon

[1:03:01] provides basically provides aid to the counties. You'll ask you'll tell them

[1:03:06] it's an overarching. Sorry, Chris. I've been on night shift,

[1:03:10] so I'm trying to trying to um but it it basically says, hey, if

[1:03:16] there's this is going on, this is the entity that would be responsible for it.

[1:03:21] And they would be the ones responsible for coordinating with uh like for

[1:03:26] transportation, Gil County Road Department, and working with the

[1:03:30] emergency manager. they would like be in charge of that ESF during an emergency

[1:03:35] and then working that would be a way they would work with the state of

[1:03:39] Oregon. Um also added an evacuation chapter

[1:03:44] » uh because evacuations never happened and now within the last

[1:03:49] four years there's been multiple >> um [clears throat] so started an

[1:03:54] evacuation chapter unfortunately that one is in its infancy and we haven't

[1:03:59] tested it yet. So, we will see if over the next couple years if uh edits need

[1:04:04] to be made and in addition to uh appendices with a declarations for the

[1:04:11] state of emergency template, a Gillum County contact list and since it's an

[1:04:16] appendix um that is also provide I can also provide that as a word document to

[1:04:21] the emergency management department so that that can be printed out and easily

[1:04:25] referenced and quickly updated if phone numbers change. Um, and then a quick

[1:04:30] reference. The idea behind the quick reference is that instead of having this

[1:04:33] 300page plan with you, you can have a 10-page plan with you to at least get

[1:04:38] you started. And then an initial emergency response checklist, which

[1:04:43] should hopefully help in the start of any emergencies, as well as a full-on

[1:04:48] evacuation annex on top of all the emergency support function annexes. So,

[1:04:54] um, was able to cut out a lot of fluff from the last one. Hopefully streamline

[1:04:59] this one, make it much more useful, and then give you a jumping off point to

[1:05:04] where in 5 to 10 years when it needs to be done again that we can cut it even

[1:05:08] further. >> Perfect. And we had um two stakeholder

[1:05:13] meetings which included like fire, EMS, road department, um public health, um

[1:05:19] law enforcement, um Jez Louise, I can't think of who else

[1:05:24] who else was there. Um

[1:05:29] » transportation, senior services, Sabrina taught um food banks

[1:05:35] » and then vet you had Carrie come as well from

[1:05:39] veterinary services. >> Yeah. Uh oh yeah, our veterinary

[1:05:42] services. Um ODOT was invited. Um yeah, can't think of who else. Oh, the cities

[1:05:49] city public works uh Arlington and city administration

[1:05:53] um for to the stakeholders meeting. So they've been involved for with both

[1:05:56] meetings. Then we conducted an exercise. we had a mass fatalities exercise that

[1:06:01] actually included five counties um with the plan um because we'd had to have an

[1:06:07] exercise done with the plan um to uh finish up the grant. So um and that was

[1:06:12] conducted as well in June. So anyhow um this is where we are and um looking for

[1:06:19] an approval from the county court. Then like I said going to city council

[1:06:22] tonight for condon and next week we'll hit the other twos. Um, and the reason

[1:06:26] why the councils the cities sign off on theirs is because they are mandated to

[1:06:30] have an emergency operations plan in place as well. And so as long as they

[1:06:34] sign off on the county, then that covers for them. And Gen County has um always

[1:06:39] covered the cities in the county for years,

[1:06:42] » right? >> So that's that's about it. Only question

[1:06:44] I had was you said is it required to be reviewed every 10 years or was that just

[1:06:48] » No, actually it's it's required well when we were doing the EMPG it was

[1:06:52] required to be um uh updated every two years.

[1:06:56] » Okay. >> Um but now we're not part of the EMPG

[1:06:58] but we go ahead and still try to update at least the contact list and stuff like

[1:07:02] that every two years. So yeah, just >> but the last time this was wholly the

[1:07:08] state had um uh paid a contractor to do every county in the state um um to have

[1:07:14] all of ours done so that they were all the same. So that if I got called to go

[1:07:18] help Wither County with a disaster, then I would open up theirs and be able to

[1:07:22] find the same thing. So we all had them all the same by a same contractor. Um

[1:07:28] but uh back in 2011 um so we've all just kind of continuing to update the same

[1:07:34] one since 2011 and we're like yeah no we're done. So then got the grant and

[1:07:39] had >> Cy do redo this one.

[1:07:41] » Okay.

[1:07:46] » I was going to make a motion but I forgot to put the letter of promation in

[1:07:49] there. >> I think we have it.

[1:07:50] » I know. I mean it's not in the motion card um to

[1:07:56] » approve the resolutions and the letter of promulgation. Okay.

[1:08:02] » Do we have anybody willing to make the motion?

[1:08:08] » So the our our resolution number is JR 202601

[1:08:14] » and 023 >> and oh yeah two three there's three.

[1:08:17] » Oh I apologize. I'm sorry. So that it goes on. It's

[1:08:21] » Yeah, because there's one city. >> One per city.

[1:08:24] » Got it. >> Yeah.

[1:08:25] » Okay.

[1:08:29] » So, you have to approve every one of those. Yeah. I think you're going to do

[1:08:33] it. One motion. >> One motion and the letter of

[1:08:35] promulgation. Okay. I move to approve the 2026 Skillum County Emergency

[1:08:41] Operation Plan, the letter of promagation,

[1:08:47] the joint resolution JR 2026-1, joint resolution JR 20 26-2

[1:08:58] and JR 2026-3.

[1:09:03] » I'll second. >> It's been moved and seconded to Adopt

[1:09:08] resolutions JR2601203

[1:09:14] and letter of promagation emergency operations plan. All in favor?

[1:09:20] » I. >> I. Motion carries. Thank you for making

[1:09:23] the motion. All right. Um, next on the agenda is 3

[1:09:29] point, excuse me, 6.3. Consider approval of revised job description for Gil

[1:09:33] County Appraiser. Would you want to come up?

[1:09:37] » Sure. >> All right.

[1:09:39] » Straight forward. >> All right.

[1:09:42] » Yes. >> Okay. We have Chad Wilkins, a Gillum

[1:09:45] County assessor.

[1:09:49] » Really, we're just removing the tax collection duties from the original

[1:09:53] appraiser position and putting it back to what it used to be since tax

[1:09:56] collection moved back to the treasur's office. Okay. Any

[1:10:03] questions? Um, now. >> Okay. Are you going to go ahead and

[1:10:08] start advertising >> soon?

[1:10:09] » Okay. >> Oh, we ready?

[1:10:13] » Yeah. >> I'll move to approve the revised

[1:10:16] appraiser data analyst position description as presented.

[1:10:20] » Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any

[1:10:23] discussion? All in favor? >> I.

[1:10:26] » I. Motion carries. Thank you.

[1:10:36] » All right. Um 6.4 City of Clown and Rural

[1:10:40] Infrastructure Fund Grant. G Wilkins, come on up.

[1:10:46] » Good. >> Good.

[1:10:49] [clears throat] >> So, you guys got any questions on this?

[1:10:51] » Okay. So, you know, we kind of set up what what this is and why there's uh you

[1:10:58] know, a deadline and it it opened up the conversation once we contacted everyone

[1:11:05] what they're thinking about. And one of the issues is I shouldn't say issues,

[1:11:09] but one of the things to consider is you're going to apply for a grant, there

[1:11:13] might be a match consideration and that that's why this came up and it came up a

[1:11:18] little bit late in the agenda. So, go ahead. Well, yeah, and we didn't get we

[1:11:22] didn't get these uh price estimates until almost the 1 of August. So, that's

[1:11:27] why this has kind of been a a quick process. Uh, and our goal at the city is

[1:11:32] we don't want to spend a bunch of money and then have the the price on these

[1:11:38] lots be so expensive that nobody is buying because right now we're seeing

[1:11:42] lots of 5,000 square feet in the square feet in the city or 42,000 some change

[1:11:47] that aren't moving. And the 28,000 that's a target. That's not, you know,

[1:11:53] the city council might sell for less and lose money. The city council might sell

[1:11:57] for more. Uh that's just that's just a target that we picked that we think the

[1:12:02] lots would move on. Uh unfort

[1:12:07] we have money in our development fund. We have about 1.2 million cash on hand,

[1:12:11] but we also are getting back to the old grade school here pretty soon that we're

[1:12:14] going to have to uh hopefully do something with so it doesn't sit and be

[1:12:19] further abandoned and have more deer jump through the windows and run

[1:12:22] through. But uh so we're trying to figure out ways to a make the lots

[1:12:27] affordable, b make sure that the city because the only way we're going to

[1:12:31] recover funds from this is from the sales of lots. We don't have the tax

[1:12:34] base to replenish, you know, our our development fund.

[1:12:38] » Uh right now we're only transferring 10,000 into our development fund to uh

[1:12:43] uh balance the budget. So at 10,000 a year, that's going to be an awful long

[1:12:46] time to recover $1.4 million in cost. So that's pretty much all I got. I You

[1:12:52] guys got any questions? >> No, but it's a benefit to the county.

[1:12:57] People build on there and then we will benefit.

[1:13:00] » Yeah. So for every six lots, we can expect the city can expect two to 3% uh

[1:13:06] increase in our tax base for every six lots, six homes built.

[1:13:11] » So with this state of Oregon regional infrastructure fund,

[1:13:15] what if don't get that? Then the city council

[1:13:20] will have to de we're going to apply for other grants. Kind of one of my theories

[1:13:23] and I talked with Chris about this is that this deal county money will be the

[1:13:26] last money. So we're going to be applying for a bunch of state grants

[1:13:30] » and so hopefully we get some and then the county's portion isn't the 500 and

[1:13:35] somehat thousand. >> But if if we need to the city might have

[1:13:40] to put in that extra 250,000 because it' be I think if we could have lots for

[1:13:44] sale by next fall I think they would move. So, I know costs are going up and

[1:13:49] everything, but you've got, you know, like phase one, phase 2, phase three.

[1:13:55] » So, this would address phase all of just phase one.

[1:13:59] » Just this is just phase one. >> Yeah. 1.4 million for 23 lots in phase

[1:14:03] one. >> Yeah.

[1:14:04] » And that's what I've I brought up before in different deals is, you know, like we

[1:14:08] want to get affordable housing, but unfortunately, we can't change wages

[1:14:12] that they're paying their carpenters. We can't change the materials they're

[1:14:15] building houses. The only thing we as a government can do is get that price of

[1:14:19] that lot down. Um and Oh, go ahead. Sorry.

[1:14:24] » Go ahead. >> I forgot what [laughter]

[1:14:27] » Oh, just um you know, kind of long lines the way you were talking about it. Well,

[1:14:32] interest rates are a stumbling block right now in cost of construction,

[1:14:36] especially with the distance to condon. Um, and yeah, uh, uh, but I I guess my

[1:14:45] thoughts on it is, you know, I' I've heard a little push back about, oh my

[1:14:49] gosh, do we need 50 52 lots? Okay. But my thoughts right right now with the

[1:14:54] situation we've been presented with >> or opportunity as you may see it. Um,

[1:15:00] » I'm just talking about the 23 lots. I'm just in my mind, this is only about

[1:15:04] phase one. >> Yeah,

[1:15:05] » this is only about phase one. And that's 23. Um

[1:15:13] the rest of it is not has not been requested of us at all.

[1:15:16] » And if phase one doesn't work out, we're not building.

[1:15:20] » So first we have to see. Yes. And so the other thing I wanted to state is is

[1:15:26] there a possibility of flipping the Gillum County funding to 250 and the

[1:15:32] state infrastructure grant ask to 500. So this funding breakdown come from Jill

[1:15:38] Katherine at McK that's what she recommended

[1:15:42] uh hearing how many people are putting in for this RIFF grant and I think a lot

[1:15:47] of people are putting in for this riff grant because there's no density

[1:15:49] requirements for it whereas other state grants you have hit

[1:15:54] » five lots per net acre or five housing units per net acre where this RIP

[1:15:58] doesn't. So I think there's going to be a lot of people putting in for it. Mhm.

[1:16:02] » Uh >> and I didn't know if it was a deal

[1:16:04] breaker or not to ask that question. >> Well, it's and it's always a gamble.

[1:16:10] » Mhm. >> You know, [clears throat]

[1:16:12] uh to think of to you know, put your funding break.

[1:16:15] » Are you over asking? >> Are you over asking? Are they would they

[1:16:18] cons you don't know if they're going to consider a partial fund? You know,

[1:16:22] » you know, if we ask for 500, they say >> are they going to immediately kick us

[1:16:25] out or they going to recommend us to 250,

[1:16:28] » right? But with as competitive as this grant seems to going to be, I think they

[1:16:32] might kick us out if we overact. >> Okay.

[1:16:36] » So then, so then that means we we have to,

[1:16:42] you know, they can't put a a match in. It doesn't mean we're we're providing

[1:16:48] the funding. It's we would be saying, you know, we're authorizing you to put a

[1:16:52] match in for a certain amount. And that's would be the the 50

[1:16:56] » with the understanding that we are going to be pursuing other funding sources,

[1:17:00] » right? And and the we we would be the last

[1:17:04] » last >> funding of last.

[1:17:06] » So I mean in theory if we get it down to where we get another half million from

[1:17:09] say the governor lobbed us or from a state marked then you guys would have

[1:17:13] nothing. >> It's interesting. I have mixed feelings

[1:17:16] about we have this opportunity and they've gi you know it's specifically

[1:17:19] for us and and we have a >> it housing is the project. Yeah,

[1:17:25] » that we should ask for the 500, but I'm not an expert and I

[1:17:30] » Yeah. And that's and I've done, you know, I've sit on a couple statewide,

[1:17:33] well, one statewide board that does a statewide grant and it is,

[1:17:39] » you know, do you ask your for the full amount or do you ask for what you can,

[1:17:42] you know, what you need? >> So, this deadline is the 16th.

[1:17:46] » Yeah. Why? It's >> Yeah. But some of the other

[1:17:50] » possible grants that you're talking about, are they

[1:17:53] » this year? >> Uh this year, uh you know, we'll

[1:17:56] probably I'll probably talk to Senator Nash and uh Greg, uh Representative Greg

[1:18:00] Smith again about getting we tried to get an earmark for this last year, and

[1:18:03] we didn't get an earmark from the legislation last year. Uh at the housing

[1:18:07] tour, I met somebody from the governor's uh housing solutions office that was

[1:18:10] really interested in this project. Granted, interest doesn't mean we're

[1:18:13] actually going to get money, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think the raw numbers

[1:18:18] too [snorts] kind of do show that private development of infrastructure,

[1:18:23] you know, if somebody's going to have to be selling a 5,000 foot lot for 68,000

[1:18:28] to rec recoup their cost. I don't know too many private developers that are

[1:18:33] going to be coming in to do that. You know, the Hood River, that's

[1:18:37] » So what happens with the system development charges with

[1:18:40] » We don't have SBIC's. >> There won't be any.

[1:18:42] » The city of Con has no none for anything.

[1:18:44] » Okay. The only thing we have is the water meter hookup and the sewer hookup.

[1:18:48] » So, and then Yeah. And then cost of permitting.

[1:18:52] » Yeah. >> And then

[1:18:53] » Yep. >> Okay.

[1:18:54] » Yeah. And the permitting for the infrastructure, that's all done through

[1:18:56] the RC engineers office. >> Okay.

[1:18:59] » All right. >> Um, another question I had was so

[1:19:04] you've they've already ran some water and sewer, right? We we've done we've

[1:19:08] run a sewer across across the uh golf course and then we've upgraded the water

[1:19:14] line along Cotwood that covers this. So we when when this all goes in there will

[1:19:21] be we won't have to go back and tear up streets and redo anything. It'll be all

[1:19:25] ready to go. You know >> what about power? Is that

[1:19:28] » that's through power? There is a big power line that runs right down the

[1:19:31] side. >> So that that shouldn't be an issue.

[1:19:33] » Yeah. And then the they're pack hazard. They're putting it burying fiber optic

[1:19:37] lines along Cottonwood right now for uh but that's also costs that we might have

[1:19:43] to cover above and beyond that the city might have to cover above and beyond our

[1:19:47] 600,000 for power fiber and stuff like that

[1:19:51] » because that's not included in the engineers quote.

[1:19:54] » Yeah. I was just [sighs and gasps] so you know you're looking at another

[1:19:57] 100,000. Yeah. Because things Yeah. just Yeah.

[1:20:00] » Things are just so expensive. And is there going to be any stipulations on

[1:20:05] the type of housing? >> We're going to try not to.

[1:20:08] » Okay. >> Because I just from Okay.

[1:20:12] » We don't want necessarily want everything to look the same. And also

[1:20:16] we're the only >> other than some infill lots here and

[1:20:19] there. We're the only people willing to build everything. So every type of

[1:20:23] housing that people want is going to have to go here. Okay? Because nobody

[1:20:27] else has got anything for sale, >> you know, except for a couple lots here

[1:20:30] and there. And plus, it's boring when all the house

[1:20:33] looks. >> I don't think I think once you get it

[1:20:36] done, I don't think we'll have any lots of on.

[1:20:39] » I've had in the past six months, I've had four or five people come in wanting

[1:20:43] to know what it's done and what our price.

[1:20:45] » So, it would be I mean I mean from what I'm hearing kind of a

[1:20:51] replication of the idea, the ball field idea. get it ready and then I mean not

[1:20:56] exactly >> but and this was our original housing

[1:21:00] development before we got the ball field.

[1:21:01] » Okay. >> So we switched to the ball field because

[1:21:03] it was closer to other infrastructure and we were going to say if the ball

[1:21:06] field works then we'll go back to Fairway.

[1:21:09] » Okay. >> And start pursuing that.

[1:21:11] » Is there any concerns about the maybe another piece of property in the middle

[1:21:16] of it? I don't know what end of it is. >> We're building up.

[1:21:19] » Oh okay. All right. Okay. >> We had an opportunity

[1:21:24] uh three years ago to purchase it and we weren't able to purchase it.

[1:21:26] » Okay. >> What about golf balls going through the

[1:21:29] windows? >> Well, that's why you don't live next to

[1:21:31] a golf course. >> Oh, yeah.

[1:21:33] » Yeah. >> No, I know there's lots of houses.

[1:21:35] » And there's going to be a 10 foot There's going to be a 10ft buffer

[1:21:39] between the golf course and the houses. It's going to be a public access walking

[1:21:43] path. So, >> Oh,

[1:21:44] » so people >> Okay.

[1:21:45] » So, people don't have to that live in this neighborhood don't have to go down

[1:21:48] cockro down Main Street. they can just go down golf course and walk into

[1:21:53] downtown. >> All right. One other point is, you know,

[1:21:58] we need housing. We aren't doing housing. We

[1:22:03] have other entities who are doing housing. Um we have earmarked money in

[1:22:09] our economic enhancement ordinance that we have not spent

[1:22:13] um that we can allocate. Um,

[1:22:18] you know, it it's not saying this is this is what we're doing. It's when you

[1:22:22] proceed with your application, have you put this amount in?

[1:22:24] » Yeah. >> Is that have that money in our budget

[1:22:27] now? >> Oh, yes.

[1:22:29] » Yes. Yeah. It's sitting in the economic enhancement ordinance. So,

[1:22:34] » yeah. And that's, you know, initially when this all came out, I that's for the

[1:22:39] full million and I was buying up. >> Okay. Well, the one thing about that is,

[1:22:45] you know, there there's been other business Oregon grants since I've been

[1:22:48] here that I've seen large asks that weren't that weren't funded. So, if this

[1:22:53] follows suit, it seems like they might just divvy it up. Yeah.

[1:22:57] » So that everybody gets some of it. >> Yeah. Like I said, with this not having

[1:23:01] many restrictions compared to some of the other ones, I think it's going to be

[1:23:04] a lot of people applying. I will say that the housing tour was

[1:23:09] good timing and I I think it was maybe Senator Anderson.

[1:23:16] I think he was kind of his wheels were spinning like, well, if you have these

[1:23:18] resources, why don't you have the housing belt? Yeah.

[1:23:21] » If you have an economic enhancement fund, why do why other counties and

[1:23:26] entities don't have this luxury? So, I'm having a hard time understanding why

[1:23:31] » we don't have it. Not to get too far off that, but I think a lot of people focus

[1:23:34] on what they want to live in >> and don't focus [snorts] on what we can

[1:23:38] afford to live in, >> you know, because I mean, I'm not living

[1:23:40] in the house I want to live in. I'm living in the house I can afford to live

[1:23:43] in. And everybody wants to when we start doing housing development, everybody

[1:23:46] wants to start, well, we need, you know, big backyards and it's like, but not all

[1:23:51] of us can afford a big backyard. Not all of us can afford, you know, our dream

[1:23:55] house at this moment. >> Well, it's like saying affordable

[1:23:57] housing. You know, it's the amount of bring people

[1:24:00] » and I Well, that's a tough word, affordable

[1:24:03] housing opportunities. There might be people that can actually afford to build

[1:24:07] on that that they move out of the house they're in and that opens up that house.

[1:24:11] » That's and that's kind of what we're some of the what we're showing are

[1:24:14] retirees that are either living in a rental because they just moved to the

[1:24:17] community that want to build a house in Condan or retirees that want to downsize

[1:24:21] and now they're freeing up that house for a family to move into either as a

[1:24:26] rental or as a purchase. you know, and once you hit a certain

[1:24:30] age, you just don't want to mow a yard. >> Yeah. There's a there's a surprising

[1:24:34] amount of people just in gan that moved here because they want to get away from,

[1:24:41] » you know, Portland, Beaverton, wherever they were living. They have the means

[1:24:47] to build a house. >> I can think of a half dozen single

[1:24:51] retired people that are living in threebedroom, two bath houses right now.

[1:24:54] Well, and I also think and and Angie Sullivan from Landwise said it at the at

[1:24:59] the Eastern Oregon Housing Tour was that um

[1:25:04] things for sale here are cheaper than in other places. So, you're getting people

[1:25:07] from other places that are find this more affordable than where they're

[1:25:11] living currently. >> Oh, yeah. People big city are getting

[1:25:15] fed up with it. They want to get out. Well, they got they have housing

[1:25:19] developments in bin that are million plus dollar lots that you have to build

[1:25:27] a million dollar home on. So, >> yeah.

[1:25:30] » And I've had builders come to me and say if there was four lots for affordable

[1:25:34] lots for sale in Conan, they'd be in Conan building. So,

[1:25:38] » yeah. And but unfortunately people do tend to hold on to their property and

[1:25:43] there's not four lots for sale at one time at any any given moment

[1:25:47] » that are that are for sale. Yeah. A lot of the lots especially here it's around

[1:25:52] they want they want to protect their their space you know that's spending

[1:25:56] their own money to protect their space. That is that is what it is and I don't

[1:25:59] you know but it's just the reality of what cond is right now.

[1:26:04] » Go ahead. Well, this is a little off base, but I just wanted to say it since

[1:26:07] we're talking about housing is, you know, we sold the house the the last

[1:26:12] house we sold tax forclosed property last Thursday. It sold for 75,000 and

[1:26:19] it's it you know, it it was a big it was a big amount. Um, but one of the things

[1:26:24] that, you know, you hear a lot about, oh, well, let's take care of these

[1:26:28] properties that they're privately owned, the, you know, unless they're literally

[1:26:33] approached and really want to sell it for probably more than it's worth, it's

[1:26:37] it's going to stay that way. And I think one thing people don't understand or

[1:26:41] consider is there could be leans attached to that

[1:26:44] » because we've seen leans drop off of some of these tax foreclosed properties

[1:26:49] once they become Gilen County's property. That's a legal process. still

[1:26:52] there. That might be at least for some of the homes one of the stumbling

[1:26:56] blocks. >> Well, and I've had people come to want

[1:26:59] city wanting to condemn buildings, but that's 15 to 20 grand per building the

[1:27:02] city has to pay to go through the condemnation process. So, you know,

[1:27:06] that's not all that 75,000 for that household.

[1:27:10] » Yeah. >> Oh, wow.

[1:27:11] » There were a couple people bidding against each other. So, I think that's

[1:27:15] » what happened. >> Two two [snorts] 5,000 foot lots.

[1:27:18] » Mhm. Right. Okay. Okay. So, what do you need from us?

[1:27:22] » Uh, I don't know. [laughter]

[1:27:26] I don't know if we need if if we can go with a consensus or if we need an actual

[1:27:30] vote to >> I'm comfortable with a consensus if

[1:27:34] everyone else is because we're not we're not committing funds. We're just

[1:27:37] allowing him to write his application and use that amount.

[1:27:41] » Yeah. >> How does that sound?

[1:27:43] » And depending on how everything goes, this whole deal might fall apart and

[1:27:46] you're not committed to anything, >> right? Okay. a consensus to proceed with

[1:27:50] your grant application as as you've outlined.

[1:27:53] » Yeah. >> Okay.

[1:27:55] » Okay. Good. >> Thank you guys. Appreciate.

[1:28:02] » Okay. And that gets us to 7.0 announcements. Next

[1:28:08] meeting. Next meeting is September 16th. Bronus building in Arlington. Um, what

[1:28:13] do you have? >> Um,

[1:28:18] on uh August 20 EDP, we had an information meeting there at the at

[1:28:23] Garus building there in Arlington that was well attended and

[1:28:28] very positive. I thought couple heard some testimony, but most part was all

[1:28:32] good. Uh, I've been really busy, of course, on the

[1:28:36] road project. Um, Annie's got everything submitted. We need to get uh do we

[1:28:44] contacted Herb about we have to get a property signature for the application

[1:28:49] from some of the people that we're trying to do the property with. Um I've

[1:28:52] been in contact with Allen Anderson or Waste Management. Um

[1:28:58] they he had some or some questions from his higherups. Um, I think I got them

[1:29:05] answered, but uh, so yeah, just really trying to trying to

[1:29:12] I just can't believe it's like we're trying to build a bridge over the

[1:29:15] Columbia River [laughter] >> for what we're trying to to get this

[1:29:19] year. And uh, >> but yeah, herb was good. Um,

[1:29:23] » it'll be worth it in the end. Remember that. Keep that in mind.

[1:29:27] » Yeah. Um, I I guess one thing, you know, I want to And we

[1:29:33] haven't said it or voted, but I'm assuming that, you know, it's kind of

[1:29:37] what I've projected all along that the old Cedar Springs Road, we would vacate,

[1:29:43] donate or transfer to Oregon Waste and they're going to hopefully transfer the

[1:29:49] property to us. um the railroad. One of the questions that was posed to Allan

[1:29:56] was, "Well, maybe that property, maybe the county would um just be an

[1:30:02] easement." And I go, "No, we have to have the road. We have to have the

[1:30:05] property." >> Yeah.

[1:30:06] » For construction costs to put it on and then possible right aways, you know,

[1:30:12] future stuff. So uh >> at least the way I we haven't taken any

[1:30:18] official action and there would be legal documentation that would come to us when

[1:30:22] we do that. >> Yes.

[1:30:23] » Um so my my way of thinking is yes that we they would take the old road which I

[1:30:31] I don't want to speak about waste management without them being present

[1:30:35] but >> right

[1:30:36] » my understanding is they want it. That was an understanding.

[1:30:39] » That's Yeah. >> And then we would own the public would

[1:30:43] own the new road. >> But as much as this road is going to

[1:30:46] cost, there's I just we have the county has to have the property.

[1:30:52] » Mhm. >> It goes on,

[1:30:53] » right? >> So I just want to make sure that we're

[1:30:56] all on the same page. >> Well, yeah, because you wouldn't want

[1:30:58] somebody down the road to say, "I want that back." And then you'd be like,

[1:31:02] » "Yeah." Uh, every public road we have, I would assume, is

[1:31:06] » publicly owned outright. >> Yeah. And it's with everything that's

[1:31:09] coming, we we don't want to risk an issue.

[1:31:13] » Well, and then the other thing is, okay, so we have our agreement with

[1:31:18] Waste Management, which pays to maintain the road. Why would we have that

[1:31:23] agreement if it's their partially their road? I mean,

[1:31:27] » I know. >> So, that's just

[1:31:29] » I think Yeah, it was not so much Allen. was just I think some some upon and uh

[1:31:35] » um there there has been a request to get a figure to them for our total cost for

[1:31:42] the road projection and Dewy's almost got that but you know they requested

[1:31:47] some more covers some other stuff and he's getting that close so hopefully

[1:31:51] he'll have that pretty quick. They're wrapping up their paving chip ceiling.

[1:31:56] Um, I'm gonna spoke to Dewey and Doug. I gota get with Doug, but uh I was gonna

[1:32:02] have him come to the court October for a >> Okay. kind of

[1:32:06] » good >> report. And uh yeah, somebody dumped a

[1:32:10] bunch of tires at le truck to haul them off.

[1:32:15] » Where' the dump truck come from? >> State.

[1:32:17] » Oh, good. >> And so I'm assuming the state has to pay

[1:32:20] to go have these tires dumped somewhere. Um,

[1:32:24] I had a verbal commitment from a landowner that's there

[1:32:30] » was tickled. If we get down the road with cameras, absolutely. He said, I'll

[1:32:35] sign whatever do whatever. So, >> if we need to do something to make

[1:32:40] official action to put cameras up, I'm >> Yeah, it's just this is back in time

[1:32:45] this year and it's not just a few tires >> and that costs all of us. Let's let's

[1:32:50] find a way to prevent it from being bumped in the first place.

[1:32:53] » They just dump them there because they think that they'll end [clears throat]

[1:32:55] up in the landill. >> I don't know. I think it's I I think my

[1:32:59] thought is somebody that's collecting that's getting paid to collect them from

[1:33:05] someplace >> just goes gets rid of them

[1:33:08] » and then they go get rid of them and they'll pay to dispose of them. So

[1:33:12] anyway, but >> okay

[1:33:14] » that's it. That's all I got. >> Thank you very much for your work. So, I

[1:33:18] had a um Capco meeting last Friday and um I noticed we were approving the list

[1:33:24] for the senior advisory and we have Sabrina on it, but there is one more

[1:33:30] spot for another person from Gillum County to be on that committee. So,

[1:33:36] um we I might find out from them and maybe put a notice on the county website

[1:33:42] to get that spot filled. Mhm. >> Um and then uh we our fair starts today

[1:33:51] and um I want to remind veterans to come and eat dinner on the fair board on

[1:33:58] Saturday night because we're going to for them free tickets.

[1:34:02] » Okay. >> Will there be like something on line or

[1:34:04] something that we can help with >> out on the posters and different things?

[1:34:10] would say it. >> Okay.

[1:34:11] » I've been >> Saturday.

[1:34:14] » Saturday. >> So, it'll be Saturday night at 5:30.

[1:34:18] » Um, >> Veterans Eye for free.

[1:34:20] » Yes. >> Okay.

[1:34:21] » Where do they go? >> Um, I think they'll give them tickets.

[1:34:27] Um, we'll have dinner tickets at the auction. So,

[1:34:32] » I'm going to put something in. >> Okay. So, yeah, it's our way of honoring

[1:34:37] the veterans. in this 215 year celebration.

[1:34:42] » Yeah. >> So,

[1:34:43] » so, okay. And is Sabrina doing anything with it on the veterans part?

[1:34:48] » No, >> she's cooking the meal.

[1:34:49] » Okay. I didn't know if somebody was coordinating how to prove they're a

[1:34:53] veteran. >> I don't know. I think they reached out

[1:34:55] to the American Legion. It's been on the posters and so I

[1:35:00] » All right. It should be fairly easy. >> Yeah. But I know I told um Daryl he's

[1:35:05] part of the American League. So >> Okay, good.

[1:35:08] » Spread the word. So >> Okay.

[1:35:12] » I told a couple veterans this morning and told them be sure to come on

[1:35:16] Saturday night and feed on the fair. Good. So

[1:35:19] » So the internet's all set up there. It all is in place. The new office is in

[1:35:25] place. Probably finishing touches need to be done, but it's functional.

[1:35:28] » Yeah. >> And the event center and the grass is

[1:35:31] looking good. I saw pictures. I I haven't looked at it myself.

[1:35:35] » The also I think the OSU I think they still have to come in and bring their

[1:35:42] internet stuff. So >> we have um the Ethernet stations have

[1:35:48] ours is the top one and then the one on the bottom will be the OSU because they

[1:35:54] have to have their own networks. And so they're that agreement will be coming to

[1:35:58] finalize that agreement >> for them to move up there. Okay. Good.

[1:36:03] Good. >> So

[1:36:04] » at the next meeting. >> Okay.

[1:36:06] » All right. >> Yeah. And um Maggie's already brought a

[1:36:09] lot of stuff down so that you can be ready during the fair. So

[1:36:14] » Right. Good. All right. Um hope it's a great a great fair for everybody and the

[1:36:21] kids and >> Yeah.

[1:36:24] » Okay. We're kind of worried about the rain a bit.

[1:36:28] » Um, so we had the Eastern Oregon Housing Tour

[1:36:34] the afternoon of the last meeting and it went really well. We had several

[1:36:38] legislators and all of our local people. We presented um, you know, challenges,

[1:36:48] you know, housing solutions that there's been efforts made. They weren't able to

[1:36:51] get to Condan because it was uh freeway tour basically. So we went to Alkali

[1:36:57] Ridge. We had Governor's office, Senator Nash um put it together. Um

[1:37:05] um Senator Wagner, Senator Anderson, um a couple others from the governor's

[1:37:11] office. It was very it was very good. And then we traveled to um Stanfield and

[1:37:16] looked at the Bumblebee housing project and it was a finished um well in process

[1:37:24] of being finished believe 90ome units and that was really great. The builder

[1:37:29] was there explained they had price points um explained that an income of

[1:37:35] you know $20 per hour times uh two married couple could afford this unit.

[1:37:41] They had one-bedroom units, two bedrooms, and three. I think the

[1:37:45] threebedroom had an upper story. >> So, where do they building that?

[1:37:48] » It's it um so 395 there's um cornfields right across. So, it's right before you

[1:37:54] come into Stanfield on 395. So, if you're driving into Stanfield, it's on

[1:37:59] the right. There's white fence there. And um it's it was it was a very good

[1:38:05] example. And what I liked about it is we went from Alkali Ridge, which is um also

[1:38:11] City of Arlington was represented there at in Gillum County. Um but we went from

[1:38:18] a a subdivision that's close to ready to build to one that is built. And then we

[1:38:26] continued on from there to Pendleton and looked at um a concept of uh Capco. I

[1:38:34] don't know if you heard about this at their Capco meetings. Um I think they

[1:38:37] own Tamil Lumber and tearing down that and making a senior living village out

[1:38:43] of that with a common um laundry senior type center and you know it's just it's

[1:38:50] a vision right now. So the legislators looked at that concept and then I came

[1:38:55] back home because I had the EDP meeting. So I didn't continue on but they all

[1:38:59] went on to Union County and Wal County and looked at some um possibilities of a

[1:39:06] concept a legis the legislative concept of maybe taking 50 acres of EFU ground

[1:39:12] and some possibilities of housing solutions there with potential future

[1:39:16] legislation. um you know, not farm, not prime farm

[1:39:20] ground, but be able to create some um options for counties that want to do

[1:39:25] that and they would have discretion to decide if they want to participate in

[1:39:29] that >> if it ends up being something that that

[1:39:32] comes to be legislatively. So, that that was really a great a great tour and it

[1:39:38] turned out to be um I think really great for the legislators to look at it with

[1:39:42] their own eyes and come come out. um have been working on trying to get some

[1:39:48] things set for Veterans Day and get some extra help so that we get some good

[1:39:52] things going for our veterans. um a clear understanding of these vouchers

[1:39:57] that were done last year that there was some confusion on trying and our veteran

[1:40:02] service officer has done an all mail flyer about that that that's coming up

[1:40:07] to have a maybe a special dinner to honor our veterans here in Gilen County

[1:40:14] and um make sure we have ceremonies in each community. So, um, working on that

[1:40:21] two months out to try to get We kind of had some problems last year. So, I want

[1:40:25] to make sure we do we do it right for our veterans. Um we I went to an east uh

[1:40:31] eastern Oregon economic summit in Ontario on the 24th and 25th and it was

[1:40:38] a great um great education about economic

[1:40:41] development but a lot of it was well it was in Ontario because you have you have

[1:40:48] Oregon with different regulations um more strict planning regulations um

[1:40:54] maybe not as you know our tax laws or maybe not as user friendly as Idaho is.

[1:41:01] So we toured the Oregon side and then we went over to Idaho and toured the Idaho

[1:41:06] side to see the differences in land use develop planning development.

[1:41:13] Um it was just interesting. So there's a border there's a border board and it's

[1:41:18] for the Oregon side because of the potential of losing

[1:41:24] economic opportunities to Idaho and it's a legislative

[1:41:29] uh body that receives funding and it just got me

[1:41:35] thinking about our economic enhancement ordinance and how we utilize it. So,

[1:41:39] I've been communicating with our economic development director um and

[1:41:44] wanted to talk to him about ideas because they have structure. They have

[1:41:47] the incentive programs like we have through the PCDC. They have um other

[1:41:54] programs and incentives to spur economic development. So, just good resource,

[1:41:59] good outreach. There was child care was on the agenda at the economic enhance or

[1:42:04] economic development summit, housing, um you know, all the things we talk about.

[1:42:10] So that was good. Um we had that property sell on the 26 and as I said

[1:42:14] that was the Lancaster property and it sold for 75,000. Um hopefully that

[1:42:21] property will turn and and get renovated or demolished or whatever. Um,

[1:42:28] Mcked, we had an uh orientation with Mckedd. Uh, there's a city

[1:42:32] representative and that's Kayla Rayburn. Port representative is Leah Shannon. And

[1:42:38] so we all took part in that um orientation. I'm on the loan board for

[1:42:43] Mckette and so I've had a meeting on that. Um, and that's been an interesting

[1:42:50] process to learn about that. Um, we we've been having administrative team

[1:42:56] meetings just to try to keep some of the things we're working on going. Couple of

[1:42:59] things we're working on is to see if we can get some adult education classes

[1:43:04] going. Um, for example,

[1:43:08] public speaking or how to do a job interview, um, finance 101, those types

[1:43:13] of things. Um, so we're talking about >> trying to just maybe come up with three

[1:43:18] classes right now and figure out how to do that.

[1:43:22] And another thing we've been talking about is um

[1:43:27] taking the idea that we used with Kelly nonprofit that the county used with

[1:43:32] Kelly nonprofit and finding

[1:43:37] finding a it could be Marina and Company although

[1:43:42] we haven't talked to them. finding an accountant or a a company that deals

[1:43:47] with municipal uh accounting

[1:43:51] to help our taxing districts. So, we we could

[1:43:56] we ran this by legal counsel to make sure we can do it. Um but earmark a

[1:44:01] certain amount of hours that our taxing districts can call for help, call for,

[1:44:07] you know, what are the best practices? Um what are the budgeting best

[1:44:11] practices? Um, you know, we we see things here and we think they could use

[1:44:17] some help. Um, a lot of times it's just a volunteer or a person who isn't

[1:44:22] spending many hours that is doing they're doing the best they can, but

[1:44:25] they could use a little bit of support on the accounting side which is going to

[1:44:29] help us all because it's public funds. So, what do you think of that?

[1:44:32] » Yeah. idea to pursue >> because I think that the chamber for a

[1:44:38] while had like if if entities were using QuickBooks, they had somebody that they

[1:44:44] could [clears throat] contact. >> Oh, good.

[1:44:46] » Quickbooks questions answered and >> yeah,

[1:44:50] » the problem is a lot of that accounting software just keeps getting more and

[1:44:54] more expensive. >> It does.

[1:44:56] » I mean, mine's like up to $2,000 a year for footn.

[1:45:01] It's ridiculous. Right. Anyway, that's all for now.

[1:45:06] [clears throat] Okay. Anything else? No further

[1:45:10] business. Meeting is adjourned.

[1:45:17] » [music]

Gilliam County Court Regular Meeting September 2, 2026

Transcript