Ken Boell - New Undersheriff for Adams County
On Monday, October 21st, the Adams County Commissioners met at the Adams County Courthouse. First on the agenda, Kody Williams, county building inspector, came to discuss his proposed ordinance change regarding mobile homes and building permit violations. Commissioner Joe Iveson thought it was a lot of definitions and he said he didn’t like a lot of restrictions in general, but he didn’t see anything egregious. Commissioner Viki Purdy was more skeptical. She asked why the building inspector would have anything to do with design. WIlliams said mostly because of snow load, or to see if it needs engineering. The commissioners still seemed skeptical. Williams said he’d like to take their time and get it perfect, “What I’m trying to do with this is come up with a solution,” he said. Although the commissioners seemed reluctant to take any action today, Commissioner Daren Ward said at some point they need to move it forward to get a public hearing so the people could voice their concerns.
After this, there was an executive session for the commissioners to obtain legal advice on the Yantis Rock Pit, followed by an executive session with Mark Colafranceski for complaints about a criminal investigation, and complaints of harassment and discrimination in the application of building codes.
After the executive session, Adam Balderson with Road and Bridge asked the commissioners if the county owns Last Chance Rd. They thought it was a Forest Service road. Balderson said there was a guy who owns private property by the hot springs who is trying to build two cabins, and the construction on the road has him closed out. The Forest Service said he won’t be able to get in to build until next summer. He came to Road and Bridge to see what they could do because apparently the Forest Service told him it was a county road. The commissioners found that interesting and told Balderson to contact the Forest Service and find out more, and if they’re not claiming it, maybe the county should.
They also discussed applicants for the open Road and Bridge position and decided to schedule interviews for next week. Balderson asked about relations and the commissioners clarified that they could not hire anyone related to the commissioners or related to the boss (Balderson).
Next, Sheriff Ryan Zollman brought Ken Bell, the new Undersheriff, to swear in and meet the commissioners. He had previously worked for Clackamas county for over 27 years. Sheriff Zollman also brought detention officer Keagan Rose to swear his oath of office. He was hired a while ago but has been on night duty and had not had the opportunity to come into the commissioners meeting previously.
There are 24 state inmates and 4 county.
Steve Shelton, with Solid waste, said they should get the pond lined today.
After this there was supposed to be an update from the Forest Service, but they never arrived. Carol Walsh, county Emergency Manager, gave her presentation early instead. Walsh said they have a situation with the Lava Fire where there is horrible silt coming down the Little Weiser River. She said it will be very bad for irrigation, headgates are already getting clogged and it’s going to get worse. She is also concerned about what will happen with spring runoff, and what will happen when it gets down to Ben Ross. “It looks like gravy,” said Walsh, “I’ve never seen anything like this after a fire.” Walsh said she might be looking into doing an emergency declaration on the river, and wanted to ask the commissioners if they had any resources or ideas about how to handle it. Commissioner Iveson thought it might be a state issue with water resources. He also recommended she talk with Wendy Green, who lived near the area and was involved with County Soil Conservation.
Carol Walsh then gave her presentation on the fire mitigation work they have been doing. The Good Neighbor Authority grant authorized $994,850 for fire mitigation work. So far they have spent about half of that and she is hoping they will get a new grant for next year. They have treated 565.85 acres in Adams County and are currently leading in the state for fuel reduction acreage. The work includes things like thinning, limbing up trees, chipping and masticating to reduce the understory and ladder fuels. This year they have been working in places like Circle C, Camp Stover, Whitney Ranch, and Bear/Cuprum. Their work in Cuprum proved to be extremely valuable during the Limepoint fire. They are currently working in West Pine, Meadow Creek and Highlands, and Little Salmon River Estates. Next year they are hoping to get into Price Valley, Fish Lake Rd, Packer John, Boulder Creek and Blackbear Subdivision, and maybe Fruitvale/Glendale as well. In Adams County they are spending about $1400-2000 an acre, which is far below neighboring counties where they are spending upwards of $2000 an acre, and sleep places like Smiths Ferry where it is more than $4000 an acre. Adams County is being very efficient by comparison. “I’m real happy with this year, we’ve done quite a lot,” said Walsh.
There were two Meadow Creek residents and loggers who were frustrated with the scope of the work in Meadow Creek. They were concerned about the canopy and the lack of focus on fire mitigation by breaking up the canopy. They thought there should be more logging to address this and they also didn’t like the cherry picking of lots. They said there was a critical need in the southwest corridor, that’s where a fire would come into Meadow Creek. They would be doing more logging but the price of timber is too low and they are not able to break even and would like to see if some of the funds could be used to help logging companies with cleanup afterwards in non profitable areas.
Walsh was adamant that the commissioners didn’t want to get involved in logging. Cleanup is a continuation of logging and the problem with logging was all of the red tape and especially the holdbacks on the money until after the logs are sold. She said they could end up with situations where their contractors are having to wait a year or two to get paid. Walsh said it’s complicated, it’s a mess, and she wasn’t sure she even understood it all fully. There was some contention and argument between Walsh and the other parties, however, in the end they ended up agreeing to open communication and left on good terms. Commissioner Viki Purdy wondered if they could get around some of the red tape associated with logging by going in first and doing mitigation work before logging, and then there would be less cleanup afterward which might make it more worthwhile. Walsh agreed to look into it and see if they could come up with more solutions. Before the meeting ended, another county resident from Whitney Ranch also stopped in to tell the commissioners how much he appreciated the program and to thank them for making it available.
