Local group tours glue-lam plant looking at Heppner
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Bessie Wetzel Newspauer Library
University o f Oregc i
Eugene, OR 97403
(Left to right) Morrow County Commissioner Ray Grace, plant manager Mike Rinkaee,
Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Vice President Nancy Snider and Bank of
Eastern Oregon President George Koffler look over newly opened glue-lam plant in Molalla.
A contingent from Mor tives o f the county, Port of eration at the industrial park
row County, interested in Morrow, Willow Creek Val by the end o f this year to fill
helping open a glue-lam ley Economic Development a high demand for its prod
plant in Heppner, toured a Group, the city o f Heppner uct The company has been
meeting with local officials
similar operation Tuesday and private businesses
to
work out financing plans
that recen tly o pened in
The to u r o f the plant
Molalla The plant is owned showed how large glue lami to bring in the plant which
by a company named Savan nated beams are made out of could employ up to 40 or
nah Pacific
2X4s. The company is hop more people
Traveling to Molalla ing to start the Heppner op More photos and information
in next week's Gazette-Times.
Tuesday were representa
City of Irrigon wastewater treatment change could
cost school district
VOL. 124
NO. 15
10 Pages
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Terrace residents enjoy tea party
Residents at Willow Creek Terrace in Heppner were treated Wednesday, April 6 to a tea party
given by the Red Hat Society ladies. The gathering room at the Terrace was filled with ladies in
red and purple hats and the “gents” were invited as well.
New auto body/custom painting business opens
in Heppner
Kirk Looslie, with a car he is performing a complete paint job on.
Kirk Looslie o f Lex
ington has recently opened
L ooslie’s Auto Body and
Custom Painting in Heppner
Looslie previously worked
with his father at Lexington
Auto Body and has grown
up around the business He
has also worked at several
other auto body shops, gain
ing experience along the
way.
Looslie does custom
cars, complete paint jobs and
insurance work He also has
painted customized snow
mobiles and enjoys jobs on
old cars and Mustangs
By summer, Looslie
plans on adding a paint booth
to his operation The paint
booth will be a “clean” room
set aside for painting
L oo slie hps also
worked with Mike Hann,
who has helped him with
custom lettering for his sig
nage and in c re atin g
Looslie’s recent float in the
St Patrick's Day parade
Looslie's shop is lo
cated at 235 Linden Way,
across from Green Feed and
Seed For more information
or to set up an appointment
with Looslie. call 676-5280
A city o f Irrig o n
w aste w ater treatm en t
project may end up costing
the Morrow County School
D istrict as much as
$ 100,000, according to Kei
th White, city o f Irrigon pub
lic w orks superintendent
White spoke to the school
board at their regular meet-
ing in H eppner M onday
night
White said that the
city is in the process o f
changing from a septic sys
tem, in which solids are
stored in septic tanks and
“gray water” is released, to
a gravity system, which ac
cepts both solids and liquids.
According to White, under
the city's waste water facili
ty plan, 90 percent o f new
c o n n e c tio n s in the city
should be made to the new
gravity system in order to
keep a biological balance for
treatment, as per the DEQ.
Because the school
district plans to build a new
9,000 square foot agricul-
ture/shop building at the Ir
rigon Junior/Senior High
School, the school would
have to be hooked up to the
new system. This would en
tail installing pipe to connect
the school to the gravity
sewer that is approximately
2000 feet away, which could
result in a substantial cost to
the district White said that
if the city allowed the school
district to hook onto the old
effluent system , the city
would compromise its DEQ
permit. “Irrigon has no plans
to stop or diffuse plans for
the ag building,” he said
“We want to see you build
that to its fullest potential ”
He added that the city of Ir
rigon and the Morrow Coun
ty School District will have
to work together to resolve
the issue
White also said that
some o f the residential users
in the area will share costs
with the school d istrict
B oard m em ber Pat Mc-
Namee, Irrigon, suggested
that installation o f the pipe
required could be done by
volunteer labor to cut costs
for the district
MCSD Superinten
dent Mark Burrows said that
the building plans for the
“professional/technical/edu-
cation” building have been
completed and bids for con
struction will go out this
week He said that bids will
be open for three weeks with
building planned to get un
derway before the end o f
May.
Also at the meeting.
Burrows announced that the
Heppner Schools principal
interview process is under
way, with interviews sched
uled for Tuesday, Wednes
day and Thursday o f this
week The public is invited
to attend. Current Heppner
Principal Wade Smith has
accepted a position as assis
tant superintendent for the
district
In other business, the
board:
-heard a presentation
from Smith concerning a
newly implemented work
order system to expedite re
pairs district-wide The sys
tem involves e-mail notifica
tion and on-site maintenance
workers, which should im
prove response time
-heard a request
from a citizen to change the
district’s policy on rehiring
retired PERS employees
Board Chair John Renfro
said that the district does not
prohibit rehiring retired
PERS employees, if they
were the best qualified for
the job
-heard from B ur
rows that increases in PERS
(employees retirement plan)
could skyrocket, dramatical
ly affecting the district’s bud
get According to Burrows,
PERS costs amount to 111
percent currently. PERS
costs will rise to approxi
m ately 14.7 percent the
coming year; and could go
as high as 19 or 20 percent
Burrows said that Deputy
Clerk Rhonda Lorenz esti
mates that every time PERS
increases one percent, it
costs the district approxi
mately $100,000
-heard from B ur
rows that schools statewide
are expected to be funded at
$5 175 billion, which is good
news for the district, because
its budget was built on $5
billion for statewide educa
tion Burrows said the in
crease could yield the district
in the neighborhood o f an
additional $300,000
-learned from board
secretary Julie Ashbeck that
the new electronic board
packet system should be in
effect by the next meeting
The move from paper to an
electronic system could save
the district $3000 to $4000
annual
-thanked state Rep
resentative Greg Smith for
inviting the state H ouse
Committee on Elections to
meet in Heppner last week
A dinner following the ses
sion was hosted by the Lind
say and Murray families and
the school district.
-learned th at the
East Oregonian will no long
er cover MCSD meetings,
unless a significant issue is
to be discussed and the
board requests the EO to at
tend
-discussed eliminat
ing some meetings in order
to reduce the number board
members are required to at
tend, perhaps combining the
Site Council and CEC meet
ings. The H eppner CEC
meetings have had difficulty
in achieving a quorum
-adopted a resolu
tion to adopt public con
tracting procedures to con
form to state regulations
-approved the assis
tant superintendent’s con
tract
-approved the first
reading of the district’s alter
native education diploma,
which, according to Renfro,
is “not all that different”
from the requirements for
the regular diploma
-approved resigna
tions for: Jill Sabo, A C.
H o u g h to n
E lem entary
School counselor; Kristi
McNamee, ACH special ed
ucation one-on-one assis
tant, Tiffanie Greenup, Mor
row Education C enter ed
assistant
-approved transfers/
promotions for Dan Van-
Liew, from Heppner High
School assistant custodian to
Heppner-Lexington facilities
coordinator, Elaine Miller,
Continued on page 6
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