REGION
Saturday, March 20, 2021

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East Oregonian
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Hermiston Chamber announces new CEO
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Kris-
tina Olivas has been chosen
as the Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce’s new chief exec-
utive offi cer.
The chamber’s board of
directors announced the hire
in an email to members on
Friday, March 19. Olivas will
start work on Tuesday, March
30.
According to the news
release,
Olivas comes
to the cham-
ber from the
Wa l m a r t
Distribution
Center i n
Olivas
Hermiston,
where she
spent the past fi ve years as
human resources offi ce and
training manager, providing,
“counseling, coaching and
leadership to nearly 1,000
employees.” Before that, she
worked for Oregon Potato
Company and Wilcox Furni-
ture.
She was born and raised in
Hermiston, is fl uent in English
and Spanish and is a mother to
three children.
Annette Kirkpatrick,
chamber board president,
said in a statement that the
board felt Olivas brought the
skills, experience and person-
ality needed to connect with a
diverse and growing commu-
nity.
Hermiston City Hall demolished
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HER MISTON
—
Contractors began tearing
down Hermiston’s former city
hall on Wednesday, March 17,
to make way for a new city
hall in the same location.
The building was origi-
nally built as a bank in 1965.
According to the Hermiston
Herald’s archives, the city
purchased the building in June
1986 from Benjamin Frank-
lin Western Heritage Bank for
$365,000 before remodeling
it and holding a public open
house for the new city hall in
March 1987.
Since then, the city’s popu-
lation has roughly doubled.
At the beginning of 2019,
the Hermiston City Council
concluded, “Prepare prelim-
inary general concept for
City Hall in current location,”
citing lack of space to fi t all
city staff in the current build-
ing, as well as poor accessibil-
ity for people with mobility
issues.
In December 2019, a fi re
burned the building’s HVAC
system and caused smoke
damage throughout the build-
ing, according to the city, and
city councilors voted to push
ahead with building a new
city hall sooner than expected
rather than put money into
repairing the old building.
The new city hall, planned
for the current space where the
old building is being demol-
ished, will be three stories
and include not only space for
city staff , but the new home
of the municipal court and
offi ce space for some Umatilla
County departments.
The construction bid was
awarded to Griffi n Construc-
tion, of The Dalles, for $8.66
million. The cost includes
construction of the new city
hall building and new parking
lot, as well as replacement of
two blocks of aging water and
sewer lines near city hall and
renovation of the municipal
parking lot across Northeast
Second Street.
Until construction is
complete, most city staff are
located in the old Carnegie
Library or basement of the
Hermiston Public Library.
The ballot drop box previ-
ously located at city hall has
been moved to the Staff ord
Hansell Government Center.
“We are impressed with
Kristina’s energy, work
history and love of commu-
nity,” she said. “She has
a natural ability to listen
and connect with others.
We expect Kristina to not
only continue our success-
ful programs, but to work
with members, partners and
community stakeholders to
bring our Chamber to a new
level of service.”
Olivas said her career goals
have always been to develop
Port of Morrow.
In her new position, Olivas
will be tasked with building
relationships with chamber
members, planning events
and programs, coordinating
the chamber’s committees,
and managing other parts
of the chamber’s day to day
operations. She will also help
lead eff orts toward building
the chamber’s new offices
planned for the intersection of
South Highway 395 and East
Evelyn Avenue.
personal and professional rela-
tionships, while building up
the community she loves.
“I feel excitement and
pride,” she said of her new
job. “I’m so proud to be on the
front lines in representing the
businesses of Hermiston.”
Olivas takes the helm at the
chamber after the departure of
Kimberly Rill, who was hired
in April 2019 and resigned on
Feb. 12, to take a new job as
the education and workforce
training coordinator for the
City council to discuss duplex zoning
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston City Council
will hold a 90-minute work
session about zoning rules for
duplexes on Monday, March
22, before its regular meet-
ing.
A law passed by the
Oregon Legislature in 2019
requires all cities with a
population of between
10,000 and 25,000 to allow
duplexes in all zones that also
allow single-family homes.
Hermiston’s R-1 zone does
not currently allow duplexes.
According to a memo
from City Planner Clint
Spencer in the agenda packet,
the state is also requiring that
cities not impose additional
restrictions on duplexes
beyond what is required for
single-family homes. That
means the city will need
to make decisions on stan-
dards, such as lot sizes, about
whether to hold single-family
homes to the current duplex
standard, hold duplexes to the
current single-family home
standard, or create a new
standard somewhere in the
middle.
The work session on
zoning will take place at
5:30 p.m. at the Hermiston
Community Center, 415 S.
Highway 395. The regular
city council meeting will
take place afterward, starting
at 7 p.m. Both meetings will
also be livestreamed on the
city of Hermiston YouTube
page.
During the regular coun-
cil meeting, councilors will
discuss acceptance of a
Federal Aviation Admin-
istration grant of up to $2.5
million for reconstruction
of the Hermiston Municipal
Airport’s apron for aircraft
parking. The city has access
to a grant from the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion to cover most of the 10%
local match, according to the
agenda packet.
The council will also
review and adopt the report
of the council’s 2021 goal-set-
ting session.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Columbia Basin
Bioscience gains
certifi cation
HERMISTON — Colum-
bia Basin Bioscience, a CBD
extraction company based in
Hermiston, announced on
Wednesday, March 17, that it
has received a Current Good
Manufacturing Practice
certifi cation.
The CGMP is in “manu-
facturing, packaging, label-
ing, or holding operations for
dietary supplements” stan-
dards, awarded by AIB Inter-
national.
According to a news
release from Columbia Basin
Bioscience, the certifica-
tion “is a key indicator that
a company adheres to strin-
gent protocols to ensure a
safe, consistent and quality
product.”
The business has more
than 2,000 acres of USDA
organic farmland for grow-
ing hemp and a processing
facility that extracts CBD
from the hemp, to be used in
a variety of products. Accord-
ing to the news release, the
company employs 50 people
and currently extracts thou-
sands of CBD isolate per
month.
CEO Alan Cleaver said in
a statement that the company
believes the hemp industry is
lacking consistent, high-qual-
ity biomass like that produced
by Columbia Basin Biosci-
ence.
“GMP certifi cation isn’t
easy or even required in the
hemp industry, but it’s some-
thing we believe in. We are
very proud of our company’s
processes and dedication to
quality.” he said.
Columba Basin Biosci-
ence co-founder Sean Groer
said in the news release that
so far humans have “only
begun to scratch the surface”
of what is possible with hemp.
Open seat on
Boardman
commission
BOARDMAN — The city
of Boardman is looking to fi ll
an open seat on its planning
commission, according to a
press release.
T he com mission is
made up of seven members
appointed by the city council.
The group advises the council
on planning and development
within Boardman, including
land use and zoning matters
like plan amendments, zone
changes, conditional use
permits, variances, and tenta-
tive subdivision projects, the
press release said.
The group holds meet-
ings on the third Wednesday
of each month at Boardman
City Hall at 7 p.m. People
interested in the position
must live within city limits.
The term lasts through Dec.
31, the press release said.
Those interested should
send an email to Commu-
nity Development Director
Barry Beyeler at bbeyeler@
cityof boardman.com, or a
letter to Boardman City Hall,
P.O. Box 229, Boardman, OR
97818.
Hermiston resident
appointed to state
board
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown’s latest submission of
names for state Senate confi r-
mation includes Michael
Erickson of Hermiston.
Erickson’s name was
submitted for a four-year
term on the Respiratory
Therapist and Polysomno-
graphic Technologist Licens-
ing Board. He would replace
Tony Garberg.
— EO Media Group
3/19- 3/25
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