Very last summer season, Marion County booked all the rooms in the Tremendous 8 lodge in Woodburn to give people with fairly slight Covid scenarios whose dwelling conditions prevented them from becoming ready to isolate. When there are signals the pandemic is waning, the lodge could be in use for a several additional months.

A indicator at Salud Health-related Center in Woodburn on Wednesday, April 29. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

A resort in Woodburn that Marion County has used to give a put for folks exposed to Covid who have nowhere to isolate could stay open up a minor more time.

During its Wednesday early morning conference, the Marion County Board of Commissioners will take into account an update to the deal involving the county and the operator of the Super 8 hotel in Woodburn.

In June of very last yr, the county authorised an agreement with the operator of the 81-area lodge, positioned at 821 Evergreen Rd. The settlement gave the county distinctive use of the resort to provide rooms to people today with relatively minor Covid instances whose dwelling cases prevented them from staying in a position to isolate. Those people could contain farmworkers, individuals residing in multigenerational housing and a short while ago released prisoners. Securing the lodge was a prerequisite of the state’s approach to start out lifting Covid restrictions last 12 months.

The county is approved to shell out up to $2.2 million on the contract, and the update will raise that sum by $684,000.

Marion County spokeswoman Jolene Kelley explained in an electronic mail that the county was unsure how lengthy it would need to use the resort when the deal was authorised in June. She reported the up-to-date contract will prolong the arrangement through June 30. But the county will still confront the exact uncertainty even soon after extending it, she said.  

“We are hopeful that the additional 3 months will have us through right up until additional men and women are suitable and in a position to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine,” she explained.

Considering that the county booked the lodge previous summertime, it’s also been used for men and women grappling with other natural catastrophes. In September, the contract was amended to let the lodge to be utilised as a shelter for evacuees from the state’s historic wildfires.

In accordance to figures supplied by Kelley, 458 men and women have made use of the lodge because July 2020. Of people, 170 were Covid people who wanted a put to isolate them selves. A further 270 had been wildfire evacuees. Additional not long ago, a different 18 folks utilised it all through the ice storms.

As of March 5, the county has expended nearly $1.8 million on the lodge. Kelley stated income for the agreement is paid for by the Federal Crisis Administration Company.

Not everyone in Woodburn has been pleased with the county working with the resort. As the county was finalizing the agreement previous summertime, Eric Morris, then a member of Woodburn City Council, known as the move “irresponsible,” citing the hotel’s proximity to residences and a senior treatment facility.

In July, the city of Woodburn sued Marion County in search of to block its use of the lodge. In October, the case was dismissed.

Woodburn Mayor Eric Swenson declined to remark on the county extending the contract.

 Call reporter Jake Thomas at 503-575-1251 or [email protected] or @jakethomas2009.

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