An admirer snaps a photo of Joe Stangel’s 1933 Chrysler Cabriolet at the 2019 Oregon Mountain Cruise. The event this year will be called the Wallowa Mountain Cruise.

Wallowa County gets grant for nonprofits

LEWISON, Idaho — Three Wallowa County organizations are among 21 approved for Fast-Track Small Grants from June through August by the Lewis-Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation.

More than $138,000 in grants was provided to nonprofit agencies in a nine-county area that included Wallowa County, five Idaho counties and three in Washington state.

The Fast-Track Small Grant, is a quick-turnaround grant intended for small nonprofits that focus on health, wellness or disease prevention. The three groups in Wallowa County that have received grants are Friends of Wallowa School District, Divide Camp and the Rotary Foundation of Wallowa County.

School bond could be on ballot in 2021

BAKER CITY — The Baker School Board will be weighing whether or not to ask voters in 2021 to approve a property tax-supported bond measure to pay for infrastructure improvements to Baker’s aging school buildings.

The district intended to ask voters in the May 19 election to approve a $7.5 million bond measure to be repaid over 10 years. But the school board decided in March to not put the bond on the ballot to avoid potentially adding another financial burden to residents already affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Had the measure passed, that money would have been coupled with a $4 million Oregon School Capital Improvement Match grant and a $5 million District contribution to pay for $16.5 million in improvements.

During a meeting earlier this month, Superintendent Mark Witty asked Board members for permission to gather information about the possibility of proposing another bond measure for May 2021. Districts must seek a bond of at least $4 million to qualify for the $4 million matching state grant, Witty said.

At the time of the board’s last meeting, the deadline to apply for the state grant was set for Sept. 1, which would have put the district on a fast track to prepare its application. Directors had planned to schedule a special meeting soon to consider the district’s next move.

But Witty said recently the deadline to apply for the grant has been pushed back to December, which will offer more leeway for decision making.

One proposal might be to seek voter approval of a $4 million bond, to be paid off in five years, with the adding of the matching state grant for total funding of $8 million. The district would use the money for safety and security improvements as well as basic infrastructure work such as that underway at the former North Baker School this summer.