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143rd Year, No. 175
REGONIAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
REVAMPING GOALS
Former
volunteer
fi refi ghter
lived big
Janice Arsenault
remembered as a dynamic
and outgoing personality
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Jim Amundson, of Amundson Construction, wets down the driveway and yard of a new home on Southwest First Street on
Tuesday after pouring cement. The Pendleton City Council has hit many of its housing objectives while falling behind on
infrastructure.
City council searches for
better way to identify,
implement council goals
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
See Firefi ghter, Page A6
P
ENDLETON — A city coun-
cil discussion about revamp-
ing its goals included a relative
rarity — a compliment about
Hermiston.
At a recent Pendleton City Council
workshop, Councilor Scott Fairley said
he was a part of a workgroup of council-
ors who wanted to fi nd a better way to
identify and implement council goals.
Fairley said the committee studied
council goals and their implementation
strategies across the region and singled
out two cities who made progress on their
own goals especially well — John Day
and Hermiston.
A small Grant County town that’s
been hit hard by the decline in the tim-
ber industry, Fairley said John Day set
a broad goal around population growth
as a way to offset the increased costs of
services.
According to Fairley, Nick Green, the
John Day city manager, identifi ed the
city’s issues, drafted a growth plan, pre-
sented it to its city council for review and
approval, and now dedicates most of his
job toward implementing the plan.
Fairley said John Day has had some
success with this strategy, garnering
$4.5 million in grants over the past three
years and recently meeting with 20 state
See Goals, Page A6
HERMISTON — The Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Offi ce is investigat-
ing what led to the deaths of two people
Saturday while boating on the Columbia
River.
Divers Monday evening recovered
the bodies of Janice
Arsenault, 44, of Uma-
tilla, and Trenton Wil-
liams, 20, from Idaho,
in the river near Bobby’s
Beach, a small site along
Highway 730 north about
10 miles east of Umatilla.
Arsenault
Sheriff Terry Rowan said
with the recovery com-
plete, the focus can shift to fi nding out
what happened.
According to the initial reports from
the sheriff’s offi ce, Arsenault and Wil-
liams fell off a boat. The driver of the
boat, Richard Kirkendall, 41, of Hermis-
ton, reported the pair were riding on the
dive step of the boat and he noticed they
were missing when he arrived on shore.
Rowan said the case presents plenty of
questions, including whether alcohol
or other drugs played a role, which will
be a matter for Dr. Rudy Stefancik, the
county medical examiner. Rowan also
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Dale Primmer, right, and his fellow Pendleton City Councilors listen to a
report Tuesday night at a meeting of the Pendleton Development Commis-
sion.
City could target Byers Avenue
with urban renewal money
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Over its
16-year existence, the Pendleton
urban renewal district’s funding
has mostly gone toward restor-
ing façades, providing small busi-
ness loans, and redeveloping upper
story building spaces.
At a meeting Tuesday, staff
told the members of the Pendleton
City Council, acting as the Pend-
leton Development Commission,
how they could use that money for
streets.
If members approve a proposal
to spend $3 million from the devel-
opment commission’s budget, then
it would need to be restricted to
the urban renewal district, which
encompasses downtown Pendleton
and some of the surrounding area.
Community
Development
Director Tim Simons said he
and city staff put together a list
of streets in need of repair in the
district.
The list includes 10 street seg-
ments that need a 2-inch over-
Eastern Oregon
avoids glare
from new solar
restrictions
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Eastern Oregon
might not bear the heat of the state’s
new rules curtailing solar projects on
high-value farmland.
The Oregon Land Conservation and
Development Commission in late May
approved rules to restrict commercial
solar facilities on high-value farmland
statewide. The short version, according
to the LCDC: “The best of the best soils
would no longer be available for solar
development through a simple condi-
tional use process.”
Developers have proposed 53 proj-
ects in exclusive farm use zones in cen-
tral and eastern Oregon, the LCDC
reported, which would occupy more
than 17,000 acres. In Eastern Oregon,
See Renewal, Page A6
See Solar, Page A6
Senate Republicans threaten second walkout
GOP considering
denying Senate a
quorum to kill a
proposed cap-and-
trade program
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Senate
Republicans are consid-
ering staging a second
walkout — potentially
delaying the end of the leg-
islative session — to block
a vote on sweeping climate
legislation.
House Bill 2020, which
would implement a carbon
pricing program, passed
the House on Monday
night after a fl oor debate
that stretched past six
hours.
All Republicans and
two Democrats voted
against it. Republicans
have always been strongly
against it, saying it would
hurt industry and rural
Oregonians.
Senate
Republicans
have already shown they
have an appetite to do more
than just drag out a fl oor
debate by a few hours.
On May 7, they staged
a walkout to deny a quo-
rum — the Senate must
have 20 members present
to conduct its work — so
the Senate could not take
up a business tax proposal.
The walkout lasted four
days, and they eventually
came back after Gov. Kate
Brown struck a deal to kill
two controversial bills: one
that more strictly enforced
vaccine regulations and a
gun control bill.
The deal also included
a “reset” on HB 2020. In
exchange, Senate Repub-
licans agreed to play nice
for the rest of session.
The parameters of the
“reset” were never clear,
and Senate Republicans
don’t
feel
Democrats
held up their end of that
bargain.
On Tuesday, rumors
that Republicans were
considering a second
See GOP, Page A6
Capital Press/George Plaven, File
Supporters of cap and trade rally outside the Oregon Capitol
in February. Senate Republicans are considering staging a
second walkout — potentially delaying the end of the leg-
islative session — to block a vote on sweeping climate leg-
islation. House Bill 2020, which would implement a carbon
pricing program, passed the House on Monday night after a
fl oor debate that stretched past six hours.