Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2009)
lone School Board explores financial options \\A > By April Sykes T he lo n e S chool Board, at their regular meet ing held January 20, due to the Martin Luther King holiday, discussed the dis trict’s options in the event o f a reduction in state school funds. The board learned that, depending on the gov ernor’s budget, the district could p o ssib ly lose $24 thousand to over S 100 thou sand in state funds, due to a lagging economy. The con- êo" sensus was that, while not desirable, the district may be able to cope w ith a $24,000 loss, but a $100 thousand loss would be devastating. The exact amount o f reduc tions will be determ ined when the governor’s final budget is in place. The ESD said that one option to adjust to a reduction in this year’s fund ing could be to pay some 2008-09 bills after the close o f the fiscal year. According to the law, school districts must have a balanced bud get. The board also dis cu ssed fu tu re p ay m en ts for new windmill projects located within the district. The district may or may not benefit from these projects, depending on how the mon ies are received. If payments are m ade to the d istric t in one manner, the funds would have to be deducted from state school payments and the district would not benefit monetarily. If pay ments are made in another manner, the funds may not have to be paid back to the state. The district and the Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District are explor ing this issue further. The ESD also planned to meet with the Morrow County Court, which may oversee some o f the dispersal o f windmill project funds. Also at the m eet ing, newly appointed board member, Bill Jepsen, took his seat on the board. Jepsen w as sworn in as a new board m em ber at the previous meeting December 23. He fills the board seat vacated w ith the resignation of John Rietmann. In other business, the board: -received the fo l low ing financial update from the ESD as o f Decem ber 31: the district received basic school support totaling $112,268, which is lower than in previous months due to the repayment of the Oregon Department of Edu cation's small high school grant o f $16,751; with the repayment o f the small high school grant and the reduced state school funding, the district is “very close” to its budgeted ending fund balance; individual special revenue funds are report ing deficit fund balances. “ With the exception o f the Pool Fund, all funds will be made whole by approved grant dollars,” said the ESD update. -approved a contract w ith D avid M cK ay and Willamette ESD for project management services for the bond measure project. T h e n e x t b o a rd m eeting w ill be held on Tuesday, February 17, due to the President's Day holi day February 16. Ice, snow, and frost cause power outage VOL. 128 NO. 4 10 Pages Wednesday, January 28, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Health district receives applications for CEO position By April Sykes The Morrow County Health District learned, at its regular meeting in lone Monday night, that the dis trict has received several applications for the district’s CEO position. Current CEO Victor Vander Does earlier announced his intention to retire. Vander Does said that four serious candidates have emerged within the appli cants with three weeks still remaining until the applica tion process is closed. Board chair Larry Mills said that a tour com mittee should be established for the final interviews. The tour to the candidates would include a tour of the hospital, thc.district house, the town and the schools, if appropri ate. He recommended that the whole board be present for the final interview. T h e b o a rd a ls o learned that the hospital's new long-term care facility has 11 people on the waiting list for admission with three interested in coming on as soon as possible. Director o f Nursing, Home Health and Hospice, Molly Rhea, said that the long term care facility could possibly have three openings within the week. In other business, the board: -learned from board member LeAnn Rea, who is also a Morrow County Com missioner, that the county has said that they will do “everything in their power” to enable ambulances and health care em ployees to reach patients at their homes in the event o f snow storms or other bad weather situa tions. Rea said that the coun ty said they would provide snow plows, if possible. -accepted the low bid o f $15,095 from Camp bell Motors for a 2009 Toy ota Corolla. Vander Does said the district received three bids. -heard from Vander Does concerning a matching grant for digitizing equip ment to enable the district to send x-rays to a radiolo gist. -heard from Vander Does concerning the new heating/ventilating/air con ditioning unit installed at Pioneer Memorial Hospital. Vander Does said that the new unit was an upgrade to the existing HVAC system w ith the exception o f a new controller which now en ables the system to be con trolled by one computer. -le a rn e d th a t the next meeting will be held February 23 in Boardman and that additional meetings will be scheduled for the CEO interview and selection processes. -learned from Chief Financial O fficer N icole Mahoney that the district lost $26,803 for the month of December w ith a $147,734 loss for the year, amount ing to a $24,622 average monthly year-to-date loss. The district had $521,870 in total operating revenues in December, which included $56,802 in tax revenues, and $506,365 in total operating expenses and an additional $38,495 in operating losses. Molly Rhea told the board that the month o f January has been much busier than December. -received the fo l lowing report: Pioneer Me m orial H ospital had one swing bed adm ission, 17 adm itted for observation, two adm itted to the long term care nursing facility, 462 total outpatients, 53 emergency room encoun ters, 1531 lab tests, 108 x- ray procedures, 35 CT scans, 30 EKG tests, two treadmill procedures, Five colonos copy procedures, two endos copy procedures, 50 respi ratory therapy procedures; pharmacy administered 915 drug doses for $64,936 in revenue; Home Health had 154 visits; Hospice had two admissions; Pioneer Memo rial Clinic had 420 patient visits with 38 new patients, 52 patients seen by a nurse and nine no-shows; Irrigon Clinic had 214 patient visits with 35 new patients, 71 seen by a nurse and 14 no- shows; Heppner Ambulance had 23 page-outs with 16 transports for $16,470 in revenue; Boardman Ambu lance had 33 page-outs w ith 20 transports for $21,999 in revenue, Irrigon Ambulance had 25 page-outs with 16 transports for $14,635 in revenue. lone School holds mock inauguration Top Photo: Troy Hyatt works to clear ice from power lines last week. Bottom Photo: Ice weighs dow n power lines throughout the county. -Contributed Photos C o lu m b ia B a sin E lectric C oop has been scraping ice off power lines day and night for the past week. But the recent snow and frost added to the ice on the power lines and became too much on Saturday night, knocking out power in the Heppner area. C olum bia Basin responded and was able to sw itch the feed to restore power. W hile the Heppner area only had to deal w ith the power outage for a couple o f hours on Saturday night, Columbia Basin is still dealing with broken cross-arms and w ires from Lexington to the John Day River. Heppner Drama Club looking for donations The Heppner Drama Club is preparing for their 2009 spring performance of “A Broadway Review.” To prepare for the p erfo rm an ce the D ram a Club is in need of donations from the community. The Drama Club is looking for the following items: wigs o f any kind; a roll-a-way bed, garment bag, singe pole coat rack, small vanity with chair or bench, standing sewing mannequin bodice, old eandelabras, a fog ma chine, approximately eight cornstalks, and some 2x4s and plywood. For more informa tion or to donate any of these items contact Jodi Chapa at 676-8022 (day) or 676-8161 (night). ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. AT MCGG GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: WJNIéR CARe LAMÍN -, > * Flag bearer« march into the lone Community School gym during the mock inauguration put on by the students. More photos can be found on Page T H R E E . -Photos hy April Sykes 50 lb. bag Regularly $19.00 O ft Sole $ 13.50 M orrow County Grain Growers Green F eed & S eed 242 W. Lin d en Way, H eppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office) (
