REGION
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
HERMISTON
Lack of staff hits local DMV offi ces
nightmare whirlwind,” she
said.
ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — East-
ern Oregon residents were
frustrated and disappointed
Thursday, April 28, when they
found the Hermiston DMV
offi ce was closed.
Sarah Krebs of Ione was
there to update her driver’s
license.
“I came a long ways to
come here, and now it’s not
even open,” she said.
Her birthday is May 1, the
expiration date of her license.
The Pendleton DMV was
open, according to the DMV
website, and Krebs said she
would try it, as she got back
into her vehicle and left.
The posted hours on the
front door of the Hermiston
offi ce are Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m.
Still, the doors were locked
at 2:30 p.m. April 28.
“This offi ce is closed due to
staffi ng,” according to a sign
on the door.
The sign also guided
people to the Oregon Driver
& Motor Vehicle Services
website, oregondmv.com,
for more infor mation,
and it notified visitors to
check their email for more
information if they had
Problem remains after
reopening
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
The Hermiston DMV offi ce, 810 S. Highway 395, is not open
Thursday, April 28, 2022, during normal business hours, due
to lack of staff .
scheduled appointments.
The DMV website stated
the Heppner offi ce also was
closed April 28. There was no
further mention about when
they would reopen.
Another disappointed
person, Dominick Giefing,
had been waiting in front of
the Hermiston DMV at 810
S. Highway 395. He said he
had been at the offi ce the day
prior but was not able to get his
driver’s license because he had
forgotten his eyeglasses.
“This is the biggest incon-
venience ever,” he said. “They
should be open. DMVs don’t
help people. They just make
their lives harder.”
H is mot he r, M i n a
Edwards, was sitting with him
in her vehicle out in front of
the offi ce. They are both from
Ione.
She said they have been
through a lot of bureaucracy
on the road to get Giefi ng’s
license. She had tried the
DMV’s customer service
phone number, but had not
received help after half an
hour of being kept on hold.
“It’s been an unfortunate
Hermiston DMV reopened
April 30. The Heppner offi ce,
though, does not operate on
Fridays. DMV spokesperson
David House said the agency
is receiving a fraction of the
job applications it had in previ-
ous years and called the staff -
ing critical.
“We’re suff ering across the
state,” House said.
People are retiring or leav-
ing for other jobs, and not
enough new applicants are
stepping in to fi ll open posi-
tions, he said. The Medford
offi ce is at half its regular staff ,
and offi ces like the Hermiston
offi ce, which he said operates
with two or three workers,
can shut down when a single
person gets sick and has to stay
home.
There are 60 offi ces state-
wide, and many of them
are staffed by two or three
employees, including the
Hermiston offi ce, he said.
He added that all of the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation is facing this prob-
lem, not just the DMV.
House recommended that
people in need of services visit
the DMV website to see if they
can be helped that way.
Stanfi eld city manager strikes out on Warrenton job
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
Commissioners chose to
move on and terminate nego-
tiations.
WARRENTON — Stan-
“The city manager is a crit-
field City Manager Ben ical piece to the city’s leader-
Burgener is not going to be the ship, there’s no doubt about it.
next city manager of Warren- But we also need to make sure
that we’re not cutting services
ton.
The Warrenton City to just get the CEO in the C
Commission unanimously suite,” Balensifer said. “I
approved off ering the
don’t have any ill will
position to Burgener,
or any issues with Mr.
but now the Oregon
Burgener. I’m disap-
coastal town’s search
pointed that we’ve
continues for its next
reached this point but
city manager after
it is a tight job market,
contract negotiations
and housing is expen-
with the only fi nalist
sive and we are at
failed.
Burgener
where we’re at.”
Warrenton Mayor
The city made
Henry Balensifer, who was two off ers to Burgener, with
tasked with handling nego- the second off er being fi nal.
tiations, announced at a city Burgener made three coun-
commission meeting Tuesday teroffers, according to the
night, April 26, that several city, all higher than the city’s
off ers were made between budget and raising his asking
the parties, but Burgener’s amounts each time.
fi nal off er exceeded the city’s
Balensifer said Burgener’s
budget.
off ers, which were looking for
a base salary far higher than
the advertised amount, caught
the city off guard.
He also was looking for
signifi cant relocation benefi ts,
which the city couldn’t meet,
Balensifer said.
Balensifer was sympa-
thetic to concerns of housing,
but Burgener’s lesser experi-
ence and room to grow had to
be considered by the city in
the process, he added.
The city held several staff
and community receptions
with Burgener, as well as
panel interviews by commu-
nity leaders, public adminis-
trators, city department heads
and the city commission.
The feedback was positive
and unanimously supported
hiring Burgener, the city said
at the time.
Before being city manager
in Stanfi eld, Burgener was
the city administrator in Ada,
Minnesota, and the fi nance
manager and administrative
services manager for the Utah
Department of Transporta-
tion.
Burgener was set to
replace Linda Engbretson,
who announced her retire-
ment last year but agreed to
work on an interim basis until
her replacement was hired.
“I did just want to comment
that I’m disappointed that
negotiations didn’t work out
but I did want to assure this
commission, as I think you
all know, that you have some
quality staff,” Engbretson
said at the end of April 26
meeting. “Hopefully there
are some other options out
there as you move forward,
but your department heads
are hardworking individuals
who will hold the weight if it
comes down to that.”
Engbretson said she wants
to offi cially be out of the role
by July, but added the date is
fl exible if she knows someone
is coming in.
CTUIR hires new deputy executive directors
East Oregonian
MISSION — The Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation has hired
two new executive directors.
Jonetta Herrera started
Monday, April 25, and Shana
McConville-Radford starts
May 2, according to a press
release from the tribes.
“I look forward to having
both of these CTUIR tribal
members join our executive
management team and build
a solid working relationship
with the board of trustees,”
CTUIR Executive Director
Donald Sampson said in the
announcement.
Herrera has an educational
background in construction
and business administration
combined with work experi-
ence as a former department
director for CTUIR, and
McConville-Radford has a
law degree and has worked
in national and regional legis-
lative aff airs and served as
the Bureau of Indian Aff airs
superintendent for the Salish
Kootenai area.
According to the press
release, the tribes in 2019
hired Seattle-based account-
ing and consulting fi rm Moss
Adams to conduct a full
review of the CTUIR orga-
nizational structure. The
report identifi ed the need for
two deputy executive direc-
tor positions. The board of
trustees directed the Offi ce
of the Executive Director
to develop the positions to
report to the executive direc-
tor.
“The deputies will share
the responsibility of super-
vising 16 departments,”
according to the release.
“The updated organizational
structure will help CTUIR
meet the demands of the
tribal government.”
“I am very honored to
be chosen for this position,”
Herrera said in the press
release. “I look forward to
making a positive impact for
our community working with
the CTUIR team.”
Herrera holds a bache-
lor’s degree in construction
management with a minor in
business administration from
Central Washington Univer-
sity. She has more than 15
years of experience manag-
ing large projects often
involving multimillion-dol-
lar contracts.
“It is an exciting oppor-
tunity and important time to
meaningfully rebuild, recon-
nect and refocus our shared
organizational values, rela-
tionships, identity and
purpose to allow our people
and our organization to thrive
in a post-pandemic environ-
ment,” McConville-Rad-
ford said in the statement.
“I am committed to creating
and promoting an emotion-
ally safe environment where
employees and tribal citi-
zens are comfortable asking
questions, off ering ideas and
Got a great business idea
for downtown Pendleton?
are confi dent that their lead-
ers are present engaged, and
responsive,” she said in the
release.
Radford holds a bachelor’s
degree in political science
from Portland State Univer-
sity with a master’s in interna-
tional law from the University
of New South Wales.
Sampson also thanked
Matt Johnson and Teara
Farrow-Ferman, who served
as interim deputy execu-
tive directors for the past
year. Sampson said they will
assist Herrera and Radford
as they transition into their
new position.
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Matthew Cecil looks over paperwork April 22, 2022, in his
offi ce at Horace Mann Insurance in Hermiston. The paper-
work documents his eff orts in helping people manage
their student loan debts.
Local insurer
helps with
student debt
ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
H ER M ISTON —
Matthew Cecil said he is
helping free people from
student loan debt.
He is a licensed insur-
ance producer with Horace
Mann Insurance Company,
662 E. Main St., Hermiston.
“We work primarily
with educators,” he said.
“We have a service called
‘Student Loan Solutions.’
What it provides is a way
for the educators to obtain
student loan forgiveness
through federal programs
that are available.”
He said he will sit down
with a client for an assess-
ment, going over the size of
the debt, the types of loans
and determine eligibility for
forgiveness. Then, he will
assist with paperwork.
If he is not able to get the
loan totally forgiven, he said
he can often get a portion
forgiven or payments
reduced.
That consultation is
free, he said, and he can
help other public service
employees, too. If a person
works for a governmental
employer or a 501(c)3 tax-ex-
empt employer, they can
qualify. Other employees of
not-for-profi t organizations
also may be helped, he said.
He listed emergency
management, military,
public safety, law enforce-
ment, public legal services,
disability services, services
for the elderly, public health,
library services and other
school-based services as
professions covered by
loan-forgiveness programs.
“I currently have 249
active clients from the
Northwest,” Cecil said.
He added he has 506
records, including people
who have expressed interest
in the program and around
52 who were declined
because of ineligibility. He
has helped 50 people to date,
he said.
And those 50 have had a
total of nearly $1.4 million
forgiven.
He called student loan “a
burden” for many people,
and he is thankful he was
able to pay for his own
schooling without such an
albatross.
“Unfortunately, with the
structure of their careers,
(educators and other public
servants) have to pursue
higher education and get
that degree to be certifi ed,
so it’s required for them,” he
said. “A lot of them go back
for their masters, but then
they’re saddled with student
loan debt.”
Increasing interest,
forbearance, life problems
and more can complicate a
person’s situation and make
the end of debt seem impos-
sible.
“I’ve heard all kinds of
stories, whether it’s a small
amount or hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and
(borrowers) are not going to
be able to pay (the loans) on
their own,” he said.
Cecil spoke of a few
stories from people he
has helped. He shared the
written testimonial of one
Umatilla educator who
said he had $110,000 before
Cecil could help him. This
educator, according to the
testimonial, started an
income-based repayment
plan with lower payments.
He also got $65,000 worth of
student loan debt forgiven.
“I still have $40,000 that
I still need to pay on, and
some of those payments
have been counted toward
forgiveness. Thirty-nine
more payments and I’ll be
done,” he said, according to
the testimonial.
A second written testi-
monial told of how another
educator, from Walla Walla,
was able to reduce his loan
by more than $10,000. He,
too, expressed gratitude to
Cecil for his work.
Cecil stated this sort of
help, assisting people at no
cost to them, makes sense
from a business standpoint.
By helping people with their
student loans, he is attract-
ing potential customers.
Also, he is better serving his
existing customers.
His agency sells auto,
home, life and other forms
of insurance.
In addition to being good
for his company’s bottom
line, helping people cancel
their student debt is person-
ally satisfying, Cecil said.
“The looks on people’s
faces are worth it alone,”
he said. “Helping people
is something I really like
to do.”
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