City Council - Regular Meeting

We actually got a commendation for being embedded in the community and being a good community partner and I think the results of that can be shown in myriad ways but one of them I think is just joining together this evening to discuss issues and all the services that we actually provide. We gave you all a kind of two-pager here on this study that we recently have completed for Eastern Oregon University. And I think what it leads up to is how critical we are to this community and this economic well-being. As you can see here, we are investing $9 million annually in capital projects that directly result In local work local contractors construction workers suppliers professional services and over 45 million just between 2021 and 2025. So, in addition to commencement, there are these long term investments in our community that we see over and over again, year over year. I also wanted to share some of that larger economic impact outside of our capital improvements, which you can see right next to that first box on the right. We're one of the largest employers in the community, and that means that we're generating about a $76 million economic impact just within Union County, supporting 830 jobs that are, again, keeping this community reliably and supported. Again, as I mentioned, commencement at the beginner, We have nearly 20,000 visitors come to this community every year. And again, they may need a flat tire. They may have other issues. They may need a pair of glasses. And all of this is going to result in business for the community. You can see some of our top majors there. So we are also supporting the community in the development of jobs. And then, if you turn the page, I would also point out to you, one of the things that really impressed our creditors is our support for youth and education in Union County, and in fact, in all of Eastern Oregon, through projects like GoSTEP, which make actual science materials available to small communities and larger communities. Our reading clinic is helping support the literacy rates of youth, which as we know state have been declining dreadfully and so we're really embracing teacher education as well as student tutoring in new and meaningful ways there's listed here the flba ffa stem but also athletics isn't even listed on this the number of visitors we just bring to this community through athletics and to be clear we are dominant We are number one in the Cascades Collegiate Conference for all sports right now. And as a result of that, we were able to host more schools coming to this community to use our services and compete. When we're not number one, they go to other universities and the games are hosted there. So we're really playing a vital role in bringing folks to community and helping to lift this community up. Now into the deep end, John. Our board has just approved additional capital project spending. This spending will come from what we call auxiliaries. So it doesn't come from dollars, for example, student tuition. It will come from auxiliary and sports lottery dollars that come to the university via the state. And we have a pretty tight budget. And as a result, we are creating a pretty pared down ball field complex. So right now, our men's volleyball does not play on campus, and this poses real issues in terms of our ability to host games, to bring other students into the community. It also poses an issue in terms of travel costs for the university. It's hard to attract students when you share a space with others, so having a facility of our own will help us attract better baseball, well not better, more holistic baseball athletes. And I'm not sure how much each of you keeps up with your new sports, but softball has been a national player for several years now. And so we're also upgrading that facility. As John has mentioned, him and director Weiss and Fluh, our athletic director, keep on talking about some of the issues that this project raises. There is a water main that runs through sort of the eye of the softball field and then right alongside the outside of where the baseball field will be located. This is a critical, critical line for LeGrand residents. And, you know, we are looking to have a partnership and a collaboration with the city. We have to do a lot of infrastructure work in that field to ready it for the ballpark. So for example, our EOU softball team, one of the only major games that they lost this year is when they were forced to move from our softball facility to LeGrand's. And while they don't play LeGrand's facility for it, there were, you know, that's kind of upsetting to the team, right? They're used to playing on this field, and I think it created some issues in their flow. And so we need to do infrastructure work to make sure there's no flooding there. But the excavation does go below the existing water main line. And so this is going to cause issues in the longer term, particularly once we have the turf up. If you have issues with your water line through those facilities, you're not going to want to have to go through our softball and baseball fields. That's going to be a considerable expense. And so we hope to have a conversation with John and others about collaborating on this to reduce costs so that we can successfully get this field up and running for play. And that was what I was going to share with you.

Yeah, so going back a few weeks ago, we met, had some conversation on it. The Angie Whitefoot met with us, absolutely shared what their budget looked like it was going to allow to be able to contribute to the work in that effort. Unfortunately, the estimates that we're getting in regards to And so that's where some of the rub is. What I can tell you is our team is eager to find ways to be able to make sure that we can be those good partners that they need us to be, while at the same time making sure that we're covering the costs that we have. We're not talking about just simply the work costs, but more than anything from our side of it, the material costs. But I'll pause there for a second.

Alright. He doesn't want the camera on. Whoever's talking, he had already on camera. So we did have the meeting with Angie and we kind of discussed it and as John said, you know, public works is always for seeing your project successful. The biggest difficulty And so looking at the opportunities in which I We're out. Those are our initials. As soon as the fairgrounds are complete, the company is going to come

And obviously, we can work a little bit around the timeline of the city to get this project undertaken. But of course, EIU just simply can't pay the entire cost of moving a water main line for all of the brand. We're one of your rate payers as well, and we're more than happy, again, to collaborate on costs. But we won't be able to lift up the entire project. We simply just don't have the funds. And so, like I said, we're happy to work on timelines, and we're happy to work on even locations of the lines um that are most cost effective for the city uh but i think you know we need those conversations to move i think sooner rather than later and um find ways that that no one is kind of overwhelmed with the project yeah it would be moving it from

through the ballpark area over to the right-of-way along the C and Gephardt.

So the proposed route that has been put out there is to bring it along the right.

We have six down the C and then along C Avenue.

And we're okay with it still remaining on parts of our property as well. We're not saying, hey, you have to move it. We're part of this community too, but we just needed to knock on

And you don't want it there either.

Trust me, you don't want it there either. We have massive drainage issues out there. Whether or not your water pipe is causing it, I am not the right person to ask. John is an engineer. He would be able to know more of that. To the best of my knowledge, your water line is okay. I feel like you probably would have heard complaints. But we do have just massive drainage issues out there. And that's why we have to go deeper even than the water pipe. But I'm not aware of your pipe having any system issues at this point.

Yeah, but for the most part, I mean, you can get small trickle leaks. Yes. I can tell you, John, that we don't allow you to have small trickle leaks on the OU. How long does that mean?

mine has been there it's been there for a long

absolute worst case scenario ceiling for them would be $175.

It's extremely hard. So basically you're talking about $100,000.

That's on the estimates though. That was for some of our conversation was difficult too because we're trying hard to make sure we're giving good estimates but it's very possible that it could end up costing more. The desire is to do the best we can to make it cheaper We all felt like we could meet the timeline, no problem.

You guys had a goal at it, we'll be done by November, right? Yeah. I was thinking grants or other things.

Yeah, and we hadn't found, I mean, we do a pretty good job, I would say, scouring for grants for work. I think athletic complexes are not great. Thank you.

you're replacing new pipes with old pipes. They're old. They're old. But here, you need to replace with new. You're hooking up the new to the old. Yeah, that's fine. No problem. It's just you don't want No, I'm not saying to reuse it. I'm just saying, will there be enough more issues?

I mean, they can always potentially open them up, but not likely. I mean, it is a great idea. What do we have, 2,000 real feet? That could be estimated. That's, in that sense, it is 2,000.

So I have a question. So basically, if you do move the water line, basically it just affects EOU, no residents whatsoever during that time for their water and all that stuff. Is that what you're saying?

There might be a shortage. It would probably be very minimal. I mean, a day of the residents may be out of water to do certain tie-ins. But as far as the overall construction, no.

I think the idea is that the

So I guess what we're trying is eventually we have to discuss if we can fit this in our budget or not, even though we did a lot of cuts and stuff.

This is all enterprise funds. We do have a healthy enterprise fund. The question is, are we OK with utilizing funds in a greater population, arguably a greater population, put money towards. Yeah, I think we're optimistic that it's more a matter of not feeling comfortable with the idea of doing it than it is whether or not we can figure out how to do it.

But you're right. Yeah. How?

to address that. And I would also, again, remind you that we've put up a substantial number of dollars to get this project moving. We're something that doesn't only affect EOU, and we are one of your largest rate payers as well. So I would ask you to consider that among other issues. Yeah, so, I mean, EOU has provided space for this community from anything from Senator Merkley's recent visit to any number of of opportunities for local youth and adults. And among those opportunities are our tremendous athletic facilities. As you are probably aware, throughout the summer, many of our hotels and Airbnbs are booked by local who come or non-local folk who come and drop off their kids all throughout Eastern Oregon for camps that we host throughout the summer. Local kids also get the opportunity to take part in those events. Just this year we hosted as a partner to LeGrand the volleyball championships and so now we would be able to support LeGrand High School and others in baseball as well to expand the ability of the fields that we currently have even onto our facilities. And so it is a great opportunity. We have never hoarded our facilities. We've always been extraordinarily generous in hosting any number of events or organizations. But truly, our athletic camps are highly desired and always, almost always sold out. And so this really increases those opportunities for any number of of softball, baseball-related events. And again, it also preserves our ability to bring other individuals to this community to support them through things like hosting their own baseball games more frequently rather than being on the road.

I'm just wondering if there's been any discussion at all about methods softball games, two, three dollars over an amount of time, you're getting a return on that investment. Just curious if that's been a part of the discussion.

We've talked about fundraising for athletics. and I know the several community members suggested that. But I think as you can tell from that overhead view of the fields, these are not closed-in spaces where it's easy to kind of funnel people through entrances and exits. And I will share, I'm a little averse, and obviously I would work with Director Wiseman on this, but we're both a little averse to charging for those particular events. Right now, softball and hopefully baseball, baseball does get some good crowds, but not like they would with our own field. But people bring their lawn chairs and they bring, they go to the local stores and they bring takeout. And it is like a cool family, free activity. Sometimes they park their pickup trucks along the side of the road and they watch from the bed. People bring up their dogs and just chill out for 45 minutes only. And I like that about here. I like that we create spaces for our rural community to come together and enjoy athleticism and community. And I don't know. That's one of the things. I mean, this is not like a state of the art to be clear. I mean, this is pretty basic infrastructure. But I like what we're offering there. And I also, you know, I'm I come to you as a collaborator, and I come to you as someone who's bringing a lot to the table, and this is city infrastructure at the end of the day, and we're willing to pay for part of it, a substantial part of it, but I do think the city owns some part of this cost, and I'm hopeful that we can find a resolution together that represents the value that EOE brings to this community. Yeah, I guess that was it.

on the field, they're not building it as a state-of-the-art field that has all the bells and whistles. They're literally, they're making it nice, but they're making it bare minimum nice because their budget is so tight.

There's not even a plan for a scoreboard right now. We're putting what we can into this project, and Tim is...

The fields are, yeah, pretty important. It'll drive, not only enrollment, Yeah, I mean, as soon as the week after graduation, we'll start seeing . We have teams that are now coming with small football teams It's very, it's unfortunate. I heard you spoke really fast.

That's one of the beauty, right? So the conversation that we had this evening

July 1st.

How will we make it feel that way? How do we integrate it so that everybody in the brand knows when there's a football game, a softball game, whatever going on in the community, so that everybody, what brand is synonymous with you? How do we do that?

Yeah. And you know, I believe David reminds me when I was here last, I think we promised to create kind of like a bookmark or, you know, like a small of the main events that happened. And we still need to fulfill that part of the contract, you know, giving you things like, you know, Our volleyball games are packed with this community. I don't know how many of you have been out to see them. The basketball games as well, particularly in the winter when it gets cold. It's a grand, wholesome activity to do. And we need to get you all a card, because I think there's little things we can do like that to enhance the relationship and make sure that it's known and maybe put those round about town. We've mentioned dropping them off at the hotels at one point, too.

Multicultural

how we get that a little more available, a little more accessible for average residents.

I can say we absolutely could leverage that. We're working through right now, that is one of the things that got cut in the budget. So technically that runs out in December, but I feel like we're starting to... So one way or another, I feel like we could make that at least some level of additional value.

And it's good timing for that, too. What I'm hearing from the Prosperity Council is that they are really taking a look at tourism and how towns are building out. place and having that kind of calendar. I was looking at trying to be like, is there a band playing this weekend? And then I found, why not? But I do think things like that matter. And that was the only one area I was looking for. Oregon is looking for those types of things. I did have one other item. Do you think that's all right?

Absolutely.

So you have 13. And thank you again to my colleagues for creating such a beautiful set of worksheets for you all to look at. And the last one's about our workforce readiness and our public assets. And I wanted to let you know that EOU is really trying to maintain our basic infrastructure, which is the buildings in which we teach our students. And so recently, we put forward three projects to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission for bonding. And one of them, which we have listed here on the back page, which is the Loso Hall Student Access and Resiliency Project, was ranked number three in the state While it remains unseen at this point whether or not number three is a winner, because there are only so many state dollars, that the state is willing to invest in university infrastructure, community college infrastructure. There's a finite amount. It is Tim and my job in the coming months, no doubt, and in the new year. To advocate that this project and none others really move to the forefront of the list, Tim and I believe that we have a good argument. The first two projects that are ranked are from University of Oregon and Oregon State University. And while we have no arguments with our peers, we do think it's a little more difficult to put forward an attractive project proposal with the kinds of staffing levels and budget that exist at EWU versus massive universities. And so as an argument for equity, and I think in our case, having been looked over several years in a row, we're going to really push for this project to get funded. And while it remains unseen whether or not this will be funded, we are going to work hard to bring those dollars to the community. When we, as I kind of mentioned earlier, when we get a project in this community, that means local contractors, that means local supplies, that means bringing a lot of money into this community. And so we're continuing to invest in our buildings and by such also investing in our communities. Those dollars are gonna flow right through here. And we're also in discussion about perhaps putting forward emergency funding for Bashley Hall because there are pretty big HVAC and electrical issues in that building. So we're continuing to invest in the university to make sure that the buildings are viable. And again, those investments are adding a lot of value to this community, let alone just having a nice infrastructure for your local college, which brings in people and jobs. I think this is critical, I think, to what we bring to the community. So I wanted to let you know that these could be coming down the pipeline. This would be a 2029 project, but like a

approval is going to be 27 and then they'll do with their bond sales which is usually then spring 29 a lot of times you can start working in charge against those bonds but that's not the same yeah it's 130 some million dollars and there's still our project list but we've got Again, just always investing always trying to keep.

not state-of-the-art, but certainly up-to-date, safe, pleasing facilities to attract students and to keep them here and to make sure that we're offering a really great educational benefit. And there's a lot to celebrate about you and me right now, but we're certainly on the hustle right now to try and do our best to make sure we remain vital to the community and an excellent resource for y'all.

I know we've had discussions in the past, so on the ground, economically, It doesn't exist without history.

Yeah, I mean, the studies show it's like, right? It's just a big kind of viability.

Even without that study, you can kind of... Yeah.

It's significant. In all mixes, I was like, you know,

And you wanted a smallish town who was athletic and liked to rock climb and found lots of places and noticed that you had a rock climbing wall and that was one of the selling points for coming here.

Sure. Okay.

Great, yeah. And we'll get that larger study to you too. It's almost going to be out and publishable soon.

I don't have anything that I would like to contribute to this particular dialogue, other than I think that Tim's and my intent is to try and do something like this quarterly, or at least twice a year. Yeah, definitely twice a year right now. Twice a year where we get together, and then some of them wouldn't necessarily be as narrow in topic, but that's one of the ways that we can work well together.

Well, that's one thing we talked about. The more we're in contact, and it doesn't, they could be conversations

It takes us from being okay to being outstanding, I would have to argue. Thank you for that.

Sure. Unless you have any questions.

I think you want to bring it back to us?

Yes, we'll bring it back.