Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2002)
Underground Water halts work on Irrigon school site Beasi*} beiseli U of 3 Ne«sparir Library Eugene, OR 974 )3 VOL. 121 NO. 32 8 Pages Wednesday, August 14,2002 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon It’s Fair time! Seuzi Conlee (left) and Stacy Wain w right judge the juniors exhibits in preparation for the opening of the 2002 Morrow County Fair Wednesday, August 14. The Fair and Rodeo runs through Sunday August 18. Heppner Council discusses BMX & skateboard parks The H eppner City Council, at its monthly meeting Monday night, discussed building a BMX bike riding area and a skateboard park in Heppner. The council heard from H eppner S heriff Randy Rayburn who said that fill dirt to co n stru ct the bike track is available free from the school construction project in town, and that other volunteer labor would be available. The proposed bike track would be built at Hager Park. The park would be for kids on BMX type b icy cles and motorized bikes would not be allowed. Rayburn said the kids in town need some place to go to ride their bikes, and this would be a safe fun place to ride. Because of the donated labor and materials he said the project would not cost the city much money to build. In another discussion, the council discussed the possibility o f turning the old swimming pool into a skateboard park. A lot o f kids ride skateboards on the sidew alks downtown and police and the council would like to find them a safe place to ride. City Manager Jerry Breazeale said some discussion on what to do with the old pool has been held within the community. Neighbors and other interested persons in town have not been able to come to agreement on how to use the old pool. Breazeale said. “We thought we had a plan- quiet neighborhood park because people could not agree,” he said. The council discussed skate board parks in other cities and how to best modify the old Heppner pool. No action was taken and more discussions will be held later. In the meantime the old pool will be posted “no trespassing” to keep kids who have been skateboarding there out of the area. “When I tell kids not to skateboard and ride bikes on the sidewalks. I'd like to have a place to send them ,” O fficer Rayburn said. “I think it would make a better youth-friendly town.” In other business the council voted to award a contract to Bailey Heavy Equipment of Heppner for construction o f a new water line on Baltim ore S treet by the new school construction project. Bailey was the low bidder on the project. Road construction on Juniper Canyon Drivers are reminded that there is road construction occurring on Juniper Canyon Road, which is 4.5 miles off Bombing Range Road towards lone. Long delays and detours should be expected for approximately the next four months. Strawberry Lane will be a main detour. Drivers are asked to allow for extra travel time or plan an alternate traveling route. HHS cheerleaders’ carnival fun for kids at fair Parents looking for something the kids can do during the Murray's Country Rose Wine and Beer Tasting on Thursday, Aug. 15 from 6:30-8:30 p.m., may take them to the beef barn for the H eppner High School ch e erle a d e rs’ carnival. The carnival includes a ring toss, basketball shoot, dartboard and penny toss games. There will be a prize for all the kids. The cheerleaders are raising funds for the year’s activities. ALL NEW S AND ADVERTISEM ENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Work on the Irrigon elementary school site has been halted because of underground water, the Morrow County School Board learned at its regular m eeting M onday night in Lexington. Problems with that site and other construction glitches district-wide brought out the big guns from Heery International, Inc., the Portland-based firm hired by the board to act as bond construction project managers. Ricky Langford, vice president at Heery, was in attendance at the m eeting as was Rick Hayes, project m anager with Heery based in Bend, supervisor to Nan Hall, on-site project manager. Hayes said that he was brought in to assist Hall so that she could “focus” on issues at hand and keep other projects running smoothly. H ayes said that the co n tracto r at the Irrigon elementary school site discovered w ater at about five feet underground w hile digging foundation at the southern half of the site and the water started entering foundation trenches. He said that the underground water would adversely affect wood flooring proposed for the school and suggested installing a drain field, additional protection for the gymnasium flooring or changing sites as possible solutions to the problem. Hayes said that installing a drain field could add $60,000- $70,000 to the project. He said that the problem appeared to seasonal, since it was not detected by testing in November, but added that the situation would be review ed by a geological engineer, along w ith BBT (architects), Heery International and DEQ. Board member John Rietmann voiced his concern that w ith only $1.4 m illion in contingency for the bond projects, completion of major projects, such as the lone school construction could be adversely impacted, especially with smaller projects gening the go-ahead. “Do you see the Irrigon project spinning out of control?” Rietmann asked Hayes. “No, I don't think so,” Hayes replied. Irrigon resident Meredith DeHaven criticized the district for not com m unicating w ith the citizens o f Irrigon about the problems with the Irrigon school construction site. “I realize we are the stepchildren of Morrow County, but w e’re not mushrooms, we don’t like to be kept in the dark,” commented D eH aven. Board C hair Julie Weikel said that the board itself only recently learned o f the problem and Rietmann added that the board needed time to learn the d etails o f the situation and hammer out a solution. The board acknow ledged that they had communication problems and said that they were considering a district newsletter or articles in local papers to better com m unicate w ith district residents. Hall reported that problems with disposal of refuse from the dem olition at construction sites have been cleared up to the satisfaction of DEQ regulations, but Rietmann pointed out that a dump site was still evident on Main Street in lone. Board m em ber John Renfro commented on the seriousness of the demolition refuse issue and pointed out that it required the threat o f legal action before Heery made sure that the situation was resolved. “I see Heery as being charged with looking out for our best interest," commented Renfro. Hall said that an initial pile test of the foundation at the lone construction site did not meet regulations, but a second test was acceptable. She said that testing on the septic system was approved by DEQ and they are ready to issue a building permit. Hall said that work on the Boardman site is on schedule, on budget and going smoothly. In other business, the board: -hired Dick Allen as half time vice-principal for the 2002- 03 school year to assist Wade Smith, who was recently hired as principal at Heppner Elementary and Heppner High School. Allen retired this year after serving as principal at HHS and lone High School. -heard a report from H ow ard Sheets, d istrict maintenance manager, who said that the district finally received landscaping plans for the Head Start building which was moved to accommodate construction at the Boardman site. He said that costs for moving the Head Start building so far are around $75,000-$80,000. with final costs estimated at around $100,000, which is near budget. -heard a report from HHS/HES Principal Wade Smith, who said that all four teaching positions at HHS have been filled, w hich allow s for additional classes not anticipated, creating more choices for HHS students. New schedules have been mailed to those students. He said that Stansbury Street in front of the elementary school will not be completed in time for the start of school on Sept. 3, which will make for a difficult situation for buses and private vehicles dropping off and picking up students. He added that he is still working on a solution to provide food service for the elementary school, since the cafeteria has been demolished in preparation for construction. -heard a report from lone Schools Principal Mike Stuart who said that he also is working out a solution to provide food service at the lone schools because the kitchen will not be com pleted until around two weeks after the beginning of school. -changed the monthly m eeting calendar to accommodate a new plan for the board to schedule a social dinner meeting with district staff to improve communication lines between the board and staff. At each meeting location, the board plans to invite the staff o f that particular school to dine with them at the school, free o f charge. District food service will provide the meals. The dinner meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with a curriculum report from that particular school at 7:15 p.m. and the regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. The revised calendar is as follows: Monday, September 9- Heppner High school; Monday, O ctober 14-R iverside High School, Boardm an; Tuesday, November 12-C’olumbia Middle School, Irrigon; M onday D ecem ber 9-D istrict O ffice; Monday, January 13-Heppner Elementary School; Monday, February 10-Sam Boardman Elementary School; Monday, March 10-Ione High School; M onday, A pril 14-Columbia Middle School; Monday, May 12- A.C. H oughton E lem entary School, Irrigon; Monday, June 9- Riverside High School. -learned that the district’s advisory committees are out of compliance with state regulations, regarding the num ber of committees, number of members per com m ittee and scope of authority. According to district superintendent Dr. Jack Crippen, regulations specify that if the district decides to continue having advisory boards, each school must have an advisory board consisting of three members. It was not clear whether each entity within a school must have an advisory board. For example, would lone have one board or three because the school houses an elementary school, middle school and high school? Other options discussed include d isso lu tio n o f the committees by the school board or bringing the issue to a vote of the people. “ We need to either bring them into compliance or recognize we don’t need them,” said Weikel. The board agreed to seek legal counsel on the issue. -received clarification from counsel on the open meetings law. -accepted resignations/ retirements for Kristi Orcutt, Sam Boardman Elementary School special education one-on-one assistant. -approved employment for M ichelle R aible, A.C. Houghton second grade teacher; Eva Randolph, Heppner High School language arts teacher; Donna Scott, Heppner Junior High School seventh and eighth grade math teacher; Cynthia Kuchenbecker, HHS business teacher; Fred M onaco, HHS advanced math teacher; Nicholas Budge, RHS music teacher; and Lacey Larson, A.C. Houghton special education teacher. -approved an attendance variance for a student residing in the Hermiston district to attend school at A.C. Houghton. -approved an addendum to Dr. Crippen’s contract which specifies that he provide his own cell phone for personal and district use and that the district reimburse him at $50 a month. — review ed the stipulations for establishment of a high school in Irrigon as follows: “ 1) that the funding levels currently established are maintained by the state with a cost o f living adjustm ent; 2) that in stru ctio n al program s at Riverside High School would not be eliminated or reduced as a result of establishing a new high school. This does not preclude a minor adjustment in program to accommodate schedule or shifting o f resources w ithin elective offerings; 3) that enrollm ent betw een the com m unities of Boardman and Irrigon continue to increase at the five percent average as in the past five years; 4) that the district establish a separate fund, during the transition period, using revenues from student growth; 5) that the new high school would be phased in over a period of three years beginning in no later than the year following the opening o f the new elementary school in Irrigon, so space is available for sixth graders, (i.e., bond passes in spring 2001; new elementary school completed in December 2002; move sixth grade students to new elem entary school in January 2003; eighth graders that are promoted in 2003 would stay as the first freshmen in Fall 2003. The next year. Fall 2004 would have freshmen and sophomores at Irrigon High School and the Fall o f 2005 you would have your full-blow n high school. The freshman class o f 2002 would graduate from Riverside High School.)” “We don’t think that will work," said Dr. Crippen. “ We d o n ’t think they could split teachers. It’s a situation that could prolong opening of school. I think three and four we are doing." “My concern is that these #5 stipulations are not being met,” added Renfro. -heard the follow ing announcements: in-service day- Monday. August 26; district-wide Tuesday-Tuesday, August 27, RHS, 8 a.m.; inservice/work day- Wednesday, August 28; work day -Thursday, August 29; Labor Day holiday-Monday, September 2; first day of school for students- Tuesday. September 3; next board meeting-!V4>nday, September 9. We witt Be CLOSED on Saturday, August 17th. 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