REGION
Thursday, August 17, 2017
East Oregonian
STANFIELD
Page 3A
PENDLETON
City working to update nuisance
ordinance to address smelly plant
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A month after voting to
try and shut down 3D Idapro
Solutions’ dehydration plant
in Stanfield, the city council
acknowledged the unpleasant
smell coming from the plant
has lessened.
“The council has been
active on this issue in meeting
with the company and have
seen improvements,” said
councilor Susan Whelan.
The council still voted
during its meeting Tuesday to
direct staff to update the city’s
nuisance ordinance, using
Hermiston’s as a template.
City Manager Blair Larsen
said Stanfield’s current ordi-
nance does not do a good job
of specifying how to measure
whether a property is emitting
an odor offensive enough to
merit a fine. Mayor Thomas
McCann agreed, noting if the
city does pursue legal action
it has to have an ordinance
in place that will stand up in
court.
“You can’t just do things
willy-nilly when you get
before a judge,” he said.
Councilors noted that
representatives of 3D Idapro
Solutions, including the
company CEO, have met
with councilors and given
them tours, and Councilor
Jason Sperr said he felt more
comfortable that the company
was making good faith efforts
that were starting to work.
Leland Winebarger, who
works near the plant, was less
pleased.
“Why doesn’t someone
from this city do something?”
he asked during the public
comment section, referencing
a recent explosion at the plant
and calling its potato-dehy-
drating operations “basically
a hydrogen bomb.”
Voices were raised during
an exchange between Wine-
barger and the city manager
when Winebarger demanded
answers from Larsen and
said he expected Larsen to
have reports for him from the
Department of Environmental
Quality and Occupational
Health and Safety Adminis-
tration.
“You make it sound like
these people work for me.
They don’t,” Larsen said,
adding that he didn’t know
why Winebarger hated him.
Winebarger continued to
press Larsen and said he was
not doing his job. McCann
banged his gavel and told
Winebarger to be quiet.
“I take umbrage with what
you say,” McCann said. “If I
was a judge I would hold you
in contempt of court.”
Kevin Andreson of 3D
Idapro Solutions apologized
on behalf of the company
for the unpleasant odor that
the plant has caused to waft
over Stanfield and outlined a
number of steps the company
has taken or will soon imple-
ment, including shipping
in fresher potato products,
shortening storage times,
sending trucks in through a
back route, using a deodorizer
and building a new scrubber
that is expected to be done in
November.
“We’re trying to be good
neighbors,” he said.
He said the company would
try to be proactive in keeping
the community updated on
improvements, would close
down during community
events like football games and
would be happy to give a tour
to anyone in the community
who wanted to know more.
HERMISTON
West Park, Sunset make security upgrades
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Two Hermiston elemen-
tary schools will start the
school year with some new
security features, and work
has begun to expand the
parking lot at the high school.
West Park and Sunset
elementary schools, the
district’s
two
newest
buildings, are under minor
construction to get some
safety upgrades that will limit
outside access to the building.
The identical buildings
will now have a window
from the entrance area into
the main office and a second
set of entry doors that will be
locked to avoid unauthorized
entry.
“We’re
installing
a
window in the vestibule area
so secretaries from the office
can do any business prior to
people entering,” said Brad
Wayland, Hermiston School
District facilities director.
“The interior doors will have
a buzzer. The secretaries can
have visibility, and talk to
people to see what they want.”
Wayland said if people
just need to do quick busi-
ness, there is an opening that
they can pass papers through.
If someone needs to come
into the building, secretaries
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Jaime Montez with Knerr Construction of Hermiston takes a measurement
while working on installing a security window in the front office of West Park
Elementary on Wednesday in Hermiston.
will let them in.
Two new doors will be
installed in one of the interior
hallways of each building,
which will provide extra secu-
rity. Those double doors are
typically open, but a second
set will be added. If an alarm
goes off, those doors can be
automatically shut.
“It helps to partition off
the facility for a fire or a lock-
down,” Wayland said.
Wayland said the total
cost of the upgrades would
be less than $10,000 for both
facilities, and that work would
be complete before school
begins. Work is being done by
Knerr Construction.
The district is also in the
process of demolishing the old
Umatilla County Fairgrounds.
Work on that property, at 515
West Orchard Avenue, will
include removing the fair-
grounds and rodeo structures,
and eventually creating a new
parking lot behind Hermiston
High School. Two structures
will be left at the grounds:
Thompson and Hoeft halls.
Completion of the parking
lot is scheduled for Dec. 1.
The entire project should be
complete by April 2018.
PENDLETON
PDC looks at extending urban renewal district
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
As Pendleton’s urban
renewal district heads toward
its 2023 end date, the Pend-
leton Development Commis-
sion is starting to consider
extending its life span.
At a meeting Tuesday,
Councilor Scott Fairley, the
vice chair of the commission,
said that the commission’s
advisory committee was
beginning to discuss the
prospect of extending the
urban renewal district past
2023.
The district was estab-
lished in 2003 and encom-
passes the downtown area
and most of the flats between
South Hill and North Hill.
Fairley said the committee
will look at what kind of
work the commission has
already done and how the
commission’s current proj-
ects and initiatives would fit
in the future.
The committee would
also create a public outreach
plan to build public support
for the extension.
“We would come back to
(the full commission), finally,
with a recommendation on
extension of the program
and potential revision of the
existing programs within the
urban renewal (district),”
Fairley said.
Councilor Paul Chalmers,
the chairman of the commis-
sion, said changing the
boundaries of the district
could be a part of the discus-
sion.
Multiple
councilors
advocated for a cost-benefit
analysis or “scorecard” that
would show the money the
commission has already
spent on urban renewal and
how it has benefited the tax
base.
Chalmers said the orig-
inal urban renewal plan set
expectations that the city
couldn’t meet.
“In an ag-based environ-
ment, we’re not going to see
the Pearl District pendulum
swing of economic activity
in Eastern Oregon,” he said.
“That just doesn’t happen
that way.”
Charles Denight, the
commission’s
associate
director, also updated the
commission on the ongoing
municipal
court
case
between the city and the
Quezada family, who own
old city hall on Southwest
Dorion Avenue.
Denight said the Quezadas
will go on trial Aug. 30 as
they dispute the thousands
of dollars in fines the city has
levied on the fire-damaged
building.
Old city hall exploded in
July 2015, killing Eduardo
Quezada, a member of the
family.
The
city’s
nuisance
ordinance requires property
owners to repair fire damage
within a year of the fire, and
when the family failed to
re-roof and seal the building
by the end of 2016 due to a
heavy winter, the council
voted Jan. 3 to declare old
city hall a nuisance and begin
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Protesters gather in
support of Bundys
East Oregonian
Thirteen
people
gathered at Pendleton’s
Museum Park Tuesday to
support four men accused
of
wielding
assault
weapons against federal
agents in a 2014 standoff
near the Nevada ranch of
anti-government
figure
Cliven Bundy.
Holly Jo Beers of
Athena, a member of the
“patriot movement” group
Oregon Three Percenters,
organized the rally and
march.
Before marching to the
steps of the federal court
at the John F. Kilkenny
Courthouse, Beers made
a speech criticizing U.S.
District Court Judge Gloria
Navarro, accusing her of
being biased against the
accused and violating the
constitution.
The jurors for the trial,
which is being held in
Las Vegas, Nevada, are
currently deliberating. No
Bundys are part of this
trial.
Bearing signs, Amer-
ican flags, and pocket
Constitutions, the marchers
walked to the courthouse,
which Beers said was a
symbolic move. Dwight
and Steven Hammond, two
Harney County ranchers
convicted of arson on
federal land, were tried in
Pendleton.
The
Hammonds’
conviction eventually led to
the 2016 occupation of the
Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge in Harney County,
which Cliven Bundy’s son
Ammon participated.
Some of the protesters
in Pendleton displayed
the cattle brand of Robert
“LaVoy” Finicum, an
occupier who was shot and
killed by law enforcement
on Highway 395 after
leaving the refuge.
IMESD appoints Neal
as new board member
School District and is a
member of the Boardman
Ryan Neal, general Community Development
manager of Port of Morrow Association.
“I feel that my back-
Warehousing, has been
appointed to the Inter- ground in business and my
passion to see all
Mountain Educa-
kids in Eastern
tion
Service
Oregon succeed
District board of
will
positively
directors, where
contribute
to
he will represent
my participation
the
Morrow
on the IMESD
County,
Ione,
board,” he said.
Ukiah, Pilot Rock
K e l l y
and
Umatilla
Bissinger, board
school districts.
chairman, said the
N e a l ,
board is excited
who lives in Ryan Neal
to work with Neal
Boardman, will
fill the seat vacated by his and welcomes his business
mother Kathy Neal, who experience.
“Ryan’s conversations
resigned in June after 17
with us during the selec-
years on the board.
Along with the IMESD, tion process revealed his
Ryan Neal also serves on passion for education and
the board of directors for the a strong desire to serve the
Kiwanis Club in Boardman students within our region,”
and Boardman Chamber of Bissinger said.
Neal’s term expires June
Commerce. He volunteers
with the Morrow County 30, 2019.
East Oregonian
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Submit information to: community@eastore-
gonian.com or drop off to the attention of
Tammy Malgesini at 333 E. Main St., Herm-
iston or Renee Struthers at 211 S.E. Byers
Ave., Pendleton. Call 541-564-4539 or 541-
966-0818 with questions.
“Wonderful, Beautiful Hospital!”
Martin Montes de Oca
PM
304 SE Nye Ave. Pendleton, OR
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fining the owners $500 per
day.
The Quezadas contested
the fines in municipal court,
the trial delayed while
the Quezadas obtained an
attorney to represent them,
Denight said.
Denight
said
the
Quezadas’ attorney plans
to approach the city with a
plan for the building that, if
approved, could lead to both
parties agreeing to bypass the
trial.
If the case does go to trial,
Denight and Chalmers said
they’ve been subpoenaed for
the trial.
Photo by Antonio Sierra
Pro-Bundy protesters march down Emigrant Avenue
Wednesday afternoon on their way to the John F.
Kilkenny Courthouse.
“The care was wonderful. Everyone was
caring and gentle and really listened to
my needs. A wonderful hospital!”
2801 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR. 97801
www.sahpendleton.org