During its regular meeting on June 6, the Harney County Court considered declaring a state of emergency in response to the storm that occurred on Friday, May 25.

Harney County Judge Pete Runnels stated that the declaration may make funding available for recouping losses. He stressed that he doesn’t want to give anyone false hope, but there may be opportunities that he doesn’t know about.

“With the residential [properties], I can’t promise that it would bring anything to the people of the communities, but it could end up at least helping OTEC [Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative] and Harney Electric. It may even help us with the fairgrounds,” Harney County Emergency Manager Paul Gray said.

Runnels explained that an appraiser estimated that about $1 million worth of damage occurred at the Harney County Fairgrounds. The Lincoln building and a hay barn at Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center were also damaged, and the storm created extra expenses for OTEC and Harney Electric Cooperative Inc.

Harney County Commissioner Patty Dorroh asked for a list of damages, but Gray said numbers weren’t available for OTEC and Harney Electric, as the electric cooperatives were still making repairs. He added that multiple insurance claims were made, but insurance companies won’t see the numbers for a while.

“Anytime we do a declaration, there are no guarantees. It’s a protection,” Runnels said. “It’s no different than when we do a flood declaration or a drought declaration. We don’t know what’s coming on those. The drought declaration, it may be there all summer, and no one will need it, but if there’s a need, there are options.”

However, Dorroh said flood and drought declarations are different than emergency declarations.

“The scope and magnitude of the event across our county needs to be significant,” she said. “I’m not saying ‘no’ yet, but I’m saying, ‘Let’s talk about what an emergency declaration is, or disaster declaration, and make sure that it’s appropriate.’”

Dorroh also asked for more details about the storm’s impact and whether the county pursued other sources of assistance.

Regarding the proposed emergency declaration, Runnels said, “It’s just an option. We’re opening the door for a possible option for relief for someone.”

“I’d like to think through it,” Harney County Commissioner Mark Owens said. “I’m not sure in my mind it’s an emergency.”

He added that the county has insurance for the fairgrounds.

Dorroh asked whether the county’s insurance will likely cover the damage to the fairgrounds, and Runnels replied that he didn’t know, and the county may have to look for a low-interest loan to cover the cost of repairs.

Owens said he agreed with Dorroh about flood and drought declarations being different than emergency declarations.

He said, “The drought declaration immediately allowed irrigators to do transfers and stuff like that,” and he asked whether the emergency declaration would allow someone to be helped.

Gray said he’s focusing on how the declaration could assist businesses such as OTEC and Harney Electric, and he will invite representatives from both cooperatives to attend the next county court meeting. Owens also suggested contacting someone from the governor’s office to discuss prerequisites for declaring a state of emergency.

Gray noted that the declaration must be made within 30 days of the incident.

He said, “We won’t be able to do it after that.”

Dorroh noted that, “We have one more county court session before the deadline to declare, if we feel we should declare.”

The next meeting of the Harney County Court will be held Wednesday, June 20, at 10 a.m. in Runnels’ office at the courthouse.

Read more about the June 6 county court meeting in next week’s edition of the Burns Times-Herald.