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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2019)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 20, 2019 -- NINE Survey shows 16 percent favor city credit card processing Veterans celebrated by Heppner HS students Question went out on back of water bill Sheriff’s Report By David Sykes The city of Heppner is considering taking credit and debit cards for payment of water and sewer bills. There is a set up cost and a per transaction cost. The city council was not sure if people would use the ser- vice, so a survey was con- ducted. The question was asked on the backside of the October water bills and there were 117 responses, with 97 saying no, and 20 saying they would like to pay with credit cards. The results were announced at this month’s council meeting. At last month’s meeting the council had a lengthy discussion on whether peo- ple would use it and if it would be worth the ex- pense. City Manager Kraig Cutsforth had said that the new program would cost the city in the range of $1,500 to set up and then a The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office has released the following information: July 6 (cont.): Morrow July 7: Morrow Coun- Hollow Rd North, Heppner County Sheriff ’s Office ty Sheriff’s Office received of a lost black and white received a report at SE a report at Sinclair Station border collie. Dog was Division ST/E Hwy 730, on Main St N, Boardman located. Irrigon that a tan Chevy that a customer is con- -MCSO received a re- truck swerved toward RP cerned someone is follow- port on SE Thomas Ave, and punched it when he got ing him. Subject was given Irrigon that neighbors are next to him. a courtesy ride home. setting off fireworks and he -MCSO received a -MCSO received a re- dog is getting agitated and report on SE Utah Ave port at Oregon Trail Blvd/ trying to jump the fence. that a black Chevy Yukon Anderson Rd, Boardman -MCSO received a re- went over by RP’s boat and of a possible domestic. port at SE Brandon St/SE turned up the music on the Someone reported hear- Utah Ave, Irrigon of aerial vehicle. ing screaming. Unable to fireworks in the area. -MCSO received a re- locate. -MCSO received a port on SE Charity Loop, -MCSO received a re- report on SE Utah Ave, Irrigon of 59-year-old male port at NE Washington Irrigon that a white Ford with chest and left arm pain. Ave/N First St, Irrigon of F350 flew through towards Transported patient. a dog running around the Division. -MCSO received a re- area. Dog was returned to -MCSO received a re- port on Hwy 74, Heppner her owner. port at Willow Creek Rd/ that female is trespassing, -MCSO received a re- Balm Fork Rd, Heppner she is heading toward Hep- port on SE Utah Ave, Ir- that there is a female subject pner on foot. She has been rigon that his neighbor’s on foot near their residence. formally trespassed. friend keeps stating things It sounded like she was -MCSO received a re- between him and his neigh- vomiting or retching. She port on I 84 W, Board- bors. She is turning around screamed no and is wonder- man that a white tractor in his driveway and harass- ing around with a flashlight. with white trailer is passing ing him. He would like a July 8: Morrow Coun- unsafely and alternating deputy to tell her to knock ty Sheriff’s Office received speed. Unable to locate. it off. a report on I 84 E, Hermis- -MCSO received a re- -MCSO received a re- ton that a gray Volkswagen port at Morrow County port at Murray Drugs on N Passat or Jetta is swerving OHV Park on Forest Ser- Main St, Heppner that her in and out of the lanes. Re- vice 21 Rd, Heppner left daughter found a stray dog ferred to other agency. Monument about five hours and brought it home. Dog -MCSO received a re- ago, he is highly intoxicat- was located at the park next port at Boardman Bombing ed. Most likely headed to to Murray’s. Deputy re- Range on Bombing Range OHV or Heppner. turned dog to owner, owner Rd, Boardman of a found -MCSO received a re- was given a verbal warning Chihuahua, ginger colored. port on Kunze Ln, Board- for dog at large. -MCSO received a re- man that there is a male that -MCSO received a re- port at Oregon Trail Library came from the house that is port that Joshua Thomas on H Main St, Heppner of tweaking and is making a Bergie Moore was arrested four or five kids behind lot of dust trying to blow the by UCSO on MCCC war- the library screaming cuss gravel with a weed blower. rant. Subject was lodged at words and yelling “I’m Deputy spoke to male. UCJ with no bail. gonna kill.” Would like the -MCSO received a re- -MCSO received a re- children talked to about port on Garrison Ln, Board- port on I 84 W, Boardman their language and scream- man of loud music. Depu- of MVA. Vehicle was hit ing in a public place. ties responded, resident was from behind. -MCSO received a re- advised to turn the music -MCSO received a re- port on Rand Rd, Irrigon down. port at Spur Loop/Sand that he has had a Jersey in his pasture for approx. two weeks and does not know who it belongs to. -MCSO received a re- port on SE Thomas Ave, Irrigon that RP found a Husky. Would like a deputy to take it to pet rescue be- cause it keeps slipping out of her fence. -MCSO received a re- port on I 84 W, Boardman of an eight-foot hunk of tread in the middle of the left lane. Unable to locate. -MCSO received a re- port on C Street, Lexington of ID theft, someone took money from his bank ac- count. -MCSO received a re- port at Smiley’s Happy Place on Boardman Ave NW, Boardman that a male was knocked unconscious. Patient refusal. July 9: Morrow Coun- ty Sheriff’s Office received a report at Maple Crest Apartments on Wilson Rd SW, Boardman that a ve- hicle hit parked vehicles. Francisco Gomez was ar- rested by BPD on charge of hit and run and DUII. Subject lodged at UCJ with bail of $10,000. -MCSO received a re- port on I 84 E, Boardman of a dead elk on I 84. Referred to other agency. -MCSO received a re- port at Sandpiper Apart- ments on Main St N, Board- man that male subjects outside are getting loud, RP heard some bottles break. -MCSO received a report at Heppner Grade School on SE Stansbury St, Heppner that a white van is parked next to the grade school, unsure if it belongs there. By Cami VanArsdale Last week Heppner High School celebrated their local veterans through their annual celebration. Every year, students get the opportunity to listen to vet- erans’ stories. Personally, I am always amazed by the veterans’ stories every year. This year was no exception. Heppner High School hosted over 40 veterans this year. After students listened to the veteran’s stories, veterans, students and staff made their way to the gymnasium for the program. The Heppner High School band and choir played music performanc- es. There was a slideshow featuring all of the veteran’s photos, roll call and a key- note speaker. The keynote speaker was a veteran and former Heppner student, Travis Hughes. The key- note speaker presented a Heppner student, William Cerda, with a challenge coin for his hard work in school. The veterans partici- pated in a group photo and from there made their way to the luncheon where they were able to socialize. Hep- pner High School would like to thank all the veterans for attending and for their service. $125 monthly charge. In ad- dition, any citizen who used credit or debit cards to pay their bill would be charged an additional $2.95 fee for online payments, $3.95 for credit/debit card and $4.95 for running cards in house. H o w e v e r, a t l a s t month’s meeting coun- cilmember Teresa Hughes said that before spending the money and signing a three-year agreement, she wanted to know how many people would actually use the payment option. She said she didn’t like sign- ing a three-year contract, having the city pay out the setup fee and then spend- ing $125 per month before knowing how many might use the payment option. The survey was an at- tempt by the city to find out how many would pay this way. Cutsforth had estimat- ed 10 percent would use it, and the survey results came back with a 16 percent yes, he pointed out. Cutsforth said the city has about 690 water us- ers and does about 8,000 transactions per year. At this month’s meeting he proposed spreading the cost of taking credit cards out on all the transactions, which would come to about 60 cents increase per trans- action. He said this is the “normal” way credit card charges are handled at busi- nesses. He said after talking to Columbia Basin Electric Co-op which does about 50,000 transactions and also takes credit cards, he was told that taking credit cards cuts down on the number of delinquent ac- counts “drastically.” At the October city util- ity meeting CBEC General Manager Tom Wolff said when the co-op first started the credit service, they had a four percent fee added on. They have since been able to drop the fee, but the co-op has many more cus- tomers. He said the savings in postage helps offset the fees. The Utility Committee had moved to recommend adoption of the credit card option. Hughes, however, was still unconvinced. “I don’t think we have enough in- terest,” she said. “I think those that are delinquent are delinquent. I don’t think this is worth it. They don’t pay because they don’t have the money,” she said. Coun- cilmember John Bowles said he had talked to people about it and found support for the city taking credit cards. The council took no action on the proposal. In other business at the meeting Rusty Estes announced his retirement as Fire Chief. There will be an interview with Estes about his time on the job in a future edition of the Gazette-Times. The city council also received the annual audit report from Barnett & Moro Accountants. The report was positive with no major issues for the city. The council received notice from the Oregon De- partment of Transportation that the city has received a grant of $65,000 for im- provements to Fairview Way. The work includes building new base and pav- ing approximately 150 feet of the east end of Fairview Way. The council received the Public Works Report for October. Some of the work done by the crew included: installing wa- ter meter and sewer ser- vices on Cowins St. for the new duplexes being built; Flushed hydrants on Frank Gillam and Lakeview Ct.; Installed new fire hydrant on Rock St above the clin- ic; Did 13 septic dumps; removed two trees in front of Corner Stone; picked up a dead deer; put up two 25 mph signs on Riverside; took down hanging flow- er baskets and turned off drip watering system and cleaned up the leaves at the city park. In other business at last month’s utility commission meeting engineers Ander- son and Perry had done a study for a lagoon location for the city’s proposed new sewer treatment system. The city is under pressure from the Oregon Depart- ment of Environmental Quality to stop dumping treated effluent from the sewer plant into Willow Creek. New ammonia standards will prohibit the dumping at some point so the city has to find a new method of treatment. It is looking at a lagoon system but needs land. The city will need about 11 acres and the proposed site is close to the storage tank for the Golf Course irrigation. The golf course currently uses treated ef- fluent for irrigation. There would be an irrigation cir- cle on the hill above for any excess. The next step is to present the study to the landowner and discuss compensation for the prop- erty. Anderson Perry will also assist the city in finding funding for the project. The utility commission voted in favor of moving forward with the proposal. Morrow County Foster Children Gift Drive C ome take a tag from our g iving t ree . r eturn unwrapped gift by d eCember 9 th with tag attaChed . y ou don ’ t have to purChase everything on the list . g ive what you Can . i f you take a tag , please buy the gift . i f you Change your mind , bring the tag baCk and put it on the tree . 124 N. MAIN STREET HEPPNER OR 541-676-9481
