Morrow County approves $319,000 ODOT grant to update transportation system plan

The Morrow County Board of Commissioners on voice vote approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation to update the county's transportation system plan.

Tamara Mabaugh, planning director, said the grant totals $319,000 and the county's fiscal impact is $36,000, to be met with in-kind staff time. She told the board ODOT will handle the financial management with the consultant, David Evans and Associates, and that the project will take roughly 18 months to complete.

"ODOT does all the financial handling of this; we just have to do the in-kind reporting," Mabaugh said, describing the agreement as the final step after a competitive procurement and consultant selection.

The agreement drew one procedural question about two emailed public comments submitted by Jonathan Tallman. Planning staff told the board those emails raised issues not germane to the formal IGA review and reminded the public that land-use concerns should be submitted through the appropriate public-hearing or public-comment process.

Commissioner (speaker 2) moved to approve the IGA and authorize the county administrator to sign; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Tamara Mabaugh said the consultant will develop a scope of work and decide how existing city and county data will be used in the analysis.

The board recorded that the City of Boardman also contributed funding for its portion of the scope. The consultant and ODOT will proceed with project scoping, data analysis and public coordination over the coming 18 months.