JOSEPH — A planned project on Joseph’s Main Street drew objections from the Joseph Chamber of Commerce in a letter submitted to the Joseph City Council at its meeting Thursday, March 3.

The Oregon Department of Transportation is planning to install ramps to upgrade sidewalks in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act beginning this summer. The issue has been discussed at council meetings for months.

In the letter submitted by Jude Graham of the chamber, it was stated that the chamber is concerned that ODOT is not giving due consideration to Joseph’s downtown that will be adversely impacted by construction scheduled to take place during the peak tourist season.

“At present, your constituents, due to the lack of open meetings, have not had adequate time to thoroughly review proposed site plans and understand the ODOT proposal,” the letter stated. “Nor has there been sufficient opportunity to communicate directly with ODOT to completely develop and understanding of all the aspects and segments of the ODOT project.”

The chamber also fears ODOT is not taking into consideration the time frame necessary to accomplish the project without hindering tourism events downtown.

“They do not offer any concessions to mediate the impacts which may well be more than what we had bargained for,” the letter stated, adding that the ODOT schedule is at the peak time for tourism events.

The letter said the chamber does not want to eliminate the sidewalk project, but wants to work with the City Council to postpone it to present concerns and liability issues before ODOT breaks ground and launch a social media and newspaper campaign to solicit public support of the City Council to act on behalf of the citizenry and business community.

Pro-Tem Administrator Brock Eckstein said after the meeting that there have been three public hearings on the ODOT project in the past six months.

“The only solution brought to the hearings is to either cancel it, which absolutely can’t happen unless the city wants to accept all liability for ADA discrepancies, or to kick the can down the road more years, which we then run the risk of ODOT either pulling out altogether or just doing it their way,” he said.

In another matter, the council heard a library report from Councilor Kirsten Rohla on behalf of the absent librarian Eric Shoudel. She said that although the city missed out on a previous grant, a $15,000 grant is coming through to pay for a consultant in the city’s efforts to revamp the old Blackburn Building at N. 100 East St. The building will become the new City Library. At the same time, the current library in City Hall will become a meeting room for the council and other purposes.

In other business, the council:

• Accepted the resignation of Councilor Tammy Jones. No action toward replacing her was taken.

• Changed an ordinance establishing a city Planning Commission to require members be registered voters within Wallowa County and only allow one member to live outside city limits or be actively involved in the real estate business.

• Approved an ordinance to grant to Ziply Fiber Northwest a franchise for telephone and other communications purposes.

• Approved a request by Elkhorn Media to provide radio and Facebook services.

• Reviewed a snow-removal plan with a map detailing the highest priorities for snow plowing when 4 inches of fresh snow accumulates on city streets.

• Formed a steering task force for the proposed Daggett Sports Complex on North East Street.

• Approved street closures for vendors for July 27-31 for the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo.

• Approved street closures for vendors for Aug. 26-27 for the Wallowa Mountain Cruise.

The next council meeting will be April 7.