REGION
Saturday, January 25, 2020
East Oregonian
A3
Pilot Rock police responses
see an increase in 2019
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
EO fi le photo
A pair of students enjoy breakfast before class in September 2018 at Armand Larive Middle
School in Hermiston. The school, along with Sandstone Middle School, will soon have a
dedicated school resource offi cer roaming the halls of the schools next year.
Hermiston police to add
third school resource offi cer
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — A new
face will be roaming the
halls of Hermiston’s two
middle schools next year.
The Hermiston Police
Department will soon hire
a third school resource offi -
cer to work at Sandstone
and Armand Larive middle
schools. Police Chief Jason
Edmiston said that the exist-
ing offi cers are overloaded
due to the district’s popu-
lation, and adding another
will allow them to focus
more closely on students
who are at a “pivotal age.”
”Our goal is to make sure
schools remain a safe envi-
ronment for kids to learn,”
he said. “We’re extremely
happy to be in the schools.
The funding component of
it makes it compelling for
us.”
Offi cer Betty Nava has
worked in Hermiston’s ele-
mentary schools since 2016,
and Offi cer Chris McMa-
hon has worked in Herm-
iston’s secondary schools
since 2017. He will narrow
his focus to just Hermiston
High School next year.
The district contracts
with the city, and pays
75% of the total cost to
employ school resource
offi cers, a fi gure that totals
between about $198,300
and $204,100 for both offi -
cers this budget year.
‘We’ve known we’ve
needed another resource
offi cer for a long time. I’m
looking forward to budget-
ing a new offi cer in,” said
Hermiston Finance Director
Mark Krawczyk.
Edmiston said the offi -
cers work full time in the
schools, and take more
time off during the summer
months, but will still take
calls and assist with cases.
“We try to manage best
as possible the work they do
during the summertime,”
Edmiston said. “If they do
patrol, we really consider
what they are sent out to.”
Hermiston School Dis-
trict has had at least one
school
resource
offi -
cer since the mid-1990s,
Edmiston said, but having
three resource offi cers is a
new concept.
According to the police
department’s annual report,
Nava interacts with parents
and teachers, handles traffi c
complaints, works with the
principals and assists with
truancy issues. Edmiston
said she frequently makes
herself present in the cafete-
ria during lunch time.
“When we start at the
elementary, it’s a good way
for our young kids to inter-
act with a police offi cer and
understand what they do,”
said Hermiston School Dis-
trict Superintendent Tricia
Mooney.
McMahon is assigned to
all secondary schools, but
Edmiston said he spends
most of his time at the high
school.
“The roles really are dif-
ferent in the sense that the
ages of the kids are differ-
ent,” Edmiston said. “We
try to be proactive at the
high school, but a lot of
times his role is reactive.”
At a high school level,
McMahon also enforces
truancy laws, teaches on
safety topics and handles
the criminal side of juvenile
activity.
“Ultimately, the building
administrator can handle
school district issues, and
the school resource offi cer
can deal with the legal side
of that,” Mooney said.
The offi cers might be
found at school-based
events, like football games
at Kennison Field.
The police department
has yet to hire the new
resource offi cer, but Edmis-
ton said the agency will look
for and likely fi ll the posi-
tion with someone already
working at the department,
a move that would result
in the hire of a new police
offi cer.
“I think career growth
within our department is
important. We do have peo-
ple in the house that myself
and my supervisors believe
can fi ll the position,” he
said.
This summer, all three
offi cers and their super-
visor, administrative Cpt.
Travis Eynon, will attend
the National Association of
School Resource Offi cers
conference in Dallas, Texas.
The association describes
the role of a school resource
offi cer as a “triad” — an
educator, an informal coun-
selor and a law enforcement
offi cer.
Stanfi eld and Echo
school districts share a com-
munity resource offi cer.
Milton-Freewater School
District gained a resource
offi cer at the beginning of
this school year, and Pend-
leton currently has one as
well.
PILOT ROCK — Pilot
Rock police saw an increase
in total incident responses
for the third consecutive
year in 2019, according to
the annual incident report
presented by Police Chief
Bill Caldera at the city coun-
cil meeting on Tuesday.
The
department
responded to 3,006 total
incidents in 2019, a slight
increase from the depart-
ment’s
2,995
incident
responses in 2018.
In the two years since
adding a third full-time
offi cer to the department,
Pilot Rock police have
nearly doubled its incident
responses per year. The
department has averaged
just over 3,000 responses
between 2018 and 2019,
compared with the average
of 1,596 responses in 2016
and 2017.
Caldera said on Thurs-
day that there was nothing
in particular that stood out
in this year’s report aside
from slight increases in
some incident types.
“It seems like we had our
fair share of domestic vio-
lence incidents,” Caldera
said Thursday. “Drug activ-
ity is increasing, and code
enforcement was a priority.”
The report shows Pilot
Rock police responded to 23
domestic disturbance inci-
dents in 2019, which is only
one more than the depart-
ment’s 22 responses in both
2017 and 2018.
Responses to drug activ-
ity were the highest they’ve
been in the last four years,
though the 11 incidents in
2019 were just a couple
more than the nine incidents
police responded to in both
2017 and 2018.
Code enforcement was
one of the largest increases,
with the report showing
police logged 110 code inci-
dents in 2019 compared
with 71 in 2018. In 2016 and
2017 prior to hiring its third
offi cer, Pilot Rock police
logged a combined 58 code
incidents.
More than anything else,
Pilot Rock police conducted
884 area checks in 2019.
BRIEFLY
County sets hearing
date for fi re
district merger
PENDLETON — The
proposal merging four east-
ern Umatilla County fi re
districts into one is on track
to appear on the May ballot.
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
called a special meeting on
Friday afternoon in Pendle-
ton to offi cially set a Feb. 24
hearing date to discuss unit-
ing the rural fi re districts
of East Umatilla and Helix,
the Athena Volunteer Fire
Department, and the East
Umatilla County Ambu-
lance Area Health District.
The date was set with
a second hearing date of
March 18 in mind, which
will be confi rmed at the
fi rst hearing. In order to
appear on the May ballot,
the county must hold two
public hearings on the pro-
posal before the March 19
deadline.
The proposal would com-
bine emergency response
services and taxing districts
for the cities of Athena,
Helix, Weston and Adams.
The move would keep the
current tax rate for East
Umatilla’s fi re and ambu-
lance district and raise the
tax rate for the districts in
Athena and Helix to match
it.
The agencies are already
headquartered
together
at the Weston fi re station
and utilize a joint board
comprised of members of
each agency. However, the
merger could yield $120,000
in additional tax funding for
the agencies.
In addition to the two
county hearings, there will
be nine town halls held
throughout the four cities
between Jan. 29 and May 11.
Local government
grant committee
needs members
SALEM — The Ore-
gon Parks and Recreation
Department is looking for
qualifi ed candidates to
apply to the agency’s Local
Government Grant Pro-
gram Advisory Committee,
according to a press release.
There are two openings,
one for a county represen-
tative east of the Cascades,
and another for a citizen
representative for the pub-
lic at large.
The grant program is
funded by the Oregon Lot-
tery and awards about $6
million to community out-
door recreation projects
throughout the state each
year.
The committee meets
for three days in Salem
each June to review proj-
ect applications and recom-
mend funding recipients to
the Oregon State Parks and
Recreation Commission.
Committee members typi-
cally serve four-year terms
Hermiston City Council to consider eminent domain
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston City Council will
discuss the possible use of
eminent domain Monday for
a realignment of the inter-
section of Geer, Harper and
River roads.
The confusing Y-shaped
intersection west of Home
Depot, which presents driv-
ers with three closely spaced
stop signs as it crosses over
railroad tracks, is the most
expensive street project on
the city’s fi ve-year capital
improvement plan, at $1.5
million.
City engineers from
Anderson Perry & Associ-
ates have been working since
2018 on a design for the inter-
section. The agenda packet
for Monday’s meeting shows
three possible designs for the
realignment, and all three
utilize two parcels located
on the northeast side of the
intersection.
According to a memo
to councilors by Assistant
City Manager Mark Mor-
gan, a 2019 appraisal of the
0.81 acres of land valued it
at $65,000. He lists reasons
that other alignments aren’t
feasible — using the railroad
right-of-way on the north-
west side creates a “very
extreme angle” for south-
bound vehicles on Geer
Road, for example.
City councilors will be
asked Monday to vote on a
resolution that would declare
the parcels necessary for the
project, allowing the city to
force the property owner to
sell even if they don’t want
to. The memo does not
include information about
the current property owner
“It’s essentially a secu-
rity check,” Caldera said of
area checks. “We do every-
thing we can do to prevent
burglaries and incidents
like that.”
He noted that these have
seemingly worked, as the
department logged only
one burglary in 2019 after
responding to at least six
each of the last three years.
The 389 traffi c stops con-
ducted by Pilot Rock police
accounted for the next high-
est incident type in 2019,
according to the report.
“Having a highway that
comes through town gen-
erates most of those stops,”
Caldera said. “I’d say about
80% of the time those stops
are of people trying to get
from point A to point B. It’s
rarely locals.”
While having a third offi -
cer has made a difference in
the department’s response
capabilities, Caldera also
announced on Tuesday
that the department will be
without one of its offi cers,
who is on medical leave due
to a nonwork related injury,
until at least April 1.
or whether the city has
already approached them
about selling.
On Monday, the coun-
cil will also discuss some
changes to the city’s code
of ordinances, as part of an
ongoing effort to update
it chapter by chapter. This
week’s chapters are on gar-
bage and public contracts.
The garbage chapter adds
updated rules about handling
of infectious waste. Proposed
revisions to the public con-
tracts chapter include clarify-
ing language on confl icts of
interest and allowing the city
and are required to review
the grant applications ahead
of the yearly meeting along
with attending the meeting
in June.
The release states that
qualifi ed candidates will
have a demonstrated inter-
est in outdoor recre-
ation. Interested candi-
dates should contact Mark
Cowan, OPRD grant pro-
gram coordinator, and
request an interest form at
mark.cowan@oregon.gov
or 503-986-0591.
— EO Media Group
1/25-1/26
Cineplex Show Times
$5 Classic Movie
Showing Wednesday @ 12p
Joe Versus the Volcano
Little Women (PG)
1:00p* 6:40p
Jojo Rabbit (PG13)
4:00p 9:40p
Dolittle (PG)
12:00p* 2:20p*
4:40p 7:00p 9:20p
Bad Boys for Life (R)
1:10p* 4:20p 7:10p 9:50p
1917 (R)
1:30p* 4:10p 6:50p 9:30p
Jumanji: The Next Level
(PG13) 1:40p* 4:30p 7:20p
Like a Boss (R) 10:00p
* Matinee Pricing
wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
1/27-1/28
Cineplex Show Times
$5 Classic Movie
Showing Wednesday @ 12p
IF YOU GO
What: Hermiston City
Council
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: 235 E. Gladys
Ave., basement of Herm-
iston Public Library
Online: Agenda packet
can be found online at
hermiston.or.us/meet-
ings.
Joe Versus the Volcano
Little Women (PG)
6:40p
Jojo Rabbit (PG13)
4:00p 9:40p
Dolittle (PG)
4:40p 7:00p 9:20p
Bad Boys for Life (R)
4:20p 7:10p 9:50p
1917 (R)
4:10p 6:50p 9:30p
Jumanji: The Next Level (PG13)
4:30p 7:20p
to give preference to com-
panies based in Oregon or
using recycled materials.
Like a Boss (R) 10:00p
* Matinee Pricing
wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
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