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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Caution: ‘If everyone got vaccinated, we wouldn’t have a problem’
ing what was happening (in
Western Oregon), but appar-
ently not.”
Continued from Page A1
a week like that. Because of
the two-week rolling average,
it hurts you for the long run.
Hopefully, we can get the
numbers down next week,
but they would have to go
down a lot.”
Due to its population,
Umatilla County would
need to report fewer than 82
COVID-19 cases between
April 18 and May 1 to remain
at moderate risk, officials
said.
At high risk, restaurants,
religious establishments
and fitness facilities would
remain open but only at 25%
indoor capacity. Grocery
stores and other retail estab-
lishments can also remain
open at 50%, according to
the state.
“I don’t know how much
longer our restaurants and
(businesses) can afford a
roller coaster,” Murdock said.
“They’ve had an awfully
long year. If we were to go to
a higher (risk) level and cut
down on restaurant capacity,
I don’t know how many more
times they can do it.”
Fourth wave
The spike reflects state-
wide trends as reported
cases and hospitalizations
are spiking. New daily cases
have increased by approxi-
What’s at stake
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Vehicles pass through a Umatilla County Public Health COVID-19 mass vaccination site in
Pendleton on March 26, 2021.
mately 55% in the past two
weeks and 150% in the past
month, and now, more than
half of the state’s counties
are at high risk for COVID-
19 transmission, according to
the Oregon Health Authority
as of April 20.
The number of Orego-
nians hospitalized with
COVID-19 has also increased
by 49% in the past two
weeks, topping the national
average of 10%. Over the past
month, hospitalizations have
increased by roughly 140%,
according to The Oregonian/
OregonLive.
Murdock said contact
tracers from the Umatilla
Count y Public Health
Department have reported
cases predominantly stem-
ming from social gather-
ings, including weddings and
family gatherings. He added
that the majority of cases are
being reported from young
people between the ages of
20 and 40.
“We simply have to get
our numbers back down,” he
said. “We’re having too many
gatherings. People are kind
of letting their guard down,
if you will, and up go the
numbers. And that’s going to
have a long-term impact. So
we thought we were escap-
If cases do not begin to
decline soon, officials are
concerned that major summer
events like the Pendleton
Whisky Music Fest and the
Pendleton Round-Up could
be canceled, laying a burden
on local businesses that rely
heavily on the economic
benefit brought by the events.
“These events have to
make commitments a long
time in advance,” Murdock
said. “Round-Up alone is
worth about $65 million to
our community. We lost it
last year, I don’t think we
can afford to lose it this year.
That’s my fear.”
Murdock added that
Whisky Fest likely has “a
matter of weeks” before a
decision will have to be made.
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner John Shafer said he sees
one solution — the vaccine.
“People are wanting to
open up and everything else,
and we have a perfect driver
for that in getting vaccina-
tions,” he said. “Then we see
how many people are coming
to the vaccination sites, it kind
of surprises me. Everybody
wants our county to open up
fully and they want to have
Round-Up and Whisky Fest
and all these things, and yet
there’s not a very big showing
at the vaccination sites.”
Murdock said the number
of people showing to get
vaccinated at county clin-
ics is continuing to decline,
describing the choice to do so
as “mind boggling.”
“If everyone got vacci-
nated, we wouldn’t have a
problem,” he said. “But we
have people not choosing to
do so, so this is what our world
looks like.”
Shafer said he believes that
political beliefs have loomed
too large in the decision to get
vaccinated.
“It was designed under
a Republican administra-
tion. And now a Democrat
administration is pushing it
out,” he said. “I can’t figure
out why this is such a polar-
izing vaccination. You didn’t
see this with the flu vaccina-
tion. People either got it or
they didn’t. There was no big
political discussion about it.”
Shafer said he would
“highly encourage” that
people get vaccinated so that
“we can get our numbers back
down.”
“There are several events
that have already been
canceled, and I can’t stand
to see any more get canceled
because of something that
might be preventable with the
vaccine,” he said.
Repairs: Completion expected next month
Continued from Page A1
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Irrigation equipment sprays down a field along Stanfield
Meadows Road west of Stanfield on Wednesday, April 21,
2021.
Drought: March was
sixth driest month on
record for the county
Continued from Page A1
either extreme or severe
drought conditions, accord-
ing to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration.
Shafer said he expects
even more counties to
join Umatilla and declare
droughts in the coming
weeks.
“As the summer months
are coming closer and
closer, I think we’re going
to see some serious prob-
lems for our farmers and I
want to do everything we
can to protect them,” he
said.
Dry conditions
Some areas of the
county have recently
reported conditions that
rival the driest in recorded
history, according to Mari-
lyn Lohman, a hydrologist
for the National Weather
Service in Pendleton. Other
areas, like in the Blue
Mountains, are not report-
ing drought conditions, but
Dorran noted that’s mainly
due to the county’s complex
geography.
Despite the momentary
relief brought by winter
storms in February, the
month of March in Umatilla
County was the sixth driest
on record in Pendleton and
the second driest in Hermis-
ton, according to Lohman.
Since the first of October
2020, precipitation in both
Pendleton and Hermiston
has been reported lower
than normal.
“January was below
normal. December was
below normal,” Lohman
said. “Outside of February,
most of our whole winter,
and the season where we
do normally see precipita-
tion, has been well below
normal.”
Lohman added that
temperatures in the early
winter were also higher than
normal, which prevented
soil moisture from making
a full recovery during the
winter months. Then, windy
conditions in March “didn’t
allow any moisture to soak
into the soil and then pulled
moisture out too,” she said.
Now, the month of April
is shaping up to be one of the
driest on record, though rain
forecast this weekend could
shift the county’s fortunes,
Lohman said.
“If it starts raining,
you’re going to hear the
farmers go, ‘That’s a million
dollar rain,’” Shafer said.
“Because without it, it’s
going to cost them a lot of
money, but with that rain
it’s going to bring in some
money.”
Last fall, Public Works
Superintendent Brian Stead-
man told the city the old
coating had to be stripped
completely, new heat pumps
added and a thermal cover
purchased.
That way the pool can
be kept filled with water
just above freezing level all
winter to keep the plaster
stable.
Indeed, that’s the way it
should have always been,
Hall would learn, but that
was unknown when the pool
was built in 1996.
Nor was that informa-
tion in the operating manual,
council member Ed Chesnut
pointed out in September
2020.
The Milton-Freewa-
ter pool has been routinely
emptied after each swim
season.
The resulting freezing and
thawing had done the most
damage to the plaster, Stead-
man said. Hall noted the cost
of keeping the pool water
at above freezing is “pretty
minimal,” even in very cold
weather.
Keeping the pool filled
will preserve a new coating
for another 20 years, Stead-
man predicted.
While council members
NIE
voiced concern at the cost,
they also acknowledged
the facility’s importance in
the community and called
reopening the pool “a high-
est priority.”
The repair bill will have
to come from a loan against
already existing tax revenue,
they said.
In December 2020, the
city council approved a
contract of $149,203 with
Anderson Perry & Associ-
ates engineering services
for resurfacing work and to
replace broken and missing
tile.
Last week, Steadman
approached the council again,
saying inspection had shown
the grating around all sides
of the pool was weakened
and broken in several places.
Fixing that required another
$23,491 for an amended total
repair contract of $172,694,
to which the council unani-
mously agreed.
The city will again
Parks:
Continued from Page A1
commission meeting, Pend-
leton Parks and Recreation
Director Liam Hughes
explained some of the latest
setbacks.
Hughes told the commis-
sion the department had orig-
inally intended to use rubber
tiles as the flooring for the
two new playgrounds it was
installing. But after learn-
ing about the difficulty of
self-installing the tiles and
a glue shortage forcing the
tile supplier to cancel its
order with the city, Hughes
Sponsor List:
Newspapers In Education
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin/Contributed Photo
Anderson Poolworks employees Arnel Macans, left, and Matt
Marcantonio blast off the aged and failing coating surface of
the Joe Humbert Family Aquatic Center in Milton-Freewater.
Project engineer Kevin Palmer said the next step is shoot-
ing on the new plaster, which will be shiny white with a blue
quartz speckle. “It will be really smooth and feel really good
to walk on,” Palmer said.
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.
Corbett
Hughes
was now recommending the
commission purchase “pour-
in-place” rubber flooring
instead of the tiles.
The city put the project
back out to bid, and the lowest
bid is more than $70,000
higher than the cost of rubber
tiles.
Hughes said this latest
expenditure would allow the
city to finish most of the reno-
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
Innes
Turner
vations, including the new
playgrounds and the splash
pad, but he was preparing
to hold off on building a dog
park and downgrading the
fencing used throughout the
park to keep the project in line
with its $575,000 budget.
The project has already
suffered from some financial
complications, with some of
the costs associated with the
contract with the Walla Walla
YMCA for staffing, which
allows the public pool to open
earlier in the season and stay
open longer, Hall said.
As well, the facility will
be overseen for the 2021
swim season by a certified
pool operator. That person is
qualified to manage weekly
water testing, inspection and
maintenance of pumps, filters
and chemical levels.
It makes the most sense to
let the YMCA make that hire,
the city manager said.
The lifeguard and pool
operator staffing agreement
with the YMCA will total
$81,710 for the season of 102
days.
The labor budget is a
savings to the city of about
$6,000 per season, Hall said,
and the availability of certi-
fied lifeguards means the
pool can offer more private
rentals, raising more revenue.
If COVID-19 or other
issues once again force early
closure, the city will not
have to pay for services not
rendered, she added.
In her report to city coun-
cil, Hall emphasized that city
staff is determined 2021 will
be a “full, fun season” and is
working to see it becomes a
reality.
Pool repairs are expected
to wrap up in mid-May.
playgrounds and tree removal
coming in higher than
expected. Hughes said his
staff would begin looking into
grants and other alternative
sources of revenue to fund
the park, but City Manager
Robb Corbett suggested the
commission just cover the
$22,000 cost out of its urban
renewal budget.
Mayor John Turner said
he wanted to see a proposal
before giving it the green
light, while Councilor Carole
Innes also wanted to see an
estimate for retaining the
quality of the fencing.
Ultimately, the commis-
sion unanimously approved
the new flooring bid.