HEPPNER
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50¢
Recall petitions filed on
Lexington mayor and
councilmember
Turmoil continues as town clerk reportedly resign s
By David Sykes
Two recall petitions, one
against the Lexington
mayor and one against a
councilmember have been
sent to Morrow County
Clerk Bobbi Childers for
signature verification.
Childers says the petitions
have enough signatures
and a recall election will
be scheduled for a future
date. The recalls are the
latest in a series of turmoil
VOL. 138 NO. 37 6 Pages Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon for the small town, which
earlier saw a shut down and
a months long dispute over
filling a vacant council seat.
Will Lemmon of Lexing-
ton started the recall peti-
tion against Mayor Marcia
Kemp saying among other
things she has failed her
oath of office, exceeded
her authority as mayor and
violated the town charter.
The recall against council
member Bill Beard, who
has been at odds with Kemp
on many issues, was initi-
ated by Eddie Dickenson
of Lexington and he said
Beard has failed to come
to a budget meeting caus-
ing the town shutdown,
and threatened employees
if they argued with him.
At total of 18 signatures
were needed on each peti-
tion and Childers said the
If you came to last week’s First Friday you could have received a free root
mayor recall petition got 48
beer float and a stamp for free admission into Heppner’s first home football
signatures and Beard’s 20.
game courtesy of the Heppner Outreach Committee. pictured left to right:
Under the rules each office
John Bowles, Stephanie Rill, Sharon Miller and Diana Healy
holder has the option to
resign or have an election.
worried it would set a prec-
By David Sykes
nel Committee, Heppner
he was in violation of the
The City of Heppner threw Housing Authority and the edent. City Manager Kraig city debris and junk car
its support behind the new St. Patrick’s Celebration Cutsforth said Maddern body ordinance, and that
came before the council
Heppner Outreach Com- Committee.
he needed to clean up the
mittee Monday night, when In other business at Mon- because it had earlier de- property or be subject to
it named the group an of- day’s meeting, after a nied the request. He said fines. The city did not be-
ficial city committee. The lengthy discussion the he denied a similar request gin levying fines, however,
Outreach Committee is council gave its approv- from another person, so after Brannon came to the
responsible for coming up al for Sally Maddern to wanted the council to make council last month promis-
with, organizing and put- live in a recreational ve- the decision about where to ing to clean up the property.
ting on the very success- hicle for one month while allow it.
There were a large amount
ful monthly First Friday she and her son look for After much discussion of old junk car parts and
events. The group has other a permanent place to live. the council voted to ap- disabled autos parked there.
events in mind for Heppner. It is against city ordinance prove, with several coun- On Monday Cutsforth
In a resolution passed at to live in RVs but Maddern cilmembers saying they did showed the council pictures
Monday’s meeting, the said after her husband’s not want to see Maddern of the property taken in Au-
council said it “feels that death she lost her home homeless, but also did not gust and then on Sept. 6 one
the City of Heppner would and now has no place else want the 30 days to stretch month apart. He said after
benefit from creating a to go. She said she did into a longer time peri- an initial burst of clean-
Committee to oversee and not want to move into the od. “I give you my word up activity he didn’t see
advise the Council regard- RV park in town and did (it will not),” Son Jody much done the past month.
ing the City’s community not think the senior center Maddern told the council. Cutsforth asked the council
event needs. The commit- would allow for her son, The council also heard a what they wanted him to do.
tee will “investigate and who is also her caretak- report from Cutsforth on The council took no action
manage certain current er, to live there with her. the Brannon Auto Repair but seemed to think that
community events to de- Councilmembers were re- property in Heppner. Bran- Brannon would continue
termine what is adequate luctant to grant the request non had been sent a letter with the cleanup. Brannon
for the City’s needs.” And to live in yhe RV as some several months ago that was not in attendance at the
advise and assist the coun-
meeting.
cil managing community
In other business the coun-
advents and the costs as-
cil passed a new ordinance
sociated with those events.
making it easier for prop-
The city is not giving the
erty owners to make lot
committee any taxpayer
line adjustments in the city.
funds, but money raised
City Attorney Bill Kuhn
by the committee will be
said the new ordinance will
managed through the city’s
make it less cumbersome
budgeting process and ap-
for residents to make small
pear as a line item in the
adjustments to property
city’s budget. This process
boundaries. He stressed that
is similar to how the St.
it was not meant for divid-
Patrick’s Day commit-
ing larger lots but mainly
tee’s money is handled.
for moving boundary lines
Appointed to the new com-
several feet. The process
mittee were Darcie Chick,
will still take a survey and
Tayllor Brannon, Kathryn
a deed to be accomplished
Cutsforth, John Bowles
he told the council.
and Sharon Miller. They
will serve until the end of
the year and from then all
appointments will be for a
one-year term. In addition
to the budgeting assistance
the committee members
will also be covered under
the city’s workers com-
pensation coverage while
engaging in their volunteer The benefit dinner and auction held for Cindy Greenup
activities. Other official Saturday in Heppner, was reportedly a “huge” success.
committees recognized by The amount of money raised was not announced, how-
the city with these benefits ever reports say it was much more than anticipated. A
are the City Council, Plan- large single donation from one family helped immense-
ning Commission, Budget ly, according to one person. Cindy, a former Morrow
Committee, Beautification County Courthouse employee, is battling cancer.
Committee, Fire Depart- Pictured are volunteers serving up the chicken and
ment Advisory Committee, alfredo sauce dinner to the large crowd at the fair-
Police Commission, Utili- grounds. Photo by David Sykes
ties Commission, Person-
azette
imes
City makes Outreach Committee ‘official’
First Friday group gets support from city
Mayor Kemp not
resigning
Will Lemmon leads re-
call effort against mayor
Both Beard and Kemp have
indicated they will not re-
sign.
To further add to the tur-
moil City Clerk Dawn
Greisen has apparently re-
signed her position. The
Lexington Town Council
met on Tuesday night after
publication of this week’s
Gazette-Times so infor-
mation about that meet-
ing will be in the Sept. 18
issue of the paper. Calls
to the town hall went un-
answered on Tuesday.
A full text of each recall
petition is as follows: Coun-
cilmember Bill Beard: “Mr.
Beard failed to show up at a
budget meeting and caused
the town to shut down
for 11 days. He has also
caused a hostile workplace
by threatening employees
if they argue with him or
if they don’t do what he
wants. Legal or otherwise.
We need councilmen that
take their oath the way it
should. And do their duty.”
Mayor Marcia Kemp: Kemp
has failed her oath of office
regularly exceeding the au-
thority of the Mayor. Kemp
refuses to work with nor
even communicatee with
3 of our 4 councilmembers
circumventing the authority
of the council in absolutely
clear violation of the town
charter. She has publicly
slandered their character
and by her own admission
based solely on hearsay. She
has created an us vs. them
atmosphere. Kemp contin-
ues to put her own personal
feelings, issues and agenda
above the whole electorate
of the town of Lexing-
ton. We deserve better!”
New ‘deputy’ joins
Sheriff’s Office
Greenup benefit a big success
A new K-9 ‘deputy’ has joined the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office. Two-year-old Telly a female Dutch
Shepherd was on the streets last week meeting peo-
ple in Heppner. Her handler Deputy Colleen Neu-
bert was showing Telly around. Telly is not officially
on duty yet as she still has to be certified before
starting her duties. photo by David Sykes
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
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