Shafer: County can’t afford to ignore Brown

By Terry Murry on Thursday, January 7th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – A group of protesters calling for Umatilla County to ignore Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 restrictions showed up for the board of commissioners meeting Wednesday, but they couldn’t attend. Due to those very restrictions, the courthouse is closed to the public.

“They were already prepared for that,” Commissioner John Shafer said. “They left us a letter. I think there was three of them. They were protesting the extension of the governor’s declaration.”

Shafer said county officials cannot go against the governor because it couldn’t afford the repercussions of losing its insurance.

“We didn’t close the businesses down,” he said. “It was the governor. So if we said we want all of our businesses in Umatilla County to resume normal operations we would be on the hook for that.”

Shafer said the insurance policy clearly states that the county must obey all federal and state laws and executive orders to maintain its coverage.