REGION
Saturday, June 18, 2016
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Paciic Ag acquires Calagri Council looks at
utility discount
Company bolsters
status as largest crop
residue supplier
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Two of the Northwest’s
largest biomass and crop
residue companies are joining
forces.
Paciic Ag, of Hermiston,
announced Thursday it has
acquired Calagri after nearly
two decades working side by
side in the industry. Terms of
the deal were not disclosed,
but Paciic Ag CEO Bill
Levy said it will help provide
better service for growers
and a more reliable stream
of products for different
markets.
“I think it says great things
about the future of Paciic
Ag and our markets,” Levy
said. “There’s a lot of great
opportunities out there, and
we felt we could meet those
opportunities better together
than we could separately.”
Paciic Ag is the nation’s
largest harvester of crop
residue and forage — such
as corn stover and wheat
straw — used to make things
like animal feed or tree-free
paper products. Composted
wheat straw is also what’s
predominately used to grow
commercial mushrooms for
grocery stores.
But perhaps one of the
Photo contributed by Paciic Ag
Paciic Ag, of Hermiston, announced Thursday it has acquired Calagri, a hay and
forage company based in Washington.
biggest future markets, Levy
said, is plant material as a
feedstock for biofuel and
biochemicals.
“We believe that’s going
to be a signiicant part of our
future,” Levy said.
Based in Ellensburg,
Washington, Calagri has
collaborated and even shared
equipment in the past with
Paciic Ag, Levy said. Now,
they’ll be able to continue
that work seamlessly under a
single operation.
Calagri’s co-owner, Kerry
Calaway, is joining Paciic
Ag’s leadership team and
said it is an exciting time to
be joining forces.
“New markets for forage
and crop residue are growing
across the region and the
country, and farmers are
increasingly looking for
ways to sustainably generate
additional income per acre,”
Calaway said in a statement.
“Together, we will create
more
opportunities
for
farmers while providing
better service to our
customers.”
Levy said Paciic Ag will
retain Calagri’s employees,
and as a result of the trans-
action the company will now
harvest more than 300,000
tons of forage every year
across Oregon, Washington
and Idaho.
“This is a signiicant
addition for us,” Levy said.
“It’s exciting, truly, to be
working with them and to be
one company.”
Growers interested in
learning more about gener-
ating income off crop residue
can contact Paciic Ag at
1-844-RESIDUE.
Umatilla County trims costs with reorganization
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners formalized
the reorganization of county
human services and public
health programs to save
$250,000 a year.
Commissioner
George
Murdock has been heading
up the revamp project and
Wednesday the board voted
3-0 to divide the county’s
Health and Human Services
Department into the Public
Health Department and the
Human Services Department,
each with its own director.
The changes go into effect
July 1.
The county had planned
to have public health admin-
istrator Meghan DeBolt
oversee the Health and
Human Services Department
with the aid of two deputy
directors.
But DeBolt is leaving in
July, which prompted the
county to sever the depart-
ment, give each a director and
cut out the deputy positions.
The county also continues
to forgo having a manager for
the developmental disabilities
program. Instead, Kim Weis-
senluh, head of the county’s
juvenile department, oversees
the program that operates in
the juvenile building.
Marie Simonis, assistant
director of county Business
and Finance, estimated the
entire plan saves $253,766,
including general fund
savings of $218,086. Most
of that comes from not hiring
the deputy directors or the
developmental disabilities
manager, she said, and some
comes from tapping other
funds to pay for salaries.
Pinching every penny
matters, Murdock said at the
meeting Wednesday, with the
county facing a $1.1 million
increase in 2017 from the
Public Employee Retirement
System. The county already
established a reserve fund
to deal with that cost, but
Murdock said it may have
to make more adjustments
throughout the year.
The county is now
searching for DeBolt’s
successor. Murdock will
serve as interim director of
public health, a position he
held for ive months during a
similar search.
The county has hired
Amy Ashton-Williams of
Pendleton as the new director
of Human Services, a depart-
ment that oversees alcohol
and drug programs, gambling
addiction services, veterans
services, and mental health
and other services. She starts
July 1.
After spending the past
year imposing water and
sewer rate hikes and a
street utility fee, the Pend-
leton City Council could
provide some relief for the
city’s low and ixed-in-
come residents.
The
council
will
consider a 10 percent
utility discount for people
with incomes of less than
or equal to 125 percent of
federal poverty guidelines.
Staff will also recom-
mend retaining its current
assistance program, which
offers assistance of up to
$150 in a 12-month period
for incomes of less than
or equal to 150 percent
of federal governmental
poverty guidelines.
Applicants
for
both programs would
be
screened
through
nonproits
Community
Action Program of East
Central
Oregon
and
Helping Hand.
The city estimates to
provide the discount to
400-450 households, or
$33,600-$37,800 in assis-
tance in the irst year.
The city’s current assis-
tance program is much
more modest, assisting
42 households for about
$4,425 two years ago.
The rate discount is
supposed to balance the
effects of recent water and
sewer increases, which
have risen a combined $7
per month since December
2015.
The council meeting
will be held Tuesday at the
council chambers in city
hall, 500 S.W. Dorion Ave.
Council to discuss
marijuana at
noon meeting
The Pendleton City
Council scheduled a public
meeting to be held at lunch
hour Tuesday, their main
course consisting of a
marijuana policy discus-
sion.
At the request of the
council, the city scheduled
a rare noon meeting to
discuss the state’s mari-
juana opt-in and taxation
laws with League of
Oregon Cities Assistant
General Counsel Carl
Sniffen.
At the center of the
debate is whether the city
should ask voters to keep
a ban on recreational and
medical marijuana sales
separately, which City
Attorney Nancy Kerns said
would preclude the city
from collecting taxes if one
but not both is legalized.
The city is on a tight
timeline to put the mari-
juana sales question on the
ballot and will be holding
the irst reading for an
ordinance referring legal
sales to the ballot at the
council’s regularly sched-
uled meeting Tuesday
evening.
The noon meeting will
be held in the council
annex while the evening
meeting will be held in
council chambers at 7 p.m.
Both meetings are at
city hall, 500 S.W. Dorion
Ave.
Long churning
transportation
plan on agenda
After
months
of
planning and committee
meetings, the update of the
Pendleton Transportation
System Plan is ready for
city council consideration.
The 162-page plan
calls for the creation and
improvement of dozens of
sidewalks, walking paths,
bike lanes and public
transit options.
The city will seek
funding for these projects
through outside grant
opportunities.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
B r i n g i n g I n d e p e n d e n c e t o L i v i n g
a n d Q u a l i t y t o L i f e
BRIEFLY
Motorcycle wreck
injures two
HERMISTON — Two
people were taken to the
hospital on Friday morning
after the motorcycle they
were riding collided with a
pickup at the intersection of
Baxter and Canal roads east
of Hermiston.
Hermiston Fire & Emer-
gency Services responded to
the crash shortly after 9 a.m.
Rollover wreck
sends 15-year-old
juvenile to hospital
A 15-year-old girl was
lown to a Tri-Cities hospital
with serious injuries Friday
morning after a single-
vehicle rollover on Highway
207 at Bombing Range
Road in Morrow County.
Oregon State Police
Trooper Jerrad Little did
not identify the victim, but
said she was the only person
in the truck, which rolled
three or four times before
ending up on its side in a
ield. Little said the girl was
wearing her seatbelt.
Authorities closed the
highway for about 45
minutes while the juvenile
was loaded into an air
ambulance and taken to
Kadlec Regional Medical
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
First responders from Hermiston Fire & Emergency
Services move a patient to an ambulance after a crash
between a pickup and a motorcycle outside Hermiston
Friday morning shortly after 9 a.m.
Center in Richland, Wash-
ington. Little did not have
an immediate update on her
condition.
Little said the girl is
from the Heppner area, and
was traveling north on the
highway before she crashed.
The cause of the wreck is
under investigation.
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