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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper l ibrare
University of Oregon
Eugene. OR 974<n
He must have been a
very good boy
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VOL. 132
N O . 46
8 Pages
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City seeks to expand
property lien authority
Would now cover unpaid water bills and civil
penalties, property cleanup and more
By David Sykes
A discussion at last month’s
H eppner C ity C o u n cil
meeting about a proposed
ordinance allow ing the
city o f Heppner to place
liens on properties with
delinquent water bills, has
now expanded into talk of
giving the city authority
to place liens for a variety
of other charges, including
civil penalties, assessments,
property cleanup costs and
other unnamed charges.
Last month the city
council passed a motion
instructing City Manager
Kim Cutsforth “to start the
process to lien properties
for delinquent water and
sewer bills.” Since then
Cutsforth began working
with City Attorney Phillip
Spicerkuhn to come up with
an ordinance allowing the
city to do this.
However, at Monday’s
meeting the council was
presented with an ordinance
which expands the city’s
lien pow er beyond ju st
water and sewer bills to
include, “but not limited
to, assessments for local
improvements, economic
d ev elo p m en t d is tric ts,
s y s te m d e v e lo p m e n t
charges, facility charges,
civil penalties and nuisance
abatements.”
Last month Cutsforth told
the council, if adopted,
the new ordinance would
give the city a chance to
recover unpaid water and
sewer bills that sometimes
run more than $1,000.
Cutsforth said it gives the
city a tool to collect bills
when owners sometimes
leave town with unpaid
bills. If the home has a lien
on it, the unpaid bills will
be paid when the property
is sold, she explained.
Monday a discussion was
held whether the city should
also have the authority,
not only to place a lien on
property, but to actually
foreclose on a home for
non payment o f not only
water bills, but also any
o f the above m entioned
ch arg es in cu rred by a
homeowner. Cutsforth said
she had originally struck
foreclosure language from
the proposed ordinance,
however Spicerkuhn argued
that the language should
be left in because without
the foreclosure ability, the
ordinance would have no
teeth.
Under the proposed new
law, fees incurred from civil
penalties such as failure to
obtain permits could now
also be grounds for the city
to place a lien on a person’s
home. Also if cleanup, such
as auto body removal, or as
-Continued on PAGE
EIGHT
Creches make beautiful
Christmas display
Damien Sheoships-Ball must have been a very good boy as he is ail smiles after a confidential
talk with Santa during the Customer Appreciation Day December 5 in Heppner. That day
also featured the community tree lighting and carolers.
Celebrate Heppner Christmas
event December 19
The Celebrate Heppner
Chamber Christmas Event
will be held next Thursday,
December 19, at 6 p.m.
at the Morrow County
Fairgrounds in Heppner.
Dinner will be served at 6
p.m. by Sweet Productions.
The menu will include
spaghetti with marinara or
meat sauce, garlic bread,
garden salad, Christmas
cookies, hot cocoa, coffee
and lemonade. The cost
is $7 per guest, $3 for
children under five or $25
for a family of four. A no
host beer and wine catered
by Bucknum’s will be
printed your name clearly
available.
on
the “rewards cards” and
Those attending will
receive a $ 10 rewards card drop them in the specific
prize container before 7:15
for every meal purchased.
p.m. Raffle and penny
Attendees may also:
-Find “Scrooge” and see board tickets will provide
if you can get him to hand for an opportunity to wir
over a “reward card” or some “great prizes”. Raffle
prizes include a Play
two;
-Get your picture taken Station 3 and a 7” Nook
with Santa on the stage for HD
$5 per picture from 6-7 Penny board prizes include
a 40” LCD TV, a 7” Kindle
p.m.;
-Find the penny board and Fire and a 7” Nook HD.
The announcemeni
raffle basket items in the
of “reward card” winners
dance hall;
drawing
winners
-Find the reward card and
names
for
the
penny
and
prizes set up in the Annex.
Please make sure you have Christmas raffle Items will
be announced at 7:30 p.m.
Area pastors invited to
submit Christmas messages
Businesses, individuals also invited to sen d in
Christmas greetings
Crèches from area
re s id e n ts m ade for a
beautiful Christmas scene
in a storefront window on
Main Street in downtown
Heppner this season.
The nativity scenes
w ere disp lay ed in the
fro n t w indow s o f the
former A rtisan Village/
Q uitter’s Roundup store
on Main Street. At last
count organizer Andrea
Grigg said that they had
received around 50 crèches
to display. The crèches
were on loan from area
residents.
Grigg said that the display
was a “wonderful team
effort.” “We were rewarded
by the ex p ressio n s on
people’s faces,” she added.
“Many o f the sets have a
special history in the lives
o f the owners.”
Grigg said that Sheryl!
Bates provided input on
setting up the display and
assisted in providing the
display with lights and
tables from the Chamber
o f C om m erce; B abette
W all, B arbara Pruche,
Misty Petzoldt and Peggy
Fishbum helped prepare the
windows; a youth group and
some of their leaders from
the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints Willow
Creek Branch washed the
w in d o w s; P ru ch e and
Natalie Grigg helped check
in the nativities; Petzoldt,
D o ris B ro sn a n , N ev a
DeMayo, Natalie Grigg and
Kay Proctor helped set up
the display; Ken Wenberg
helped in regulating the
temperature and setting up
fans when the windows got
fogged up and he and his
wife Bonnie donated use
o f the space and allowed
use of fabric and shelves for
the display.
The Heppner Gazette- deadline is Friday, Dec. 13, individuals who w ould
Tim es w ill p u b lish a at 5 p.m.
like to have a Christmas
Christmas edition on Dec.
M e s s a g e s c a n be greeting in the Dec. 18
18.
dropped off at the Gazette Gazette should call 541-
A re a p a s to r s a re office, emailed to editor@ 676-9228 or email megan@
invited to submit Christmas rapidserve.net, or faxed to rapidserve.net by Monday,
Grigg said that they used messages to be published
Dec. 16, at 5 p.m.
541-676-9211.
sh av in g cream on the in the Dec. 18 edition. The
A ny b u sin e sse s or
windows to de-fog them,
but that did not last as long
as they had hoped.
A couple o f interesting
items to note: one of the Because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the Gazette-Times deadline for
sets brought in by Doris news and advertisements for the December 25 issue will be Friday, December 20 at
and Dan Brosnan (the one 5 p.m. The deadline for the January 1 issue will be Friday, December 27 at 5 p.m.
with the yellow sheep)
was painted by Dan when
he was in the third grade.
sale
a
Alissa Hill’s set was given
to her by her son who got it
when he was in Chile.
The display will end
today, December 11, and
people who contributed
may pick up their nativities
betw een 6-8 p.m . that
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed A Seed
day. Some nativities will
remain on display and Bates
plans to bring in a larger
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
one for the window. St.
Patrick’s Parish has also
agreed to leave their crèche
throughout the Christmas
season.
G-T sets holiday deadlines
cuiARANCB
50 %
treat for feet!
O f f COWBOY KICKERS
I
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Heppner Gazette-Times 541-676-9228
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