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Larry Mills to retire from MCGG
L I P
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HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 117
NO. 20
18 Pages
Wednesday, May 20,1998
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Lawsuit eats up over $40,000 for rec. district
A suit by Ed Glenn of
Boardman
challenging
the
legality of the Morrow County
Unified Recreation District's
funding of school athletics has
cost the district's taxpayers
$43,870 so far.
MCURD has spent that amount
defending the district against
Glenn's legal challenge and they
have told the Morrow County
School Board that they will be
around $50,000 short of funding
the
school
district's
extracurricular program requests
for the 1998-99 year. The school
district wtlHiave to cut that riTOvh
from their programs for the next
school year. They have also
pared down funding of the
Morrow County Arts Council.
Glenn's suit contests the way
the district is categorized-he
maintains that the district should
be included in the school district
categorization and be subject to
the school district's taxing
limitations of $5 per thousand
real market valuation. The
district maintains that it is a local
government and therefore should
be categorized as a separate
district,
subject
to
local
government's limitation of $10
per thousand real market
valuation.
Glenn's suit, filed Sept. 15,
1997, against MCURD, claims
that the "tax levy is used for
interscholastic sports programs,
open only to students of Morrow
County Schools". However, in
addition to funding school
athletics, MCURD has sponsored
numerous community events.
Since their inception in 1995,
when voters passed a three-year
operating levy, the district has
funded:
entertainment
and
advertising costs for the Cinco de
Mayo celebration in Boardman; a
Blue Mountain Community
College concert in Boardman;
tickets and transportation for
community members to travel to
view the Imperial Tombs of
China exhibit; a classical
guitarist for workshops and
performances for the past three
years; entertainment and a Blues
festival during the Ione Fourth of
July celebration; entertainment
and advertising for the Irrigon
.Watermelon Festival; opening
entertainment for the Morrow
County Fair in 1996< Boardman
Park and Recreation District
summer line dancing, swimming
and teen basketball programs;
advertising for Boardman Fourth
of July celebration; a community
Halloween party in Boardman;
15 Morrpw County Arts Council
lessons and performances in
1996-97 and 22 in 1997-98; and
lift and lesson tickets for the
Morrow County Ski Program.
School district extracurricular
programs include:
football,
volleyball, basketball, wrestling,
tennis, track, baseball, softball,
cheerleading,
b’and,
extracurricular drama, FFA and
other school clubs.
The total MCURD budget
approved
by
the
budget
committee for 1998-99 is
$476,614, with $375,614 for
school district activities; 30,000
for
community
activities;
$50,000 for grants and donations;
$8,500 for administration costs;
$10.000 for legal fees; and
$2,500 carryover. The district
anticipates that it will have to
spend additional monies in the
event that the state tax judge
rules against Glenn, who is a
former lawyer, and he appeals.
The proposed budget was
initially $498,117, with $416,000
for the school district; $18,617
for
community
activities;
$50,000 for grants and donations;
$7,500 for administration; $1,000
for capital outlay; and $5,000
carryover.
The budget for 1997-98 was
$583,292, with $431,792 for
school district activities; $65,500
for
community
activities;
$30,000 for administration;
$50,000 for grants and donations;
$1,000 for capital outlay; and
$5,000 carryover.
The total budget for 1996-97
was $552.041 with $341,887 for
school district activities, $66,925
for community activities; $6,993
for administration; and $136,236
carryover.
The budget for 1995-96 was
$429,774, with $290,031 going
for school district activities;
$11,294
for
community
activities;
$5,442
for
administration; and $123,007
carryover.
Taxes necessary to balance for
the 1998-99 year amount to
$393,417. Last year's taxes
necessary to balance came to
$386,592. Taxes collected for
1996-97 were $402,630. Taxes
collected for 1995-96 were
$413,067.
Other
resources
include grants and donations,
Eastern Oregon Severance Tax,
and monies from the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
and monies from the sale of
county lands.
The first hearing on Glenn's
suit was held April 20 in
Heppner with Judge Carl Beyers,
Oregon Tax Court, presiding.
Final
arguments must be
submitted by May 22. The
district hopes the decision will be
made by June 15, the date the
district
will
certify
its
categorization (school or local
government) with the assessor.
"This has cost the taxpayers of
Morrow County a lot of money,"
said Cyde Estes, MCURD
chairman. "Where Ed (Glenn)
has defended himself, the district
had to hire an attorney, using
money that could be spent on
kids."
continued page 4
Over 400 absentees still to be counted
Following are the local pre
liminary results of the Morrow
County biennial primary election
held on Tuesday, May 19. Over
400 absentee ballots are not in
cluded in the total, according to
Morrow County Clerk Barbara
Bloodsworth. Local measures
were not reported at presstime.
Oregon State Governor:
Democrat-John Kitzhaber, 531,
Paul Damian Wells, 39, Dave
Foley, 75; Republican-Jeffrey
Brady, 109, Walter Huss, 83, Bill
Sizemore, 253, Bill Spidal, 42.
Morrow County Judge: Re-
publican-Rollie Marshall, 99, Bill
Doherty, 104, Guy VanArsdale,
149, Terry Tallman, 226, Keith
Lewis, 111; Democrat-John
Mollahan, 345, Doug Rathbun,
173.
Morrow County Commis
sioner: Republican-Pattv Wehrli,
274, Dan Brosnan, 395; Demo-
crat-Leann Rea, 472.
Morrow County District Attor
ney: Earl Woods, Jt, 663, David
Allen, 635.
Morrow County Justice of the
Peace: Charlotte Gray, 703, Rod
Osgood, 654.
Measure 53-eliminating voter
turnout requirement: yes, 627, no,
706.
CBEC looks at other income sources
Facing falling usage by
consumers, and anticipating the
possibility of Legislative forced
retail wheeling, the board of
directors of Columbia Basin
Electric
Cooperative
has
authorized the staff of the
cooperative to investigate two
alternative sources, that may
provide additional income in
future years.
Some work has already been
done on the feasibility of
providing security systems in
homes, businesses and other
applications that may find a need
to be protected from theft, fire,
burglary,
freezing
medical
emergency and others.
The board of directors also
authorized a feasibility study that
will investigate providing natural
gas to the towns of Fossil,
Condon, Heppner Ione and
Lexington, as well as some rural
customers whose needs are close
to the routes to be proposed in
the study.
Both projects will need to
provide not only additional
revenues for the cooperative, but
will be required to provide
margins above their costs, said a
co-op news release.
Many cooperatives across the
nation
have
successfully
instituted similar programs to
benefit their customers by
diversifying available resources,
according to CBEC.
Since Larry Mills came on
board as manager of the Morrow
County Grain Growers 29 years
ago, he has earned a reputation as
a man who can make things
happen. The congenial Mills has
indeed made big things happen,
both for MCGG and for the
community. Mills' announcement
of his retirement at the end of the
month will leave big shoes to fill
at MCGG, but his plans to retire
here will allow him to continue
on with some of the projects he
has spearheaded over the years.
Mills, 62, and his wife, Betty,
were both bom and raised in
Rockford, WA, a small town
southeast of Spokane. The two
were high school sweethearts and
married after graduation from
Rockford High School. The Mills
have now been married for 44
years.
After graduation, .Larry went to
work for Armour & Co. at
Spokane in their meat packing
plant and attended Kinman
Business School in the evenings.
He moved up from his job in
meat packing and got a job in
their
industrial
engineering
department, where he was
involved in conducting time and
efficiency studies, which, he
says, proved to be very helpful
later on.,
In 1955, the Mills left Spokane
and moved to Odessa, WA, in
central Washington, where he
went to work for Odessa Trading
Company, a grain storage
cooperative
business
and
International Harvester dealer.
He started out as a bookkeeper at
Odessa and left in 1969 as the
assistant manager to come to
MCGG as the manager.
When he was first hired at
MCGG, the company had just
merged two years earlier with
Lexington Oil Co-op, which sold
fuel, tires and hardware. About
the same time the co-op bought a
farm machinery dealership which
was located in which is now the
Polaris shop in Lexington. The
petroleum business was then
located next to Dan Looslie's
body shop and the MCGG office
was where the Jehovah's Witness
church is now. The co-op was
trying to assimilate the two
businesses when Mills came on
the job. A year or so after his
arrival, the coop decided to
consolidate operations and build
the current building in the fall of
1972. "It was one of the toughest
decisions we had to make," said
Mills.
"The
co-op
was
struggling."
Mills said the 15,000 square
foot building was constructed at
a cost of $150,000. "It sounds
like a deal now," said Mills. "But
the problem was, the co-op didn't
have $150,000. It worked out
well for the coop, though. It
improved our efficiency and
business started to pick up."
Back then total sales were
probably around two and a half
million, with total supply sales
less than $600,000. Last year,
says Mills, supply sales were
about $15 million, with total co
op sales at $53 million. "Some
of that can be attributed to
inflation," says Mills, "but we've
seen a lot of growth. We've also
gotten into a lot of businesses
over the years."
The co-op got into the fertilizer
business in 1976, when they
purchased the CENEX fertilizer
outlet in Ione. In 1986, they
opened a branch in Sherman
County at Wasco in a joint
arrangement with the Sherman
Co-op. The Sherman co-op had a
hardware store and wanted to
expand. So, MCGG rented space
from them and they put up a
building. MCGG put in a parts
department and farm equipment
sales department, which worked
out really well, said Mills. About
five years ago, MCGG started
fertilizer sales at the Sherman
store, which services the south
end of Gilliam County, Sherman
County, Wasco County and
Klickitat County inWashington.
MCGG outgrew their space at
Sherman Co. and just finished
moving into a brand new
building on the edge of town in
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December. The building, which
has 9,000 square feet on the main
floor and 4,000 square feet of
storage upstairs, houses a farm
equipment
dealership.
full
service repair shop, parts store,
sales store and fertilizer and
chemical sales. They previously
had their fertilizer plant two
miles south of Wasco in a
separate location. Their parts and
sales store had been only around
2,000 square feet, which was not
adequate for current equipment
sales. The bigger equipment now
takes up a great deal more space.
In 1991, MCGG bought the
propane plant in Heppner from
Cal Healy, called Heppner Nor
Gas. About that time they also
bought Pettyjohn Oil in lone and
added to their bulk petroleum
business. Mills said that some of
those moves were necessitated by
CRP. The CRP program came
into effect in 1985 and took out
25 percent of the farmland in
Morrow County. "CRP made a
dramatic change in the county.
We faced a big cutback when
CRP came in," said Mills. "We
had to lay off 15 percent of our
employees, freeze salaries and
freeze capital spending. It
became clear to us it we wanted
to survive, we had to diversify."
Mills said that CRP not only
forced consolidation of MCGG
business,
but
also
the
consolidation of farms in the
county. Farms got fewer and
larger and farm equipment also
got bigger and faster.
Last year MCGG opened a
convenience store in Lexington
and in Wasco. "We’ve been
pleased with that,” said Mills.
"It's a good asset to the
community.”
Mills said it takes around 10
full-time
and
part-time
employees
to
staff
the
convenience store, which is open
seven-days-a-week from 5 a m.
to 10 p.m.
Mills has been an active
promoter of the grain industry,
serving as past president of
Pacific Northwest Gram and
Feed Association, past president
of the Ag Co-op Council of
Oregon. 12 years as director of
the National Grain and Feed
Association, a member of the
executive committee for eight
years and chairman of the
Morrow
County
Elevator
Committee for two years.
In addition to his industry
involvement, Mills has become a
vital part of the community. He
is an active member of the
Heppner Chamber of Commerce
and past president. He says that
one of the best things that could
have
happened
to
that
organization is hiring a manager
to help coordinate events in the
community
and
disperse
information. Mills is a former
member of the Lions Club and
past president. He is a former
member of the Pioneer Memorial
Hospital Board and is still very
active in the Pioneer Memorial
Hospital Foundation, currently
acting as president of the board
of trustees. The foundation has
permanent funds which generate
earnings to be used for special
projects, physician searches,
equipment and scholarships.
Mills was also instrumental in
the formation of the Morrow
County Fairgrounds master plan,
co-chairing the committee with
George Koffler. "It provided a
road map to get everyone
started," said Mills. "Once we
got the ball rolling, we've made a
lot of improvement."
Mills is involved with the
museum project in Heppner,
which will renovate a gram
storage facility into a farm
museum. MCGG donated the
facility and land. Grant monies
from Regional Strategies and the
Forest Serv ■ u'”e been used
for window
and painting
the facility
ndation is in
the process of being formed to
act as fund raiser for the project.
The newly formed softball and
baseball fields also have a great
tjeal to do with MCGG. After
Union Pacific sold the property
adjoining their abandoned rail
lines to MCGG, the co-op leased
the property to the Little League
for $1 a year. The new ball fields
cleaned up the entrance to the
town and gave kids some sorely
needed fields on which to play.
MCGG has also actively
supported kids through 4-H and
FFA fat stock sales, as well as
other projects. "Our board has
always been supportive of kids,"
says Mills. "And our employees
are
very
active
in
the
community." He also credits his
employees with much of the
success of MCGG. "We’ve got a
super bunch of employees," he
said. "Quite a few local
employees have grown up in the
continued page 2
DELTA TOO L BOXES
15% off
Due to stock on hand
Sale prices good through Saturday, May 30th
M orrow C ounty G rain G rowers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1 -800-452-7396
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Larry Mule with some of his many awards on the wall behind him.
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For farm equipment, visit our web site at www megg net
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