Tonasket Cross Country,
OHA: GREAT WHITE OWL
Soccer Qualify for State
CCC of Tonasket Friday, Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m.
Pages B1-3
SERVING WASHINGTON’S
OKANOGAN VALLEY
SINCE 1905
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Concerns addressed
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Tonasket adopts resolution after Scott Miller visit BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
TONASKET - Tonasket city council member Scott Olson had had questions about Okanogan County’s Emergency Management Plan that he wanted answered before the city signed off on a resolution that would include Tonasket as part of the plan. That was in early September; Emergency Management’s Homeland Security Coordinator, Scott Miller, addressed Olson’s concerns at the Tuesday, Oct. 28, city council meeting to the point where it was Olson who himself moved to approve the resolution that declared the city’s adoption of the county’s multi-hazard mitigation plan, which included a terrorism and civil unrest mitigation plan. Miller, who characterized himself as the “Darth Vader of Emergency Management,” said that the plan dealt with preparation, response, recovery and mitigation. The recovery phase, which he said characterized the current status of last summer’s Carlton Complex firestorm disaster, he said could be spelled “FEMA and paperwork.” “The key here is that every political jurisdiction ... is required to have an emergency management function,” he said. “It’s law ... You have two options. You can do it by yourself, or you can join everybody else... We have 13 cities in the county. We have a joint local organization.” The cities pay in proportion to their population relative to that of the entire county. Tonasket, at 2.46 percent of the county population, paid $2,943 for the service last year; Oroville paid $5,256 and Omak paid nearly $15,000, he said. Miller went through a list of about 25 state requirements that every political jurisdiction must meet to be legally prepared for a disaster. “The good news is,” Miller said, “with a couple of exceptions, we do everything on this list for you. We are in compliance; you don’t have to do them yourself.” Miller covered more specifics, and related them to how the county responded to the fire disaster, from which he himself is still physically recovering. The city has been part of the joint local organization since 1997, Miller said. “My concern,” Olson said, “has to do with mitigation. What happened during the fire ... great, that’s good. Even in the (plan), it mentions a bunch of hazards we know about. What are we doing about
Above, Clay Warnstaff, outgoing Oroville Police Chief, is among those to congratulate incoming chief, Todd Hill, after he is sworn in by City Clerk Kathy Jones last Friday, Oct. 31. Hill was selected as chief by Mayor Chuck Spieth (also pictured) and approved by the council. Right, Jones swears in new City Clerk/Treasurer JoAnn Denney as one of her last official acts as clerk after 40 years with the City of Oroville. The two were dressed up for Halloween, a long running tradition for the staff at City Hall. The staff used the occasion to throw Jones a retirement party as well. Clerk Jones and Chief Warnstaff each chose Oct. 31 as their last days with the city. Gary DeVon/staff photos
them?” “That’s up to you,” Miller said. “It comes down to, who wants to do something about these things, and is there money for it.” “What I hear,” Olson said later, “you take care when there’s an emergency and you rush in. What I want is, you look at what could happen, let you know what can be done to mitigate it. I’m not hearing that being spoken at planning, told to the county commissioners. I just see the list of problems; what can we do?” He cited, as examples, the vulnerability of the city in the event the Janis Bridge and/or Fourth Street bridge were damaged. “Is there a cache of food? Like if there were an earthquake that cut us off from our food supply?” Miller said that the hurdles to apply for the kind of money it would take to get funding for that kind of mitigation involved competing with jurisdictions of all sizes nationwide. “The system is necessarily intimidating,” Miller said. “Right now we have an advantage because of the fire. So for generators, or fixing the tanks by Pateros, they score all these as a competitive process, and they’ll give it to us because of the fire. But Richland (for example) could also apply for those funds.” “My concern ... I just wish there was more ‘plan’ to the plan,” Olson said. “Not so much how we’ll react. I want things to be in place and ready.” Miller also discussed Olson’s concerns about the city ceding control during an emergency situation. “First of all, you need to understand (Incident Command),” Miller said. “Part of that training for the IC, is seeing you’re not in trouble yet, but in two hours you’ll be in over your head. You get on the phone and call the county. “We only come when we’re called. The county does not show up and say, ‘Get out of the way, we’re taking charge.’ We’ll come and ask how we can help.” Miller added that, as part of the organization, the city would not be charged for response to a specific event. He also said that, due to the magnitude of the 2014 disaster, funds had been depleted and the the rate would be going up to help replenish those funds. Miller also asked if the city felt it could fulfill all of the state requirements and provide the Emergency Management services at the cost that the city pays for its membership in the coalition. Near the end of the meeting, it was
SEE EMERGENCY | PG A3
Enrollment up at Oroville schools Students transforming into zombies
STAFF REPORTS At the meeting the board heard reports from the principals, as well as superintendent, before passing a lengthy number
BY GARY A. DE VON EDITOR@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
OROVILLE – The Oroville School District, which receives basic education monies from the state based on the number of students enrolled, had good news at the Oct. 27 board meeting: the numbers are up. District Business Manager Shay Shaw said the number of FTEs, Full Time Equivalents, had risen. “We actually went up 12 kids from September to October. That’s almost 27 students over budget,” she said. At the end of each year the school board budgets based on their best guess for how many students will be enrolled in the upcoming year. Traditionally the school directors estimate on the conservative side. By doing so, when the numbers are higher, the district gets more funds than budgeted for. If the numbers fall short, then the board needs to look at cuts.
“We actually went up 12 students from September to October. That’ almost 27 students over budget” Shay Shaw, Businss Manager Oroville School District
of motions by consent. Elementary Principal Joan Hoehn gave her report first. She said Lisa Lindsay from the Okanogan Wildlife League, or OWL, came by and gave a presentation. “That was great,” she said. “We also had students from the pre-school and Life Skills classes go to the Pumpkin Patch on the twentieth. The kindergartners went the next day.” Principal Hoehn said November is Disability Month. “The fourth, fifth and sixth grades are
OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 110 No. 45
doing activities in the gym, doing during PE, to see what it would be like to have a disability.... like being in a wheelchair. Some of the sixth graders have been making positive posters for the walls,” she said. She also gave an update on the Principal’s Challenge, a contest where the students try to read a set number of books and get rewards based on reaching goals. “We are a little behind where we would normally be at this point because we started sooner. We usually do it in February and by then the kindergartners know how to read,” she said. “As of Friday we had 4558 books read, which is about 1141 below goal.” The kids have reached three of their goals so far. One reward included building log cabins out pretzels covered in chocolate. Another is to have a “mountain man” come by. “Some of the kids have been kind of scared for me to be outside (as part of the reward). The say they are scared of the cougar. One kid said he wouldn’t read any more cause he didn’t want me to be
SEE ENROLLMENT | PG A3
Gary DeVon/staff photo
An Oroville High School student is zombiefied in the Zombie Transformation room as part of “Zombie Apocalypse Day.” The learning event took place on Halloween and was sponsored by Central Washington University and Gear Up.
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