Greetings from City Hall

I think spring is here. Didn’t think so Tuesday, when I went to Salem and ran through snow in the mountains. The one thing I noticed on Highway 26 immediately after the Bear Springs junction is that the road has suffered this winter, as it does every winter. There has to be some way to repair the road so that it doesn’t take an annual beating like it has this year. If you are traveling at highway speeds, you are almost continually at risk of breaking a tire, changing your four-wheel alignment, or venturing into parts unknown to avoid potholes that have developed over the winter season. The worst part on the trip from Maupin starts at Bear Springs and, for the most part, ends at Rhododendron. I told some of the people at the meeting in Salem that some of those potholes have horizons in them. But today at eight o’clock this morning, it was over 60 and I can’t wait to get out in it.

Community Meeting – Moving Maupin Forward, Step #3

As I said last month, we originally intended to have another community meeting on 26 March. But with the success of the first meeting and the follow-on meetings, especially in the economic development area, we have managed to squeeze the next meeting into a very busy April schedule on Saturday, 29 April, the day before Easter. We have some great ideas to pass on and if you haven’t had a chance to be a part of the process you are heartily invited to get involved. Expect to hear committee reports outlining ideas, projects and priorities for the next 10 years. This will be a two-hour session, from 10 AM to 12AM at the high school cafeteria. Please join us and be a part of planning the future of Maupin.

Central Oregon Cities Organization Meeting with the Legislature

COCO used to be called the Central Oregon Mayors Association, but the acronym was slightly unfortunate. In any case it is a great organization, centered on the management of the Central Deschutes River management, which for some reason is under scrutiny by some folks that from all evidence, couldn’t manage their way across Mt. Hood without becoming victims of the potholes. So our quest Wednesday in Salem was to gain as much support as possible for management of the middle river and its tributaries in Central Oregon to be done by the people who live and die according to the successful management of the rivers. From a list of about 25 Legislators and several Department Directors, we were able to meet with several who affirmed their support for permanently placing the Deschutes Water Mitigation Program into the hands of the people

that are doing it now. But we also discussed and promoted ways to improve how highway access is planned; improving traffic flow between Madras and Redmond specifically and across Highway 26 in general; minimizing the negative economic impacts of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act which seems to want the level of purity of our rivers to be higher than our drinking water; and brief discussions on enterprise zones and high value employment lands. From the Legislators we got a sense of things going better with the requirement for teaming up across the aisle, even though things may back up a bit until they get used to playing nice. For us in Maupin, John Huffman was there but Ted Ferrioli was in a meeting. Trying to see that many people during the week and during the biannual session is difficult, to say the least. We parked about 25 people from Central Oregon in a meeting room on the fourth floor of the House and the Legislators came to us. This really works and surprisingly we were right on schedule most of the day. One of the Representatives, Jim Weidner from Yamhill, said he avoids going through Maupin as much as possible. When I asked why, he said it’s like going down into a hole that you don’t know if you can get out of. I told him that if he is in Madras or south and our sovereign neighbors perform one of their bi-monthly destruction derbies on Highway 26, Maupin will probably see him again. The Mayor of Madras, Melanie Widmer, says she loves the trip up here because of that trip down from Criterion. Very good meeting, one of the best I’ve been to. Results will come from this one.

Other Really Important Stuff

Household Hazardous Waste. It’s that time of year again so just like last time, … “mark this down in RED: April 23, Saturday; 10 AM to 2 PM; Public Works Building, 390 3^rd Street. Bring us your old paint (OIL-based), yard and garden products, household cleaners and chemicals, automotive liquids (except oil), old gas and kerosene, pool and spa chemicals, hobby solvents and glues, propane bottles and tanks, dry cell and lithium batteries, fluorescent bulbs and CFL bulbs, thermostats and thermometers, fire extinguishers, deodorant, makeup … wait, maybe not the last two. We will get rid of the rest for you, though.” That was last year’s message and it works just fine for this year. Each year has been a success and a great convenience for all of us in South County. In Hood River and The Dalles, there are 24 such events – one each month in both places. So this is our chance to participate in the disposal of Household Hazardous Waste. For businesses and agricultural producers, mandatory pre-registration is required to get an appointment. This is based in general on the amount of hazardous waste that a business or ag producer might have. The requirement is driven by the amount of waste and the fact that it has to go all the way to Washougal, Washington. If you have a bunch of stuff or any questions at all, call PSC Environmental Services at 1-800-547-2436.

Business After Hours. The Maupin Area Chamber of Commerce is holding another Business After Hours event at SagePoint Financial Offices, which is at the old Oregon Log Homes Office. Hosted by Roxy and Gary Templin of Desert Mountain Realty, LLC and Andrew Lewis of SagePoint, the meeting will feature guest-speaker Doris Schmidt, owner of eService Interactive. She will be speaking on the uses of social media for small businesses. Social media is a hot topic for small businesses and has been discussed at meetings from here to Washington, D.C. Must be something to it. I think I’ll go and see what it is.

That’s it. I think I will go take care of some “to-dos” around the house. If I devote 2 days a week, I should get my list taken care of by 2:00 in the afternoon of 18 August.

Cheers, Denny