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Saturday, March 13, 2021

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East Oregonian
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New councilor hopes to uphold legacy
Milton-Freewater
council appoints
Damien Reino to
fill vacancy left
when Verl Presnall
died Oct. 14, 2020
By SHEILA HAGAR
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Damien Reino is well
aware he will have to make
his mark as the city’s newest
council member through
dedication and work.
Reino was appointed on
Monday, March 8, to fill the
vacancy left when Verl Pres-
nall died Oct. 14, 2020, while
he was running unopposed
for reelection to his at-large
city council position.
In its first in-person
meeting for nearly a year,
city council met with Reino
and another applicant, Wes
Koklich, at the Milton-Free-
water Community Building.
Council member Ed Chesnut
said in February’s meeting
he was too “old fashioned”
to consider helping choose
Pressnall’s replacement via
a Zoom meeting.
Appointment now in
hand, Reino is ready to start
representing his soon-to-be
constituents, he said on Tues-
day, March 9.
With a background that
includes military service
and law enforcement, teach-
ing adult basic education and
serving on a diversity advi-
sory council, Reino, 41, feels
up to a new challenge.
After moving his family
here four years ago to take
advantage of lower home
Sheila Hagar/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Outside his 1916 home in North Milton-Freewater, newly ap-
pointed city council member Damien Reino discussed home
renovations and hopes for his family and chosen community
on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.
prices, Reino fell in love with
the community.
The small-town friend-
liness is apparent when he
and his family walk into any
store. He likes that teachers
here generally have smaller
class sizes and local recre-
ation opportunities give chil-
dren things to do, he said.
All those assets make
it harder to witness the
Merkley touts American Rescue Plan benefits
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — Morrow
County Commissioner Jim
Doherty was one of several
people from around the state
who helped Sen. Jeff Merkley
tout the benefits of the newest
COVID-19 stimulus package
on a video call with Oregon
journalists on Friday, March
12.
President Joe Biden signed
the $1.9 trillion American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on
Thursday, March 11. The plan
provides billions of dollars for
COVID-19 vaccinations and
testing, along with money for
state and local governments,
additional financial aid for
businesses and relief for indi-
viduals that includes stimu-
lus checks of up to $1,400,
large child tax credits and
increased amounts for unem-
ployment checks.
Merkley called the plan
“one of the most progressive
and transformative pieces
Merkley
Boise
of legislation since the New
Deal.” While the country isn’t
out of the woods yet with the
pandemic, he said, the Amer-
ican Rescue Plan will help put
its effects in the past.
“This bill will put checks
in Americans’ pockets, shots
in their arms, kids back in our
classrooms, and open signs in
the windows of businesses —
small businesses across Main
Street and across America,”
he said.
During the call, Doherty
thanked Merkley for his work
in including direct payments
to local governments so that
they could determine how
best to help their residents.
With the previous stim-
ulus package of CARES
Act funds,
Doherty said
there was too
much of a
one-size-fits-
all approach
from state
Doherty
off icials
doling out
funds. While some coun-
ties’ economies were devas-
tated by the loss of tourism
dollars for their restaurants
and hotels, Morrow County
residents are mostly essential
workers in the agricultural
and food processing indus-
tries, and had different needs,
he said.
“When we got the funds
in they said, ‘Use this on
your restaurants and hospi-
talities,’ and you know, as
broad and diverse in all the
things we’ve got going on,
you can’t buy a pair of socks
in Morrow County,” he said.
“So what might fit for another
county really didn’t fit here.
We needed to get our message
out to our essential workers
and get it out to our Hispanic
population.”
One thing being president
of the Association of Oregon
Counties last year taught him,
Doherty said, is “if you’ve
seen one county, you’ve seen
one county.”
Curry County Commis-
sioner Court Boise, also on
the call, echoed Doherty’s
sentiments, calling the distri-
bution plan in the American
Recovery Plan a more equi-
table plan for rural Oregon.
He said there have been some
“hard feelings” in Oregon
with how previous stimulus
money was distributed (or in
some cases, not distributed) to
local governments.
Representatives from
other parts of the state spoke
to how the anticipated funds
from the new law will help
provide vaccine informa-
tion in Spanish, allow fami-
ly-owned entertainment
venues to stay in business or
help restaurants recover from
past shutdowns.
Deadline to run in May election is March 18
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Although federal, state
and municipal elections are
decided in even-number
years, dozens of local races
will be up for election on May
18.
Seats on every school
board in the county will be up
for election, as well as vari-
ous taxing districts that cover
services like fire protection,
parks and recreation, and
cemeteries. The filing dead-
line for these seats is Thurs-
day, March 18.
At the Pendleton School
District, all the incumbents up
for reelection — school board
members Steve Umbarger of
Position 1, Gary George of
Position 4 and Debbie McBee
of Position 7 — are retiring
from the board.
According to the Umatilla
County Elections website,
three people have filed to run,
but two are running against
each other.
Chris Garrigues, a math
teacher at Hermiston High
School, is running against
Patrick Gregg, an attorney
at Pendleton law firm Corey,
Byler & Rew, for Position 7.
Rodney Thompson, a retired
lieutenant colonel in the U.S.
Army Reserve, is currently
running unopposed for Posi-
tion 1.
Like all other school
districts in the county, all
Pendleton School Board seats
are at-large and anyone can
run for any position as long
as they reside in the district’s
boundaries.
In Hermiston, the seats
belonging to Karen Sher-
man, Mark Gomolski, Bryan
Medelez and Brent Pitney are
all up for election. Sherman
and Pitney are running for
new terms in Position 6 and
Position 4, respectively. Dain
Gardner, a senior trooper
with the Oregon State Police,
is running for Position 3, the
Sponsor List:
NIE
Newspapers In Education
A & G Property Management &
Maintenance
Barton Laser Leveling
Blue Mountain Community College
Blue Mountain Diagnostic Imaging
CHI St. Anthony Hospital
CMG Financial
CMG Financial
Columbia Point Equipment Company
Corteva Agriscience
Davita Blue Mountain Kidney Center
Desire For Healing Inc
Duchek Construction
Hill Meat Company
Jeremy J Larson DMD LLC
Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co.
seat held by Gomolski.
If no one files for an open
seat, the winner of the write-in
vote will be offered the seat.
If they decline, the board can
appoint someone to the seat.
Besides school boards,
all fire districts, ceme-
tery districts, water control
districts and parks and recre-
ation districts will also be
on the ballot. Other taxing
districts with elections
include the boards that govern
Blue Mountain Community
College, the Umatilla County
Special Library District, the
Port of Umatilla, and the
Umatilla Morrow Radio &
Data District.
Kopacz Nursery & Florist
Landmark Tax Services
McEntire Dental
McKay Creek Estates
NW Metal Fabricators Inc
Pendleton KOA
RE/MAX Cornerstone
Rob Merriman Plumbing & Heating Inc
Starvation Ridge Farming, LLC
Sun Terrace Hermiston
Tum-A-Lum Lumber
Umatilla Electric Cooperative
Umatilla Electric Cooperative
WalMart
increasing decay around
Milton-Freewater, Reino
said, listing graffiti, fall-
ing down fences, broken
windows and empty store-
fronts he sees around the
town of about 7,000 people.
“I want to stop it before
it becomes irreversible,” he
said.
Reino said he would also
like to find ways the city can
flex the budget to fund more
police officers and firefight-
ers, he said, acknowledging
security of the community
ranks high with him.
Bringing back the city’s
popular recycling program
is on his list, too, Reino said,
and the idea is to find creative
ways to accomplish more
without adding taxes.
He brings into the job a
willingness to hear all sides
of an issue, he added, a
strength he developed from
years of working in hospi-
tality and customer service
industries.
“I am a very determined
and strong-minded person
that does not give in to polit-
ical pressures of left or right,
Reino said.
It doesn’t hurt that Reino,
along with wife Kristina
Reino, want Milton-Freewa-
ter to be at its best for their
little boy, Evan, a student
at Gib Olinger Elementary
School.
Reino will be officially
sworn in at the April city
council meeting, a date he’s
looking forward to, he said.
“I’m hoping to do right
by the people who voted for
Verl,” he said. “I understand
people didn’t vote for me and
I definitely am going to do
my best to earn this.”
LOCAL BRIEFING
Umatilla County
sheriff approved
to state board
SALEM — Umatilla
County Sheriff Ter r y
Rowan was among four
of f icials
approved
by G ov.
K a t e
Brown and
the Oregon
Senate
as new
me mb e r s
Rowan
of
the
Board on Public Safety
Standards and Training,
according to a press release.
As part of the Board,
Rowan will represent
the Oregon State Sher-
iff’s Association during a
three-year term beginning
Monday, March 15, the
press release said. Rowan
replaces Malheur County
Sheriff Brian Wolfe on the
board.
T he boa rd , wh ich
consists of 24 members
representing Oregon’s
public and private safety
professionals, establishes
training and certification
standards.
It also determines the
denial, suspension or
revocation of public and
private safety certifica-
tions and licenses for law
enforcement, fire service
personnel, telecommuni-
cators, emergency medi-
cal dispatchers, regulatory
specialists of the Oregon
Liquor Control Commis-
sion, private security
providers, private investiga-
tors, and polygraph exam-
iners, the press release said.
Meeting organized
for superintendent
candidates
IONE — The Ione
School District is invit-
ing district staff and the
community to meet the four
candidates for the district’s
superintendent position,
according to a press release.
The district will host a
Meet the Candidates event
on Thursday, March 18,
at 5 p.m. in the Ione High
School gymnasium, 445
Spring St., Ione. The candi-
dates — Kevin Dinning,
Daniel Koopman, Tracey
Johnson and Spencer Byrd
— will be on hand to speak
briefly to the entire audi-
ence, and then be available
to meet and answer ques-
tions with small groups.
Mask wearing and social
distancing will be enforced
during the event.
Dinning is a middle
school principal in Idaho,
while Koopman currently
is an instructional dean
at Southwestern Oregon
Com mu n it y College.
Johnson is the elementary
principal at Ione Commu-
nity Schools and Byrd is a
superintendent in Illinois.
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