By Debbie Raney
Burns Times-Herald

Representing the veterans of the county, Joe Oltman and Clyde Kenyon attended the Harney County Court meeting on April 16, and requested that the Veteran’s Service Center be relocated outside of the Harney County Senior Center.

Oltman and Kenyon stated that a move would lessen the chances of “co-mingling of funds and resources.” Kenyon said, “We’d like it to be a self-sufficient entity.”

Discussion on how the Veteran’s Service Center is funded was held, with Judge Steve Grasty explaining that the wages for the Veteran’s Service Officer do not come from the veteran’s line item of the Harney County budget, as she is the Senior Center Director. The wages for the position of assistant, which was recently vacated by Darre Wilson, is funded through the Veteran’s Service Office budget.

Grasty said one of the main concerns with moving from the Senior Center to another building, would be overhead expenses. Money that would then have to be spent on building, administration and other expenses would not go directly to the veterans.

Oltman said that the veterans that they represented would be happy with an office that was open two, three or four days a week, depending on the available funds. This, he said is what most counties throughout the region are currently offering.

Kenyon and Oltman requested that they have the opportunity to review the amount of funding available to the Veteran’s Service Office. Grasty agreed to provide the information.

•••

Harney County Assessor/Tax Collector Ted Tiller told the members of the court that the need to purchase new computer software for assessment purposes, was looming on the horizon. The president of the company that has provided the software for many years, has indicated to Tiller that he will soon be retiring and he would not be available to maintain the software. Tiller said that there used to be nine counties in Oregon using the software from ASI, but there are only three left — Harney, Coos and Wasco. Tiller told the court that migrating to a different software will be a very lengthy project. “It could take two or three years to get it done. I’d like to have the old owner on board to help with the conversion.” Tiller also said he didn’t want to get into the situation where Harney County is the only remaining county using the old software.

He has researched a couple of options, and money has been being put into the budget in preparation for the eventual change. Currently, more than $170,000 has been set aside, but Tiller said he is estimating the final cost for a switch over to be between $250,000 and $270,000.

•••

Nellie Franklin, Harney County Treasurer told the court that because the U.S. Postal Service would no longer sort mail by department, all of the mail for the courthouse was being left, unsorted in the mail room. She, or other employees of the county, were sorting it when they had a chance. She suggested that each office or department at the courthouse be assigned a suite number. The Postal Service would then deliver to individual slots. Franklin also said this would help alleviate confusion they have seen in the past, mostly with checks being sent to one of the court systems. The court told Franklin to move ahead, and she will bring up the assignment of numbers at the next department head meeting.

She commented that one of the first places to get the new addresses would be on the county Web site.

•••

A  text amendment to the Harney County Zoning Ordinance was presented to the court by Brandon McMullen, planning director. The change would extend the time frame allowed for making land-use application decisions from 120 days to 150 days for land outside of an Urban Growth Boundary. The Planning Commission had already approved the change. A second hearing on the amendment will be held at the May 7 Harney County Court meeting.

•••

Title III proposals were reviewed, and a 45-day comment period was opened.
The proposals received included the FFA requesting $11,000 for the Forestry & Natural Resources Education Internship Program; Training and Employment Consortium requesting $38,760 for Oregon Youth Conservation Corps projects; Harney County Search and Rescue requesting $10,000; and the Landscape Scale Collaborative Effort on the Malheur National Forest for $250,000.

•••

Due to Rimrock Recycling disbanding, the county acquires the group’s assets. These assets include a fork lift, cardboard baler, several bins, and the building. Judge Grasty commended George Wynn and Dave Vickstrom for the work they put in to help Harney County meet the state’s recycling standards.