Paying off property a priority for county's federal windfall

Oct. 21—Baker County might use some of the $6.5 million in federal COVID-19 aid it will receive over the next two years to pay off a 70-acre property that county commissioners agreed to lease, with an option to buy, this summer.

Completing the $1.45 million purchase of the property in north Baker City is one of the priorities that a team of county officials identified, Commissioner Mark Bennett said on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Bennett and fellow commissioners Bill Harvey and Bruce Nichols discussed the $6.5 million allocation through the American Rescue Plan Act.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently announced the distribution of federal dollars.

Baker County's share of $6.5 million is the fourth-largest among Oregon's 36 counties.

Only Klamath and Malheur, with $12 million each, and Douglas, at $10.6 million, will get more.

Bennett said a committee including himself; Christena Cook, the county's administrative services director; and Heidi Martin, human resources director, reviewed potential uses for the federal dollars.

"The focus was, number one, to pay off and keep the county in a really high, level, solid fiscal state," Bennett said. "So what we've identified to recommend for this go around was to pay off the Ward property."

Commissioners didn't make a final decision Wednesday about spending any of the money.

The Ward family owns the 70-acre property, which is currently a mint field just south of Hughes Lane, between the Baker Sports Complex and the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway.

In early August commissioners approved a $1.45 million lease-purchase agreement for the property, which they had decided in early June to try to buy.

The agreement called for the county to make annual payments of $72,500 over five years that will go toward the $1.45 million total price.

After five years, the county could exercise its option to buy the property by paying the balance of $1,087,500. There will be no interest charged.

Commissioners said at the time that they wouldn't use money from the county's general fund for the lease payments, instead using revenue from the county's lodging tax.

County officials haven't decided how to use the property.

Another priority, Bennett said, is installing a water line from the city of Richland to the county's Hewitt and Holcomb parks on the north side of Brownlee Reservoir.

That's a project county officials have talked about for years, as the water system at the park is failing.

Bennett also discussed, as possible uses of the federal money, technology and security upgrades at county buildings, and buying two vehicles for the sheriff's office and one for the juvenile department.

"The reason these were selected was these are things that can be completed by the end of this calendar year," Bennett said.

Projects need to go through the bidding process and bring their submissions for final approval to the county commissioners.

"The feeling of the committee was we needed to go for things that would keep the county on a good solid basis," Bennett said.

Commissioners will continue discussions in future meetings about uses for the federal money, which will be in two yearly installments.

In other business Wednesday, commissioners:

—Accepted a $190,000 federal grant to upgrade the computers at the Baker County Consolidated Dispatch Center, which handles emergency dispatching for the sheriff's office, Baker City Police and Fire Departments, and local fire protection districts.

The grant doesn't require a local match, Sheriff Travis Ash said.