It’s agreed, ‘fix Gale and Chase’
HEPPNER
G T
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VOL. 136 NO. 41 8 Pages
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Finley Buttes eyes Metro’s trash
Could mean 60 more trucks a day to
Morrow County
By David Sykes
Morrow County’s large
landfill, Finley Buttes, has
its hat in the ring for a new
solid waste contract, that if
obtained could see 500,000
more tons of trash com-
ing here each year. Metro,
which handles Portland-
area trash, is coming to the
end of a 30-year contract
with Columbia Ridge Land-
fill near Arlington and is
currently seeking propos-
als from other landfills for
disposal.
Will Elder, Senior
Waste Operations Planner
for Metro attended the Sept
27 meeting of the Morrow
County Commission and
said they are looking at
four landfills, not only in
Morrow County but also in
Wasco County, the current
location Gilliam County
and Klickitat County in
Washington. Elder was to
have met with the Metro
council Oct. 12 to sum-
marize feedback he has
received from each of these
counties.
Landing the contract
could mean hundreds of
millions of dollars for Fin-
ley Buttes owner Waste
Connections, as well as
more “tippage” money for
the county, and more jobs
at the landfill. It will also
mean more trucks on the
road as it is estimated it will
take 60 trucks more per day
to bring the trash to Finley
Buttes, which is located
along Bombing Range Rd.
in North Morrow County.
Morrow County com-
missioners were gener-
ally supportive of receiving
the increased trash, with
Don Russell saying Finley
Buttes has been a good part-
ner of Morrow County and
that the county welcomes
the opportunity for Finley
Buttes to grow its busi-
ness. The landfill has over
-See TRASH/PAGE FOUR
Lexington town council hears
from guests
By Bobbi Gordon
Special guests from
the city of Heppner and
Morrow County present-
ed information to council
members Bill Beard, Sheila
Miller, Bobbi Gordon and
Deona Siex at the Lexing-
ton town council meeting
on Oct. 10.
Carla McLane, Morrow
County Planning Director,
has been attending council
meetings for all cities in the
county to discuss its com-
prehensive plan, economic
development and buildable
land. McLane stated that
most of the cities in the
county have an outdated
comprehensive plan. An
economic development
task force is trying to work
cooperatively with all areas
in the county to investigate
land use types and do a
buildable land analysis.
The task force recognizes
the fact that most of the
south end of the county has
residents that either live in
the city, in the urban growth
boundary or on farm land.
The goal is to determine
whether or not the employ-
ment and residential land
inventory is in balance and
is being used properly.
Councilmember Miller
expressed concern that Lex-
ington does not have much
buildable land as it is due
to the septic system issues.
She stated the city might
be interested if the analysis
covers buildable land now
and how it would differ
if a wastewater treatment
plant is installed at a later
date. McLane suggested
Lexington should look at
residential uses and zones
that currently exist and
reschedule to discuss it
further at the November
meeting.
Edie Ball, Heppner
City Manager and council
member Dale Bates, attend-
ed the meeting to discuss
the grant application that
would be specifically used
for planning a shared waste-
water treatment facility for
Heppner, Lexington and
Ione. Ball stated she would
have the grant application
completed and submitted
by the due date of Oct.
13. Other Heppner council
members were attending
the Ione council meeting at
the same time to discuss the
project with them as well.
The city of Heppner is ask-
ing for participation from
all three cities in the south
county area to participate in
a feasibility study to deter-
mine the best way to imple-
ment a shared wastewater
treatment lagoon, whether
it be a lagoon in each city
Public voices ideas on transportation needs
in Heppner
Matt Hughart, associate planner with Kittelson & Associates, leads a group discussion on
the future transportation needs of Heppner.
By David Sykes
There was widespread
consensus at a public meet-
ing Monday, that the streets
needing most work in Hep-
pner were Gale and Chase.
A group of citizens got
together with consultants,
city staff and representa-
tives from Oregon De-
partment of Transportation
to begin putting together
a plan for the future of
transportation in Heppner.
The group later went on a
walking tour of Heppner
to get firsthand knowledge
of various transportation
issues in town.
Not only was the con-
dition of streets discussed,
however. The group also
talked about walking and
bike paths, public transpor-
tation options and general
growth potential for Hep-
pner. Matt Hughart from the
transportation engineering
firm Kittelson & Assoc.
was in charge of the meet-
ing since his firm received
a $32,450 grant to upgrade
Heppner’s Transportation
System Plan. The plan will
be used to guide transporta-
tion spending in the years
ahead.
Since Gale is the second
most used street in Heppner
behind Main, discussion
centered around ways to fix
and improve it. The street
has a lot of potholes and
has been deteriorating for
years. Widening the street
was also talked about, but
that might entail taking out
some of the sidewalk area
to do so.
Heppner has a lot of
residents who like to walk
and more walking paths
were also discussed, pos-
sibly even a trail around
part of Willow Creek Lake.
How to handle bicyclists
was also discussed, and it
was pointed out that kids
who ride their bikes on the
sidewalks downtown get
reported, but if they move
out into the street it is dan-
gerous.
Other topics discussed
included ensuring wheel-
chair access around town
for those citizens, and
where Heppner’s future
growth will be and ensur-
ing there is adequate street
and walking access to those
areas.
The school district has
been discussing moving the
grade school up to the high
school building sometime
in the future, and it was
discussed how to accom-
modate the additional chil-
dren who would then be
walking and riding bikes on
that route. Improving Mor-
gan Street with sidewalks
was talked about, however
it was brought up that resi-
dents on that street at one
time said they did not want
sidewalks there.
The discussion group
was attended by about 20
people, and lasted for 2
hours including lunch. The
public meeting was just
the beginning steps in the
process of writing a new
TSP plan, with the infor-
mation gathered from the
public and the walking tour
being used to move on to
future meetings of a smaller
volunteer working group.
Hughart said the general
public will also have time
in the future to give more
input before the final plan
is put together and adopted.
Voters to decide on OSU
Extension Service tax district
Come the May 2018
primary election, voters
in Morrow and Umatilla
counties will have a say in
whether or not to support
the formation of a new tax
district for Oregon State
University Extension Ser-
vice.
Eleven of the 12 incor-
porated cities in Umatilla
County and all five cities
in Morrow County recently
passed resolutions forward-
ing the proposed service
districts to the voters, which
would tax 33 cents per
$1,000 of assessed value to
help fund OSU Extension
programs.
According to OSU fig-
ures, the Extension Service
districts would raise more
than $1 million annually
in Umatilla County and
$462,000 in Morrow Coun-
ty. A spokesperson said that
would help provide stable
funding not only for the
extension offices in both
counties, but for the Herm-
iston Agricultural Research
and Extension Center and
Columbia Basin Agricul-
tural Research Center north
of Pendleton.
Ione volleyball girls to play
in tournament
-See GUESTS/PAGE THREE
Gazette-Times Trophy Corner
Colt Parker, Ione, with his Cameron Jewett, 14 with his
first buck. -Contributed photo Billy Deloe, 91, with his four
buck from near Ritter.
-Contributed photo
point buck taken from the
Columbia Basin unit.
-Contributed photo
Kevin Payne, Heppner, har-
vested his first deer on the last Gracie Jewett, 17 took her
day of the season. -Contributed deer with a 450 yard perfect
shot. -Contributed photo
photo
The Heppner Gazette-
Times wants to see pic-
tures of your trophy ani-
mals from this hunting
season. Stop by to have
your picture taken, drop
off photos, mail them to
PO Box 337
in Heppner,
email them
to editor@
rapidserve.
net or text
cell phone
photos to 541-980-6674.
The Ione volleyball team is scheduled to play at the Big Sky District Tournament on Saturday,
Oct. 21, at Sherman County High School. Games begin at 10 a.m. and Ione will play 30 min-
utes after the first match. Pictured Back Row (L-R): Megan Doherty, Elaina Ehrmantraut,
Emma Rietmann, Kathryn Burns, Morgan Orem, Eva Martin, Zoey Gilbert. Front Row (L-R):
Ariana Solorio, Serenity Rodriguez, Emily Taylor, Renee Peterson, Susie Teeman. Front: Ola
Rietmann. Not pictured: Team Manager Payton Miller. -Contributed photo
MORROW COUNTY
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