Boardman residents ask to withdraw from M CHD
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BPSSIE
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newspaper
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WETZELL
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6 7 4 0 3
HEPPNER
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VOL 115_______ NO. 7_______ 8 Pages Wednesday, February 14, 1996,_______ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Wes Cooley makes Heppner stop
Wes Cooley
Congressman Wes Cooley
met with a group of communi
ty members on Wednesday,
Feb. 7, at Kate's Pizza in
Heppner.
Cooley told the audience of
around 10 people that the big
gest challenge facing Congress
is balancing the budget. He
said that he is concerned about
passing the debt and the stag
gering amount of interest on
the debt to our children and
grandchildren.
Cooley also assured the
assembly that, "no matter what
you hear, Social Security is not
going to be cut."
Cooley said that he is against
federal control of education and
education dollars. "W e want to
turn education back to the
states, counties and school dis
tricts," he said.
Cooley said that there is lit
tle support in the U.S. Senate
for agriculture. "They believe
we don't need any help." He
said it looks inevitable that
agriculture subsidies will be
cut, but he is hoping that there
will at least be a gradual reduc
tion. "The problem is that the
majority of people don't under
stand the importance of agri-.
culture," he said.
Development, Main Street project Council topics
Heppner's Gale Street from
the intersection of Church
Street to Union Avenue will
undergo major repairs this
summer. City administrator
Gary Marks said that it's hoped
the cost of the project will be
covered by a $25,000 Oregon
Department of Transportation
grant.
There's also a major develop
ment slated to take place this
summer for Heppner. If annex
ation is approved, the Port of
Morrow will finance the devel
opment of up to 27 building
sites on six acres adjacent to the
Masonic Cemetery.
The proposed development,
with plans drawn up by Fer
guson Engineering, will be con
tingent on access to city sewer
and water lines. Adequate city
water pressure will also play a
role in the number of lots to be
developed.
The Heppner Economic
Developm ent Corporation
(HEDC) was instrumental in
getting the Port of Morrow to
purchase this property, which
iies between the cemetery and
the Willow Creek Highway.
HEDC proposed the develop
ment of a restaurant/motel
complex at this site. However,
the location proved to be too far
from the major portion of the
townsite. Access to the proper
ty would have to be obtained
from the Corps of Engineers.
The dead end road now ac
cesses the Corps of Engineers
buildings from the highway.
Estimates are that the pur
chase price of these ready-to-
build-on sites would range
from $13,500 to $17,000. The
Port of Morrow, a tax-support
ed district, can probably finalize
the project at a lesser cost,
which would then be turned
over to the city. One private
developer estimates that at
above break-even prices, the
lots would have to be sold for
at least $18,000.
The Heppner City Council
was also informed about the
proposed Main Street renova
tion project slated for 1997. This
will involve the equivalent of
six city blocks and include a
portion of May Street below the
courthouse. In addition to com
pletely restructuring the street,
storm drains and new side
walks with planters are involv
ed. The power and telephone
poles will be removed on Main
Street and the turn around at
the mini-park will be paved.
The city's portion of this $1.4
million dollar project is about
$205,000 with 86 percent of that
cost expected to be grant
funded.
In other business:
-the council approved the
placement of a Blue Star Me
morial Veteran's Marker at the
1903 Memorial mini-park,
which is being purchased by
the Heppner Garden Club;
-It was also reported that the
High School shop class will
construct picnic table shelters
for the mini-park.
By April Hilton-Sykes
Former Boardman physician,
Steven Zielinski, told the
Boardman City Council Tues
day, Feb. 6, that he would fill
in as long as six months as
physician at the Boardman
Clinic. Zielinski said that he
made the offer so that the Mor
row County Health District
(MCHD) wouldn't be forced in
to accepting a contract with cur
rent Boardman physician, Dr.
Robert Boss.
Boss and MCHD have been
unable to come to a contract
agreem ent. According to
figures released by MCHD,
Boss would receive $130, (XX) or
$154,000, if Boss agrees to an
audit, for 24 hours a week
minimum, with the clinic open
four days a week.
Zielinski told the council that
he left the Boardman Clinic
when he and the Morrow
County Medical Board (in
charge of county medical ser
vices until the health district
came into being) couldn't come
to a contract agreement, and he
said he asked the medical
board for only $4 thousand a
month plus clinic receipts.
Zielinski worked for the Mor
row County Medical Board un
der the auspices of Morrow
County in the 1980s. Zielinski
also suggested that Boardman
residents were afraid of losing
a doctor and were under pres
sure to pay Boss' requests or
Boss will leave the district.
Boardman Mayor Bill Brown
repeatedly asked Zielinski to
stop talking and at one point
threatened to have a police of
ficer escort Zielinski out of the
meeting, amidst cries of the au
dience, "Let him talk."
MCHD pays Dr. Boss
$130,000 a year, in addition to
providing Boss medical offices
free of charge, and paying for
clinic expenses. MCHD gets no
revenue from operation of the
Boardman Clinic. Boss keeps
the receipts on the clinic, al
though he maintains he is los
ing money, and has asked
MCHD for an additional $2,000
a month. MCHD said that they
would pay Boss the additional
$2,000 a month if he agrees to
a comprehensive audit. Board-
man Clinic expenses for 1995
paid by MCHD are as follows:
Dr. Boss' subsidy-$130,000;
depreciation-$13,057; taxes-
$5,271; legal and audit fees;
repairs and maintenance-
$2,029; interest-$587; and
insurance-$266; for a total of
$151,460.
Boss' supporters maintain
that he is well liked in the com
munity, is providing a needed
service and should not be re
quired to divulge his private
financial matters. They say that
they are happy with Boss'
medical care and are concern
ed that if he leaves, Boardman
will not be able to retain a stable
physician.
A group of Boardman resi
dents brought a request to the
Boardman Council that the
community of Boardman create
their own medical district and
withdraw from MCHD. But, in
the meantime they asked
MCHD to come to a contract
agreement with Boss.
The city of Boardman was
recently able to annex proper
ty including the Port of Mor
row, which greatly increased
their assessed valuation and
which Boardman district sup
porters say would enable them
to support their own medical
services. The proposal indicat
ed that the boundaries for the
Boardman medical district
would not include the PGE
Coal Fired Plant outside the
Boardman city limits, which ac
counts for a large proporation
of tax monies. So, supporters
of the Boardman district say
that medical services for the
rest of the county would not be
harmed financially. Boardman
district proponents, including
Karen Pettigrew, Gene Allen,
Jack Strege and Raymond
Michael, owner of the Board-
man Pharmacy, say that the ci
ty of Boardman has $36,303,890
in assessed valuation, four
Boardman rural tax codes,
$29,017,980, and city and port
industrial, $218,238,230 for a
total of $283,560,100. The total
for the rest of the county, in
cluding $342,537,250 for the
PGE Coal Fired Plant, would be
$660,629,250.
MCHD, represented at the
Boardman Council meeting by
Kevin Erich, MCHD CEO,
maintains that remaining a
unified district increases effi
ciency, purchasing power, the
ability to improve and expand
services, the provision of sup
port services and reimburse
ment of Medicare and Medic
aid, especially if the Boardman
Clinic receives a rural health
care designation. Those in
favor of keeping MCHD
county-wide also fear the loss
of assessed valuation and loss
of services for the other cities
in Morrow County-Heppner,
lone, Lexington and Irrigon-if
Boardman withdraws from the
district.
Erich said that while many
Boardman area residents may
think that south Morrow Coun
ty receives a disproportionate
amount of tax support for
health care services, that is not
the case. Erich supplied the
following MCHD figures, bas
ed on audits averaged for the
fiscal years 1993-94 and 1994-95
(not including depreciation):
-Pioneer Memorial Hospital
and Nursing Home-$3,220,463
revenues, $3,315,700 expenses;
-Pioneer Memorial Clinic,
Heppner-$446,662 revenues,
$472,907 expenses;
-Boardman Clinic-$0 reve
nues, $144,451 expenses;
-Heppner
Ambulance-
$97,490 revenues, $75,459 ex
penses;
-Boardman Ambulance-
$60,662 revenues, $53,147 ex
penses;
Irrigon Ambulance-$16,837
revenues, $19,229 expenses;
Home Health-$658,094 reve
nues, $558,931 expenses;
Boardman Dental Clinic-
$126,070 revenues, $132,420 ex
penses; and
Heppner Dental Clinic-
$156,742 revenues, $137,792
expenses.
Supporters of the proposed
Boardman district also express
ed disagreement with MCHD's
choice of Boardman area ap
pointed board members. The
Boardman Chamber of Com
merce recommended Board -
man resident Gene Allen.
MCHD appointed Jim Hank
ins, also of Boardman. Some
Boardman residents earlier said
that they lost representation in
Morrow County when their
candidate, Ed Glenn, lost the
at-large commissioner's race to
Don McElligott, lone.
The conflict between Board-
man district proponents and
MCHD came to a head follow
ing a MCHD proposal for a
county-wide bond issue that
would fund an urgent care
center in Boardman and a clinic
in Irrigon.
M C Clerk's office to begin usir
automatic ballot counting machir
The Morrow County Clerk's
Office in Heppner will begin
using an automatic ballot coun
ting machine beginning with
the presidential primary elec
tion March 12. Ballots for this
election will be sent out around
Feb. 22.
Morrow County Clerk Bar
bara Bloodsworth says that it is
hoped that the new machine
will make the counting process
less costly and more efficient.
Bloodsworth says that the
ballots are similar to a standar
dized test. A broken arrow will
appear next to the candidates'
names and next to 'yes' and
'no'. The voter will fill in the
area of the broken arrow
located next to his choice.
C ard in als boys and girls go to
district this Friday, Feb. 16
A big week is in store for Car
dinals' fans as both the boys
and girls teams will be conten
ding for a district champion
ship on Friday, Feb. 16, at Her-
miston High School.
The Lady Cardinals will play
the Wasco County Redsides at
6 p.m. The Cardinal boys will
also take on Wasco County at
8 p.m., in a return match of last
year's district championship,
which Wasco won.
Games between the second
place Condon girls and Dufur
will begin at 1:30 p.m. Friday,
in the first game of the tourna
ment, and the Helix boys will
play Culver in the other second
place game.
Losers of the Friday cham
pionship games will play the
winners of the two second
place teams on Saturday, Feb.
17, for the second position to
the state tournament. Satur
day's games will also be at Her-
miston High School, beginning
at 3 p.m.
Governor declares Morrow County a
disaster area due to recent flooding
Governor John Kitzhaber has
declared Morrow County a
disaster area, following some of
the worst flooding in 30 years.
Morrow County Commis
sioners are applying for federal
funds to help pay for repairs to
roads, bridges and public faci
lities.
Morrow County residents
who experienced flood damage
last week may be eligible for
federal assistance. They should
call the Emergency Manage
ment office at 676-5161 as soon
as possible to report flood dam
age. Examples of items that
residents should report in
clude: damage to their home,
business or property; lost
business from flood damage or
flood-related utility outages;
farm damage, including crop
and topsoil loss, livestock
losses and damage to equip
ment or outbuildings.
Preliminary damage esti
mates on Morrow County
roads and bridges total one
million dollars. This figure does
not include damage to other
public or private property in
Morrow County. The city of
Boardman has reported $34,000
in damage to public utilities.
Two Boardman businesses
have reported some loss of
business due to last week's
flooding and flood-related
problems.
Again, Morrow County
residents should report flood
damage by calling 676-5161.
Customer Appreciation SALE Ends
Saturday February 17th
Hours 7 a.m to Noon
Morrow County Grain Growers
______________Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396_____________