Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2014)
Bessie W e tze ll N ew spaper Library Mustangs crush Bobcats to advance to quarterfinals U niversity of O regon Eugene, OR 9 7 4 0 3 HEPPNER Eizette if imes VOL. 133 NO. 38 8 Pages Wednesday, November 12, 2014 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon New county administration building grows in size, cost Estimated price now at $4.1 million for 11,200-square-foot facility À r ; Construction has begun on the new Morrow County adminis tration building, which w ill be over twice the size and cost that was originally proposed. -Photo by David Sykes By David Sykes T he new M o rro w C ounty A d m inistration building under construc tion next to the existing courthouse in Heppner was originally estimated to cost $1.8 million, but will now cost around $4.1 million, county Judge Terry Tallman told the Heppner Gazette- Times last week. Tallman and Project Manager Scott Rogers of the Wenaha Group said the main reason for the cost in crease is that as the building went through the planning stage it increased in size from an original proposal, and the cost of land acquisi tion was not included in the original estimate. “ Why did 1 say $1.8 million back then?” asks Tallman. “1 went with the best information 1 had at the time,” he explains. Scott said it was origi nally estimated that the new building was going to be between 4,500 and 7,500 square feet, and building costs would be around $360 a square foot. That put the first rough estimate to be G-T Trophy Corner Top: Aaron Smythe went on a quick walk around the hill behind his house after practice, but ended up shooting this big-bodied 2x3 whitetail in his backyard on the way down to the house for dinner. Aaron is the son of Scott and Claudia Smythe. Bottom: Aaron Smythe killed his first elk, this 4x5 bull, in Buck Canyon at 7:15 a.m. on Nov. 10. He shot the bull with a Savage 30-06 he purchased with his own money for elk season. Aaron said he came out of mist and encountered the elk. the first one he'd seen. He got excited, shot high and missed at 100 yards. The elk then moved over a rise. Aaron snuck up the rise and shot the elk in the lungs at 30 yards...this time saving his excitement for after the kill. -Contributedphotos between $1.6 and $2.88 million. However, Tallman had publicly stated a $1.8 million figure. Not only did the facility increase in size when planning started, but the original estimate did not include purchasing the three homes next to the existing courthouse, which were torn down to make way for the new structure. However, according to Wenaha’s own website the company still lists the admin building as 8,000 square feet, which at the $360-per-foot estim ated w ould still have made the original estim ate to be $2.88 million. Even as late as February the square footage was estimated to be 9,500 square feet. Scott still says Wenaha’s original square-footage estim ate was spot on, pointing out that recent hard construc tion costs have come in at $357 per square foot, which makes the cost of the larger 11,200 square foot building to be $4.1 million. Why the county was so far off on the size of the facility can be traced mostly to county officials underestimating the need for more space. “ W hen we got into planning the actual facil ity we found out we were not very realistic,” says Tallman. The n eed s fo r the Health Department and for more storage and confer ence rooms are just sev eral of the reasons for in creased the square footage, he points out. “Our estimates were grossly underestimated,” he admits. Tallman says mandates from the state increased the needs for the health depart ment, which is currently lo cated upstairs of the Gilliam Bisbee building. As every one who has visited the health department knows, there are steep stairs to get up there, and the building is in a deteriorating condition. “Our main problem with fixing up the Gilliam Bisbee Building was the steep stairs, no elevator and the water running through the basem ent,” explains Tallman. There is a spring below the building and water can at times literally flow through the basement in a stream. “It sounds like a small waterfall down there,” Tall man says. Judge Tallm an also said he went through the courthouse and asked each department if they wanted to move to the new facility. The clerk, accountant and assessor all said they did not want to move, he says. The District Attorney will stay in the present courthouse -See ADMIN BUILDING S RISING COSTS/PAGE FIVE Tom Gould (#61) pushes hard against a Myrtle Point player during last week's playoff game in Heppner. The Mustangs crushed the visitors 49-0 to advance to quarterfinals. Gould's per formance this season earned him a spot as an offensive line on CBC all-league second team. -Photo by Sandra Putman -See fu ll story PAGE FOUR Morrow County voters buck state trends in election By Andrea Di Salvo Morrow County voters faced some highly contest ed races this election. At th e lo c a l level, close races made the outcome u n c e rta in . At the state le v e l, the Skip Matthews majority of county voters bucked trends that swept through the rest o f Oregon, putting voter sentiment at odds with elec tion outcomes. At the local level, the race for Heppner mayor and councilor positions was a hot issue going into this election, as was proved by the close margins in the mayoral race. Skip Mat thews won the mayoral election with 37 percent of the vote, trailed closely by incumbent Joe Perry with 34 percent and challenger Cody High with 29 percent. For H eppner’s coun cilor position number 5, in cumbent JoAnne Burleson fought off challenger Kathy Marick, retaining her seat. Councilor position number 6, which had no incumbent running, was won by Adam Doherty. With all of lone’s coun cil candidates running un contested, there were no surprise overturns in that city, with M ayor Linda LaRue and councilors Dea con Heideman, Beverly Crum and Joel Barnett all winning their seats by land slides. Still up in the air is the Lexington town council. A vast majority voted for Deona Siex, the single con tender for council position 2, but the mayor and the rest of the council positions were all determ ined by write in. Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers said she had not yet verified the results of those races; more information will be published in the Gazette as it becomes available. On the county level, Don Russell became the new county commission er, running away unop posed with 95 percent of the votes. Measure 25-69, which changes the position o f county commissioner from partisan to nonparti- Will) I »I Kl ) ( i K m . , I ( .1« > W KM M ( 1 san, passed with 63 percent of the vote. On the state level, Republi can Gr e g Walden, who r e tain ed his seat in the U.S. House o f R e p re sentatives, JoAnne was certain Burleson ly helped by the 80 percent of Morrow County ballots cast in his favor. Likewise, State Rep resentative Greg Smith will continue to represent the 57th district, thanks in part to the 98 percent of county voters who supported him. However, the majority of Morrow County voters was often at odds with the rest of the state, such as when Morrow County sup ported Republican Dennis Richardson over incumbent John Kitzhaber for gover nor with 2,057 votes, or 66 percent. Likewise, Morrow County would have elected Monica Wehby for U.S. Senator by a narrower mar gin of 55 percent versus the 36 percent who voted for winner Jeff Merkley. While Oregon at large passed Measure 91, making recreational use of marijua na legal, Morrow County voted down the measure by 66 percent. Measure 87, wh i c h a l lows judges to be hired by the N a tional Guard and public universities, was passed Adam Doherty at the state level but rejected by a nar row 53 percent o f county voters. Fifty-two percent of Morrow County voters also cast their ballots against Measure 89, whereas 63 percent o f total Oregon voters approved amend ing the state constitution to state that “state/pol itical subdivision shall not deny or abridge equality of rights on account of sex.” The issue of Measure 92, which would have man dated labeling o f certain foods containing GMOs (genetically modified or ganisms) was almost too close to call at the state level before falling by a narrow margin, but not in M orrow County, where 73 percent of voters were -See ELECTION TRENDS/ PAGE SEVEN County DA’s office to continue prosecution of marijuana cases DA announces prosecution as usual until law takes effect next year Last week, a major ity of voting Oregonians passed Measure 91, Or egon’s legalized m ari juana initiative. Unlike the majority of voting Or egonians, Morrow County residents voted against the measure by a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent. The Morrow County District Attorney Office has announced it has no plans to dismiss any open m arijuana cases, or to refuse to prosecute any future m arijuana cases based upon the passage of Measure 91. The provi sions o f Measure 91 will not take effect until July 1, 2015. Until the provisions of Measure 91 take effect, the Morrow County Dis trict Attorney Office says it will continue to review all marijuana cases that are submitted to the office for prosecution. “ T here will be no blanket dismissal of open marijuana cases, and no refusal to file charges of new marijuana cases based upon the passage of Mea sure 91,” says Morrow County District Attorney Justin Nelson. “The Mor row County District At torney O ffice enforces the criminal laws o f the state, and until July 1, 2015, those laws have not changed.” 10 % °" Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed A Seed I
