FACT CHECKING - FOR YOUR REVIEW Les Zaitz Sun 12/8/2019 4 02 PM To: Dan Joyce Cc: Stephanie Williams ; Pat Caldwell Dan, At the Enterprise, we strive for fairness and accuracy in our reports. I am sharing draft excerpts for our impending story about Malheur County's real estate financing efforts. Please review each statement for factual accuracy. If you see an error, please identify the error and provide what you believe to be the correct information. A response only that something is not accurate isn't helpful to the community and indicates little interest in seeing that the public gets accurate information. At this juncture, I am not seeking additional information or comments. To be considered, please provide your response by 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9. Thank you. Les Zaitz Editor & Publisher Malheur Enterprise office: (541) 473-3377 cell: (541) 620-0933 STATEMENTS TO VERIFY FOR ACCURACY: 1. A private appraiser hired by the county valued the 290-acre parcel at $2.050 million, not the $3.016 million the county has already agreed to pay. That means the county would pay 47% over the appraised value. 2. The state records obtained last week by the Malheur Enterprise show that the county now has to dip into its treasury for nearly $1 million to close the deal for that acreage.  County officials have long represented that state money would cover land purchase. 3. The officials plan to take the $1 million from the county’s contingency fund, according to state records. That would cut in half what serves as the rainy day account for county emergencies and major unexpected costs. 4. The state records released to the Enterprise show the county also expects to use public money to pay at least $178,000 in interest on borrowed money it needs to pay the sellers. 5. Malheur County Judge Dan Joyce hasn’t responded to a series of written questions since Nov. 1 about the finances of the land deal.  Joyce, Commissioner Don Hodge and Commissioner Larry Wilson didn’t respond to written questions after state records disclosed last week revealed the price and the new plan to use county money for the land deal. 6. Minutes of Malheur County Court sessions  - the meetings of the county commissioners – show no public discussion of using the county budget to pay for the real estate. 7. The commissioners may have discussed that move behind closed doors in an executive session held Oct. 15. The public is excluded from such sessions, but the county court has to cite its legal reason for the secrecy. For that meeting, the commissioners said they needed to consult the county attorney and review confidential records. 8. County officials originally based their plan for the Nyssa industrial effort by assuming the state would put up the money for all the land. When that proved not the case, county officials in recent weeks have scrambled to figure out how to pay for more than $3 million in real estate they had under contract. 9. Earlier this year, the county told state transportation officials that one of the “keys to longterm financial success” of what is called the Treasure Valley Reload Center was “no debt.” 10. County officials originally based their plan for the Nyssa industrial effort by assuming the state would put up the money for all the land. When that proved not the case, county officials in recent weeks have scrambled to figure out how to pay for more than $3 million in real estate they had under contract 11. Greg Smith, the county economic development director, publicly briefed the commissioners on Nov. 13 on the land financing. The minutes don’t record that he publicly disclosed that the financing required nearly a $1 million of county money. 12. County officials in 2018 set out to buy up property in the area, contracting $3 million for the main site to include a future industrial park. They did so expecting the state would pay for all of it and county taxpayers would end up owning valuable industrial property at virtually no cost. 13. The key piece of land at the reload center site is the so-called Farmer property. County officials agreed in 2018 to pay $3,019,900 for 290 acres of farmland, expecting at the time that the state would write the check to cover the sale. 14. The appraisal also disclosed that “the sellers are retaining a 5 acre parcel (not yet determined) of industrial zoned land.” The appraisal doesn’t explain that arrangement. Farmer and Joyce didn’t respond to written questions about the matter sent to them last week. 15. The state Transportation Department has agreed to pay for 65 acres of the Farmer land since that will be used for the rail depot. The agency set aside up to $700,000 and that’s what county officials have assumed they would get. The plan, according to their state loan application, was to use the state money from the Transportation Department to repay part of the loan it was getting from BizOregon. 16. That means Malheur County officials are short $241,000 they expected for repaying the loan 17. Smith confirmed in a telephone interview that was the case and that in fact the county’s gap was even larger. He wouldn’t disclose the figure. Les Zaitz Editor & Publisher Malheur Enterprise office: (541) 473-3377 cell: (541) 620-0933 Facebook/Malheur Enterprise Twitter: @malheurnews