REGION
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Winter weather shuts
down three highways
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Oregon Department of
Transportation crews are
still on high alert after poor
visibility and multiple spin-
outs Wednesday resulted
in repeated highway clo-
sures across Northeastern
Oregon.
For the second time
Wednesday, the state trans-
portation
department
shut down Interstate 84
and Highway 11 around
5:30 p.m. The interstate was
closed between Exit 216
near Pendleton and Exit 302
in Baker City. Westbound
lanes between Baker City
and La Grande were closed
as well. Highway 11 was
also closed in both direc-
tions starting east of Pendle-
ton at Milepost 5 to Milepost
30 near Milton-Freewater.
Highway 204 was closed to
all but local traffi c to Elgin
on Wednesday morning.
“As long as the winds are
blowing, I would assume
the road will remain closed.
People can’t see. It’s icy
and there’s a lot of traffi c,”
said Oregon Department
of Transportation Spokes-
person Tom Strandberg on
Wednesday evening. “It’s
24/7 out on the roads. We’ve
got folks from the Pendle-
ton and Meacham crews
and crews on the La Grande
side.”
The
transporta-
tion department initially
announced the fi rst closure
of the interstate between
Pendleton and La Grande
around 9:30 a.m. Wednes-
day. ODOT said the closures
were due to safety concerns
and crashes. The interstate
was also closed westbound
between La Grande and
Baker City. The closures
lasted for about fi ve hours,
according to ODOT.
“We’ll shut (highways)
down for safety concerns,”
Strandberg said.
Highway 11 was also
closed between Pendleton
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
A line of semitrucks, nearly 2.5 miles long, forms along the
edge of Interstate 84 eastbound near Milepost 218 as drivers
stop to chain up their trucks before ascending Cabbage Hill
Wednesday afternoon.
and Milton-Freewater, but
opened back up after four
hours at around 2:30 p.m.
The National Weather
Service in Pendleton issued
a wind advisory Wednes-
day afternoon for the foot-
hills of the northern Blue
Mountains through 10 p.m.
Wednesday.
Strandberg said wind
speeds on the interstate were
between 50 and 60 mph,
with gusts up to 70 mph.
The wind could increase
visibility issues and cause
more closures, Strandberg
said.
“We are prepared for
that eventuality. The wind
is expected to continue,” he
said.
Usually, when the visi-
bility lowers to a distance of
500 feet or less, the depart-
ment will consider closing
a road down on a case-by-
case basis and that ice on
the roads can play a factor,
Strandberg said.
Between Pendleton and
La Grande, trucks were run-
ning out of room to park to
wait out the closures.
Strandberg said that
many drivers will try and
use Tollgate Highway to get
around closures on the inter-
state, which can cause dan-
gerous congestion.
“We try to accommodate
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local vehicles as much as
possible, but it’s also pretty
complicated and a resource
issue to man a closure,” he
said.
Oregon State Police Lt.
Karl Farber said Wednes-
day afternoon he had not
received any reports of
major crashes or injuries
from troopers on the closed
highways.
“Mostly blowing snow is
what is creating a problem,”
he said. “We’ve got people
assisting with chain-ups.”
Farber added that often
the interstate will close
down
near
Pendleton
because it houses the last
truck stop until La Grande.
He advised Wednesday
that chains are required on
that section of the 1-84 for
all vehicles weighing more
than 26,000 pounds.
“Usually with these con-
ditions there’s more snow
on the ground,” Strand-
berg said. “There’s not a
whole lot of snow on the
road, but these are blizzard
conditions.”
HERMISTON — Mayor
David Drotzmann has fi led
to run for re-election as
Hermiston mayor.
Drotzmann is currently
in his third term after fi rst
being elected in 2012.
“I hope to continue the
good work my fellow coun-
cilors, city staff, community,
and I have accomplished
over the last eight years,” he
said in a statement.
His involvement in the
Hermiston
community
includes coaching softball
and participating in Rotary
Club, and he has volunteered
with the Hermiston School
District in various capaci-
ties, including serving on
the Hermiston Booster Club
board and eight years as a
member of the school board
previously.
According to his cam-
paign
announcement,
during the mayor’s tenure
Hermiston assessed value
has grown by 42%, and the
population has increased
by approximately 10%, to
make Hermiston the largest
city in Eastern Oregon.
Drotzmann said he will
continue to focus on “fi s-
cal transparency, economic
development,
housing,
infrastructure, public safety,
expanding parks and recre-
ation programs while con-
tinuing to make Hermiston a
great place to live and raise
a family.”
Additional
candidates
have until March 10 to fi le
a declaration of candidacy
with the city recorder. If two
or fewer candidates fi le by
that date, then the May 19
election will be considered
the general election and the
winner will become mayor
in January 2021. If more
than two candidates fi le, the
May election will become a
primary race with a runoff
in the November election.
Mayoral terms in Herm-
iston were previously two
years, but a change to Herm-
iston’s charter that voters
adopted in 2015 changed it
to four years.
Hermiston’s four at-large
city councilors will also be
up for re-election this year,
but not until November.
Council to accept
applications for
open seat
PENDLETON — At
a Pendleton City Council
workshop Tuesday, Mayor
John Turner laid out the pro-
cess the council would use
to replace the late Ward 2
Councilor Scott Fairley.
In accordance with the
city charter, Turner said
the council would vote to
declare Fairley’s seat vacant
at its Jan. 21 meeting and
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will begin soliciting applica-
tions for appointment to the
rest of the seat’s term, which
runs through the end of the
year.
The application deadline
is Feb. 3. Interviews will be
held the following day before
the council makes its deci-
sion at the Feb. 4 meeting.
All applicants must reside
in Ward 2, which is mainly
comprised of the North Hill
but also includes Westgate
and the airport.
If the eventual appointee
wants to stay on the council
beyond 2020, they will have
to fi le for election by March
10 and run in the May 19
primary.
The last appointment the
council made was in 2018,
when members appointed
Chuck LeValle to fi ll the rest
of the late Ward 1 Coun-
cilor John Brenne’s term.
But LeValle would only end
up serving for a few months
after he was defeated in the
election by Carole Innes.
— EO Media Group
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Pendleton City Council
could begin implementing
its more than $1 million
plan to fi x the city’s roads
within the next month.
In December, the coun-
cil approved a road funding
revenue plan that includes
a 4-cent gas tax, a $2 hotel
room tax, and a $3 increase
to the street utility fee.
Council members spent a
Tuesday meeting plotting
out how the revenue plan
would be implemented in
2020.
The council discussed
the implementation sched-
ule and the hurdles that
remain to raise more money
for Pendleton’s failing street
system.
Gas tax
The council already
decided it wanted to put a
4-cent gas tax question on
the May ballot, but City
Attorney Nancy Kerns said
the council should pass a
resolution that starts the
process at its Feb. 4 meeting.
Kerns said the coun-
cil has the option of cap-
ping revenue generated by
the tax. If gas tax revenue
exceeds the cap, the rate
would be lowered to come
under it.
The idea didn’t gain
much traction with the city
council. Mayor John Turner
said the council didn’t insti-
tute a similar cap for the
marijuana sales tax.
Turner added that such
a cap could hurt the city’s
ability to fi x streets because
the cost of repairs go up over
time but the revenue stream
would remain stagnant.
“We won’t be able to
purchase 10 years from now
what we could purchase one
year from now,” he said.
The council reaffi rmed
that it wanted a 10-year
sunset provision in the bal-
lot measure, which would
require the city to either
seek voter approval to con-
tinue the tax after a decade,
or let it expire.
Utility fee
Raising the street util-
ity fee will be a less labo-
rious process because it’s
building on an existing $5
fee passed by the council in
2015 rather than creating a
new tax altogether.
Kerns said she could
have a proposal ready in
February, but there were
still a few questions to
answer.
Public Works Direc-
tor Bob Patterson asked
whether the council wanted
to keep its current funding
formula from the street util-
ity fee, which targets neigh-
borhood, residential streets:
70% for streets in good con-
dition and 30% for roads in
poor shape.
Turner said he wanted
to make sure that resi-
dents who were paying the
fee would be able to see
improvements to the streets
they drive on in the near
future.
“I worry about erosion of
citizen confi dence,” he said.
The council seemed to
like the idea of extending
the 70-30 split to the whole
street system rather than
just neighborhood streets.
The council also wanted
to shield low-income rate-
payers from the effects of
the fee hike, but debated
whether it should be a per-
centage discount or waive
the fee increase entirely.
Patterson
suggested
the council adopt a 35%
discount on the overall
street utility fee for eligi-
ble accounts that could be
adjusted for infl ation over
time, which the council
seemed to agree with.
Hotel tax
Implementing the hotel
tax might face the most
complicated process to
come to fruition.
The idea of a hotel tax
has already drawn opposi-
tion from local hoteliers and
the Oregon Restaurant and
Lodging Association, and
Turner said he expects scru-
tiny of the tax from both
groups.
Even if the council
passes the tax, Kerns said
it would be subject to a ref-
erendum petition, which
would throw the issue to
the November ballot if
successful.
The new lodging tax
would also be subject to
state law that requires cit-
ies to direct only 30% to the
general fund while the rest
must go to support a tour-
ist-related facility.
To ensure all the hotel
tax money goes toward
roads, City Manager Robb
Corbett said the city could
swap revenue the Pendleton
Convention Center earns
from fees and services with
the hotel tax revenues.
Corbett told the coun-
cil he wanted more time to
study the issue before com-
ing back to the council with
a recommendation.
Other factors
The plan also includes
cutting $110,000 from the
general fund budget to
free up more money for
road repair. The council
will begin meeting about
the 2020-21 budget in the
spring.
Turner said a committee
will begin meeting to dis-
cuss an event ticket fee on
Thursday.
The council previ-
ously discussed the idea as
another road revenue gener-
ator, but members held off
on it after facing opposition
from organizations like the
Pendleton Round-Up Asso-
ciation and Stadium Enter-
tainment, the company
behind Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest.
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Council starts planning out
when to start new street taxes
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BRIEFLY
Hermiston mayor
fi les for re-election
East Oregonian