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March 11, 2010 Front Page |
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Council Considers Coordination Policy To Limit Excessive Federal Control
By Mark Bogart
The Baker City Council heard requests for support for the City’s
visioning process, governmental coordination, and an extension of the
franchise for television service at its regular meeting on Tuesday. It
also adopted a proclamation honoring Girl Scout Week, changed fees for
some services, and approved the second reading of an ordinance for
revision of the City Code.
After a presentation from local Girl Scouts, the Council listened to
comments from three local men advocating a policy and process called
“coordination.”
Brian Addison, Ed Hart, and Guy Michael, each asked the City to adopt a
coordination policy in order to protect local interests from excessive
Federal control. They said the approach had been used successfully in
Texas, Colorado, Idaho and other states to prevent federal agencies
from dictating decisions affecting local economies and tax bases.
Despite Budget Cuts, Road Department Updates Older Equipment With Ingenuity Of Staff
Standard Oil Requests Property Owners To Sign Agreement Not To Dig Wells
By Eden Taylor
Ken Helgerson, Director of the County Road Department, gave a
department update to the County Commissioners during their regular
session on March 3. The Commissioners were pleased with what Helgerson
has accomplished, despite the budget reductions.
Helgerson said the department is focused on keeping the good roads
good. Though they would like to improve sub-par roads, finances
prohibit the amount of work the department is able to do.
Nevertheless, the department has been able to update some of the
equipment with opportunities staff members have found.
The department replaced two 1980 Champion graders with two 1991 John
Deere graders for about $15,000 net cost. One 1975 GMC (gas) patch
truck was updated to a 2000 Kenworth (diesel) patch truck. The same
Thermo-Lay patch unit was used, only the truck/tractor was replaced.
In addition, shop workers were able to use old (metallic purple) paint
to give the truck an updated paint job and the truck, they said, “looks
impressive.” One 1976 Ford 10-yard dump truck was replaced with a 1994
Kenworth 10-yard dump truck.
Helgerson said the shop workers are able to perform wonders and have
maximized the use of the vehicles. The average age of the graders is
25 years old, the average loader age is 29 years and the average snow
plow age is 40 years. Helgerson said the department is happy to have
what they have, that the vehicles are functional, but they are old.
Bentz Seeks Input On Baker County Projects
By Debby Schoeningh
State Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) is seeking help from local residents to identify projects that they would like him to focus on in Baker County. His goal is to identify projects in each of the four counties he serves in District 60.
So far Bentz has selected two projects in Malheur County, a biomass plant and a pump storage project, which utilizes dead storage water in Owyhee Reservoir.
In John Day he is supporting a Canyon Creek Dam project. Bentz said the dam was built on an old rock slide and there is no way of keeping the water from leaking out of the dam. He said he doesn’t want to take the dam out because it is one of the few flat water locations in Grant County, but he is in favor of researching the possibility of finding a location to construct a new dam.
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