I
Fairgrounds bleachers
safer thanks to volunteers
,öcss,c W c,/cll N cusdüdo
spa per , Libran
L n i\c r s i|\ o f O regon
Eugene. O R 9 7 4 0 3
HEPPNER)
imes
Heppner High School
Friday night recognized the
engineers, welders, design
ers and painters responsible
for the beautiful new hand
rails installed at the football
held grandstands.
The “Old Boys” firm of
Archie Ball, Butch Laugh-
lin, Don Stroeber and Son
ny Biddle are responsible
for taking on this job and
making the bleachers easier
to access and safer.
“They saw a need and
went to work” said Greg
Grant, athletic director
at Heppner High School.
“They were not satisfied
Dedicated local volunteers Archie Ball, Butch Laughlin, Don
Stroeber and Sonny Biddle built and installed the handrails
that now make the bleachers at the Heppner football held
safer and easier to navigate. -Photo by AruJrea Di Salvo
until they had it perfect. 1
think they looked at a dozen
other stadiums to find the
best design.”
“It is really cool to live
and work in a place where
people have ownership,
take pride and have initia-
tive to get things like this
done,” Grant added.
City says late water bills under $5
won’t get late fee charge
It’s your turn...
VOL. 133
NO. 32
8 Pages Wednesday, September 17, 2014
By David Sykes
The city of Heppner
will no longer charge a late
fee on water and sewer bills
less than $5 not paid by the
10,h of the month, it was an
nounced Monday night. In
July of2013 the city council
had adopted a resolution
that a flat late fee of $5 will
be charged to all accounts
with any amount owing
after the 10,h of the month;
however, the city adminis
tration has apparently been
granting waivers and not
charging for overdue bal
ances less than $5.
The issue came up
when Lee Berlinsky, who
has lived in Heppner eight
years but is out of town
some of the time, came to
Monday’s council meeting
and said his water bill nor
mally runs $49. Berlinsky
said he paid the city $50 a
head of time, and then was
surprised when his water
bill came back at $55 and
subsequently was billed the
$5 late fee on the $5 unpaid
balance. He said this repre
sented a 230 percent Annual
Percentage Rate (APR) late
fee on the overdue amount
which he though was “abu
sive.”
Berlinsky said he called
Mayor Joe Perry to talk
about it and was told that
the fee was fair and that the
city could actually, based
on other cities’ charges, be
justified in charging its us
ers an even higher late fee.
After hearing Berlin-
sky’s complaint at Mon
day’s council meeting Perry
said he would not discuss
the bill at the meeting;
however, city Manager Kim
Cutsforth said if Berlinsky
would have called her, she
would have waived the $5
late charge.
“You could call us and
we are happy to work with
people,” Cutsforth said.
“We apologize for any con
fusion.”
City councilmember
and mayoral candidate Skip
Matthews told Berlinsky
that the charge is in fact not
a late fee.
“That fee is not a late
fee; it is an administrative
fee,” he said. “The util
ity commission said it was
more than fair when they
adopted it. It has nothing to
do with APR.”
According to the pub
lic notice and resolution
passed by the council the
city changed from an in
terest-based late charge to
the flat fee of $5 in August
of 2013. Matthews said the
$5 handles administrative
costs in rebilling an overdue
account.
On Tuesday after the
meeting Cutsforth told the
Gazette-Times that, “The
city position is not clari
fied. I believe that the in
tent was the late fee would
encourage our customers
to pay on time. And yes, if
the overdue amount is less
than $5, there is no late fee.
The utility commission will
be discussing raising this
amount at their meeting on
Thursday,” she said.
In other business the
council was told that there
are problems with drain
age on Water St. after the
major rehabilitation project,
and that the city engineer
would be in town this week
to talk about the problems.
Cutsforth said there is
$ 11,000 held back from the
project that could be used
for fixes. Also she said the
construction company has a
bond but she does not want
to go that way, as then the
city would have to do the
work itself.
“We don’t want to fix
it; we want them to fix it,”
she said.
In other business the
council heard a report from
Chad Doherty of the Public
Works.
Water Report
-Fixed a water leak on
our side of a home owner's
service. Replaced water
meter at the same address.
-Installed new water
sample station at Public
Drivers on 1-84 had
bumpy ride Friday
Oregon Dept, of Transportation (ODOT) had its work cut out
clearing rocks from 1-84 when a truck pulling a belly dump
trailer loaded with large rocks spilled its load onto the east-
bound lanes near Boardman last Friday afternoon. ODOT and
Oregon State Police responded to the scene. Only one vehicle
was reported damaged. -Photo courtesy of Oregon State Police
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Works Shop
-Installed safety eye
wash station in chlorine
room at Reservoir 1.
-The city crew dug up
and fixed a leaky water
meter at the grade school.
Sewer Dept.
-Cleaned contact basins
at sewer plant, twice.
-The city crew hauled
multiple loads of biosolids
to range land site.
Streets Dept.
-The city crew re
paired the sidewalk on
Water Street. Painted the
Shamrock before the rodeo
parade.
-The city crew hauled
spoils out of city yard.
-Took down rodeo ban
ners.
-Repaired two deck
boards on Kirk Street
bridge.
-Painted the red and
white caution stripes at
grade school.
-Set up and took down
barricades for rodeo parade.
-Got sweeper out mul
tiple times before rodeo.
Parks Dept.
-The city crew fixed
the ramp out at Hager Park
restroom.
-Pulled all weeds in
new soccer field and plant
ed grass in bare spots. Cut
down a damaged limb in
the City Park, which was
broken in a wind storm.
-Fertilized hanging
baskets twice.
C ity M a n a g e r Kim
Cutsforth Report
-City has continued
to work on the Talking
Rocks program. Several
of the plaques have been
delivered and the plan is to
begin placing them on the
rocks the week of the 15lh.
Pam and Mark Wunderlich
will be donating the balance
of the boulders. All of the
rocks have been sponsored.
As soon as the plaques
are in place, will begin to
work on the text for the QR
Codes. This will be the final
phase of this project.
-The city has placed a
strong focus on nuisance
abatement The high risk
fire season has made this a
priority. Have had a great
deal of success in getting
the repeat and long-term
offenders motivated to con
form and abate the fire haz
ards. The rate of response is
about 83 percent. The city
has also been able to recoup
the cost’of cleanup on a
property. Are still strug
gling with a few remaining
Readers invited to weigh in
on G-Tcandidates 'forum
The Heppner Gazette-
Times will publish a candi
dates’ forum for Heppner
City Council and Heppner
Mayor in an upcoming is
sue before the November
general election.
As part of this process,
we’re inviting our readers
Your candidate question:
Return to:
Heppner Gazette-Times
-See CITY COUNCIL/PAGE
SIX L __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _
New surface gives Heppner tennis courts
new life
By Doris Brosnan
Thursday, Sept. 11,
was a red-letter day on the
Heppner tennis courts. On
that morning, six players
were using the singles and
doubles courts at the same
time— a first that these
players could remember, a
definite first on the newly
resurfaced courts.
After City Manager
Kim Cutsforth’s research
early this spring and com
munication with Heppner
schools administration,
Morrow County adminis
tration. and Willow Creek
Park District administra
tion, the resurfacing of
the tennis courts became
a reality in late July. The
Willow Creek Park District
funded the project as part
of its community outreach
program, and the resurfac
ing job was coordinated
with the striping work at the
new basketball courts near
the swimming pool.
This successful work
delighted the few women
who regularly use the courts
and admit to having become
“overzealous” in their re
quests for improvements at
the courts. It has also been
welcomed by some younger
players. Playing on the
courts last Thursday morn
ing were women who are in
their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and
80s. Later in the day, teen-
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
t
1
i
P.O. Box 337 / Heppner, OR 97836
1
Fax: 541-676-9211 editor@rapidserve.net
Questions will be selected and may be edited at the editor's discretion
J
Tennis lovers (from left) JoAnne Burleson, Sherry F.wing, Carie Brosnan, Doris Brosnan, Nancy
Propheter and Diana Ball put the new tennis court surface to good use last Thursday, possibly
the most traffic the courts have seen in some time. -Contributedphoto
agers Kai Arbogast. DaiChi
Walters. Earl Propheter and
Justus Schoerbom practiced
their skills at doubles...
proof that the appeal of the
courts spans generational
and decades’ lines.
Last spring, Arbogast,
Walters and Brian Fowler
played tennis as members
of the lone team, and now
they can get in some extra
practices without having
to drive to lone. At the
end of summer school this
last spring, Mary Ann El-
guezabal gave each of her
students a tennis racket
and tennis balls, as well as
a lesson with retired tennis
p O L « p l5
coach JoAnne Burleson,
possibly stimulating inter
est in the sport among even
younger Heppner students.
rhe welcome mat is out
and the well-marked courts
are weed-free and smooth,
so everyone is encouraged
to hit the courts for exercise
and entertainment.
*»55§\öO Ö
lililí li
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
V
to weigh in with questions
they would like to see an
swered by the candidates.
Simply fill out the form
below and submit it in
person or by mail or fax,
or email your question to
editor@rapidserve.net by
Friday. Sept. 26.
M orrow County Grain G row ers
Lexington 989 8221 . l J 8QQ-452-Z396
«
l
........ *
\