SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 17, 2013
BOARDMAN FIRE SEEKS CREZ FUNDS
•Continuedfrom PAGE ONE
truck to fight potential fires.
Aerial trucks have long ex
tension ladders and hoses
capable o f reaching the
higher buildings. He gave
as an exam ple the new
85-foot-high building at the
Tillamook Cheese Plant.
He also said that, with
the construction of the new
data centers, the electrical
and HVAC services are
being placed on the roofs
of the buildings. This takes
them away from the fire
suppression systems inside
a building, offering new
challenges to fighting fires
at these facilities.
“ With this new con
struction there could be
some problem s for us,”
Rogelstad told the CREZ
board. “ We are going to
need some assistance to
make sure we can provide
protection to the Port and
to the city.”
He said the classifica
tion rating, which insur
ance companies use to set
insurance rates, has already
dropped down from a four.
“ We love the growth
but we are going to need
some help,” he said.
On the personnel side,
Rogelstad said he is not
getting as many community
volunteers to serve on the
department as he used to. '
He said several reasons
contributed to the drop-off,
including the fact that many
of the workers do not live in
Boardman anymore, busi
nesses are not as willing to
let their employees leave
work to go on fire calls, and
the department competes
with other volunteer activi
ties such as Little League
coaching for the potential
pool o f volunteers’ free
time.
He also cited increased
training needed by volun
teers to fight fires, saying
the Occupational, Safety
and Health Administration
(OSHA) has tightened its
rules for volunteer firefight
ers.
“ We now need four
people on the ground before
we can go inside a build
ing when we roll up on a
fire,” Rogelstad said as an
example.
He also said the number
of training hours necessary
to be a volunteer fireman
has increased dramatically
from years past. It was
brought out that Boardman
is not the only location
experiencing the volunteer
pinch, with volunteer fire
fighters down by 60,000 all
across the United States.
On funding, Rogelstad
said if the new enterprise
zone businesses were not
exempt from property tax
es, he would be receiving
.75 per thousand dollars of
valuation on the new con
struction.
However, other factors
muddy the waters when
determining how much tax
money the department has
lost w ith the CREZ exemp
tions, including Measure
5 and compression, which
caps property tax rates.
Rogelstad also pointed
out that property valua
tions on new business and
industrial construction are
coming in at sometimes 30
percent of the construction
costs, which puts the tax
revenues at a low level.
“Sixty percent we can
live with, but not 30,” he
said.
With an annual budget
of $1.1 million, Rogelstad
said the rural fire district is
receiving $800,000 per year
in tax revenue and this is
just not enough.
He pointed to Hermis-
ton, which has a tax rate of
$1.20 per thousand and is
also having troubles.
I le said an earlier effort
to get Boardman voters to
approve a special bond is
sue to help the fire depart
ment failed, and he does
not know if another effort
would succeed.
“Nobody wants to pay
more taxes, including me,”
he said. “But we can’t run
on 1990 dollars and provide
this level of services. I am
paying 100 percent of my
employees and I need to
find other revenue. I should
have six employees in order
to do it right.”
He said the new aerial
truck, which takes a year
to receive after ordering,
will cost around $1 mil
lion and could be funded
at $100,000 per year on a
lease purchase deal.
CREZ board member
and Port M anager Gary
Neal told Rogelstad he
wants him to keep the board
apprised of the departments
needs.
Neal also discussed the
possibility o f exempting
the fire district from future
deals involving the enter
prise zone, thus assuring
tax income from the new
construction.
“ We have in our dis
cussions always tried to
identify the fire department
as an accepted effected dis
trict,” Neal said.
“Discussion comes up
all the time with fire chiefs
about what restricts fund
ing,” Rogelstad said, "and
the three main ones are Ur
ban Renewal in the valley,
strategic investment plans
and enterprise zones.”
“Our challenge is with
special districts and whether
they are going to be effect
ed,” Neal said of the CREZ
board’s discussions.
“State programs (such
as enterprise zones) we
have to live with. 1 would
like to see the state make up
the difference because the
locals always carry the bur
den when the state is push
ing for new business.”
Neal has said in the
past that, because there are
so many enterprise zones
If I
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a r: a
i
IR E DISTRICT
____
Boanlman Rural Fire Protection District Chief Marc Rogelstad
says the increased activity at the Port of Morrow is putting
strain on his department.
throughout the state, in
order for the Port to be
competitive in attracting
new business, it has to use
its own enterprise zone
and tax incentives to full
advantage.
Neal especially takes
exception with the Oregon
Department o f Revenue
practice of coming in w ith
low ering valuations on
large industrial projects in
the county.
He said the department
takes the valuation out of
the hands of local assessors
and. "Quite frankly we (lo
cal counties) are the ones
who take it when the state
comes in and lowers valua
tions. We lose the value and
the tax revenue,” Neal later
told the Gazette.
He said in many in
stances companies such as
utilities rebuild their facili
ties to near-new condition
w ith new turbines, but are
not revalued at a higher
rate, and still get the older
straight-line depreciation
for tax purposes.
Both N eal and Ro
gelstad agree, however, that
enterprise zones and their
property tax exemptions are
here to stay.
“Enterprise zones are
something we are going
to have to live with,” Ro
gelstad says.
The board also brief
ly discussed a m eeting
planned on July 25 at 7
p.m. at the Port of Morrow
Wells Springs room.
The recreation district
has invited all the taxing
districts in the Columbia
River Enterprise Zone II
to “ .. begin a conversation
regarding Enterprise Zone
negotiations,” according to
a meeting notice from the
recreation district.
his sandwich, put the sauce
container on the dashboard
and then was busy thinking
about the afternoon and the
work to be done. Soon the
younger guys on the crew
couldn't hold back anymore
and started laughing out
loud. The sauce had run all
down into the dash.
“It took me awhile to
live that one down. That
pickup smelled like barbe
cue sauce to the day we sold
it," he remembers.
However, it was well
known with the young guys
on his crew that you don't
mess w ith him in the morn
ing.
“You pretty much don’t
talk to him before he has his
coffee,” one of his crewmen
told the Gazette-Times.
But McDowell always
kept a good relationship
w ith the people around the
co-op district, especially
those in the country onto
whose property he often
had to go to fix things.
“It's part PR; you have
to get to know people,” he
says.
And even though the
co-op has the legal right
to go onto properties and
fix the power lines, Mc
Dowell liked to keep a
good relationship with the
landowners.
“Most of the time they
are okay about us going on
their property. Usually if
you stop and talk to them
and let them know what we
are doing, we get along with
them,” he recalls.
Some o f the biggest
changes M cDowell has
seen during his career are
better wire material, larger
poles and the shorter span
between poles. He says
all have cut down on the
needed repair work.
Ice on the power lines
causing damage has also
been a problem for the re
pair crews, and more buried
lines have alleviated some
of these problems, he says.
And now that those
days of rolling out of bed
at 2 a.m. to drive icy foggy
roads when the power goes
out are over. Bill and Meri
lee are having more time
to travel, and especially
spend time with their new
grandson, Henry, seven
months old, who lives in
Eugene with his mom and
dad, Danielle and Brian
Burnside. The couple also
enjoys going to Mariners
baseball games and visiting
relatives.
MCDOWELL RETIRES
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War
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‘
A recent picture of McDowell (right) on the job with Russ
Brannon.
-Continuedfrom PAGE ONE
“I liked getting peo
ples' lights back on when
there was a problem," says
McDowell. 59, who re
cently retired after working
for Columbia Basin since
graduating from Davenport
High School in Washington
in 1972. He recalls one of
the toughest times when an
ice storm knocked down
680 poles and left 2,000
people without power. Of
course, then there was the
time he had his picture in
the paper around the time
of the Condon kite festi
val, holding the remains
of a kite he had dug out
of a transformer at Fossil,
and reminding people of
the dangers of kite-flying
around power lines.
“Linemen have rescued
three kites this week from
pow er lines in Condon
and a ball o f string from
bushings and jumper on a
transformer in Fossil,” the
article said. “The lineman
conducted an Ohms resis
tance test on the string and
found that it would conduct
electricity,” the article said,
warning of the dangers.
It isn 't necessary to
warn McDowell of the dan
gers of the job he has held
for the past 40 years.
“You have to be con
stantly aware o f safety out
there,” he explains.
Sometimes chided for
being a bit slow on certain
job, he says he always em
phasized safety.
“I always wanted ev
eryone to come home at
night," he says about work
ing around power lines that
can have up to 115,0000
volts of electricity running
through them.
“A lot of times people
drive by and see one guy
standing around when we
are working. But that guy
is the safety observer, he is
watching everything while
people are working, mak
ing sure everything looks
okay.”
Not only is the electric
ity a concern, but the crew
is also working with booms,
trucks, tools and, yes, dyna
mite. When asked if there is
a lot of rocky ground in the
Columbia Basin Electric
area he says, “No, not a lot
of rock; one big rock.”
So, it was sometimes
necessary to use blasting
material to get a hole down
the required six feet for a
power pole, and each blast
could react differently de
pending on the condition
of the rock and soil. He was
asked to blast some rock
for a non-CBEC project up
by the high school several
years ago and, while the
Morrow^ ^County
FAIR RODEO
blast went fine, a few rocks
did go where they were not
expected.
M cD ow ell actually
comes from a family of
linemen. His father worked
as a lineman for 30 years.
McDowell took the job with
Columbia Basin in 1972,
straight out of high school,
and lived in Condon work
ing as a “groundsman” for
five years.
“A groundsman drives
trucks, takes equipment to
the guys and other jobs,”
McDowell explains.
In 1979, he and his
wife M erilee moved to
Heppner, where he began
his apprenticeship. Meri
lee told him that when he
received his journeyman's
lineman's card they could
start a family. He received
his card in 1982 and their
daughter Danielle was bom
that same year.
He started out for fore
man Billy Gentry and then
later moved up to be a fore
man himself, overseeing a
crew of between three to
five men.
There were lots of days,
and nights, of bad weather
and hard work, but Mc
Dowell says it was always
good to keep a sense o f hu
mor with the younger guys
while out on the job.
“You have to able to
keep it light and have a
good time to do this job,” he
says while relating the story
of the barbecue sauce.
It seems the crew was
eating in the pickup on a
particularly hot day down
by Jordon Grade near lone.
He had put some sauce on
ry
-
High School sports
physicals planned
Heppner High School
has scheduled sports physi
cals for Tuesday, Aug. 6,
and Thursday, Aug. 8, at
Pioneer Memorial Clinic.
Boys’ physicals will be
ITS
The HePPner Gazette-Times will
_ i k . a q t
be publishing its special fair &
A L IV iw O 1
rodeo edition August 7.
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Deadline to be included in the Special Fair Edition- July 31
TJ9 HÇÆ3P!
M U R R A Y S 17th A N N U A L
BEER a W IN E TASTING
THURSDAY, A U G U ST
6 :0 0
p . m .
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15 th
p . m .
M O R R O W C O U N T Y F A IR G R O U N D S
,
CIVIL WAR THEME
^
W ear voi r duc ks or beavers gear ! ,
on Aug. 6 from 1:30-5 p.m.
on a walk-in basis. Girls’
physicals will be on Aug.
8 from 1:30-5 p.m. on a
walk-in basis.
Sports physicals are
required for any student
who has not had a physical
in the past year, including
first year junior high par
ticipants and sixth graders
playing at the junior high
level, and transfer students
who do not have a copy of
a physical completed in the
past year.
The form for the physi
cals can be found at http://
osaa.org/forms/PhysicalEx-
amination-2010.pdf. Stu
dents must bring this form
with them to the physical.
Players under the age
of 18 must have their forms
signed by a parent.
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