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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
OFF PAGE ONE Wednesday, January 15, 2020 East Oregonian A7 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Keith Axell uses his car to help pull Corbin Edwards’ car up a steep stretch of road at the corner of Southwest First Street and Southwest Isaac Avenue in Pendleton on Tuesday after- noon. Truck driver Sukh Nijjar, of Gillson Trucking, stands next to his big rig near exit 216 on Tues- day afternoon before heading up Cabbage Hill. Nijjar jackknifed on the stretch of slippery highway, had the damage checked out by P.J.’s Truck and Trailer and chained up for the trip over the mountain. Weather: ‘Slow down and stay safe, that’s all we ask’ Continued from Page A1 we’re frustrated too.” While the snowfall wasn’t excessive, Roberts said the conditions in Pendleton were somewhat misleading because the roads remained wetter and slicker than they appeared. Between 9 p.m. Mon- day and Tuesday afternoon, Pendleton police responded to half a dozen crashes and another half dozen hit-and- runs, Roberts said. There were an additional 12 reports of disabled vehicles, which were primarily vehicles that slid or spun off the road and needed to be towed. This year’s first winter weather has gone better than last, according to Roberts, who said his department dealt with over 40 crashes during a storm in February. “I’m really pleased with the numbers,” he said. “When it comes to within the city, it’s nice when schools are closed and there’s not as many reasons for people to be driving around.” Roberts said most calls they receive are for vehi- cles that don’t have enough momentum to climb the entirety of a hill and end up stuck midway. While Hermiston also closed its schools and doesn’t have as many hills to nav- igate, road conditions kept police busy. Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said his department responded to six different crashes between Monday night and Tues- day afternoon, though two required assistance from the Umatilla County Sher- iff’s Office, and a number of disabled vehicles were also reported. “Fortunately we’re rela- tively flat over here,” Edmis- ton said. “But the most com- mon problems we have are people not giving themselves enough time to stop or going too fast around corners.” Sheriff Ken Matlack said conditions were improv- ing throughout Morrow County by Tuesday after- noon after a busy day of responding to incidents, many of which occurred on the county’s highways. According to the Mor- row County Dispatch Cen- ter, the sheriff’s office and Boardman Police Depart- ment responded to a com- bined 14 crashes due to poor road conditions since Mon- day afternoon. In addition to crashes, the dispatch center said there Roberts said that he and Pendleton police try to be lenient when it comes to handing out citations, though he has no patience for drivers who “go spinning cookies in a parking lot.” In Hermiston, Edmis- ton said he ultimately leaves that decision to an individual officer’s discretion, which “AN ENJOYABLE OUTING CAN TURN INTO A MISERABLE ORDEAL IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.” Joe Neer, Umatilla National Forest Integrated Watershed staff officer were a handful of complaints from other drivers about vehicles driving too fast in the conditions. Court documents show that 14 driving citations were handed out in Uma- tilla County on Monday for either driving too fast in the conditions, failing to use traction equipment or vio- lating ODOT safety and equipment rules. can account for the road con- ditions at the time. However, he said, protocol is to issue one when fault is found. “Slow down and stay safe, that’s all we ask,” he said. Pendleton has previously closed streets that are consis- tently causing crashes or are being overused in slick con- ditions, Roberts said, though for now any closures will be contingent on what the weather does in the coming days. Fortunately for Roberts and others, National Weather Service forecasts show that the worst is likely over for now. While temperatures will remain cold, the Pendleton center’s projections show less than an inch of snow- fall is expected over the next three days, with high estimates reaching just over an inch and low esti- mates showing no snowfall at all. However, NWS fore- caster Rob Brooks said freezing fog and snow show- ers are still possible through- out the region this week. Those hoping to enjoy some of the outdoors while it’s covered in snow need to do so carefully, according to the Wallowa Avalanche Center. Victor McNeil, the cen- ter’s executive director, extended an avalanche advisory in the region on Monday morning as added snowfall brought each mountain’s totals to more dangerous levels. According to the advi- sory, the Blue Mountains have collected more than 5 feet of snow and the South- ern Wallowas have had more than 4 feet of snowfall since Jan. 10. Both the Elk- horn Mountains and North- ern Wallowas have had more than 2 feet of snow, the advi- sory stated. The conditions are dan- gerous and have made large or very large avalanches “very likely on all aspects and elevations.” The U.S. Forest Ser- vice also issued an advisory to those visiting the Uma- tilla National Forest this week that the forest’s roads aren’t maintained for winter travel and conditions may be dangerous. “An enjoyable outing can turn into a miserable ordeal in a matter of minutes,” said Joe Neer, Umatilla National Forest Integrated Water- shed staff officer, in a press release. “Be prepared. Make sure you’re self-contained and able to meet all condi- tions that may arise.” Hermiston: Garbage rates to rise to $18.80 per month starting in February last year, they added a much smaller annual adjustment based on inflation to keep up with rising costs of labor and materials. This year’s increase will be 1.8%. Continued from Page A1 “We put a sign up that says Hermiston is an inclu- sive community — except for city hall,” he said. While he agreed that Hermiston needs a more accessible city hall, he said he also worried about rush- ing the decision too much, and asked how long staff could last in their current locations. Smith said one section of basement in city hall that wasn’t connected to the main HVAC system has reopened, while other city staff have been farmed out to alternate locations, such as the Carnegie Library and the offices of Anderson Perry & Associates. It has been crowded and uncom- fortable, he said, but they could make it work for a handful of months. If the city council decided to put whatever insurance payout the city receives toward a new build- ing, Smith said they could remodel the basement of the library — where Monday’s city council meeting was held — into city offices and continue to use the Carne- gie Library for the building and planning departments until a new building is built at the location of the current city hall. He said architects had told him they could likely Food truck pods Staff photo by Jade McDowell The former Carnegie Library and the Hermiston Public Library across from city hall could house city staff for the next two years if the city decides to rebuild city hall rather than repair it. have plans for a new city hall ready this summer if they started soon, and then construction would take an additional 18 months after that point. Councilors said they were not comfortable mak- ing a decision on Monday night, without more infor- mation and public input, but directed Smith to return in the next month or so with concrete details about costs, financing, etc. “This could present an opportunity,” councilor Roy Barron said. Garbage rates Councilors approved an increase in garbage rates on Monday night. The rate for a 90-gallon container, which most customers use, will go up $1.55 to $18.80 a month starting in February. Sanitary Disposal Inc., which handles the city’s garbage and recycling, requested permission for the rate increase to help cover increases in the cost of doing business, such as fuel and insurance, and the decreases in revenue from problems with the recy- cling market. Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said minimum wage in Umatilla County has gone up by 20% since the last rate increase in July 2016. Residents will also see another increase on their water and sewer bills in March. When the council approved a rate restructure Councilors also dis- cussed the fate of the city’s food truck pod experiment on Monday night. The city adopted a pilot program for the food truck pod in 2019, set to run from April 1 to Oct. 31 in the parking lot on Orchard Ave- nue across from the Herm- iston Post Office. They provided garbage cans, a portable restroom and pic- nic tables, and Hermiston Energy Services installed a pole that provided lighting and electricity to trucks on the site. City planner Clint Spen- cer told the council that the original goal was to have at least four trucks on site the entire summer, but they ended up having two to three there most of the time. However, for the trucks on site, the season ended up being so success- ful they asked to extend the season through the end of November. Patick Hunt, who ran Southern Twain BBQ there, said he doubled his sales from when he was parked in Pendleton previously, and he no longer had to haul his truck to Pendleton from his Hermiston home. He said the main bar- rier to getting more trucks in was the lack of potable water and wastewater col- lection on site. A lot of ven- dors were interested until they were told they wouldn’t have those things, he said. He and Spencer also noted difficulties with getting customers to park in the lot across the street like they were supposed to, instead of pulling up to the trucks. He suggested that there might be some benefits to moving the pod somewhere like Butte Park, where they would be near the aquatic center, splash pad, Fun- land playground (once it’s rebuilt) and soccer fields. Councilors said they considered the experiment a success. “I definitely think we should continue this,” Doug Primmer said. “It’s proven its worth.” The question was whether to invest in water and other more permanent amenities in the current site or look at moving the food pod somewhere else. In the end, councilors voted to reopen the food pod in its current location in April, giving them time to collect information and make a decision on creat- ing some sort of nicer, more permanent site in the future. Construction: Cold temperatures make operating heavy machinery a challenge Continued from Page A1 ing on Tuesday and was unlikely to affect work in the future. “We just keep going,” he said. Hull said workers move and work more cautiously in the presence of ice and snow, but there are no built-in snow days in the schedule. McCormack started the project shortly after the 2019 rodeo under the imperative that the new building needed to be completed by the 2020 Round-Up. Hull said crews have already managed to erect the walls and were starting on the roof before the snow hit. In addition to snow mak- ing the site more slippery, Hull said winter weather can make operating heavy equip- ment more difficult because of the cold temperature’s effect on the machinery. Hull said if the tempera- ture continued to fall and remained that way for an extended period of time, it could cause work to slow because it would make roof- ing the building difficult. But otherwise, Hull said crews will continue to work toward sealing the building so they can get started on the interior. It’s been more than a year since the Round-Up announced it had purchased the former Albertsons prop- erty, and after demolishing the vacant supermarket, the rodeo association decided to use the northeast part of the property for a new facil- ity that consolidates much of its administrative, retail, and ticketing operations. Local entrepreneurs often try to open their new busi- nesses or facilities ahead of Round-Up to try to take advantage of the thousands of visitors who stream into town throughout the week. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser- vation is no different by aim- ing to open its new expan- sion by the next Round-Up. Wildhorse spokeswoman Mary Liberty-Traughber said work on the expan- sion, which will include an arcade, food court, and 24-lane bowling alley, con- tinued apace on Tuesday through the snowfall. “I’m told the weather is not currently affecting con- struction here,” she wrote in an email. “The only event was that a truck was late due to slower traffic but nothing interesting to report.” Once the expansion is completed, the tribes are planning to start work on a second hotel tower.
