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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
Redmond, Oregon • $1
redmondspokesman.com
A special good morning to subscriber Leroy Newport
@RedmondSpox
Redmond Police propose new station to City Council
Built in ’98, current facility
is ‘ failing,’ officials say
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
REDMOND — A proposal to build
a new Redmond Police station that
could cost at least $15 million went
before a Redmond City Council work
session Tuesday night.
Redmond Police Department offi-
cials say their department has far out-
grown its current 12,850-square-foot
facility and will ask the council for
permission to begin looking for prop-
erty to build a new headquarters.
If approved, voters could be asked
to pass a levy to help fund the project.
“We are in the very early stages of
this process,” said Redmond Capt.
Devin Lewis. “This isn’t even a first
step — more like a half a step.”
The current facility, built in 1998,
is located on a 1-acre lot at 777 SW
Deschutes Ave. It’s deficient in several
ways, Lewis said. There is a shortage
of secured parking and storage space.
Evidence now is stored in three loca-
tions off-site due to space limitations.
The HVAC and plumbing systems
are failing, which has led to $150,000
in maintenance costs in the past four
years.
Lewis said due to crowding, the de-
partment cannot offer crime victims
a secure lobby when they come to re-
port an offense, or auditory privacy.
Like the city itself, the Redmond
Police Department has grown consid-
erably since 2000, when it employed
36 sworn and non-sworn staff mem-
bers. Today, there are 55 sworn and
non-sworn personnel plus three part-
time employees. Redmond’s popula-
tion has more than doubled in that
time, from 13,418 residents in 2000 to
35,439 in 2020, according to the U.S.
Census.
According to a PowerPoint pre-
sentation accompanying the pro-
posal, land acquisition would cost $2
to $3 million, design would cost $1
to $2 million and construction, $12
to $15 million with a ceiling of $30
million.
A voter-approved general obliga-
tion bond is listed among the pro-
posed funding methods, along with
the city fully financing the project, or
a mix of the two.
Selling the current station property
could net the city an estimated $2 to
$3 million.
Bend Police headquarters on NE
15th Street was built in 2003 with a
second phase completed in 2009. The
department is not completely out of
space, according to Bend Lt. Juli Mc-
Conkey, and there are plans for future
growth, as there are for other city fa-
cilities.
ý
Reporter: 541-383-0325,
gandrews@bendbulletin.com
MASS VACCINATIONS AT THE FAIRGROUNDS
‘WE LOVE HELPING
PEOPLE GET BACK
TO NORMAL’
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
EDMOND — Wind whipped
jackets open and tugged papers
attached to clipboards as a line of
people snaked around the edge of a build-
ing at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo
Center. If it wasn’t for the masks and the
6-foot distance between each person, it
could have been a line to enter a rodeo
or an exhibit. There was nothing that un-
derscored the importance of the event:
getting a vaccine.
“We get a lot of people who feel re-
lieved,” said Holle Galyon , a volunteer.
“We love helping people get back to nor-
mal. I love the energy. It’s like Disneyland
for adults.”
Since the mass vaccination clinic
opened at the fairgrounds the week of Jan.
18, about 76,498 Central Oregon residents
have been through to receive a vaccine,
according to Deschutes County Health
Services, which teamed up with St. Charles
R
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin photos
ABOVE: Patrick Punch administers a COVID-19
vaccine to Butch Boswell during a vaccination
clinic at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo
Center on April 8. BELOW: Punch gives a shot
to Teague Dupras at the fairgrounds, where
about 3,000 people are being vaccinated in
Redmond each day.
Health System to run the clinic.
Bashia McCarthy, a Bend resident and
vaccination clinic volunteer, said she fo-
cuses on making people feel good about
what they’re doing.
She does that by looking up from the
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
A rockchuck sits near its burrow
at Hugh Hartman Elementary
School in Redmond last week.
Rockchucks
return to
infest area
school
grounds
paperwork and connecting with the resi-
dents coming in for their vaccines.
At various checkpoints, people made
their way past orange-vested volunteers
who waved them through. People arrived
on time or early.
The clinic could get busier depending
on how many vaccines are sent out by the
Oregon Health Authority. As of Monday,
anyone age 16 and older is now able to
sign up for a vaccination. To register, go
to centraloregoncovidvaccine.com.
Those without internet access can call
541-699-5109.
On any given day, there are about 180
volunteers plus 30 U.S. Army National
Guard members and 30 staffers from
St. Charles, Volunteers in Medicine and
the county, said Hayley Rich, Deschutes
County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Ser-
vices coordinator.
There are two shifts per day, about 5½
hours each, Rich said.
BY KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
Rockchucks have continued
to infest some school grounds
in Redmond.
Last year, the Redmond
School District was alarmed
by a horde of rockchucks, also
known as yellow-bellied mar-
mots, at Hugh Hartman Ele-
mentary School.
The district declared a pest
emergency after staff found fe-
ces and holes near the elemen-
tary school’s playground. But
by the time the school district
decided it needed to extermi-
nate the rockchucks, it was too
late in the spring season, said
Sheila Miller, spokesperson for
the school district.
“Last year we had the same
issues at Hugh Hartman, but
our extermination attempts
came too late in the season,
so they weren’t very effective,”
Miller said.
As students return to in-per-
son learning this spring during
the COVID-19 pandemic, they
are encountering rockchucks
that are waking up from hiber-
nation.
The marmots emerge from
hibernation the last week of
February through the first
week of March, according to
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife.
The rockchucks create
holes that cause tripping
hazards, and their feces can
spread disease such as salmo-
nella, according to wildlife
officials.
See COVID-19 / P4
See Rockchucks / P6
The Spokesman uses
recycled newsprint
WEDNESDAY 4/21
Events in and around Redmond
The Redmond Spokesman welcomes event information for
its community calendar. Submissions are limited to nonprofit,
free and live entertainment events. Deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday
for the following Wednesday’s paper. Items are published on a
space-available basis and may be edited. Contact us at
news@redmondspokesman.com or fax 541-548-3203.
Life Enrichment: This webinar explores the importance of engaging
older adults in personalized interests and opportunities to learn and grow
as a person; 9 a.m.-Noon; online; go.evvnt.com/765790-0
Redmond Housing and Community Development Committee
Meeting: The committee will discuss community development block
grant training and funding priorities and community needs for the 2021-
22 grant’s funding cycle; 4-6 p.m.; online; go.evvnt.com/769704-0 or 541-
504-3046.
Country Dance Lesson/Line Dance: Award-winning dancer and
choreographer Jordan Hunt will be teaching country dances in the
outdoor space, dress warmly, no outside food or beverages allowed;
6-7 p.m.; registration required; General Duffy’s Waterhole, 404 SW Forest
Ave., Redmond; go.evvnt.com/769851-1 or 541-527-4345.
Mystery Book Club: Please join us for Mystery Book Club. We will
be discussing The Water Rituals by Eva Garcia Saenz.; 6-7 p.m.; online;
go.evvnt.com/753629-0 or 541-306-6564.
THURSDAY 4/22
Earth Day Cleanup on Rim of Wild & Scenic Middle Deschutes
River: Celebrate Earth Day with Friends and Neighbors of the Deschutes
Canyon Area as we clean up the rim of Wild & Scenic Middle Deschutes
River; 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; registration required; Rim of Wild & Scenic Middle
Deschutes River, Mile Post 5, Lower Bridge Road, Terrebonne; eventbrite.
com
Earth Day Spring Cleaning: Volunteers will be tasked with picking up
garbage, painting over graffiti, pressure washing and more to clean up
downtown alleyways with the potential to host future pop up events;
See Calendar / P4
INDEX
Puzzles ............. 2 Obituaries ....... 5
Police log ........ 2 Classifieds ....... 6
Volume 111, No. 34
USPS 778-040
U|xaIICGHy02326kzU