OFF PAGE ONE
Oregon water rights fee wins approval
Page 10A
East Oregonian
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A proposal
to impose a new annual fee
on all water rights in Oregon
has passed a key legislative
committee but the amount is
no longer specified.
House Bill 2706 originally
sought a $100 yearly fee for
every water right, capped at
$1,000 for individual irrigators
and $2,500 for municipal
governments.
The bill is intended to
pay for water management
conducted by the Oregon
Water Resources Department,
but opponents say it unfairly
targets irrigators who are
already under financial strain.
Rep. Ken Helm, D-Bea-
verton, proposed an amend-
ment stripping the specific
amounts from HB 2706 to
“lower the heat” on the bill and
demonstrate that a fee amount
is not “pre-ordained,” he said.
The House Energy and
Environment
Committee
approved the amended bill
5-4 during an April 17 work
session, referring it to the
Joint Committee on Ways and
Means, which isn’t subject to
normal legislative deadlines.
Helm said he’s overseeing
a work group that’s discussing
a companion bill, House Bill
2705, which requires irrigators
to install measuring devices
to gauge water use and was
previously referred to the
House Rules Committee.
During those negotiations,
the water rights fee has
“diminished in popularity
and significance” but may
still provide a useful funding
source, he said.
Rep. David Brock Smith,
R-Port Orford, said he
wouldn’t support the amended
version of HB 2706 because
leaving the fee amount blank
“scares me more.”
The only fee amount
acceptable to irrigators in
the Klamath basin is zero,
said Rep. Werner Reschke,
R-Klamath Falls, who like-
wise opposed the bill.
Finding a new source of
funding for water management
is a good idea, but the burden
shouldn’t fall disproportion-
ately on irrigators, said Rep.
Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario.
BUDGET: Next budget cycle begins July 1
Continued from 1A
process along, ” said Speaker
of the House Tina Kotek,
D-Portland. She also said it
was intended to “educate”
the public and the legislative
assembly about the choices
lawmakers will have to make
in order to eliminate the
shortfall.
“It’s definitely a wake-up
call,” Kotek said. “If you
look at those reduction lists,
Oregonians are going to see
things that they care about on
those lists. And without new
revenue, we don’t have a lot
of options.”
Kotek said that conver-
sations about a tax on
health care providers were
“ongoing,” but that the list
of cuts released Monday
does not include that or any
other new revenue proposals.
A group of legislators from
both parties and chambers
is meeting privately to hash
out a possible consensus on
business taxes.
Senate Minority Leader
Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day,
claimed in a statement that
Democrats were presenting
a “false choice of either
accepting
unconscionable
cuts...or raising taxes.”
In November, voters
rejected a proposed gross
sales receipts tax on certain
corporations, Ballot Measure
97, which was projected to
raise $6 billion in new revenue
for the state’s upcoming
two-year budget. In its wake,
some of its opponents have
called for addressing the costs
of the state’s public employee
pension system and other
long-term cost drivers first.
Kotek said that the list of
possible reductions did not
address Oregon’s budget in
the longer term — merely the
two years of the next budget
cycle, which begins July 1.
SCHOOL: After-school program began in 2003
Continued from 1A
In the first installment of
the class “Laboratory 101,”
a group of middle schoolers
are peering over beakers
filled with colored liquid.
“We’re making a rainbow
in a jar,” said Gerardo Cruz,
a sixth grader. “When we’re
done, there’ll be different
colors at different levels.”
Cruz and his classmates
will get to do a lot of
hands-on science activities
this term. They’re looking
forward to using the science
they learn to create a volcano
and construct a lava lamp.
The class is taught by
Fernanda Hernandez and
Madison Finck, juniors at
Umatilla High School.
“At the end of the session
we hope they learn about
how different chemicals
react, and how fun science
can be,” Finck said.
On
the
first
day,
Hernandez
and
Finck
introduce the students to
some basic science concepts
and then put them to work.
Mixing different amounts of
corn syrup into colored liquid
gives each color a different
density. When the colors are
carefully mixed together and
allowed to settle, it creates a
“rainbow in a jar.”
“You have to be gentle,”
Cruz said, using an eye
dropper to measure corn
syrup into a jar.
The after-school program
has been in Umatilla since
about 2003, and plays to
students’ interests. If a
student is eager to see a
certain program or class
that isn’t offered, students
are encouraged to start their
own.
“That’s
how
most
programs and ideas start —
from kids,” Sipe said.
The program is held after
school Monday through
Thursday for two and a
half hours. It encompasses
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Morgan Finck, a UHS junior, helps some sixth grade
students on a science project during the after-school
class Laboratory 101.
more than just the class: the
students are all fed a snack
at the beginning and dinner
before they leave. They are
also provided transportation
home. They have also some
time scheduled to work on
homework.
“If we didn’t have an
after-school program here, a
lot of kids don’t have access
to formalized daycare,” Sipe
said. “For us to be able to
provide (the program) and
feed them is really great.”
Nikolas Schuening, a
senior at Umatilla High
School, serves as a teacher of
a film class and a mentor to
two sophomore interns. The
students are learning about
all aspects of film, including
writing scripts, editing, 3-D
animation and acting.
His two interns, sopho-
mores Alizay Rodriguez and
Morgan Burch, watch and
take notes as he instructs
the eighth graders, and
Schuening offers them
suggestions for how they
can teach the class. Once he
graduates, they may be able
to pick it up.
“That’s how we keep the
program going,” Sipe said.
“Students passing on their
knowledge.”
Sipe, who has been
Umatilla’s superintendent
since 2007, was recently a
speaker on a panel at the
University of Southern
California during a forum
about the importance of
after-school programs.
Sipe said she picked up a
lot of tips from the event.
“A number of mayors
were there,” she said. “I’ll be
working with city manage-
ment to see if they’re open to
contributing financially.”
She also likes the idea of
getting students to take more
ownership of the program.
“One
representative
from Atlanta said they have
student councils within the
after-school program. I like
that idea,” she said.
She said the most
important thing about the
program is allowing kids to
engage in a subject they’re
truly interested in.
“The key with after school
is that it’s not about what’s
being taught to them,” Sipe
said. “It’s about what they
want to learn.”
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Hermiston City Council listens to the testimony of former fire chief Pat Hart
during a special session council meeting on the fate of the Hermiston Conference
Center on Tuesday in Hermiston.
HERMISTON: Offered chamber move
into basement of Carnegie Library
Continued from 1A
center.
According to a presenta-
tion by assistant city manager
Mark Morgan, in 2015-2016
the center had gross revenues
of $216,900, split between
event revenues and $91,100
of transient room tax revenue
contributed by the city. The
gross expenses for running
the center were $198,700.
The $18,200 profit was split
three ways between the
chamber, capital improve-
ments and the city.
Morgan said in the current
fiscal year, event revenues
for the center were down
35 percent, mostly due to
competition from the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center. He said that put the
chamber in a bad position,
and caused instances where
the city’s parks and recre-
ation department was not
able to book the center for
recreational classes in the
hope that a paying customer
would instead fill the slot.
As a result, city staff
proposed a plan that would
see the parks and recreation
department move into the
current chamber offices
and take over the building’s
management, in order to
better balance EOTEC and
the conference center.
“There are a lot of oppor-
tunities for synergy between
the two facilities,” Morgan
said. “It gives us more
control of scheduling.”
The city is not contractu-
ally obligated to offer office
space to the chamber, but the
plan included an offer for the
chamber to move into the
basement of the Carnegie
Library across from city hall,
which the city is spending
$125,000 to remodel.
Chamber supporters were
not fans of that idea. Bryan
Wolfe pointed out that when
potential new businesses
come into town it’s usually
the chamber of commerce,
not city hall, where they go
first for information and to
get a feel for the town. He
wanted to know if a basement
was where the city wanted to
send those people. Pat Hart
asked the same thing.
“I don’t believe you’ll
find a progressive commu-
nity in Oregon or in the
Northwest that you will find
their chamber of commerce
in a windowless basement,”
Hart said.
Chamber board member
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston assistant city manager Mark Morgan
talks about the budget of the Hermiston Conference
Center while giving the staff report to the city
council on Tuesday in Hermiston.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Attendees overflow out into the lobby of Hermis-
ton City Hall during a special session of the Herm-
iston City Council about the fate of the Hermiston
Conference Center on Tuesday.
Bob Green said it seemed
the problems stem from
the misrepresentations of
EOTEC, not the conference
center, and said EOTEC
“was never envisioned to
replace the conference center
and was not promoted that
way.”
Several
commenters
questioned the city’s motives,
asking whether the move
was just a temporary step
toward selling the building
for a profit or re-purposing it
into a new city hall or a youth
center. They also expressed
a concern that events like
the Festival of Trees, which
organizers preferred to keep
at the conference center,
would be forced to move out
to EOTEC to make room for
city-sponsored events.
City councilors pushed
back on all of those concerns,
insisting repeatedly that the
building would continue to
operate as a conference and
community center and would
still be open to events like the
Festival of Trees.
“The talk of the confer-
ence center going away or
being shut down has never
been a conversation I’ve
been a part of,” councilor
Doug Primmer said.
Councilor Doug Smith
said the city “meant no
disrespect” by offering up
the basement of the Carnegie
Library; it is simply the only
space the city had available to
give. He said after $125,000
worth of renovations it would
be a much more attractive
space, and noted that the
chamber was free to pursue
other options.
In the end the council
voted to not renew its
contract with the chamber
in 2018, and to offer the
Carnegie Library space to
the chamber for its offices.
Because the chamber’s
conference center manager
recently resigned, the city
will also provide, at no cost
to the chamber, a parks and
recreation staff member
to fill that position for the
duration of 2017 as a way
to begin training city staff to
run the center in 2018.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Wildhorse Resort &
Casino presents the
5th Annual
PENDLETON: Roberts said adopting the ACLU
policies wouldn’t affect how police conduct business
Mammoth Cup
jackets and make their badges
visible at all times while in
city facilities.
He added that officers
don’t usually detain suspects
in the police department and
rarely come into contact with
immigration enforcement.
Roberts said adopting the
ACLU policies wouldn’t
affect
how
Pendleton
police conduct business or
the department’s budget,
meaning he didn’t have a
strong opinion on the list one
way or the other.
Councilor John Brenne
worried that President Donald
Trump’s threats to strip federal
funding from sanctuary cities
would hurt Pendleton.
Both Roberts and city
attorney Nancy Kerns were
unsure if the Trump adminis-
Wildhorse Resort Golf Course
Continued from 1A
included we would be a better
community and a community
that people would be proud to
be a part of.”
Beers,
an
English
instructor at Blue Mountain
Community College, said
BMCC already had “safe
spaces” on campus, although
she was unaware if any other
cities in Eastern Oregon had
adopted the ACLU’s list.
Thanks to state law, police
chief Stuart Roberts told
the council that the city was
already practicing many of
the policies and rules listed by
the ACLU.
Roberts said the exception
was a rule that required
immigration
enforcement
agents to always wear duty
tration would legally be able
to level punitive measures
against sanctuary cities.
Sometimes the council’s
deliberations
resembled
glass half-empty or glass
half-full argument. While
Fairley thought there was
no downside to adopting the
ACLU policies, councilor
Neil Brown saw no upside.
Ultimately,
Beers’
request couldn’t find enough
supporters on the council
besides Fairley and the
council took no action.
For more on the late
council meeting, visit www.
eastoregonian.com and see
Thursday’s newspaper.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
Golf Tournament
Sunday, May 21
Great tee prizes, lots of side
bets, free lunch and awards
banquet! Register your
team today!
FIRST FRIDAYS
ARE FREE!
Thank you to Pendleton Bottling Co./Pepsi,
CHI St. Anthony Hospital, Clover Island Inn, Wenaha Group,
Port of Kennewick, East Oregonian
Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm
541.429.7700
www.tamastslikt.org