Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2008)
SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 9,2008 Heppner Sewer Treatment Health district to put levy before voters in November; Plant project completed awards low bid for long-term care remodel at hospital -Continued from page One Top photo: The old propane generator. Middle Photo: The new generator. Bottom Photo: The Auger Monster that will break down solids. -Photos by Autumn Morgan An Auger Monster was installed to shred and break down solids into smaller pieces so that bacteria can break it down better. Oversized material goes up the Auger and later gets sent to the landfill. Also, pieces of the trickling filter were replaced. “ We have already seen a significantly positive impact on our waste water treatment process,” said City Manager Steve Bogart. “Everything is working the way it should and we have had no de-chlorination issues. The ap p ro x im a te co st for the p ro je c t w as $186,000. long-term care project at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner, amounting to five years o f debt serv ice at $252,500. One ongoing road block that keeps getting in the way o f MCHD provid ing funds to the Boardman clinic is the apparent reluc tance of the Boardman clinic board to release its financial information to the MCHD Board. “We don’t know the Boardman clinic’s needs,” said Vander Does. “They have not provided anything (financial information).” M ills stressed the importance o f remodeling the Irrigon Clinic to accom modate a growing need for more space resulting from an increase in patients. The total estimated cost of the wish list comes to $2,203,158. The estimated in co m e from the proposed levy, how ever, amounts to only $ 1,550,000, leaving a $653,158 short fall. In th e p r e v io u s 2006-08 levy, the district funded $486,660 for the Boardman community. Ex penditures included a new fu ll-tim e param edic and EMT for Boardman, includ ing salary and benefits at $236,572; the Boardm an clinic subsidy at $140,000; a replacem ent ambulance for Boardman at $110,088, which was partially financed; a full-time EMT for Irrigon, including salary and benefits at $40,707; a replacement am b u lan ce for H eppner at $104,899; an x-ray ma chine and room remodel to accommodate it for PMH at $128,611; a new digital system for x-ray and CT for PMH at $90,611; and 911 dispatch fees at $42,000. The 2006-08 levy p r o je c ts a m o u n te d to $893,488 of which $873,000 was actually funded by the levy, leaving $20,488 to be paid by the district. E ven if the levy passes, however, the district will be without levy fund ing for a year, as the current levy expires this year and the new levy, if passed, w ill not be in effect until 2010. The district will not begin collecting the monies from that levy, if passed, until the fall o f 2009. The board also ap proved the low bid out of six competitors for the PMH remodel which, when com pleted, will allow the district to once again offer long term care. Wellens Farwell out o f Enterprise, had the low bid at $$757,345. K nerr C o n s tr u c tio n , H e rm is- ton, came in second with $784,350, followed by Rob inson Construction, Bend, at $785,000, Mike Becker, L aG rande, at $844,338, McCormack Construction, Pendleton, at $862,500 and Ausland Builders, Grants Pass, at $957,000. Vander Does told the board that while Wellens Farwell had the least experi ence, with only three years o f operation, their recom mendations and completed projects justified their se lection as contractors for the project. He said that while Becker Construction was his first choice, he just could not justify bypassing the low bid. “Everything 1 hear about them (Wellens Farwell) is good,” he said. Vander Does said th a t 12-15 c o n tra c to rs showed up for the initial w a lk -th ro u g h . “ I think w e’re lucky to get as many -Continuedfrom page Five ment from the OSAA for costs associated with par- ticipating in state champi- onship events. The amount reimbursed to each school is based on a formula, ap- proved a n n u ally by the OSAA E xecutive Board, which takes into account round-trip mileage, number o f participants, number o f coaches and the length o f the event, The Oregon School Activities Association is a private non-profit, board governed association corn- prised o f 294 member high schools. The OSAA, sane- tioned by the Oregon State Board o f Education and a member o f the National Federation o f State High School A ssociations, an- nually sponsors 118 state championships in 19 sports and activities. Does, who is also a medical technologist, said that he may have to “jum p in for a while” until additional per sonnel are hired. A medical technologist is the highest level o f certification. Other laboratory personnel could include a medical labora tory technician, which is an intermediate certification, and a laboratory technician, the lowest certification. -learned that the dis- triet lost $129,464 in Febru ary. However, the district still had a $54,507 year-to- date gain with a $6,813 av erage monthly year-to-date gain. “We went way down,” said Mahoney, who added that March did not appear to be a “fabulous m onth” either. -heard the follow ing report: Pioneer Memo rial Clinic had 350 patient visits with 12 new patients, 43 seen by a nurse and 13 no-show s; Irrigon C linic had 175 patient visits with 24 new patients, 25 seen by a nurse and 12 no-shows; H eppner A m bulance had nine page-outs and trans ports for $9,405 in revenue; Boardman Ambulance had 31 page-outs with 20 trans ports for $20,998 in revenue; Irrigon Ambulance had 17 page-outs with 15 transports for $13,208 in revenue; there were three life flights; Pioneer Memorial Hospital had four adm issions, two swing-bed admissions, 17 adm itted for observation and one admitted for respite care, 409 outpatients, 63 emergency room encoun ters, 1423 lab tests, 66 x-ray procedures, 26 CT scans, 29 EKG tests, 61 respira tory therapy procedures, 133 Home Health visits and 1370 drug doses for $59,657 in drug revenue. County Commissioner candidates HHS keyboarding class economic development group compete in “Typing Football” visit -Continued from page One need fo r the people o f Mor OSAA distributes more than $297,000 to member schools to its member schools for the 2007-08 school year has now surpassed $661,000. This represents an increase o f $22,473 over reimbursement at this point in 2006-07. “We are pleased to be able to increase the amount o f money we have sent to m em ber schools thus far this year,” said OSAA Ex- ecutive Director Tom Wei- ter. “This reimbursement is made possible through the com m itm ent o f our local school communities and our generous corporate spon- sors. The association looks forward to the day when these reimbursement checks cover 100% o f the costs a school incurs while partici- pating in state championship events.” M em b e r s c h o o ls receive travel reim burse- bids as we did,” he com mented. He added that the cost o f the project was over the estimated budget. The project is to be completed within 180 days after work begins. Wellens Farwell is required to start construction within 30 days after the bid is awarded. In other business, the board: -learned from Vander Does o f a 25 percent in crease in employee medical insurance costs. The district is looking at several o p tions which could include using a different insurance company, which is probably not feasible because o f the MCHD em ployees’ record o f high utilization; requir ing a higher deductible; or requiring employees to pay a portion o f their medical insurance. C u rren tly the district pays the cost o f the em p lo y ees’ m edical ben efits, but em ployees pay for benefits for their family members. Vander Does said the district is currently in negotiations with the em ployees. -agreed to purchase a re p la c e m e n t re sp o n se vehicle, possibly a small pickup, for Carl Lauritsen, EMT and district m ainte nance supervisor. At the next meeting Vander Does is to provide cost estimates for different vehicles . -approved purchase o f a vacuum suction system for the hospital at $10,122. The high bid was only a dol lar more at $ 10,123, but that bid did not include $750 for factory start-up assistance and freight. -learned from Vander Does that the laboratory is short-staffed and the dis trict is seeking possibly two lab employees. Vander Pictured are Cidney Coster, Joe Sallee and Kellie Nelson, some junior high students from Mrs. Marquardt's Advisory class as they use the computer to work on homework and update port folios. -Contributed Photo Spring football? Well you might think so. Recently Mrs. Marquardt’s junior high keyboarding class spent a class period playing “Typing Football.” The yardage was made by comparing typing speed of random players on each team. Team A, the yellow team racked up 74 yards compared to the red team, Team B’s 27 yards. Team A achieved a touchdown and won the game with a score o f 7-0, finishing then with a five yard kick-off just before the buzzer rang finishing the game. Students have spent most o f the quarter working on posture, hand position, and learning home row, then advancing to the rest o f the alphabet using the qwerty keyboard. Most students are typing over 20 words per minute and some in the 30 - 40 wpm range. The remain der of the year will be spent reviewing keyboarding skills and learning some applications, such as Powerpoint and Excel, as well as learning tips and tricks to using Micro soft Office. server center at the Kinzua mill site. REA: 1 believe the C o u n ty C o m m issio n e rs should be very pro-active in promoting these develop ment activities. 1 can ensure you that while sitting on the County Planning Commis sion, we, (the Commission) have strongly encouraged the wind farm applicants to place as much o f their proj ect as possible in Morrow County. Particularly their offices, shops or switching sites. W C V ED G : What do you see as the greatest row County? REA: The residents of Morrow County need and deserve a safe place to live, a job that provides them with a decent living wage, a good school system for their chil dren’s educational needs, good medical services and recreatio n al activ itie s. I think we need to very ac tively work toward provid ing a reliable transportation system to transport our local residents to and from their jobs in Hermiston, Board- man, Stanfield or? WENHOLZ: Fami ly wage jobs are important. for the fences Despite weather, Heppner Golf Team still swinging By Matt McCabe The H eppner g o lf team has had three g o lf matches since they began their practices on March 3. Though the weather has not been the best, the team has golfed anyway. The coach for the Mustangs golf team is Greg Grant, who is also head football coach and athletic director. He has high hopes for the Mustangs to do well in district golf and even state. There are seven girls out for the g o lf program this year and there are 14 boys out for golf. Assistant coaches are Matt Scrivner, Dale Holland, and Dwayne Disque. The mustangs plan to have a great year and, most o f all, have fun and be competitive through out the golf season. At m ost m atch es the H e p p n e r M u sta n g s are teamed up with other schools. The groups are based on what position you g o lf d esig n ated by your coach. Once in the group you switch score cards so y o u ’re not keeping your own score, then you start golfing. The object o f the game is to get the lowest score on the hole y o u ’re playing at and you play a round o f golf which is 18 holes. You total the score you get on each hole and that is your total score for a round o f golf. Usually the course par is 72; but at the Willow Creek Country Club it is 60. The object is to shoot as low of a score you can get. Once the round is over you check your scores with the person that was keeping your score to make sure you have the right score. Then the scorer signs the score card; after that is done you must attest the score card and turn it in. The coach’s then take the best five scores o f your team add them up and you get a team winner. There is also a low score for the tournament by an individual. Andre Rauch hits a homerun against Irrigon last Saturday. -Photo by Autumn Morgan Heppner Varsity Baseball Schedule April April April April 12 - at Weston-McEwen. 11 a.m. 15 - Stanfield at home, 4:30 p.m. 1 9 -B Y E 22 - at Irrigon, 4:30 p.m. Heppner JV Baseball Schedule April April April April April April 11 - 14 - 17 - 18 - 21 - 24 - Stanfield, 2 p.m. at Pilot Rock, 4:30 p.m. at Hermiston Frosh, 4:30 p.m. Nixyaawii at home, 2 p.m. at Umatilla, 4 p.m. Grant Union at home, 3 p.m.
