Quick & Easy Wasco County Commission: COVID Update, 3G Networks Are No More, Local Veteran Honored, County Grants Deed to Home At Last and more!
Meet the Wasco County Commissioners LEFT TO RIGHT: Steve Kramer, Scott Hege, Kathy Schwartz
Welcome to Quick & Easy Wasco County Commission Update
Get the highlights of the recent Wasco County Commission Meeting on December 1st, 2021, without having to sit in a two hour meeting.
The Agenda Break Down
Covid Update From NCPHD
Flip Phones to Flip No More, 3G Networks Are Going, Going, Gone
Local Veteran Honored
Wasco County Donates Land to Home at Last
County Explores Community Outreach Options
Commissioners Support Improvement Efforts for Maupin Boat Ramp
Annual Watershed Report
Climate Change
MCACC Gives Update on Coordinating Homeless Services
Watch the meeting: December 1st, 2021 Wasco County Commissioners Meeting LIVEstream
Read More: December 1st, 2021 Agenda & Board Packet
Covid Update From NCPHD
Miriam McDonell, MD, FACOG, Health Officer from North Central Public Health District kicked off the meeting with an update on covid statistics in Wasco County.
“Things are looking pretty good,” said McDonell, “Numbers are going way down. Last week we had only eleven cases reported in Wasco County. There’s a pretty clear trend that case counts are going down in Wasco County and in Oregon.”
McDonnell also said that the low numbers could be because the recent holiday may have impacted access to testing.
“Number of cases of covid hospitalizations has definitely gone down,” said McDonnell. In addition McDonnel shared that there had been zero covid positive cases in the hospital at Mid-Columbia Medical Center on November 29th. She said that was “really encouraging news for us.”
Updated Vaccination Rates for Wasco, Sherman and Gilliam Counties
Wasco 78.5%
Sherman 67.5%
Gilliam 52.1%
McDonnell shared that vaccination boosters were now recommended for all 18+ adults.
McDonnell also touched on the Omicron variant and Molnupiravir antivirals that can reduce covid-related hospitalizations by 30%. McDonnell said that the Molnupiravir antivirals would hopefully be available in Oregon by later this week.
Boosters
The gist: If you can get the same brand booster there may be some benefits to that.
But mix and match is fine if it’s all you can get.
Upcoming Vaccination Events
NCPHD will be doing covid vaccination and booster clinics at the Readiness Center on December 9th, and 13th.
3G Networks are Going, Going, Gone
Video Time: 26:50
Joe Davitt of 911 wants Wasco County to know that “3G is going away.”
The Federal Communications Commission said that 3G networks could be going offline for good as early as January 1st, 2022. Those with older cell phones and flip phones may be forced to upgrade as a result. In addition the shut down of 3G networks may some impact medical devices, tablets, vehicle SOS systems and home security systems.
AT&T announced that it will finish shutting down its 3G network by February 2022.
Verizon announced that will finish shutting down its 3G network by December 31, 2022.
T-Mobile announced that it will finish shutting down Sprint's 3G CDMA network by March 31, 2022
Sprint's 4G LTE network by June 30, 2022.
T-Mobile's 3G UMTS network will shut down by July 1, 2022.
If you have a 3G phone, check with your carrier for more information.
Veteran Service Office Update
Video Time: 28:32
Local Veteran Services Officer Honored
Patrick Wilbern was recently enrolled in the Order of Saint Maurice.
The Order of Saint Maurice is awarded by the National Infantry Association and the U.S. Army Chief of Infantry to recognize the significant contributions made by infantrymen, infantry supporters, and spouses. He was awarded the Legionnaire level for his outstanding contribution to the infantry during his military service and after service including as a County Veterans Service Officer. He was issued the medal and signed certificate.
Wasco County is home to over 2,000 veterans.
Wasco County is one of 3 or 4 Oregon counties that represents veterans in front of Federal Veterans Law Judges of the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) instead of turning the appeals over to the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs.
The office has served 136 disability claims and that they had a Veteran’s claim denial rate that was lower than the national average.
In 2020 federal dollars coming into Wasco County for veterans included 11.8 million in compensation benefits, 13.9 million in medical care, and overall 26.39 million in total expenditures.
Veteran Services Russell Jones and Patrick Wilbern have been busy spearheading veteran outreach at Flagstone, the Golf Course, on facebook, on their website, and on the radio but that covid had presented some unique challenges to their outreach team.
Wasco County Donates Land to Home at Last
Video Time: 36:38
Wasco County Commissioners voted unanimously to deed to the property on which Home At Last sits to Central Oregon Animal Friends, which is the business entity currently operating Home At Last.
“It’s easier when you own the building to receive grants.” said Stephen Drynan, Chief Executive Director of Home at Last, “It’s going to allow us to go after grants that we couldn’t have otherwise gone after.”
Home At Last hopes to apply for a $30,000 capital improvement grant from Google to do improvements and beautification to the property following the transfer of the deed.
Background Information
In 2015 Wasco County transferred the deed where Home At Last animal shelter operated and entered into a donation agreement with Home at Last Animal Friends Inc.
In 2018, Home At Last Animal Friends, Inc. discontinued operations of the shelter and it was assumed by Central Oregon Animal Friends. That occurrence necessitated reversion of the property to Wasco County with the understanding that once everything had stabilized and was running well under the new entity, Wasco County would likely deed the property to Central Oregon Animal Friends, entering into a similar donation agreement.
Community Outreach Platform Agreements
Video Time: 43:45
The County is looking to invest in a platform from Bang the Table to get more people from the community involved in county issues.
The County is also looking at investing in information gathering systems from Zencity, with the goal being to improve county transparency, and civic engagement.
Kathy Schwartz championed the ZenCity and Bang the Table agreements during the meeting.
“I think this is right in line with our values to be more transparent in this County,” said Kathy Schwartz, Wasco County Commissioner “This actually takes us to the next level in being able to gather real good feedback about what people think about what we’re doing.”
During discussion, some concerns were raised around whether current staffing could support the implementation of the community outreach programing.
Commissioners Support Improvement Efforts for Maupin Boat Ramp
Video Time: 1:04:00
The Problem
Maupin City Park gets busy in the summer and their boat ramp needs more than just patch job repairs. The City of Maupin is looking for a more long-term fix to the problem.
The Proposed Solution
The City of Maupin is applying for a grant from the State Marine Board to a hire consultant to figure out a more long term solution than just dumping gravel in to fill in the constantly eroding boat ramp. Maupin recreation tourism is a major economic driver of the Southern part of Wasco County and having an improved boat ramp would be investing in improved opportunities for economic success.
In order to apply for the grant, The City of Maupin needs to show support from multiple entities.
The Result
Wasco County Commissioners unanimously approved drafting a letter of support for the City of Maupin to improve the Maupin City Park Boat Ramp.
Annual Watershed Report
Video Time: 1:10:20
Read Full Report in Board Packet: page 109
Pat Davis Drake Gilbert, Ken Bailey,
The Fifteenmile Watershed Council will undertake an underwater storage pilot project to manage stream temperatures in the summer months. The project essentially takes water out of 15 mile creek during the winter when it’s full and cold and stores it underground. Then in the summer when stream temperatures reach lethal levels for fish and other aquatic life, the cold water stored underground can be put back into the streams to cool it.
There was $66,667 worth of projects approved through the OWEB Small Grant program this fiscal year.
The 2020 Wasco County Pesticide Stewardship Partnership monitoring season had the lowest number of individual chemicals found in Wasco County streams since monitoring started in 2010.
The Dalles Watershed Council reported that E Coli had been identified as a key issue in Mill Creek and they were working with DEQ to identify the source and deal with it.
The Dalles Watershed Council secured funding to continue fish monitoring in Mill Creek, and expanded the project to nearby Chenoweth and Threemile Creeks. All three creeks are considered to be critical habitat for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed mid-Columbia Steelhead distinct population segment (DPS), making the monitoring of fish runs within these streams vital in understanding steelhead returns in the Columbia River Gorge area.
The final year of fish tagging in Mill Creek wrapped up in June of 2021, with the most steelhead being tagged in Mill Creek fish monitoring history.
The Dalles fish monitoring project has expanded into Chenoweth and Threemile Creeks for the first time this year. Tagging in these smaller creeks will continue for the next three years, and the PIT tag array on Mill Creek will continue to operate.
The Mosier Watershed Council successfully lobbied state congress in order to secure $900,000 in funding to continue repairing commingling wells within the Mosier Watershed.
Climate Change
Video Time: 1:38:00
Read Presentation in the Board Packet: pg 121
Debbie Ferrer with Protect Oregon’s Progress gave a presentation on Preparing our Community for a Changing Climate. The presentation presented the pros and cons of not acting now.
Protect Oregon’s Progress asked the Commission to form a task force to develop a Community Climate Action Plan, provide a staff person to lead the task force, and commit to addressing climate change as an opportunity to build a healthier, more vibrant, and more resilient community.
Wasco County Commissioners agreed to ask County employees who might be interested in working to improve coordination between City and County in regards to climate change action plans.
Mid-Columbia Community Action Council Coordinating Homeless Services
Video Time : 2:09:00
Kenny LaPoint presented an update on coordinating homeless services in Wasco County.
