ENTERPRISE — The Wallowa County Commission has sent a letter to the governors of Oregon and Idaho — and legislative leaders in both states — calling for the leaders to discuss moving the state line so that the county would be part of Idaho.

In part, the letter reads, “On behalf of the citizens of Wallowa County, we are asking that you move this item forward to your respective bodies as soon as feasible for discussion.”

The letter makes reference to a ballot measure passed by county voters in the May 2023 election.

The ballot measure, which passed by seven votes — 1,752 to 1,745 — calls for the commissioners to meet twice a year to discuss “how to promote the interests of Wallowa County that would be relevant to a relocation of state borders, and to prepare the county for becoming a county of another state.”

The letter from the commissioners notes the closeness of the vote on the ballot measure, and adds: “We, as the governing body of Wallowa County, neither support nor oppose the measure, but only represent the will of the voters of Wallowa County.”

At the Feb. 28 meeting to discuss the Greater Idaho question — the second the commissioners have held after the ballot measure passed — Commissioner Susan Roberts asked the other commissioners if they wanted her to compose such a letter, and they agreed.

The letter was sent to

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and the legislatures in both states on Monday, according to a press release issued Thursday by Greater Idaho proponents.

Roberts had no trouble reconciling the board’s neutral stance on the proposed border move with writing the letter.

“That’s what the people wanted us to do — on both sides — so I wrote it,” she said. “I asked the people at the meeting if they wanted us to write a letter, so we did so. I’m doing just what my job is to do. You don’t know until you write the letter. … We’ll wait to see if we get a response.”

Wallowa County became the 12th county in Eastern Oregon to pass a Greater Idaho ballot measure in May 2023. The Greater Idaho press release said that Wallowa County now is the fifth Oregon county to formally request officials to begin border talks.

To make the border change would require the approval of both legislatures and of Congress.

Matt McCaw, the executive director of the Greater Idaho movement, said in the press release that such a change would benefit both states.

“The Greater Idaho movement believes that state leaders should want to let Eastern Oregon join Idaho because it would benefit Oregon’s state budget and allow voters on both sides of the state to get state government that they want, and consistently vote for,” the release said.

In the press release, McCaw applauded the letter from the commissioners: “For the last three years, the people of Eastern Oregon have been voicing that they want state leaders to look into relocating the border. We are grateful to our local county commissioners who have listened to their voters and are elevating this to the political bodies that can make a border change happen. It’s time for the governor and Oregon Legislature to take up the issue, hear voters out, and give this idea a fair look.”

The commissioners will hold their third meeting on the issue in late August. The May 2023 ballot measure includes no sunset clause, so the series of meetings could go on indefinitely.