Cities demand more of Finley Buttes income
l l i l i i l i i i l i l n l l l i i i i i l l i l i i i l l
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene, ÓR 97403
VOL. 126
NO. 4
8 Pages
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Cities in Morrow
County want more of the
hundreds o f thousands of
dollars in fees generated
each year by the big Finley
Buttes Landfill located on
Bombing Range Road in
North Morrow County.
Heppner, lone, Lexing
ton, Irrigon and Boardman
have joined together to de
mand that the county turn
over the m ajority o f the
“tippage” fee money gener
ated by the landfill. The
funds, w hich come from fees
levied on each ton of gar
bage dumped at the landfill,
average about $78,(XX) per
month and currently go di
rectly into the county gen
eral fund. The cities say this
is not what was originally
promised when the landfill
was co n stru cted back in
1992.
At a special meeting Mon
day night the Heppner city
council became the first city
in the county to officially
demand more of the funds,
and passed a resolution say
ing the county originally
promised the money to the
cities when the landfill was
opened, and that the cities
“are more accessible to their
citizens and that they are in
a better position to assess the
needs of their communities.”
Each year the county not
only uses the tippage money
in its general fund, but also
disburses a portion of the
funds through a process of
grants to various community
groups and entities. This
year the county disbursed
approximately $135,000 to
these groups. The county
court also grants additional
tippage money on a separate
basis to other groups, clubs
and government agencies in
cluding the cities. However,
in the cities' opinion, this is
not enough, and, according
to L exington M ayor Val
Doherty, "It appears that the
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
amounts distributed (at least
since 2002-03) average less
than 10 percent of the total
receipts."
Although the Heppner
City Council did not spell out
how much of the tippage
money the cities wanted, the
resolution stated that “de
mand shall be made upon the
Morrow County Court for
equitable disbursement of
the Finley Buttes Sanitary
Landfill license fees in keep
lone Education Foundation
presented with 40 acre land deed
Finley Butte Landfill on Bombing Range Road
ing with the representations
made to the people of Mor
row County prior to the pas
sage of the ordinance w hich
resulted in authorization for
the landfill to be established
and m anaged in M orrow
County.”
The county had originally
passed an ordinance in Feb
ruary of 1993 stating: "after
reserving the costs of oper
ating the transfer stations lo
cated within or near the mu
nicipal communities, the re
maining revenues would be
divided as follows: 50 per
cent to be divided between
the Cities/Towns in equal
shares; 40 percent to be di
vided between the Cities/
Towns based upon popula
tion percentages; the remain
ing 10 percent to be reserved
to the county as a discretion
ary fund."
In July o f 1994 the
C ounty Court suspended
that disbursement formula
and deemed all funds would
go directly into the county
general fund.
According to council dis
cussion Monday the cities
will be asking for a 75 per
cent cut of the money, and if
that is not granted, a petition
would be started in each
community seeking to put a
resolution on a county-wide
ballot asking voters approval
for 90 percent of the money.
just as the original county
agreement had authorized
According to Doherty,
city representatives met with
County Judge Terry Tallman
and the meeting was am i
cable. “ It was not a hostile
meeting," she said. She said
Tallman was open to the idea
of changing things. (Tallman
was unavailable for com
ment before Gazette-Times
deadline Tuesday) Newly
elected commissioner Ken
Grieb has not met with the
cities' representatives, and
C o m m issio n e r
John
Wenholtz is reportedly in
Washington DC.
At Monday’s Heppner
C ouncil m eeting not all
co u n cil m em bers w ere
present, but those that were,
in clu d in g G lenn B aker.
C indy D oherty, JoA nne
Burleson and Kay Robinson,
all voted in favor of the reso
lu tio n . C o u n cilm em b er
George Koffler. who is on
vacation in Mexico, faxed a
letter saying he was against
the resolution as worded. “I
don't support the m ayor's
group position. I want to
hear the county court’s ex
planation. If we do not agree
with that position I favor a
multi-year phase in of chang
ing the distribution. Giving
the county court until April
1,2007. to find $900.000 is
Continued on page two
School district heating, ventilating, lighting
u p grad es to result in en ergy sa v in g s,
reduced costs
Pictured left to right are granddaughters Kayla Reid and Brittany Waggoner and husband Tyler,
daughter Kellie Reid and Matt Reid, Mary Kmert. grandson Levi Hammond, granddaughter
Saige Hammond, son Karl Hammond and Alice Hammond, and son Kevin Kilkenny and fiancee
Rebecka Baigrie.
Photo by Your Creative Image
M ary
E m ert,
president of Emert Ranches,
Inc., with the support her
board members and family,
p re se n te d
the
lone
Education Foundation with
a deed to a 40 acre parcel of
land on Jan. 19.
Like an earlier gift by
her father. Delbert (Slim)
Emert, this gift is to be used
for the d ev elo p m en t o f
residential building sites.
This future development is
located immediately north of
the existing Emert Addition
where more than 20 families
presently reside.
E m ert and her
family, along with the lone
E du catio n F o u n d atio n ,
u n d e rstan d
that
to
successfully complete this
new developm ent, it will
take the support of the local
people. Emert stated. “It is
a good feeling to be able to
gift this land to a community
that has proven over and
over again they could work
hard and devote the time
necessary to get a job done."
Heppner Chamber officers elected
The 2007 Chamber officers were elected at a luncheon on IXiesday, January 9. Standing left to
right are Alvin Liu, new hoard member and second vice president: Jack Thompson, new board
member: JefT Bailey, new hoard member and first vice president: Nancy Snider, president: Dave
DeMayo. new hoard member: Tom Mathura, new board member: and Lisanne Curtin, new hoard
member and treasurer.
Oyster Feed offers $500 grant for manpower
Organizations have
th ro u g h the m onth o f
February to apply for a $500
grant from the H ardm an
C om m unity C en ter in
e x ch an g e
for
som e
m anpow er at the annual
Hardman Oyster Feed this
fall.
Last fall, members of
the Hardman Community
Center decided to sponsor a
feed this fall, with some
changes. Back to the original
b lu e p rin t fo r the feed,
members of the Center will
take responsibility for the
sev eral
asp e c ts
of
preparation and head up the
com m ittees that work the
night o f the event.
A d d itio n ally ,
the
organization decided to offer
a $500 grant aw ard to a
gro u p
in te re sted
in
volunteering an “in-kind"
match of manpower.
Approximately
Continued on page two
P ro p o sed h eatin g
and lighting upgrades for
M orrow C ounty School
District facilities should pay
for th em selv es through
energy savings, according to
W ade S m ith, d istric t
assistant superintendent.
At
a
m eeting
rescheduled for M onday
night. January 22, in Irrigon.
due
to
w eath er
considerations, Smith told
the board that the district
paid $435,820 for heating
fuel
and
e le c tric ity
($307.891 for electricity and
$127.929 for heating fuel)
for the 2005-06 school year.
The w ide-spread district
heats and lights two schools
in Heppner, three each in
Boardman and Irrigon, the
Morrow Education Center
alternative school in Irrigon
and the district office in
Lexington.
He said that an
assessm en t su rp risin g ly
rev ealed that the new ly
constructed buildings in the
north end o f the county,
Irrigon E lem en tary and
Windy River Elementary in
Boardman. were not energy
efficient and would benefit
from upgrades. He added
that during the cold spell.
one o f the sch o o ls was
discovered to have brought
in 80 percent of outside air.
He said that the heating and
cooling systems in those two
schools are computerized
and w ill “ take care o f
themselves" when they are
properly programmed and
m onito red . Part o f the
problem, he said, was that
the district built the schools
they went with the lowest
bidder, which is not always
cost-efficient and did not
include
funding
for
continued monitoring. He
said that these computerized
system s are com plex
engineering systems "way
above" the capabilities of
local
h eatin g /co o lin g
companies.
The board accepted
a $52.800 competitive grant
from
the
O regon
Department of Energy to
provide funding and tech
su p p o rt
for
testin g ,
balancing and retrofitting of
Irrigon E lem en tary and
Windy River systems.
The district is in the
process of auditing every
light fixture in north county
schools. Smith said that in
som e cases, an e n e rg y
saving solution could be as
simple as taking out bulbs.
w hile still m ain tain in g
lighting requirements.
The district is also
planning a lighting upgrade
for the poorly lit Heppner
Elementary School library,
formerly the school gym.
Sm ith said that
lighting upgrades could save
around $22.(XX) per year and
expected a return on the
district's investments in 1.35
years, including rebates and
discounts.
Also at the meeting,
the board ap p ro v ed a
resolution which will inhibit
requests for public records.
The board voted to establish
fees to reimburse the district
for copies of public records.
According to the resolution,
the district will now require
that requests for copies or
inspection of public records
shall be in writing and on a
form which would include
the re q u e s te r's nam e,
address, phone number, a
“reasonable description” of
the records desired and a
signed statem ent that the
requester will he responsible
for all fees resulting from the
request, whether or not the
search is successful, and that
the district will be in charge
Continued on page two
A t th e N C G G GREEN FEED STORE in H e p p n e r:
MUCK
BOOTS
$10 OFF
each pair
Fieldmaster
MUCK
SHOES
$5 OFF
each pair
The
Muckster
M o r ro w C ou n ty G ra in (»row ers G reen Feed & S eed
2 4 2 W . L in d e n W ay. H e p p n e r • 6 7 6 -9 4 2 2 • 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 (MCGG main office)