Wheeler County Court Updates

The Wheeler County Court met last Wednesday, January 8, and welcomed Matt Davis as its new County Commissioner.

Commissioner Davis and Judge Lynn Morley worked through several issues, Commissioner Ben Logan was not present for the session.

The Court heard from Wheeler County Public Health Administrator Shelby Thompson, who is preparing to be deployed with the Idaho Air National Guard. Thompson has been with Wheeler County Public Health since 2021 and is a Flight Operational Medical Technician with the National Guard, since 2015.

The court made an order of appointment to fill in for Shelby while she is away and selected Wheeler Co. Public Health Assistant Sarah Hartenstein.

"It's supposed to be a short deployment, of about one-and-a-half months," Shelby said.

Thompson and Hartenstein have been working on a report for the Oregon Health Authority that asks about countywide demographics and a list of partners that provide Wheeler County residents with care.

Wheeler Co. Public Health will work through the Local Community Health Partnerships (LCHIP), overseen by the Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization (ECCO).

Commissioner Davis said "I like the strategic planning element of this, and utilizing LCHIP."

Wheeler Co. Lt. Sheriff Mitch Elliott then gave an update about the Wildfire Protection Plan Agreement. Lt. Elliott is going to write a grant for $30,000, which will be used to write a new wildfire protection plan for the county, which will be good for five years.

The plan will ensure that Wheeler County can access federal disaster funding and will provide important information to the Oregon Office of Emergency Management and other agencies.

Lt. Elliott also spoke about a tactical repeater that the Sheriff's Office can use when radios go down. The Sheriff's Office is expecting an allotment of $26,000 from OEM and the Dept. of Homeland Security for the repeaters, night-vision equipment, and for license plate readers.

New vehicles for the Sheriff's Office and a mobile deployment unit will have access to the license plate reading technology, which is primarily used to read license plates and report on stolen cars, Amber Alert abduction situations, or other threats to residents in the county.

Next, the court discussed the county's Community Development Department. Commissioner Davis resigned from his position at the department and recognized the hiring of Chad Bolton to the position. Bolton has now been working for over three months in that role.

Davis asked for a pay raise for the position, to $23 an hour.

The court also discussed the Wheeler County Ambulance Advisory Committee. The State of Oregon requires that each county have a plan for its ambulance services. The last one was completed in 2000. Several rules and statues have changed, as has the makeup and needs of the volunteer ambulance services in all three of Wheeler County's cities.

The court appointed John Hayes, Brianna Koon, Scott Field, Candie Humphreys, and Commissioner Matt Davis.

Lastly, the court discussed areas of responsibility and oversight for each member. The court recommended that Commissioner Ben Logan serve as Liaison to the Wheeler Co. Fair Board. Judge Lynn Morely will continue to supervise the Wheeler Co. Road Department and county parks.