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Differences arise as to responsibility
Time running out for city dump
VOL 108 NO. 38
Wednesday, September 19, 1990
Heppner 25*______ 8 Pages
County has State Fair booth
The City of Heppner’s landfill is
full and will be forced to close by the
end of September. However, so far
city and county officials can’t seem
to agree on details for the future
dumping of city garbage.
The county has deeded a piece of
property between Heppner and Lex
ington for use as a transfer station,
but the city and county are in
disagreement over how the transfer
station should be operated.
According to Morrow County
Judge Louis Carlson, Finley Buttes
Landfill, (the large-scale landfill
now in operation on Bombing Range
road near Boardman) would own the
property and construct the transfer
station, and then, if it chooses, deed
or lease the station to a private in
dividual for operation.
The purpose of the transfer station
is to receive garbage from the city
of Heppner and private individuals,
prioer to transport to the Finley But
tes landfill.
Carlson says the county will
regulate operation of the station and
also the dumping rates but city of
ficials are concerned about long-term
committment.
Heppner Mayor Cara Costa
estimates that the city garbage dump
will close by the end of September,
but so far no transfer station in which
to dump the garbage has been built.
“ The only thing I’m concerned
about is our residents, and making
sure that our garbage is disposed
of,” said Costa. “ I want a long term
committment that our rates would re
main stable.”
Carlson says, however, “ we have
no guarantee that’s just private enter
prise. The county has said that we’ll
provide the land for the transfer sta
tion, the road work into it and we’ll
see to it that it’s built and Tidewater
(now Finley Buttes Landfill Com
pany” has said they will contribute
$25,000 to the project,” said
Carlson.
“ My question is, what contribu
tion is the city of Heppner making.
The city of Heppner has said they
will offer money for fencing.”
According to Carlson, Guy Patter
son of Heppner has indicated an in
terest in operating the transfer sta
tion.
But city officials worry that a
private operator may choose to close
the transfer station if it proves un
profitable or may raise rates to the
extent that the city or private in
dividual may not be able to afford to
dump there.
Heppner garbage is presently col
lected by Heppner Disposal, owned
by Cliff Green of Heppner, and
operated in a franchise agreement
with the city.
Green said that when the city
dump closes, he will haul city gar
bage to Finley Buttes on a temporary
basis, but doesn’t know how long he
will be able to continue doing so.
“ At some point I’ll have to look at
what it’s costing me, maybe looking
at a bigger truck.. .I’m willing to do
what I can to keep things going. For
the good of the community there
needs to be a transfer station.”
Green said that Finley Buttes is too
far for people to haul their garbage
and voiced a concern that rates
would go so high that people would
never be able to afford it. “ Iam sure
the transfer station will never be cost
effective.”
He went on to say that if rates at
the transfer station go too high he
would be forced to go out of business
or buy a bigger truck and bypass the
transfer station entirely. He added
that he cannot operate the transfer
station because he is unable to find
an insurance company to underwrite
the liability required for a private in
dividual to operate a solid waste
disposal site.
Carlson said that the county would
not be involved in the issue " if it
weren’t for the benefit of the rural
people.”
“ Who’s responsible for operating
it? That’s a good question. Maybe
it’s the county, maybe it’s those who
use it the m ost...I'm saying that 80
to 90 percent (of the garbage) going
through that transfer station is from
Heppner and I’ms saying that maybe
80 to 90 percent should be financed
by Heppner,” he said.
City officials, however, point out
a county ordinance, which they
maintain states that it is the county
responsibility “ to provide a coor
dinated program of collection and
disposal of waste and solid waste; to
provide a licensing franchise system,
and recycling program. It is declared
to be the public policy of
Morrow County to regulate the col
lection, transportation, and disposal
of solid waste and the creation and
operation of one or more disposal
sites...”
Ann Spicer, Heppner attorney and
member of the Heppner Economic
Development Corporation, said, that
HEDC is concerned because if
Finley Buttes sells to a private in
dividual, “ The buyer is not
restricted to keeping it as a transfer
station.”
Currently a Hermiston disposal
service is suppling garbage service
for the cities of lone, Boardman and
irrigon.
Hartmann enjoys Heppner experience
Maybe it’s his Harvard degree in
international relations, maybe it’s his
experience living abroad, or maybe
it’s just his optimistic outlook.
Whatever, Will Hartmann just seems
to fit in in Eastern Oregon.
Hartmann, 22, spent the summer
working as a volunteer for the Hepp
ner Ranger District.
"I wanted to come to a place total
ly different than the East Coast,”
said Hartmann, who was born in
West Berlin and has lived in Zurich,
Switzerland, Frankfurt, Germany,
Los A ngeles and W eston,
Massachusetts, which he now calls
home. Hartmann's father was in in
ternational banking and was transfer
red several times in Hartmann’s
youth.
“ The pace of life is slower here.
People are not as uptight.” said
Hartmann. “ It's just nicer out here-
-definitely dry. And the driving
distance is definitely a big thing.”
Shaun M cKinney, fisheries
biologist for the U S. Forest Service,
and Hartmann’s supervisor, said,
“ He (Hartmann) was nothing but a
real positive addition. He far exceed
ed any expectations I had. Hopeful
ly he also had a good time.”
“ My impression,” continued
Morrow County booth at State Fair.
The Morrow County exhibit at the
Oregon State Fair, Aug. 23 through
Sept. 3. received a plate entitled
“ The Big One, 125th Oregon State
Fair.” for participating in the fair.
The booth was sponsored by the
Tourism Committee of which Hepp
ner Police Chief Doug Rathbun, is
chairman.
Rathbun said that the booth was
representative of Morrow County
and that they received good positive
responses from people visiting the
exhibit. He also said that quite a few
people, both currently from Morrow
County and people in the area who
lived in Morrow County previous
ly, manned the Morrow County
exhibit.
Rathbun and his wife, Georgia and
Fred Lundin of Heppner set up the
booth.
Medical board receives
recommendation to hire Wick
A Pioneer Memorial Hospital sub
committee will recommend that the
medical board sign an agreement hir
ing Ernest Wick as hospital ad
ministrator, according to Morrow
County Medical Board Chairman,
Jackie Bergstrom.
Bergstrom said that Wick, St. An
thony employee and PMH ad
ministrator since June 1987, has in
dicated that he will remain hospital
administrator for 60 days, until Nov.
1 when he will announce his deci
sion as to whether he will stay on as
administrator after St. Anthony pulls
out.
St. Anthony Hospital has an
nounced that it will terminate its con
tract to manage Pioneer Memorial
Hospital on Dec. 1. Bergstrom said
that St. Anthony has indicated that
it will continue to provide support
services for PMH and is in the pro
cess of drafting an affiliation agree
ment with the medical board.
Bergstrom earlier stressed that
“ business will be carried on as usual
and said that PMH employees' jobs
are 'not in jeopardy.”
According to Bergstrom the
medical board was informed of St.
Anthony's decision on Aug. 20, by
telephone. On Tuesday. Aug. 21 the
board received a certified letter from
St. Anthony’s to that effect.
Bergstrom said only that “ St. An
thony is in the process of reorganiza
tion and will not be able to provide
management services any longer.”
This is the second time that St.
Anthony has announced the termina
tion of its administrative contract
with PMH. In October of 1988 St
Anthony announced that it would
terminate its contract with PMH as
of Dec 23, 1988 Differences were
Doug Rathbun displays plate
resolved, however, and St. Anthony
remained.
Will Hartmann
McKinney, “ is that he got up in the
mountains and said ‘Wow, it's a long
way from anywhere.”
How did an East Coast boy end up
in Heppner Oregon? Hartmann said
that after graduation he wrote to
federal agencies volunteering his
time. McKinney saw Hartmann’s
name on a computer list and then
called him. “ Within 48 hours after
the first call,” said Hartmann, “ I got
five m ore-three from Oregon and
two from Wyoming.”
While at the Heppner Ranger
District Hartmann worked as a
biological technician, surveying the
physical and biological makeup of
streams for fish habitat. The infor
mation is entered into a computer
and used by the Forest Service in
Heppner, the supervisor’s office in
Pendleton and the regional office in
Portland to determine how to best
manage the habitat.
M cKinney says that using
volunteers such as Hartmann “ is an
alternate way to get quality work
done and not cost the taxpayers a lot
of money. And it gives volunteers
experience.” Another volunteer
from Boston college spent about a
month working for the district and
McKinney says he expects four
volunteers from the Audubon Socie
ty to arrive shortly. McKinney said
that Hartmann's experience working
for the Massachusetts Department of
Environment made him the most
qualified for the job.
Hartman says that his future plans
are “ up in the air," although he does
have an application in w ith the Peace
Corps. When the job in Heppner
ended, he said he planned on slowly
traveling acorss the U.S. visiting
friends and seeing the country, but
“ definitely enjoyed my experience
in Heppner. ”
Port to develop cogeneration plant
The Port of Morrow Commission
has signed a letter of intent with an
independent energy producer to
jointly develop a process steam/elec-
trical cogeneration project at the Port
of Morrow.
The agreement with PowerLink,
a subsidiary of Portland General
C orporation, is to develop a
combined-cycle combustion turbine
project that would generate 200 to
300 megawatts of electricity and
create heat to be used for process
steam, according to Gary Neal, port
general manager. Up to 500,000
pounds per hour of process steam
would be available for use by cur
rent and future food processors at the
port’s industrial park, he said
The port hopes that construction
on the joint venture can begin within
a year, Neal said. The port will
potentially own 51 percent of the
project and PowerLink. 49 percent,
he said.
“ This project will allow the port
to provide process steam to current
and future industrial tenants at a very
attractive and competitive rate," he
said. “ We will be able to offer pro
cess steam at about 80 percent of our
processors’ current cost of produc
ing steam.”
In addition, Neal says that at least
half of the steam potential will be
surplus to the needs of the existing
food processors at the port. This ad
ditional capacity will help attract
other food processing plants to the
port’s facilities, he said.
"This is a very attractive oppor
tunity for new or expanded process
ing," he said. “ It represents a poten
tial capital investment savings of $6
to $7 million and an annual operating
savings of about $750,000.“ Neal
estimated that about 1.000 new food
processing jobs could be supported
by the cogeneration project.
“ What's exciting about this pro
ject is that the port and Portland
General Corp. are working closely
together to help achieve this
economic development opportunity
as well as to satisfy future power
needs in the region,” Neal said.
John Zanot, president of
PowerLink. said PowerLink will
develop the gas-fired combustion
turbines and the process steam
system, which will be available to
the port for use by its industrial
tenants. Heat from the gas-fired tur
bines also will be used to support a
steam turbine generator, which will
produce additional electricity, he
said.
“ This is an ideal site for a
cogeneration project," Zanot said.
“ It is close to an electrical substa
tion. transm ission capacity is
available, two natural gas piplines
are nearby and there is an obvious
economic development opportunity
for the port and Morrow County."
The project w ill be designed to be
a Qualified Facility under PURPA.
the Public Utility Regulatory Policy
Act.
Market Report
Compliments ot the Morrow County Grem Grower»
Tuesday, September 18
Soft White
*3.13
Sept.
*3.14/*3.16
Oct.
*3.22
Dec.
*3.24
Jan.
Bariev
*95
Sept.
*97*98
Oct.
*100
Nov-Jan
98 '/i%
Pik
312
ccc
A1JTO L O A N S
e 're still the low est around.
Come see us.
Ron Forrar, a teacher at Heppner Middle School, caught a
249-pound blue marlin July 27 while on vacation in Hawaii.
The 11-foot marlin was caught on the boat "Lady Jan,” skip
pered by Tom Miles.
O raoi
lone
Arlington • Heppner • • lone
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