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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
HEPPNER G T 50¢ County Commission gets update on Columbia River irrigation project If completed could add thousands of jobs to the area By David Sykes A pipeline to draw ad- ditional mitigated irriga- tion water from the Colum- bia River for Umatilla and Morrow Counties, could if completed, add thousands of jobs and up to $600 mil- lion in business activity to the area, the Morrow County Commission was told last week. Wednesday, October 25, 2017 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon J.R. Cook, founder and direc- tor of the Northeast Oregon Water As- sociation (NOWA) J.R. Cook, based in founder and Board- director of man, told NOWA the com- mission that the project greatly benefits irrigators in the Umatilla and North Morrow County area by providing irrigation water that will ease groundwater and tributary water usage and provide more water for Lexington city maintenance manager Ed Dickenson and irrigated crops. The planned irrigation town council members’ spouses Reid Miller and Wayne Gordon help build a retaining wall in the FEMA park on project is broken into three sections, central, east and Main St. in Lexington. -Photo by Bobbi Gordon azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 42 10 Pages Lexington parks get a face lift Lexington town council members and their spouses, Sheila (Reid) Miller and Bobbi (Wayne) Gordon, along with city recorder Janette Eldrige and city maintenance manager Ed Dickenson spent a few hours doing some landscap- ing and planting flower bulbs at the FEMA park on Main St. in Lexington on Sunday afternoon. The landscaping being done in Lexington’s FEMA park and Freedom park is part of a beautification project grant that the city received. west stretching from Board- man to east of Hermiston. However, two of those projects are having comple- tion problems. The Central Project was cancelled when Westland Irrigation District pulled out following the filing of a lawsuit against them over another matter by some of its patrons. The West Project is also in doubt over lack of funding, Cook said. In 2015 the state grant- ed $11 million in funding, which is now held by the Port of Morrow. Total proj- ect costs for the remaining East Project are estimated to be $46 million with land- owners committing $39 million and the state invest- ment at 15 percent. Cook said there currently are not enough funds earmarked for the West Project so its status is “unknown” at this time. The state legislature denied a request for an ad- ditional $10 million in the last legislative session. Cook asked the county to continue its membership in NOWA, and the com- mission agreed, approving $5,000 for its annual dues. In other business at the Oct. 18 meeting, the com- mission reviewed an OLCC liquor license request from Chris and Katherine Rauch of Lexington. The county planning commission had earlier granted a request from the Rauches to es- tablish an in-home beer and wine distributing busi- ness. The business is called Irv & Millie’s Spirits and Mead and will be located on Strawberry Lane. In addition the com- mission saw the opening of applications for the an- nual youth elk hunt on the county’s off highway ve- hicle park. Half of the park is closed down for the hunt. There were six entries and all were awarded to: Preslie Bowles, Jonathan Brannon, Kaden Combe, Tiffany Hol- lis and ZaBrena Masterson, all of Morrow County, and Logan Namitz of Grant County. “All those that submitted applications for the Morrow/Grant County OHV Park Special Youth -See IRRIGATION/PAGE FOUR BEO Bancorp reports third quarter earnings Lexington town council member Sheila Miller and city recorder Janette Eldrige make progress cleaning up the FEMA park on Main St in Lexington. -Photo by Bobbi Gordon BEO Bancorp and its subsidiary, Bank of East- ern Oregon, announced 3 rd quarter 2017 consolidated net income of $816,000 or $0.69 per share compared to $735,000 or $0.60 per share for third quarter 2017. Year to date earnings were $2,359,000 up 1.2 percent year over year. Total assets were $403.8 million, up 7.3 percent year over year. Net loans of $327.0 mil- lion were up 12.3 percent from the same period in 2016, while deposits were at $359.5 million, up 7.6 percent year over year. “Third quarter net in- come is up 11 percent from last year and year to date profits are in line with 2016; even with a reasonable provision for possible loan losses of $500,000 for the year, brought on by strong growth in the portfolio as well as dealing with a few legacy problem credits,” said President and CEO Jeff Bailey. Chief Financial Officer Mark Lemmon said, “Our shareholder equity is up 7.6 percent year over year, while our book value per share is up 10.3 percent. Rep. Smith reviews legislative ‘wins’ Checks in with conference call to Chamber of Commerce By David Sykes Local State Representa- tive Greg Smith gave a con- ference call to the Heppner Chamber of Commerce last week, and reviewed the list of ‘wins’ for the district, com- ing out of the last legislative session. Locally Smith was able to procure $3 million in funding for Heppner pedestrian safety and road improvements. How that money will be spent will be guided by a newly revised Transportation System Plan currently being developed with citizen input (see last week’s Gazette-Times) by the city. Also benefitting Morrow County was $3 million for pedestrian safety and road improvements in Irrigon, and $6.5 million for the East Beach industrial park rail expan- sion at the Port of Morrow in Boardman. In total, Smith helped bring $32 million in transportation investments to the district. During the chamber conference call, Smith also brought up how he was able to help pass legislation pre- serving the Columbia River Enterprise Zone at Boardman. The zone has been successful in attracting business and jobs to Morrow County (see related story this issue) to the point it was about to lose its ability to continue offering tax benefits. Morrow County is now ranked third in the state in average income. Smith also reviewed how he was able to help Lost Valley Farms obtain permitting for the new dairy near Boardman. The permit was mired in red tape and with Smith’s help they were able to get the nec- essary permits within 35 days. The new dairy added 120-150 new jobs to the county. In addition to the good news of the last session, Smith G-T Trophy Corner SEND US YOUR PICS! The Heppner Gazette- Times wants to see pictures of your trophy animals from this hunting sea- son. Stop by to have your pic- ture taken, drop tos, off pho- mail them to PO Box 337 in Heppner, email them to edi- tor@rapidserve.net or text cell phone photos to 541- 980-6674. Rien Maret, 14, with his first buck taken from the Colum- bia Basin Unit -Contributed photo Rep. Greg Smith working on the floor of the State Legislature also went over some of the problems coming up. One of the biggest issues is the Public Employee Retirement System, or PERS, which Smith says has a huge $22 to $25 billion future liability. He said in response to people who have told him to just figure out a way for the state to modify the retirement agreements and make them more manageable, Smith said “That contract has been looked at many times and it cannot be broken. I will not vote in favor of breaking a contract (with former em- ployees in the system),” he said. Smith has said on several occasions he feels the state should bite the bullet and refi- nance the PERS debt. Then if the legislature wants to reduce the PERS load, reduce the size of state government. Another cloud coming, Smith says, is a proposal to implement a cap and trade program in Oregon. Cap and trade programs “cap” the amount of carbon that Oregon businesses can release into the environment. From there the business that uses less of their assigned “cap” can trade or sell them to other businesses -See SMITH/PAGE FOUR Return on Average Assets for the quarter was 0.82 per- cent and Return on Average Equity was 10.33 percent compared to 0.81 percent and 10.04 percent respec- tively year over year.” Chief Operations Of- ficer Gary Propheter said, “The Federal Reserve con- tinues to talk increased interest rates, but the effect on deposit rates has been minimal. We continue to see strong growth in depos- its across our system.” “We are an agricul- tural based bank, improved yields in dryland crops along with steady to in- creasing commodity prices across the board make us cautiously optimistic about a better renewal season for our agricultural producers. On a national and even global level, it will be inter- esting to see what the rest of the year brings in terms of the economy with potential tax and regulatory reform,” concluded Bailey. For further information on the company or to access internet banking, please visit our website at http:// www.beobank.com. County moves up in average wages Climbs from fifth to third in Oregon By David Sykes Morrow County resi- dents received good news recently when just released figures show the average yearly wage in the county has climbed to $51,342, placing it third overall in the state. The new figures were for the year 2016 and Morrow moved up from the number five spot in 2015. Washington County came in number one at $65,908 and Multnomah took sec- ond with $55,439. Neigh- boring Umatilla County came in at $37,454. The newly released wage figures were an- nounced at a meeting of the Columbia River Enterprise Zone (CREZ) last Friday, and was met with approval, as the main purpose of the CREZ is to structure property tax abatement programs that attract busi- nesses and provide good jobs in the county. The Port of Morrow which encom- passes the CREZ has seen quite a few new businesses locating and expanding in the area, creating new jobs and upping the wages. As a comparison, Mor- row County’s average wage in 2008 was $35,602, and it has climbed steadily ev- ery year since, to hit the $51,342 mark in 2016. The zone has been so success- ful that it was in danger of losing its designation until Representative Greg Smith stepped in at the last legisla- tive session and was able to pass a bill preserving its tax abatement status. In other business at the CREZ meeting, the board awarded Boardman Com- munity Development As- sociation (BCDA) $55,000 to continue with its home- buyer incentive program. According to BCDA, since its inception, the program has provided cash gifts to 139 homebuyers purchas- ing a residence in Board- man, with 31 of the homes being new construction. -See WAGES/PAGE FOUR MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS 2887500 350 MAIN STREET LEXINGTON, OR 2887500 350 MAIN STREET LEXINGTON, OR
