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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2018)
VETERANS MEMORIAL MOVES FORWARD BEAVERS BACK FROM THE BRINK REGION/3A SPORTS/1B THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018 142nd Year, No. 175 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON UMATILLA City gives Corbett salary bump By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian City Manager Robb Cor- bett left the Pendleton City Council meeting Tuesday with higher pay and more job security than when he started it. The council went behind closed doors to discuss Cor- bett’s contract and when members re-emerged, they unanimously raised his sal- ary from $123,256 annually to $133,500. Corbett had worked on one-year con- tracts since he was hired in 2011, but the council also amended his deal so that he now serves on a “rolling contract.” The council gave Corbett a sterling evaluation on May 15 but didn’t renew his con- tract. Tuesday was the last scheduled meeting before the end of the fiscal year. Having only received cost-of-living increases in prior years, the increase in pay represents the largest raise in Corbett’s Pendleton career. When the council returned to an open meet- ing, Mayor John Turner said the city determined Cor- bett’s new salary by finding the average between the sal- aries of the Hermiston and La Grande city managers. Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith earns $137,330 per year while La Grande City Manager Robert Strope brings in $129,675 annually. If the council had cho- sen not to raise Corbett’s salary at all, he would have fallen behind one of his sub- ordinates. As both the police chief and the public safety director, Stuart Roberts is set to earn $124,109 per year starting July 1. Human Resources Direc- tor Andrea Denton explained that Corbett’s new rolling contract requires a specific action from council to end his employment with the city. If the council takes no Staff photo by Kathy Aney Nurse Practitioner Jennifer Armstrong stands in abandoned two-story home that is being remodeled into a medical clinic, just west of Highways 730 and 395. City’s only clinic forced to move By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian hen her contract with the Umatilla Hospital Dis- trict ends on Oct. 29, Jennifer Armstrong wants her patients to know she isn’t going anywhere. Armstrong, a nurse practi- tioner, plans to open up a private wellness center in Umatilla after the hospital district board voted in May to not renew her contract to continue providing services at the Encore Wellness 4 Life clinic — the city’s only medical clinic. Danice McBee, who sits on the board, said the special taxing district wanted to “go in a dif- ferent direction” but they were still discussing what that would look like and are not ready to announce anything yet. She declined to elaborate on what had prompted the decision. They do plan to continue using the tax money collected by the special district to provide medical ser- vices to the community in some form after Armstrong’s contract ends, she said. W Staff photo by Kathy Aney Nurse Practitioner Jennifer Armstrong will move the Umatilla Clinic to an abandoned two-story home that is being remodeled. Armstrong and her husband Mark Keith, who have already opened a second Encore Well- ness 4 Life location in Kenne- wick, are hoping to open the new private clinic on Nov. 1 so that Umatilla doesn’t see any gap in services. They have purchased a three-acre lot just west of the intersection of Highway 730 and Playing spashketball See CORBETT/8A Highway 395. The abandoned white two-story house will be converted into a medical clinic by November if all goes accord- ing to plan, while the “wellness complex” will add hospice hous- ing, walking trails and other fea- tures later. “It’s going to take a while to get all the other things built, but a lot of the same services (as the current clinic) are going to be here,” she said. “It’s not going to feel like a clinic, but we will still do what patients are accus- tomed to.” Those extra services will include living quarters for hos- pice care, adult respite care and even longterm care, Keith said. They also plan to sell products such hemp-based CBD sup- plements and kombucha, a fer- mented tea (the Mayo Clinic’s website states that while kom- bucha does contain health-pro- moting substances such as pro- biotics, in light of health claims about things like preventing can- cer, currently “valid medical studies of kombucha tea’s role in human health are very limited”). They want to add RV spots for family members of patients to be able to stay overnight during vis- its if needed and create walking trails around the property. A group of practitioners who Armstrong currently contracts with have agreed to follow her to HERMISTON Brazilian farmers learn about precision irrigation in the U.S. By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Airk Schaaf, 10, watches as Deven Barkley, 17, shoots a basket while swimming at the Pendleton Family Aquatic Center on Wednesday in Pendleton. See CLINIC/8A Fred Ziari of IRZ Consulting and most of the 30 Brazilian farm- ers he hosted in Hermiston this week don’t speak the same lan- guage — but they do share a com- mon goal. “We are blessed because we have food,” Ziari said, gesturing to nearby trays of fruit and pas- tries laid out for the guests from Brazil. “But I travel to Africa and other places every year where peo- ple are extremely hungry. As well, our state of Oregon looks beauti- ful but we have hunger here, too. All of us, Brazilian and American, need to play a vital role in feeding the world.” IRZ Consulting, one of multiple businesses that Ziari has founded, helps farmers around the world increase their efficiency and yield through high-tech irrigation. Ziari said the Hermiston-based business hosts visiting farmers from other countries for an “international exchange of ideas.” Leonel Olivira, a soybean farmer from the Brazilian state of Bahia, said Tuesday he was most impressed by “how you can remote See FARMERS/8A Title Sponsor Saturday June 23, 2018 • 8:30 AM - Roy Raley Park $25.00 Includes Water bottle & T-shirt Register today at https://stanthonymuttstrut.itsyourrace.com Proceeds will Benefi t the St. Anthony Hospital Alternative Therapy Program (including Pet Therapy) and P.A.W.S. Animal Shelter in Pendleton. For more information call 541-278-2627 or email EmilySmith@chiwest.com 2801 S T A NTHONY W AY , P ENDLETON , OR. 97801 WWW . SAHPENDLETON . ORG
