REGION
Friday, February 22, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
Umatilla council wants
its own enterprise zone
Shared zone with
Stanfield, Echo
limits room for
growth
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Umatilla City
Council covered a wide
range of topics during a
three-hour work session on
Tuesday, including raises
for city employees, fund-
ing to improve Lind Road
and whether the city should
be on Facebook.
The city also discussed
its enterprise zone, which
allows Umatilla to give
three- to five-year property
tax breaks to new develop-
ments in the zone. Vadata,
a subsidiary of Amazon,
has received tax breaks for
data centers in the zone,
the first of which is coming
onto the tax rolls during
the current fiscal year.
Umatilla’s
enterprise
zone currently includes
land in Stanfield and Echo,
because when it was cre-
ated in 1997 the state had
a cap on the number of
enterprise zones in the
state. City manager David
Stockdale said now that
there is no limit, it made
more sense for Stanfield
and Echo to apply for their
own.
Community develop-
ment director Tamra Mab-
bott said Stanfield is look-
ing to start marketing
its industrial land more
aggressively, and having
Umatilla administrate the
enterprise zone put it in an
awkward position of being
inserted into negotiations
between Stanfield and
interested companies.
“It would be better for
them to regulate it directly
rather than to involve Uma-
tilla,” she said.
There is also a limit on
the amount of land that can
be included in an enterprise
zone, and removing land in
Stanfield and Echo would
allow Umatilla to apply to
add more of its own land.
City councilors seemed
amenable to the idea, and
Stockdale said he would
sit down with Stanfield and
Echo administrators to dis-
cuss the concept.
On Tuesday, the coun-
cil also discussed adding
wage increases and new
positions to the budget
this spring. Stockdale said
that the city would like to
add three new positions:
an administrative services
manager, a recreation/
development director and a
building official. Umatilla
currently contracts with
the city of Hermiston for
building inspections, but
Stockdale said recent expo-
nential growth in construc-
tion has brought the city to
a point where it would save
money bringing those ser-
vices back in house.
In light of creating those
new positions the city con-
ducted a wage study, which
Stockdale said showed that
many city staff, particu-
larly department heads,
were being paid below
market rate. To compen-
sate, he shared a draft plan
that would add an addi-
tional class of wage and
additional step to each
wage scale to help wages
increase more quickly.
Councilors also said
they were in favor of bring-
ing the police chief, lieu-
tenant and sergeant up to
the next wage scale. When
mayor Mary Dedrick sug-
gested Stockdale might
also need a raise to be more
competitive, Stockdale said
while his salary was “dras-
tically under market” it
was the one he had agreed
to when he was hired a few
months ago and he wasn’t
looking to renegotiate it
now.
The council also dis-
cussed its social media
policy. Stockdale said he
would like to see the city
of Umatilla and depart-
ments, such as the library,
have accounts on Face-
book, Twitter and Insta-
gram in order to better
communicate with the pub-
lic “where the people are.”
He presented a draft pol-
icy that discussed the need
to treat those social media
accounts as a public record
and save communications
with the public via those
accounts.
Councilor Roak Ten
Eyck, however, wasn’t a
fan of the idea of an official
city social media accounts.
“I see the potential for
things to go upside down,”
he said.
He questioned how
the city would effectively
monitor the accounts 24
hours a day and said staff
were already “up to their
eyebrows” in other job
duties. Stockdale said he
planned to have one staff
member, perhaps the new
administrative
services
director, become the pub-
lic information officer for
the city and they would
be ultimately responsi-
ble for what was posted on
accounts, and for monitor-
ing comments by the pub-
lic. In response to a request
from Ten Eyck he agreed to
bring back a more detailed
proposal.
Other items discussed
Tuesday include:
• The council dis-
cussed an agreement with
the Bureau of Reclamation
that serves as one piece of
the puzzle for a reuse proj-
ect. Data centers pipe water
through their buildings to
keep servers cool, and the
city is working on a proj-
ect with Vadata that will
reroute the relatively clean
“wastewater” coming out
of data centers from the
city’s recycled water treat-
ment plant into irrigation
ditches for agricultural use.
Mabbott said it represented
about one million gallons
of water per day during
summer months that the
city would otherwise have
to process.
• Staff shared that the
city was pursuing funding
from the state’s Immedi-
ate Opportunity Fund to
improve Lind Road before
Vadata completes its new
development there.
• Staff let the coun-
cil know of new transpor-
tation options coming to
Umatilla. Recently Herm-
iston included the city of
Umatilla in its taxi pro-
gram, which gives senior
and disabled residents $2
vouchers for taxi rides.
Hermiston also plans to
include Umatilla in a sec-
ond initiative that would
give half-price taxi rides to
residents traveling to their
workplace.
• Mabbott
shared
that the city’s community
development department,
including code enforce-
ment, has been discuss-
ing options for reducing
the number of abandoned
buildings in Umatilla.
• She also shared that
the city will be approach-
ing the Oregon Department
of Transportation about
acquiring a triangle-shaped
right-of-way surrounding
the intersection of Umatilla
River Road and Highway
730. The intersection is
“another gateway to Uma-
tilla,” she said, and the city
would like to have more
options when it comes to
landscaping and traffic
safety at the location.
Photo contributed by the office of Bill Hansell
Skeeter Amstad, left, Sen. Bill Hansell and Senate President Peter Courtney stand in front of a truckload of potatoes donated
to the Oregon Food Bank by Amstad Farms.
Amstad Farms donates 65,000 pounds
of potatoes to the Oregon Food Bank
ena) and Senate President
Peter Courtney (D-Salem)
were there to welcome the
donation, which will go
to the Oregon Food Bank
to be handed out to fami-
lies in need across Oregon.
Hansell said in a statement
that the potatoes will feed
“hundreds” of people and
demonstrates District 29’s
position as one of the lead-
ing agricultural-producing
regions in Oregon.
“I am proud and grate-
East Oregonian
Eastern Oregon isn’t
slacking when it comes to
participating in the gover-
nor’s annual state employee
food drive.
On Wednesday, Amstad
Farms brought a 65,000-
pound truckload of potatoes
to the Oregon Capitol. The
company grows most of its
potatoes around Hermiston
and Echo.
Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Ath-
ful to see such a gener-
ous donation from District
29 to the Governor’s Food
Drive,” he said, thank-
ing Skeeter Amstad, JR
Cook, Jeff Urbach and Bill
Brewer, president of the
Oregon Potato Commis-
sion, for making the dona-
tion possible.
It wasn’t the first time
Amstad Farms has donated
to the Oregon Food Bank
— the company is a regu-
lar contributor to Farmers
Ending Hunger, a nonprofit
started in Hermiston with
the aim of channeling fresh
produce and other farm
products into food banks.
Wednesday’s donation
was part of the governor’s
state employee food drive,
which runs through the
month of February. The tra-
dition was started in 1982
by Gov. Vic Atiyeh. Last
year’s food drive raked in
just over 3 million pounds
of food.
Stanfield superintendent receives mostly positive evaluation
comments up to the public,
instead of limiting it to eval-
uations from the board.
The board reviewed the
comments in an executive
session last Wednesday,
before presenting them to
Burton on the morning of
Feb. 15. The East Oregonian
requested the documents
from Burton’s evaluation.
The majority of com-
ments about Burton’s lead-
ership were positive, with
several staff members say-
ing she had a level head and
gives extra effort to support
staff and students. Others
said they like that she is vis-
ible in the community and
participates at events out-
side of the school.
Some question
hiring her father as
interim principal
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Stanfield
Superinten-
dent Beth Burton received
performance
evaluations
from the community, staff,
and school board last week
— her first official review
since stepping into the role
last year.
The board took a new
approach to judging the
superintendent’s
perfor-
mance this year, opening
Two comments in the
staff survey were critical of
Burton, citing that she had
hired family members. Bur-
ton hired her father, Wayne
Kostur, as the interim prin-
cipal of Stanfield Second-
ary School to complete the
2017-18 school year, when
Burton was appointed to the
superintendent’s position
midyear.
In total, Burton received
comments from only six
community
members,
though the district office
sent out 100 surveys. The
staff survey saw better par-
ticipation, with 41 people
responding. All five board
members filled out evalua-
tions as well.
Burton said overall she
felt her evaluation was pos-
itive, and that she was opti-
mistic about the direction of
the district. She had spent
the last few days reflecting
on her performance, and
how she can address sug-
gestions for improvement.
“I believe I can’t grow
without feedback, and I
have been genuinely look-
ing forward to getting infor-
mation that I can use to
improve as a superinten-
dent,” she wrote to the East
Oregonian in an email. “I
am working hard so that
our district continues to be
a great place to learn and
work, and I love the com-
munity of Stanfield.”
BRIEFLY
Health screenings
coming to
Hermiston
also available.
Packages start at $149,
but consultants will work
with you to create a package
that is right for you based on
your age and risk factors.
The Wellness Gold Mem-
bership Program also allows
customers to get all the
screenings they need now,
but pay $19.95 a month.
Preregistration
is
required. Call 1-877-237-
1287 or visit www.lifeline-
screening.com.
HERMISTON — Res-
idents living in and around
Hermiston can learn about
their risk for cardiovascular
disease, osteoporosis, diabe-
tes, and other chronic, seri-
ous conditions with afford-
able screenings by Life Line
Screening. Oasis Vineyard
Church will host this com-
munity event on March 20
at 1255 S. Highway 395.
Screenings can check for
the level of plaque buildup
in your arteries, related to
risk for heart disease, stroke
and overallvascular health;
HDL and LDL cholesterol
levels; diabetes risk; bone
density as a risk for possi-
ble osteoporosis; kidney and
thyroid function, and more.
Screenings are afford-
able,
convenient
and
accessible for wheelchairs
and those with trouble
walking. Free parking is
Hermiston man
arrested for vehicle
theft, hindering
prosecution
HERMISTON — A
Hermiston man is in jail for
possessing stolen property,
and assisting with covering
up a theft of several vehicles
and tools last summer.
Scot Echols, 60, is
charged with nine total
counts: unauthorized use
of a vehicle, possession
of a stolen vehicle, aggra-
vated theft, criminal con-
spiracy and hindering pros-
ecution, all felony charges,
and tampering with physical
evidence, a misdemeanor
charge.
According to court doc-
uments, Echols stole and
operated a John Deere
Wheel Loader, which is
valued at $10,000 or more,
without the consent of the
owner, McFarlane’s Bark,
Inc.
Echols is also charged
with several counts of
assisting Zachary Bartz,
who was arrested in August
for theft of several vehicles.
Some of the stolen vehi-
cles were found at a prop-
erty on Echols Road, where
Echols lives. Echols was
also charged with helping
conceal or harbor Bartz, and
for concealing or removing
physical evidence including
stolen vehicles and tools.
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