REGION
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
CTUIR proposes agreement with city of Hermiston
Tribe aims to ink
formal agreement on
cultural preservation
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
is hoping to strengthen ties
with the city of Hermiston
with a formal agreement on
cultural preservation.
Teara Farrow, manager of
the tribes’ cultural resources
protection program, told the
city council on Monday
that a 1994 memorandum
of agreement between the
city and CTUIR set guide-
lines for the city to notify
the tribes of planned pub-
lic projects, take input and
allow for surveys to help
discover any culturally sen-
sitive items, ranging from
arrowheads to burial sites.
The agreement expired
and the CTUIR asked for
a renewal in 2006, but the
council at that time declined
to sign a new agreement,
she said. They hope the cur-
rent city council will con-
sider renewing the formal
partnership.
Kristen Tiede, an arche-
ologist with the cultural
resources protection pro-
gram, said a partnership that
fosters more cultural sur-
veys of public land around
Hermiston would be benefi-
cial to development.
“If we identify sites
beforehand you don’t have
to hold up a project, you can
include it in the plan,” she
said.
When artifacts are dis-
covered, she said, there are
options to adjust the proj-
ect so that a resource can
be preserved or capped, or
if disturbing the resource
is unavoidable, they can
talk about options for mit-
igation such as donating
money toward preservation
programs.
“By working together
we can help protect cultural
resources without stopping
development,” Tiede said.
Farrow said surveys don’t
take long. Their archeolo-
gists can do a 40- to 80-acre
site in a day if they’re only
examining the surface, and
a few days more if they’re
testing below ground.
She said the CTUIR has
similar agreements with cit-
ies such as Umatilla and
Richland, and with ports
and counties in Washing-
ton. She said the agreement
with Hermiston would ide-
ally include provisions for
voluntary information shar-
ing, giving first preference
to tribal archeologists to
complete surveys, meeting
with the CTUIR board of
directors annually and other
coordination.
City manager Byron
Smith told the council that
staff had taken a look at
the previous agreement the
city had with the tribes, as
well as the current agree-
ments the CTUIR has with
other communities, and
Pendleton Fire Department
participates in training exercises
was prepared to come back
at a future meeting with a
recommendation.
Mayor David Drotzmann
said he hoped they could
work out something that
would be of mutual benefit
to both entities, and a win
for the region.
“It’s been a nice relation-
ship and I hope it continues
to mature,” he said.
School district
On Monday the city coun-
cil also listened to a request
from the Hermiston School
District for a resolution sup-
porting the school district’s
bond campaign. The district
plans to put an $82.7 mil-
lion bond on the November
ballot that would replace
Rocky Heights Elementary
School with a larger school
on the same site, add a new
classroom annex to Hermis-
ton High School and build a
new elementary school on
Theater Lane.
Property owners will see
a drop on their next property
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Umatilla County Charter
recommendations in
hands of commissioners
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners decide
Wednesday on what to
do with the recommen-
dations to revamp county
government.
The county’s Charter
Review Committee from
2018 though this past spring
examined the charter, the
county’s founding docu-
ment, debated on improve-
ments, and in late May gave
the county commissioners
three proposals for ballot
measures.
The
simplest
pro-
posal would replace “Law
Enforcement Department”
with “Sheriff’s Office” in
the charter and reflect the
sheriff’s functions accord-
ing to Oregon law. The
second would change the
election for county commis-
sioners. If no more than two
candidates seek the office
there would be no May pri-
mary election and the can-
didates would advance to
the November general. If
more than two run, the two
who win the most votes in
the primary face off in the
general.
The biggest change
would come to the struc-
ture of the county adminis-
tration. The charter review
group proposes moving
from a board with three
full-time
commissioners
to a county administrator
answering to a board of five
part-time commissioners.
George Murdock, chair
of the board of commis-
sioners, has stated the board
should put the proposals on
the ballot for county voters
to decide. Commissioner
Bill Elfering and freshman
Commissioner John Shafer
have not said one way or the
other on putting the issue to
a vote of the people.
The county board meets
Wednesday starting at 9 a.m.
in room 130 at the Umatilla
County Courthouse, Pendle-
ton. Members of the Charter
Review Committee will be
present to submit the report
and answer questions.
The board in other busi-
ness will consider requests
to seek bids for improve-
ments to the courthouse,
including to repair the east
wing roof and to replace
the building’s failing boiler.
And the board will decide
on what to do about renovat-
ing two school-based health
centers.
The county received a
$100,000 federal grant for
the renovations, but bids
from Kirby Nagelhout Con-
struction Co. to do the work
total $209,000.
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school.
Later in the meeting,
parks and recreation direc-
tor Larry Fetter told the
council that his department
has started the process of
creating a master parks plan
and is partnering with the
school district so that both
entities could assess all of
their current green space
and all of their recreational
needs together.
Drotzmann praised that
idea as a way to reduce
“dual taxpayer expense.”
Public employees are
only allowed by state law to
give information about bond
campaigns, not advocate a
political position on it, but
school board member Josh
Goller was allowed to be
more direct, asking for the
council to pass a formal res-
olution in support.
Multiple
councilors
voiced their approval of
the idea, and Drotzmann
asked staff to bring a for-
mal resolution back at a
later meeting.
Pendleton residents get extension
for National Night Out events
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Members of the Pendleton Fire Department participate in a training with the Oregon De-
partment of Public Safety Standards and Training in the former Pendleton Grain Growers
parking lot on Tuesday morning. The training dealt with appropriate control and proce-
dure for fighting propane tank and gas meter fires.
tax bill, taking the school
bond tax from about $4.09
per $1,000 or assessed value
to about $3.65 per $1,000
thanks to paying off all pre-
2008 bonds last month. Dis-
trict finance director Katie
Saul told the council that
if the new bond passes, the
rate will stay at about $3.65,
but instead of paying off all
school bonds in 10 years,
taxpayers would be paying
that rate for about 25.
Councilors asked ques-
tions about the projects and
were told that they would
allow for modular class-
rooms at the high school and
Sunset Elementary School
to go away, as well as the
ones at Rocky Heights not
being used by Head Start.
The current Rocky
Heights building would
remain in use while the new,
larger building would be
built on the other side of the
property. As part of that, the
softball fields there would
be moved onto the old fair-
grounds next to the high
PENDLETON — Pend-
leton residents have a cou-
ple more days to register
with the city police depart-
ment for National Night Out
parties.
Tuesday was the deadline
to register for the chance to
win hot dogs, beverages, and
more from local sponsors.
Shelly Studebaker is the com-
munity services officer with
Pendleton police and coor-
dinates National Night Out
and other events. She said she
received five registrations, so
she would extend the deadline
a couple of days.
Pendleton police in years
past hosted a National Night
Out event at a city park, pro-
viding free hot dogs, bever-
ages and ice cream floats to
any and all who came. That
required a large contingent
of department staff. Stude-
baker last year implemented
the change for locals to host
smaller gatherings in neigh-
borhoods and city parks the
evening of the first Tuesday
of August. Several neighbor-
hoods took advantage of the
program and hosted parties at
Roy Raley Park, the Kiwanis
Park and the 100 block of
Southeast Seventh Street.
“This year, I kind of
wanted to see if it would
take off on its own,” she said.
“It’s still strong, as far as I’m
concerned.”
Neighbors holding their
own gatherings is more in
line with the ethos of National
Night Out. Studebaker also
said she sees the lower turn-
out as a positive. Community
partners, including Hill Meat
Co., Safeway, Walmart and
more, have multiple demands
to contribute to community
events, so with fewer registra-
tions, there could be enough
free goods to go around.
Some circumstances may
have played a role in why
more groups are not partici-
pating. Residents on South-
west 44th Street, for exam-
ple, played hosts last year, but
the April flooding of McKay
Creek hit that neighborhood
hard.
Officers again will visit
the NNO gatherings, she
said, and those who do reg-
ister qualify for a drawing
to win all the fixings for
ice cream floats. Pendleton
police also will again hold a
coloring contest for children
3-11 years old. The coloring
sheet will be available at the
Pendleton Public Library,
Pendleton Police Depart-
ment and the Children’s
Museum of Eastern Oregon.
For more information
about National Night Out,
email PPD-NNO@ci.pend-
leton.or.us or call Stude-
baker at 541-276-4411
extension 1109.