Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 2008)
Morrow County Health District commits $100,000 to new Boardman clinic District administrator announces retirement 11 1 1 1 1 111 1 11 111 < 11 i M im II Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 VOL. 127 NO. 48 8 Pages Wednesday, November 26, 2008 By David Sykes The Morrow County Health D istrict (MCHD) Monday com mitted $100,000 towards construction of a new clinic planned for Boardman. The clinic would be owned and operated by Columbia River Community Health Services (CRCHS) Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Gingerbread houses on display h 4 V W 'O * ù which was established as a non-profit organization on January 22, 2004. The clinic currently employs 22 full-time providers and in 2007 saw 2,363 patients, according to CRHS reports. CRCHS is run by a board of directors, which says it needs to build a new facility because the current clinic is not large enough to suf ficiently serve its patients. CRCHS is count ing on a large grant to get construction of the clinic off the ground. It has al ready purchased property in Boardman for construction. MCHD said the $100,000 was contingent on CRCHS receiving the grant in March of next year. The MCHD board was generally in favor of giving the money for the clinic, but felt it should get more credit in the Boardman community. “We just put in $100,000 for emergency services and bought a new $110,000 ambulance for Boardman, but if you talk to people there they do not even know this,” Morrow County Health District Adminis trator Victor Vander Does said. He pointed out that the health district received only a 33 percent yes vote in the Boardman precinct during the recent tax base election. “Boardman people don’t even know we give you money,” he told CRCHS board member Karen Pet tigrew and CRCHS Execu tive Director Mindy Binder, both of whom were at the MCHD meeting. “We need some credit in that commu nity for the money we have given you. We have given you over $800,000just since Columbia River Community Health Services employees stand by a sign that marks the site for their new facility. Contributed photo 1 have been here,” Vander Does added. Pettigrew pointed out that the north end of the county is contributing a large portion of the tax revenues of the Morrow County Health District, and it can expect to get even more when Coyote Springs gas-fired generation plant comes on the tax rolls next year. She estimated it would add approximately $150 million in new valuation, which should add another $130,000 in annual tax rev enue for MCHD. Vander Does said the MCHD board should also expect a quarterly re port from CRCHS on how the money is being used. “We are expecting a quar terly report on where the money is going and if it is being spent correctly. Your organization has not been forthcoming in the past,” he told Pettigrew and Binder about CRCHS. Binder said things have changed at the Board- man clinic. “This is not Dr. Boss’ clinic any more (referring to the doctor who founded the clinic). We are making money and it is not going into somebody’s pocket,” she said. She said the clinic had netted $300,000 per year in the past, but she added that the net would probably be down this year since a new doctor was hired. “The clinic is very important and we need to make a commitment tonight for them to make grant ap plications,” MCHD Board Chair Larry Mills said. The board voted unanimously to give the funds, and also postponed signing a con tract with CRCHS until later next year. CRCHS is p l a n ning a February, 2010, date for ground breaking Victor Vander on the new Does clinic. V a n d e r Do e s announces retirement In other business MCHD Administrator Vic tor Vander Does announced that he would be retiring in July of next year. He has Continued on page 8 Boardman Police Department receives good review This gingerbread house built by the Chapa family is on display at Sweet Productions Ice Cream Parlour. -Photo by Autumn Morgan Gingerbread houses have begun to be built and set up around town. Two houses have been built so far and are on display at D&L Auto Parts and Sweet Productions. The house at D&L was built by Jaime McCor mick. The house at Sweet Productions was built by Jodessa, Kolleen and Jodi Chapa. Anyone that would still like to build a ginger bread house and have it displayed at a local business can call Jodi Chapa at 676- 8022. lone School District thrilled with bond’s passage lone School District administrators, board mem bers and staff are celebrat ing with the passage of the district’s $2.8 million capital construction bond during the Tuesday, November 4, General Election. The bond passed with 216 of the city’s 376 votes. “I am pleased and excited to see the wonderful support the lone community has for its school,” said Su perintendent Karl Ostheller. “With the passage of this bond, we can address some of the issues of an aging high school building and provide additional class rooms to alleviate our lack of classroom space.” The $2.8 million bond will cost taxpayers $2.43 per $1,000 assessed property value for no more than 16 years. The bond funds will allow the district to construct two new class rooms at the elementary school; repair and improve the pool and pool deck; replace the high school gym floor; replace the high school roof, including gym and cafeteria; replace the high school air-quality sys tems and windows; and modernize classrooms with new technology. The district will coordinate with the Umatilla-Morrow Educa tion Service District (ESD) and the Willamette ESD when the projects are put out to bid. The district is hop ing to capitalize on other districts’ bond passages to help minimize the cost as sociated with construction while improving the qual ity of the w ork done for the district. “We will attempt to get as many of our projects finished before the next school year starts to reduce the educational impact of construction,” Ostheller said. “The addition of the two classrooms will need to go through a design phase and that will make this proj ect take the longest to be completed. We appreciate your (lone’s) support and look forward to your input as we move forward with these projects.” lone to hold annual Christmas Open House From: Jackie McCauley, Boardman Utility Clerk Tuesday night the Boardman City Council heard a report, prepared by the Police Advisory Com mittee, rev iewing the Board- man Police Department. The report came at the request of Mayor Ed Glenn, when in May of this year he formed a fact-finding committee to review the Police Depart ment in all areas, includ ing budget, personnel, and procedures. He appointed Councilor Jill Pambrun as the committee chair. The rest of the committee mem bers were made up of citi zens, councilors, and Police Chief John Zeiler. The Police Advisory Committee identified issues of most concern and as signed committee members to explore those issues. They prepared a survey which went out to all households in the city and gathered infor mation by interviewing the police officers and the city's finance director. They also participated in a ride-along w ith the officers. A majority of the 64 surv eys returned to the com mittee indicated the public has shown improvement over the last three years. Survey respondents would like to continue with 24/7 police coverage, and would like to see the police depart ment continue to engage in community functions. It is the Advisory Committee's recommendation that 24/7 coverage remain a top pri ority. A small percentage of the surveys indicated concerns of officers w riting too many traffic tickets, fol lowing vehicles too closely, and speeding in residential zones. Information gath ered regarding the budget showed, although the de partment's budget is one- fifth of the city's budget, they employ one-third of the city's employees and have historically stayed within or under budget. The commit tee recommended increasing the maintenance budget for 2009-10. The committee also researched the department's patrol vehicle policy. Cur rently each officer is as signed a vehicle which they take home while they are off shift to allow for a quicker response during emergen- is relatively small when you consider the time saved in the event of an emergency. They recommend continu ing this policy. Their research also showed the police depart ment is involved in the community. The commit tee found that most officers participate in the Boardman community, either through coaching, community ser vice clubs, graffiti removal, gang awareness programs in schools, or the DARE pro gram. The committee rec ommends the city encourage the officers to continue to participate in community activities, but realizes they cannot require them to do so. They also recommend the city improve publiciz ing the police department's crime prevention and educa tional efforts. Boardman Police Chief, John Zeiler is pleased w ith the report saying "the Boardman Police Depart ment has been striv ing hard these past few years to bring the police and the public closer.” He said although a police department’s primary duty is to enforce the law and some people may not be
