Cities file signatures for tippage money vote
II.I..I...I.I..III.... II.I...II
Bessie W et/ell Newspaper Librarv
l Diversity o f Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 126
NO. 50 12 Pages
Unable to reach an agree
ment with the county court
over redistribution o f close
to $1 million in tippage fee
money, five cities followed
through on a promise Tues
day and filed signatures with
the county clerk that would
force a county-wide vote on
the issue.
A last minute attempt at a
December 4 meeting to reach
a compromise and avoid a
vote was not successful and
the cities followed through
on their promise to take the
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City gears up for Sr. Center work
The H eppner H ousing
Authority is gearing up to
spend the $861,509 in grants
and $290,000 in low interest
refinancing recently award
ed for renovation of the St.
Patrick Senior Center, it was
announced at Monday’s City
Council meeting.
Architects were recently
in Heppner going through
the center, and six m em
bers o f the community are
preparing to go to Salem for
special training in adminis
trating the grant.
The grants were good
news for the center, which
has 19 senior citizens apart
m ents and a dining and
meeting area on the ground
floor. In the past the center
has wrestled with increased
expenses and not wanting to
raise rents too high.
The funding will al
low the center to upgrade the
living quarters with weath-
eriz atio n , new cab in ets,
appliances, windows and
other im provem ents. The
refinancing will reduce the
city’s debt interest on loans
on the St. Center to about 2
percent for 20 years.
T enants in the
b u ild in g w ill be rotated
among rooms to accommo
date the upcoming renova
tions.
In o th er business
at the council meeting an
update was given on the
current upgrade at the city
sewer plant. Public Works
Director Brian Harmon said
parts are on order to start
repairs including a $66,000
auger m onster and a 100
KW Cat Diesel generator
at $33,650. The city also
announced that it had been
fined $3,500 for high bacte
ria counts in effluent waste-
water on May 22 and August
22, 2007. The city is work
ing with DEQ to try and get
the fine reduced.
The council also
heard from Ryan M iller
o f M iller & Sons which
recently purchased the Hep
pner Garbage service.
M iller announced
there would be some chang
es in the garbage collection
service, including slight ad
justments in billing amounts
and frequency o f billing.
Home owners are also being
asked to move cans to the
curb on collection day, or
they can leave cans where
they are and pay an extra
fee each month. City em
ployees have reported fewer
complaints since Miller took
over the collection service.
Miller is considering placing
a couple o f payment boxes
around town where people
can pay their garbage col
lection bills.
The council heard
an audit report from Rick
Stoddard CPA from Barnett
& M oro, P.C. Stoddard
said
continued page 10
New city manager on the job
Interim city m an
ager Steve Bogart attended
his first council m eeting
M onday night, replacing
Dave D eM ayo w ho was
called to active duty with the
U.S. Army.
Bogart, 56, has quite
a bit of government experi
ence including 12 years as
a Baker County Com m is
sioner, two years as Vale city
manager, and three years as
Madras city manager. He
was Baker city manager for
14 months, Baker county
judge and also served on
other state-wide boards.
Bogart’s wife's name
is Connie and she works for
a law firm in Baker City.
They have three grown chil
dren.
DeMayo was called
Steve Bogart
up to active duty with the
Army and is currently in
Fort Benning undergoing a
two week training to prepare
him for a tour in Iraq. He
will reportedly be stationed
in Bagdad as an analyst
fore the A rm y C orps o f
Engineers. He is expected
to be off the job for at least
one year.
lone School Dist personnel allegations
unsubstantiated, says investigator
Michael Lasher, chief operations officer and human resources director with the
Umatilla-Morrow Educations Service District, told the lone School Board following a
school board executive session December 4 that allegations against lone district person
nel are “unsubstantiated.”
Lasher said that ESD hired Jim Reger, a “respected administrator" to conduct a
third-party investigation.
The lone School District did not reveal the specifics o f the investigation.
With regard to another issue involving an assistant coach. Lasher issued the fol
lowing statement, “Brandi Heideman is no longer the (lone) assistant girls' basketball
coach. The board would like to thank her for her service. The decision to relieve her of
her duties is not based on her performance.”_______________________
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
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Mayors and city managers gather at the Morrow County Clerks office Tuesday morning
to turn in signature petitions placing an ordinance on the ballot that, if passed, would
redistribute tippage money from the Morrow County general fund to individual cities in
the county.
Left to right are Irrigon Mayor Charles Neumann, lone city recorder Gayle Eynetich,
Heppner Mayor Les Paustian, Boardman Mayor Ed Glenn, Irrigon City Manager Gerald
Breazeale and County Clerk Bohhi Childers.
If the signatures are validated, the ordinance would be on a county-wide ballot in
March.
they should get the majority the funds divided equally
o f the funds.
among the cities, and the
issue to the voters.
In February the Mor other half divided according
County Clerk Bobbie row C ounty court again
to population.
Childers took the petitions turned down a demand by
At a final December 4
and said 187 verified sig the cities that the money
meeting the cities presented
natures are required to put allocation be changed. The
the county court with an
the measure on the ballot. cities had threatened at that
intergovernm ental ag ree
The cities said they turned time to take the issue to the
ment and letter seeking a
in about 268 signatures. If voters if the county declined
compromise to avoid a bal
verified a measure eventu their demands. They fol
lot measure and vote. The
ally giving cities up to 75 lowed through on that threat
county opted at that time to
percent o f the $1 million Tuesday morning by filing
“ leave things as they are.”
tippage money would be on signatures to put a measure
“ I'm forwarding this draft
the March ballot.
on the ballot titled “An or at this time so that you may
Heppner, lone, Lexington, dinance requiring distribu
have an opportunity to study
Irrigon and Boardman joined tion of landfill fees to cities/
it and prepare such coun
together in January, 2007 to towns”.
terp ro p o sals as you may
demand that the county turn
If approved by vot desire prior to our meeting
over the majority of the tip- ers beginning in fiscal year
on December 4,” wrote Ed
page money generated by 2008- 2009 the ordinance
Glenn Mayor o f Boardman
the Finley Buttes landfill. would require the county
and spokesman for the cities
The funds, which come from to give up 25 percent o f
group. “May I reiterate that
fees levied on each ton of the tippage fees to cities. In
the Mayors and Managers
garbage dumped average 2009- 2010 that would jump
would very much prefer an
about $80,000 per month to 50 percent and 2010-
agreeable Intergovernmen
and currently go directly 2011 it would top out at 75
tal Agreement to a divisive
into the county general fund. percent.
initiative election. We intend
The cities say it isn't fair,
The ordinance stipulates to re-
they could do a better job of that the cities portion will be
spending the money and that divided in half, w ith one half
continued page 10
School superintendent upset over Oregonian story
M o rro w C o u n ty
School D istrict S uperin
tendent Mark Burrows told
the board and assem bled
audience at the d istrict's
regular meeting at Irrigon
Elementary School Monday
night, that a story in the Or
egonian was incorrect and
the reporters didn’t bother
to check their facts.
B urrow s said that
the article implied that the
school district rejected fed
eral monies in order to skirt
the federal No Child Left
Behind requirem ents and
“escape consequences for
low achievement,” accord
ing to the article. H ow
ever, said Burrows, Morrow
County School District is
still receiving federal Title
I monies, but directs the
funds to elementary level
programs. Columbia Middle
School in Irrigon, for ex
ample, had received federal
funding because it included
sixth graders, but when it
was transformed into Irrigon
Junior-Senior High School,
the school educated ninth
through 12,h graders.
Burrows said that the
Irrigon school rated “strong"
on the state school report
card but did not achieve
the average yearly progress
standards.
In other business,
the board:
-heard from Burrows
concerning the large finan
cial impact on the district
o f students' absence of more
than 10 days. Burrows said
that after 10 days’ absence,
according to requirements,
students must be dropped
from the rolls. Burrows said
that for each day lost, the
district loses $40 per day in
state reimbursement. Forex-
ample, if a student is absent
for 20 days, as often occurs
when some families spend
extended time in Mexico
for the holidays, the district
loses $800 per student. In
some previous years the
district has tried to lessen
the impact by extending the
holiday break. Board mem
ber Bill Kuhn suggested
that the problem could be
resolved at the legislative
level.
-ap p ro v ed an e x
panded options program for
juniors and seniors to earn
“co ncurrent high school
and college credits and to
gain early entry into post
secondary education.”
-heard a presentation
from Irrigon High School
and Riverside High School
FFA students concerning
their trip to the National FFA
convention.
-approved an atten
dance v ariance for a student
from the Hermiston School
District to attend school in
the MCSD. •
-adopted a 2008-09
budget calendar with bud
gets due from b u ildings
and departments March 7;
publication o f notice of bud
get meeting April 9; second
notice o f budget meeting
April 16; d istribution o f
budget document to com
mittee April 23; first budget
meeting and budget m es
sage May 5; second budget
meeting if needed May 12
w ith ad d itio n al m eeting
dates to be set by commit
tee, if needed; d ead lin e
for budget approval May
19; publication o f notice
of budget hearing May 28;
budget hearing, adoption of
budget and appropriations
made June 9; beginning of
2008-09 fiscal year July 1,
deadline to certify levy to
assessor July 15.
-accepted the fo l
lowing resignations: Kim
Marlow, Irrigon Elementary
School special ed one-on-
one assistant; Erin Iveson,
A.C. Houghton Elementary
School special ed one-on-
one assistan t; A drienne
Lorraine, A.C. Houghton
E lem entary School h a lf
time music teacher, effective
December 20; Mary Gress-
ley-Grow, retirement from
Sam Boardman Elementary
-Continued on Page two
1 0 % O FF P A R TS AM D LA B O R
through February, 2008
We also have special financing:
six months no interest, no payments on $1,500 or more of
Case IH parts and service from Sept. 1, 2007 through Dec. 31, 2007
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 * 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6
For form «qulpment. »lilt «nr w*b site at www mc(( oet