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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2017)
TRUMP WANTS TO INCREASE NASA BUDGET 55/35 SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE: SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW NATION/7A WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 141st Year, No. 112 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD EASTERN OREGON TRADE AND EVENT CENTER Manager wanted, salary still in question Fair, rodeo leases signed and competing event dates blacked out By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center’s partners agree the project needs a manager, but they are still working out the details on who that will be and how much they will be paid. “It’s got to be boots on the ground on a day-to-day basis,” Umatilla County commissioner Larry Givens said. “It can’t be someone who just knows marketing or just knows construction or just knows fair and rodeo.” During a joint work session Monday the Hermiston City Council and the Umatilla County commissioners discussed the operations plan proposed by the EOTEC board. The plan calls for a general manager to oversee an adminis- trative assistant and contracted janitorial/maintenance services, while also managing the budget, overseeing day-to-day operations, booking events and creating and implementing a marketing plan. The manager would report to the EOTEC board, which would adopt the budget and general policies, while the city council and county commissioners would appoint board members and approve funds. City councilors said they agreed with the overall structure but wanted to see some dollar fi gures attached. City manager Byron Smith, who also chairs the EOTEC board, said after some early calculations he believes that budget can support a $60,000 to $75,000 salary for the general manager. The position will only oversee one or two employees, but mayor David Drotzmann and councilor John Kirwan questioned whether See EOTEC/8A PENDLETON City council buys in for bridge move Enhancement group aims to gather $102,000 for project By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Congressman Greg Walden looks at medical supplies while on a tour of the new St. Anthony Hospital with project man- ager Joe Kunkel in Pendleton in Nov. 2013. Walden uses clout to tout Obamacare replacement Congressman’s district expands Medicare more than other Republican districts By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian For Rep. Greg Walden, these are heady times. The new chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee helped unveil a federal health care plan to the nation at a news conference earlier this month. The Oregon lawmaker addressed a Participants in a Hood River rally in favor of the Affordable Care Act stood for an hour Sun- day, January 15 and listened to testimonials. crowd of reporters about the proposed unraveling of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Walden didn’t mince words in describing the GOP mission. “Facts are, we’ve arrived at the scene of a pretty big wreck and we’re trying to clean up the mess,” he said. “If we Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea, Hood River News See WALDEN/8A The Pendleton City Council was won over by the PEP squad. At a meeting Tuesday, the council unanimously agreed to support the Pend- leton Enhancement Project in its efforts to re-use parts of the Eighth Street Bridge as a decorative feature of the 500 block of South Main Street. Acting as the Pend- leton Development Commission, council members also unanimously approved a $20,000 request from the group to help fund moving the bridge. Chuck Wood, a former city councilor, commission chair and a current leader with the Pendleton Enhancement Project, said the community organization is on its way toward raising the estimated $102,000 needed for the move. The Pendleton Enhancement Project, a group of local government offi cials and nonprofi ts, has secured $20,000 from Umatilla County and a $50,000 matching grant from private donors. Wood said the group is still negoti- ating with Union Pacifi c Railroad Co., which owns much of the land in the area, on where to place the bridge trusses. Plans have included placing some of the trusses by the railroad tracks and pairing them with a fence to prevent pedestrians from crossing the tracks outside of the sidewalk. If the Pendleton Enhancement Project can’t raise all the money for relocation costs or Union Pacifi c nixes the idea, public works director Bob Patterson said the historic bridge would be placed in storage. Patterson said the Federal Highway Administration requires some sort of re-use or mitigation plan so the city can proceed with a long-planned replacement project. The council also unanimously approved a $14.9 million loan from the state to improve and replace the city’s See PENDLETON/8A Joseph Creek restoration to use logging, burning First major project by Blue Mountains Restoration team By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Accelerated restoration is coming to the Wallowa- Whitman National Forest, including an increase in logging and burning. The U.S. Forest Service has approved a massive proposal to treat more than 100,000 acres on the Wallowa Valley Ranger District north of Enterprise, part of a broader regional effort to increase the pace and scale of forest resto- ration across Eastern Oregon and Washington. Tom Montoya, supervisor for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, signed a record of decision for the Lower Joseph Creek Resto- ration Project on Friday. Activities will include more than 16,500 acres of commer- cial logging and fuels reduc- tion, and up to 90,000 acres of prescribed burning over the next decade. It is the fi rst major project to be completed by the Blue Mountains Restoration See CREEK/8A Photo contributed by U.S. Forest Service Swamp Creek, a tributary of Joseph Creek, fl ows through Wallowa County and will be subject to the Lower Joseph Creek Restoration Project.
