HEPPNER
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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
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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