........
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
Scholarships
available
_____
5<K
H eppner BPOE
#358 will once again this
year offer scholarships to
students in honor o f the late
Clarence Buchanan.
The current schol
arship is for any high school
seniors with parents/grand-
parents or step-parents/step-
g ran d p a re n ts w hom are
members-in-good-standing
of the Heppner Lodge #358.
The app licatio n w ill be
available at Heppner and
lone High Schools on their
servers or from their advi
sors.
Anyone who needs
a copy of the application can
email scholarship chairman
Tim Dickenson at dicken-
sonchiro@centurytel.net or
call/stop by his office (541-
676-8990). Applications are
due by April 15.
There will be other
Buchanan Memorial Schol
arships offered for second
through fourth year college
students, trade school stu
dents, and graduate school
students due by June 30.
T hose ap p licatio n s w ill
be released in the coming
month.
Contact chairman
Dickenson to be placed on A couple of Leprechauns, Gracey and Shaylvn DeLoach. take
a listto receive the applica in the St. Patrick's Celebration festivities this past weekend
in Heppner. More photos page 8.-Contributed Photo
tion when it is released.
pzettte
imes
VOL. 130
NO. 12 8 Pages
Wednesday, March 23,2011
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City looks to increase sewer rates to meet expenses and pay for needed upgrades
by David Sykes
Heppner needs upgrades
to its waste treatment sys
tem, and sewer rates need
to be raised to pay for it, an
engineering firm told the
city council recently.
Anderson and Perry engi
neering recently completed
a study o f Heppner’s sewer
system and concluded that
an immediate $3 per month
increase in sewer fees will
be needed to m ake up a
$29,000 per year deficit be
tween expenses and money
coming, and that will not
even cover the cost of need
ed system upgrades.
The city currently has 742
businesses and household
paying in $23.10 per month,
which brings in a little over
$205,000 to the city per
year. Expenses to operate
the sewer system are about
$229,000 per year leaving
a shortfall that has in the
past been covered by cash
carryover and a one- time
incom e from processing
Spray’s septic waste when
that city went to a central
sewer system.
“You need a $3 rate in
crease or people (city work
ers) need to take a percent
age cut in their wages and
benefits to balance,” Brett
Moore from Anderson and
Perry told the city council at
its monthly meeting March
14. He said there w ould
need to be future increases
to m ake up for inflation
and build up a fund to pay
for needed repairs and im
provements.
Moore said H eppner’s
population is not expected
to grow much in the next 20
years, and that Heppner’s
treatment plant is in pretty
good shape, but there is
work that needs to be done
on the rest o f the system.
Moore said the main areas
o f concern revealed in the
Anderson Perry study are:
1.
The pipeline be
tween the fairgrounds and
Elder Street plugs up be
cause of straw being flushed
into the system.
2.
Several homes in
Heppner share sewer lines,
w hich needs to be c o r
rected.
3.
A b o v e g ro u n d
sewer lines across the creek
need to be insulated and
updated.
4.
M organ St to S.
Court has root problems in
the lines.
5.
L ak ev iew C o u rt
system needs to be replaced
because the pipes are too
small for DEQ rules. The
pipes are six inch and need
to be replaced with eight
inch.
6.
The treatment plant
needs several lift pum ps
replaced or modified.
7.
Cleaning o f trick
ling system at the tre a t
ment plant, and fixing the
prim ary clarifier to keep
water from going into Wil
low Creek.
“Your treatment plant
will serve up to 1700 peo
ple,” Moore said. “You do
not have a capacity prob
lem. H ow ever the city is
in a situation over the last
five years where you are
spending more money than
you are taking in,” he told
the council.
In a letter in this week’s
Gazette, City Manager Da
vid DeMayo said the city
utility commission is rec
ommending to the council
that sewer rates be raised
$3 per month this year, and
an additional $2 per month
at the end o f the fiscal year.
It is also recommending a
small increase o f 25 cents
per month for the water de
partment. Anderson Perry
said ad d itio n al increase
would be needed over the
years to account for a five
percent inflation rate. The
increases would not only al
low the city to meets its im
mediate operational needs,
but also set some money
aside in a repair fund to do
the needed upgrades to the
system.
The council took no ac
tion on the rate increase
recommendations.
Cat Control
In other issues the city
manager said there is an on
going cat problem in Hep
pner. D eM ayo proposed
several solutions including
a registration program that
would require cat owners to
have their cats picture taken
and the animals registered.
The registration would cost
$5 per cat per year and
would prevent the animal
from being taken to Pet
Rescue if caught. “We are
now paying for cat control
with dog money,” DeMayo
said.
Heppner resident Dick
Parris urged the city to do
som ething. “I have dogs
and they are spayed and
neutered,” Parris said he
had 16 cats taken off his
p roperty in a tw o w eek
period.
As another solution De
Mayo said the city could
set up a spay and neuter
fund with seed money o f
$1,000. Then people could
make contributions to the
fund to get stray cats fixed
in Heppner. For poor people
the city could pay for the
procedure and then repay
the cost over tim e when
they pay their water bill.
It is general consensus
w ith city officials that a
problem a rise s b ecau se
people will feed stray cats,'
but then not claim them as
their own. “I took eleven
(stray cats) in one day,”
said council m em ber and
county sheriff deputy John
Bowles. “As fast as I could
set the trap I would catch
them,” he said to illustrate
the problem . “ It is hard
to regulate cats, because
people will not claim own
ership o f them ,” Bow les
emphasized.
New fire truck loan
The city approved a
loan o f up to $190,000 to
purchase a new fire truck.
The term s are seven an
nual payments of $30,000
at 4.75 percent interest.
The loan was sent to the
city’s auditors who said it
complied with Oregon law
concerning city’s borrow
ing money.
In other business DeMayo
said he would further in
vestigate the purchase o f a
Housing and Urban Devel
opment, HUD, house at 160
S. Court St.
HUD policy allows the
city to purchase the re
possessed house for $1.
Alvin Liu o f Heppner has
proposed trading the city
an old apartment complex
on Chase St for the house.
The city wants to acquire
the property, tear dow n
the apartments and put in
a parking lot on the site.
DeMayo was instructed to
pursue the issue further.
Police Business
In police business the
council reviewed a revised
sh e riff deputy resp o n si
bility document. The city
contracts with the Morrow
County Sheriff Department
for city police services,
and the council recently
renewed the agreement for
another year after m uch
discussion with the county
sheriff about deputy perfor
mance and responsibility.
The revised responsibilities
are listed below:
Deputy Responsibilities
A ssigned to the City o f
Heppner
1. At the beginning o f the
day shift check in at City
Hall to ask for any updates
or new cases that you might
not be aware of. Make sure
the City staff enters this into
the daily log.
2. Each shift shall be respon
sible for driving/canvassing
the entire City at least once
per shift. This includes the
City parks. A walk through
o f the park grounds would
be appreciated. Homeless
transients have been known
to encamp along the creek
near the parks. Drunks fall
asleep in the public rest
rooms, bicycles get thrown
into creeks etc.
3. Dog/animal issues. We
have a kennel at the Waste-
water (Sewer) plant. If you
need it, please coordinate
this with the PW crew.
4. If an assigned deputy
has to perform an assigned
duty that will take him or
her out o f our area for more
than two hours please make
sure that Dispatch informs
the City so that they will be
aware o f the change.
5. At least once per day, if
possible, the deputy on duty
will walk the length of Main
s tre e t, visiting the various
businesses and interacting
with the citizens as they
“walk the beat.”
6. At night, after the busi
nesses shut down, the depu
ty will check the businesses
in town to make sure the
doors are locked. Dispatch
will notify any business
owner, whose door(s) are
found unlocked. The busi
ness owner will be respon
sib le for c o rre c tin g the
situation.
7. The deputy on duty dur
ing the day will be pro
vided a list of frequent code
-violations.. He/she. will.,
using this list as a guide,
and systematically inspect
a portion of the City each
day so that in a month and
a half the entire City will
be inspected for violations.
Please coordinate with the
CM and keep him informed
o f your progress, as you
go-
8. At the end o f your shift,
if possible debrief the City
staff on the day’s activities
(incident num bers etc.).
Use your discretion as to
whether you merely warn
or cite an egregious code
violation.
These responsibilities are
secondary to enforcement
o f the crim inal code and
incidents requiring your
assistance with other LE
m em bers or m em bers o f
the public.
M onthly police activity
report for February
Traffic-
There were nineteen traffic
stops, one resulted in six
citations.
Two juveniles were warned
about not having lights on
their bicycles.
Code Enforcement-
8 animal complaints were
reported, resulting in one
dog being transported to
Pet Rescue.
A citizen called MCSO to
report a beaver was dam
aging their property. They
were contacted by a trap
per.
Eleven code enforcement
c o n ta c ts w ere in itiated ,
mostly for debris/trash and
abandoned vehicles.
Two vehicles were tagged
for tow.
Three lost dogs were re
ported to MCSO.
One noise complaint was
received. The occupants
o f the residence turned the
music off when the Deputy
asked them to.
Theft Complaints-
A person reported item s
stolen from the back o f a
parked vehicle.
All Other-
MCSO Deputies assisted
Heppner Fire Department
at a house fire.
A c itiz e n c o n ta c te d the
S heriff requesting assis
tance in retrieving clothing
for some juvenile from a
residence.
MCSO Deputy contacted
a person regarding a civil
complaint.
MCSO Deputy was contact
ed by a person complaining
o f harassing phone calls
coming from a residence in
Heppner. The Deputy made
contact with the suspect
and advised that person to
stop.
A person called MCSO to
report possible fireworks
being discharged. It was
determined to be a person
doing construction.
Deputies found three ve
hicles with open doors/
trunks.
A business door was found
unsecured. The responsible
person for the business
responded and secured the
door.
Two people called MCSO
and reported they lost per
sonal property somewhere
downtown.
A person heard someone
outside o f their residence
d u r i n g t he n i ght t i me
hours.
A person called MCSO to
report they were receiving
computer generated calls
in an attempt to recover a
debt owed by the pervious
resident.
A person called and re
ported two vehicles parked
in front o f CBE. Deputy
made contact w ith the par
ties. Nothing wrong.
Selected
Nope Need
Tools up to
40% off
T h r u M a r c h 3 I
Morrow County Grain Growers
L e x i n g t o n 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 ♦ 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6
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