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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
JOBS: Hermiston competing with Tri-Cities housing
Continued from 1A
and Project Jungle — never
got farther than providing
information to a mysterious
company. But others have
bore fruit, resulting in every-
thing from new wineries to
mushroom growers locating
in Umatilla County,
Businesses won’t locate
in Umatilla County without
a workforce to support them,
and county planning director
Tamra Mabbott shared an
inventory of all residential-
ly-zoned land in the county
that her department put
together in an effort to support
more housing for a growing
workforce. The unincor-
porated parts of the county
include 4,081 total parcels
of residential land, while
cities include another 18,056
parcels, 2,202 of which are
still undeveloped. Mabbott
passed around a sign-up sheet
for a new housing develop-
ment task force she hopes to
begin soon.
Mark Morgan, assistant
city manager for the city of
Hermiston, shared during a
later round-table discussion
that the city of Hermiston had
recently decided to focus on
promoting housing develop-
ment after seeing the increase
in workers commuting from
the Tri-Cities outpacing new
housing added to Hermiston.
“It was very evident we
were adding jobs for people to
commute from the Tri-Cities
to fill,” he said.
Tourism
is
another
component of economic
development, and Umatilla
County tourism coordinator
Karie Walchli shared efforts
her office, in conjunction
with the Eastern Oregon Visi-
tors Association and Travel
Oregon, have been making to
promote tourism in Umatilla
County. A recent, high-profile
effort has included putting
together materials to help
communities handle the
expected influx of visitors
that will arrive in Eastern
Oregon to see the solar
eclipse in August.
Walchli said it has become
obvious that agritourism is
a yet under-utilized fit for
Umatilla County, and the
county is working on creating
new opportunities, including
two new self-guided driving
tours through the county’s
farmland.
Last year’s economic
development summit was
centered around a major
workforce study that encom-
passed survey results from
180 employers, interviews
with 35 employers and focus
groups. The study named top
barriers that employers found
in hiring skilled workers,
skills that those employers
felt were lacking in Umatilla
County’s workforce, and jobs
that were particularly difficult
to fill.
Susan Bower, president
of Eastern Oregon Business
Source and author of that
study, said feedback from that
study has directly informed
several efforts in the county
in the past year.
Pendleton
School
District’s School to Careers
program,
for
example,
used the study to create a
90-minute Jump Start Orien-
tation program that students
take before being placed in
a mentorship or work study.
The orientation goes over
basics that employers told
Bower young workers are
often lacking, such as phone
etiquette, professional dress,
punctuality and work ethic.
Bower said employers have
told her the orientation has
made a noticeable difference
in the behavior of students
who participate in internships
and other opportunities with
them.
Another program to come
out of last year’s economic
development summit is the
Regional Capacity-Building
Initiative. Participants in last
year’s summit said one way
the county could help cities,
nonprofits, schools and other
groups in economic devel-
opment was to assist them in
grant writing.
“We heard from you that
we are leaving dollars on
the table as a region, and we
agreed,” Bower said.
The Regional Capac-
tiy-Building Initiative so
far includes quarterly work-
shops, one-on-one trainings
and bi-monthly “tips and
tricks” publications to assist
entities in finding new grants
and being more effective in
competing for grant dollars.
Bower said more programs
are in the works, including a
collaboration with CAPECO
to create a new workforce
development program and
a quarterly Employer of
Choice series that will feature
speakers on how employers
can more effectively attract
and retain talented workers.
Trump to order
review of national
monuments
By JILL COLVIN AND
MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Desert View fifth-grader Ben Larson blows into an anemometer, used to measure wind speed, while learning
about weather systems during the Watershed Field Days at the McNary Wildlife Area on Tuesday in Umatilla.
DISCOVERY: Curiosity is the goal
Continued from 1A
the Oregon Department of
Fish & Wildlife, U.S. Forest
Service, Umatilla County
Weed Control, the National
Weather Service and Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
“Pretty much all the
natural resources players in the
area have a part,” Waggoner
said.
Tucked away beneath a
stand of trees, Robert Hogg
with ODFW watched over a
group of excited students as
they were introduced to wrig-
gling mayflies, stoneflies and
caddisflies — three indicator
species of water quality — as
part of his presentation on
macroinvertebrates. The bugs
were placed in Petri dishes
where kids huddled to get a
closer look.
“You can read about it all
you want in a book, but until
you see them, that’s when you
gain an appreciation,” Hogg
said.
Just across the way, Joani
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Wenix Red Elk with the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation talks about first foods to a
class of Desert View Elementary School fifth-graders.
Bosworth with the Forest
Service invited the kids to
pick up clumps of wet soil
and mold them into balls to
determine how much organic
matter it contained. From
there, they talked about things
like composting to improve
organic matter in soil, and
promote better plant growth.
“I would hopefully like to
create a little bit of curiosity
in these students about why
nature matters, and how nature
provides,” Bosworth said. “A
lot of kids these days don’t get
the opportunity to get out into
natural areas. They will be our
future leaders. It’s good for
them to have a basic under-
standing of conservation.”
Waggoner said the program
TEXTING: Punishment could
include higher fines, jail time
Continued from 1A
GPS, taking pictures with a phone
and other hands-on use of apps
that are not currently illegal in
Oregon but are still a distraction.
Creasing said he had his doubts
about whether Senate Bill 2 would
pass in its current form, but he
did believe that the definition of
distracted driving was going to
be expanded and fines would be
going up even if it stays a violation
instead of a misdemeanor. He said
people have appeared in his court
on their third offense for texting
and driving, so he can “understand
Salem’s interest” in making the
consequences much more serious.
House Bill 2460 would act as a
deterrent against failing to stop for
school buses that are stopped with
lights flashing. The bill would
permit buses to include cameras
that would catch the license plate
number of vehicles that illegally
pass while the lights flash, and
would permit law enforcement to
issue citations based on that video
evidence.
Senate Bill 556 would make
driving with a dog on the driver’s
lap an offense punishable by a
maximum fine of $250.
A variety of bills up for
consideration this session relate
to driving while intoxicated.
Proposed laws include creating a
ballot measure that would amend
the state constitution to allow
sobriety checkpoints, allowing for
blood tests to see if a motorist is
impaired, expanding the definition
of driving while intoxicated to
include any substance that impairs
the driver and requiring treatment
reports on individuals convicted
of driving while intoxicated.
House Bill 2599 would remove
the requirement for wearing a
helmet while operating a motor-
cycle for anyone over the age of
21, while two other bills would
allow motorcycles and mopeds to
travel on the shoulder of a highway
or in the same lane as a car to pass
vehicles during a traffic jam.
Senate Bill 34 would require
cars to move over when possible
for any motor vehicle with its
hazard lights on, not just emer-
gency vehicles parked on the side
of the road. Other bills address
“left lane hogs” by requiring
vehicles to stay in the right lane
except while passing or making a
left turn.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.
has become so popular that he
had to turn away some schools
in recent years. The SWCD
received a three-year grant
from the Oregon Watershed
Enhancement Board to run
Watershed Field Days, and
Waggoner said he would like
to seek additional funding to
expand the program.
Agriculture and natural
resources are a defining
feature of Umatilla County,
Waggoner said, and it is
important for kids to gain an
understanding of how the
natural world works.
“I’m hoping they take
away the importance of agri-
culture and natural resources,”
he said. “This program is a
really good opportunity to
expose kids to the natural
environment.”
Watershed Field Days will
continue Wednesday back at
McNary Dam for Hermiston
and Umatilla students before
shifting to McKay Creek on
Thursday and Friday morn-
ings for Pendleton and Helix
schools.
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump
plans to sign an executive
order Wednesday directing
his interior secretary to
review the designation
of tens of millions of
acres of land as “national
monuments,” an action that
could upend protections put
in place in Utah and other
states as Trump tries to rack
up accomplishments in his
first 100 days.
The Antiquities Act
of 1906 authorizes the
president to declare federal
lands as monuments and
restrict how the lands can
be used.
“The executive order
will direct me as the
secretary to review prior
monument
designations
and to suggest legislative
changes or modifications
to the monuments,” Interior
Secretary Ryan Zinke
told reporters at the White
House Tuesday evening.
While Zinke acknowl-
edged criticism that the act
has been over-used by past
presidents, he insisted he’d
approach the topic with an
open mind.
“I’m not going to predis-
pose what the outcome is
going to be,” he said.
Former
President
Barack Obama infuriated
Utah Republicans when
he created the Bears Ears
National Monument in late
December on more than 1
million acres of land that’s
sacred to Native Americans
and home to tens of thou-
sands of archaeological
sites, including ancient cliff
dwellings.
Republicans in the state
said it was an egregious
abuse of executive power
and have asked Trump to
take the unusual step of
reversing the designation,
arguing it will stymie
growth by closing the area
to new commercial and
energy development. The
Antiquities Act does not
give the president explicit
power to undo a designation
and no president has ever
taken such a step.
The order is one of a
handful the president is
set to sign this week as he
tries to rack up accomplish-
ments ahead of his 100th
day in office. The president
has used executive orders
aggressively over the last
three months, despite
railing against their use
by Obama when he was
campaigning.
Zinke said the order,
which Trump will sign
during a visit to his depart-
ment, will cover several
dozen monuments across
the country designated
since 1996 that total
100,000 acres or more,
from the Grand Stair-
case-Escalante National
Monument in southern
Utah to the Bears Ears in
southeastern Utah.
He’ll provide an interim
report in 45 days in which
he’ll provide a recommen-
dation on Bears Ears and
a final report within 120
days.
Over the last 20
years, Zinke said, tens
of millions of acres have
been designated as national
monuments, limiting their
use for farming, timber
harvesting, mining and oil
and gas exploration, and
other commercial uses.
Though “by and large,”
Zinke said, he feels the
designations have done “a
great service to the public,”
he said he worries about
overuse and overreach.
“I think the concern that
I have and the president has
is that when you designate
a monument, the local
community affected should
have a voice,” he said.
DATA: County’s current value is $5.4M
Continued from 1A
But Vadata is not going to build
them all at once, he said, and the
centers are likely to operate in
enterprise zones.
“The full impact won’t be felt
for a while,” he said.
Paul Chalmers, county tax
director, agreed.
“We’re not going to see $2 billion
on the tax rolls for quite a while,” he
said. “It has the potential to be pretty
significant, I think ... if indeed it is
half-a-billion per building.”
The county’s net assessed value
— which excludes urban renewal
districts and the like — is a tick
more than $5.4 billion. The county’s
permanent tax rate is 2.8 percent,
so a single building worth half a
billion dollars would generate more
than $14.24 million in tax revenue.
Taxing districts for schools, emer-
gency services and more bump the
rate from about 10 percent to 22
percent, depending on its location.
Chalmers explained Hermiston
and Umatilla have the capacity to
extend their enterprise zones to
cover the Vadata site, a relatively
straight-forward process that allows
the owner to forgo paying property
taxes for three to five years.
Hermiston’s enterprise zone
comes with another benefit — an
e-commerce zone that provides
a company an income tax credit.
“The full impact won’t
be felt for a while.”
— Paul Chalmers,
Umatilla County tax director
Hermiston received the designation
from the state in 2014. The credit
equals 25 percent of the capital
asset investment, according to
information from Business Oregon.
Vadata can also negotiate with
the county under the Strategic
Investment Program, which grants
reduced property taxes for big
developments for as many as 15
years. The business also agrees to
pay community service fees.
Chalmers said the upshot of that
option is that it provides the county
and the business with a degree of
financial certainty.
Property taxes aside, Elfering
said the centers also bring jobs.
“Each building, the developer
said, will have 40 to 50, maybe up
to 60 employees,” he said. “And
those are not low-paying jobs.”
Finding places for those workers
to live in the county, he said, is
the real challenge. A developer in
Kennewick can build and sell a
home for $350,000 faster than in
Umatilla County.
“The fact that some of them
will live in the Tri-Cities is just the
reality,” Elfering said.
Even so, he said, the data
centers are part of a larger picture
that shows the county is poised to
move forward. That includes the
U.S. Army transferring ownership
of the former Umatilla Chemical
Depot to local control.
“The Army has put a date of Dec.
1 on that,” Elfering said. “I’m not
holding my breath. I’ve seen those
dates given and extended before.”
The deadline, though, gives
the local Columbia Development
Authority a target to address key
needs on the land, top of which
are securing water and a place
for waste. Elfering said the land
has some water already, and the
authority identified possible waste
sites. Roads on the depot land also
need “significant improvement,”
he said, as does access to the depot
from interstates 82 and 84.
“There are two entrances but
neither are good for the type of
businesses we’re going to see out
there,” he said.
More data and distribution
centers are likely prospects, Elfering
said, and there is a commercial zone
that could be home to restaurants or
fuel stations.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0833.