The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners gave its approval Wednesday for a plan to form a new taxing district to fund the Oregon State University Extension Service.

OSU Extension wants to form a district covering Morrow and Umatilla counties to fund its work, including two research centers, at a rate of 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Morrow County commissioners must also to give their approval, and the 17 city councils in the two counties have to give their support. The process will also include public hearings before going to the voters.

Mary Corp is helping lead the charge for the district. She is the OSU Extension regional administrator and director of the Columbia Basin Agriculture Research Center near Pendleton. She told Umatilla County commissioners 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties have extension districts, and forming this one has community support.

She said a citizen advisory committee recommended the two-county district to ensure consistent funding. Corp and other extension leaders also provided the board with a letter stating a recent phone survey found 50 percent were in favor of the taxing district, 31 percent were against and 19 percent were not sure. The survey also had an error rate of plus or minus 5 percent.

County commissioners voted 3-0 to initiate the formation of the new service district.

The board also approved a $10,000 economic development grant to mental health provider Lifeways Inc. for its new 16-bed psychiatric facility, which is under construction in Hermiston. Lifeways director Rick George said the plan is to open the center in November, barring construction delays, and Lifeways expects “about 45 jobs out of this for the community.”

Lifeways’ grant application noted the $6.7 million center would create 30 new jobs at an annual salary of $45,000 each.

The board also backed a four-year, county-wide preventative maintenance plan which has a total estimated cost of $807,760. It includes tree trimming, sidewalk repairs and replacing the flooring in the sheriff’s office. Commissioner George Murdock said the there was nothing “glitzy” on the list of projects, but this will help keep more than a dozen county properties in the trim and avoid costly repairs later.

And six local teenage boys received a commendation from the board for their bravery and swift action.

Ben Combs, Austin Kendall, Tovias Niel, Quinton Orr, Khai Robertson and Colton Schock work in the United States Youth Conservation Corps. On July 6 they were helping set up a greenhouse for the Ukiah School District when they saw a fire at a nearby home.

The crew found the porch was aflame and extinguished the blaze with minimal damage to the home. The babysitter and young girl inside the house were unharmed.

And commissioners also banned open, non-agricultural burning within the unincorporated areas of the county. The temporary ban went into effect Wednesday at noon and usually stays in effect until the late fall.

The ban only applies to areas under the jurisdiction of the county’s smoke management regulations, according to a written statement from Gina Miller, the head of the county’s code enforcement program. The ban does not apply to state or federal government lands, the Umatilla Indian Reservation or rural fire districts.

The ban covers burn barrels, yard and garden debris piles, small scale residential burning and more. The county still allows agricultural burning but could impose more restrictions depending on weather conditions.

Burn bans are common this time of year due to dry conditions, wildfires affecting air quality and regulations to reduce haze for community events, including the Umatilla County Fair, Milton-Freewater’s Muddy-Frogwater Festival, and the Pendleton Round-Up.

For more information about the non-ag burn ban or to report illegal burning, call the Umatilla County Planning Department at 541-278-6252 or Umatilla County dispatch center at 541-966- 3651 after 5 p.m. and weekends. And for more information about the county’s smoke management ordinance, call the planning department.

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Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0833.