Tuesday, May 23, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
MEALS: 21 percent of Umatilla County HERMISTON: Budget includes money
set aside for security upgrades to city hall
residents are receiving SNAP benefits
Page 8A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
Continued from 1A
students from Umatilla and
Morrow counties gathered
at Hermiston High School
with bulk boxes of macaroni
noodles, cheese powder and
soybean protein to be pack-
aged into individual meals
roughly the size of a store-
bought box of macaroni and
cheese, and then placed into
packs of 36 meals for easy
transport.
The mood was energetic
and upbeat. Students sang
along to music pumping
through the room, made up
chants to announce each box’s
completion and competed
with their neighbors to fill the
most boxes.
Austin Mota, a sophomore
at Pendleton High School,
said things had been “pretty
chill” packing boxes and he
was glad he came.
“I really just like helping
out in the community,” he
said. “I don’t mind volun-
teering.”
Mildred
Moreno,
a
freshman from Hermiston
High School, said she was
glad the teams of students
were mixed between multiple
chapters so that everyone got
to talk with students from
others schools.
“The teamwork was fun,”
she said. “I got to know some
people I didn’t know from
Echo.”
According to Department
of Human Services data
from 2015, 21 percent of
Umatilla County residents
are receiving food stamps
from the government through
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston juniors, from left, Lexy Myers, Lanita Halladay,
Amanda Barron and Neena Rollins work in tandem to put
together fortified macaroni and cheese packets on Satur-
day in Hermiston.
SNAP (Supplemental Nutri-
tion Assistance Program).
Another report shows 1,250
families in Morrow County
were receiving SNAP benefits
in 2014.
Hermiston FFA chapter
advisor Leah Smith said
fighting hunger is a cause that
FFA students can understand,
given the number of students
in area schools who often go
hungry.
“People know,” she said.
“... Kids don’t necessarily
want to point out that maybe
their friend doesn’t have a lot.
Who knows? Maybe some of
this food will go to some of
these kids. But they’re all here
working together.”
The food was bound for
CAPECO in Pendleton, which
will distribute some directly
to needy families and send
the rest to other local food
banks like the Agape House in
Hermiston.
CAPECO distributes about
1.2 million pounds of food a
year, while the Agape House’s
emergency food box program
assists about 900 people each
month in getting through the
last few days of the month
and sends home a backpack
full of food each weekend to
about 150 students in the area.
Stanfield’s food bank serves
120 to 150 people a month.
After the last meal was
packaged, the volunteer
force turned their attention to
wiping down tables, sweeping
up noodles and breaking down
boxes. Walker and Reed said
they were thrilled to see the
project finally come to pass
after months of working on it.
“I’m excited,” Reed said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
PENDLETON: Beard asked commissioners
for $20,000 for the new travel campaign
Continued from 1A
The Pendleton advertising
agency Duke Joseph is
crafting the campaign’s videos
to appeal to the Boomers.
Duke Joseph creative
director Jeff Lorton told
commissioners Boomers enjoy
travel and “bumping into life.”
They are agri-tourists, he said,
who want to meet the people
who make the food they eat
and drink, the very experience
Umatilla County has to offer.
“We need to reach out to
them to encourage them to
come here,” he said,
Beard asked the commis-
sioners to give $20,000
from economic development
funds for the new effort. He
said $15,000 would go into
creating advertising to appeal
to the target audience and the
remaining $5,000 for social
media to spread the message.
Commissioner Bill Elfering
oversees economic develop-
ment for the county. He told
Beard he needs to go through
the county’s grant process for
the funds.
Beard said he would have
that in an email in short order.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
Sun Terrace Hermiston
Avenue between Southwest 11th Street
and Riverfront Park. As part of that
project, the city is working to acquire
Steelhead Park across West Highland
Extension from Riverfront Park, so that
the trail can loop under the bridge there
instead of tempting pedestrians to cross
Highland to get to Riverfront Park.
Whatever funds will be needed to
acquire the property from the state would
come out of the city’s $100,000 commu-
nity enhancement reserve fund used for
matching funds on grants for livability
projects.
“We don’t feel like the trail would
be at all safe to get to Riverfront Park
without it, so we wanted to make sure
we had that money there,” City Manager
Byron Smith told the budget committee.
If a “recreational immunity” bill passes
the Oregon House of Representatives
before the end of the current legislative
session, protecting city employees from
liability for injuries in parks, the city will
also resume designing a skate park across
from the police station on First Place.
Other objectives for 2017-2018 listed
in the parks budget include enhancing
the trails around the Hermiston Butte and
redeveloping Greenwood Park, a small
neighborhood park off of Beech Street.
Two of the largest projects in the
2017-2018 budget fall under the utility
fund. The city is buying $1.2 million
in new water meters that can be read
remotely and allow all Hermiston water
customers to track their usage patterns in
detail online. The city is also installing
new $1.5 million solids-handling equip-
ment at the recycled water treatment
plant that will save $700,000 per year
on operational costs.
“Those two items rose to the top as far
as projects needing to be addressed and
will help us with longterm costs,” Smith
said.
The city will also save about $85,000
per year by switching to using an outside
contractor for utility bill mailings.
The 2017-2018 budget includes money
set aside for security upgrades to city hall,
and for a $125,000 renovation of the base-
ment of the old Carnegie Library across
from city hall. That space has been offered
to the chamber of commerce to make up
for the chamber losing its office space at
the conference center, but the chamber has
not yet made a decision about accepting
the offer. If the chamber declines to move
into the Carnegie library, city staff say
the office space can be used for other city
employees getting crowded at city hall.
To handle increasing city facilities,
including the addition of the Harken-
rider Center and Hermiston Conference
Center, the city is adding a full-time
building maintenance employee. It is
also shuffling around some positions
Food truck rules lifted
for First Thursday
The Hermiston City Council gave
the Hermiston Downtown Association
the green light on Monday to try
bringing food trucks to July’s First
Thursday event.
The city passed an ordinance in
2013 regulating mobile food vendors,
including requirements that they apply
for a license with the city and only
park in approved areas. But councilors
said bringing food trucks downtown
for First Thursday would fall under the
exemptions for “special events” and
they were willing to give permission
for the trucks to sell from a public
street for four hours that day.
“I love the idea,” Mayor David
Drotzmann said. “Anything we can
do to stimulate interests in the First
Thursday events.”
First Thursdays are a coordinated
effort by downtown merchants to
offer special deals, entertainment,
contests and other perks to draw
people downtown on the first Thursday
evening of each month.
On Wednesday downtown will
get a lift from Simmons Insurance
Agency’s annual clean-up event. Main
Street between Highway 395 and 3rd
Street will be closed to vehicle traffic
for part of the morning as volunteers
work on weeding, flower planting and
other activities starting at 8:30 p.m.
and increasing the hours for others,
increasing the city’s total FTE from
110.59 to 116.03. All city staff are
getting a 2.5 percent cost of living
increase.
The city’s urban renewal district budget
came in at $1.6 million for 2017-2018,
almost $1 million of which will go toward
turning Northeast Second Street between
Main Street and Gladys Avenue into a
pedestrian-friendly festival street that can
be closed off for special events. The urban
renewal agency also wants to work on
designing and installing decorative wayfin-
ding signs, a project which the city will also
pitch in for out of its community enhance-
ment fund since urban renewal dollars can
only be spent inside the district, and some
signs need to be outside the district pointing
the way toward downtown.
Mark Morgan, Hermiston’s assistant
city manager, told the budget committee
that the addition of the new Holiday Inn
Express to the district is expected to
increase the district’s tax revenue from
about $30,000 during the current fiscal
year to $132,000 in 2017-2018.
The city’s full proposed budget can
be found online at hermiston.or.us/
finance/budget.
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At Sun Terrace Hermiston we engage in a
philosophy that is centered on Bringing
Independence to Living and Quality to Life
for the residents we serve.
Sun Terrace Hermiston offers retirement and
assisted living options with compassionate
care in a professionally managed, carefully
designed retirement community. Our focus on
wellness and enabling residents to remain as
independent as possible provides the perfect
alternative for seniors who can no longer live
on their own.
Whether the search is for a short-term respite
stay or a long-term living option, we invite you
to learn more about our community.
To schedule a tour, call us today at
(541) 564-2595 or visit us on the web at
www.regency-pacific.com.
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