HEPPNER
G T
County delays Boardman
enterprise zone request
50¢
Prompts city to move forward on its own
azette
imes
VOL. 139
NO. 22 8 Pages
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
By David Sykes
The County Commis-
sion last week, refused to
vote on a city of Boardman
request to approve an en-
terprise zone that includes
its urban growth boundary
(UGB). The county’s delay
prompted City Manager
Karen Pettigrew to an-
nounce that Boardman was
now moving forward with-
out them. “I am not waiting
another week,” Pettigrew
said in frustration when
Commission Chair Melis-
sa Lindsay said the city’s
request was being put on
hold until a May 27 meet-
ing. “You have run your
time clock out,” she said of
the eight weeks the county
and Port of Morrow have
been negotiating without
success on formation of a
new enterprise zone. Petti-
grew said since the county
and port are unable to reach
agreement, Boardman is
moving forward with its
own zone, not including
the county. Pettigrew an-
nounced the city and all
special taxing districts will
be holding a public meeting
June 8 to begin the process.
The current 10-year-
old zone (CREZII) expires
Doherty and Peterson, Diehl and Crawford to face
off in general election Uncounted votes leave Treasurer race undecided
SaBrina Bailey Cave
Theresa Crawford
Jim Doherty
Candidate & Position
County Commissioner
Michael Sweek
Joel Peterson
Jim Doherty
Joseph Armato
Joel Peterson
Glen Diehl
Boardman Irrigon Lexington Ione Heppner  Totals Percent
33
275
345
61
81
242
374
62
31
108
92
44
15
197
72
16
123
300
326
118
283
1122
1219
301
9.65
38.25
41.56
10.26
Justice of Peace
Kelly Doherty
Glen Diehl
Theresa Crawford
165
296
252
159
379
227
49
97
120
39
97
151
106
359
402
518
1225
1152
17.84
42.2
39.68
Treasurer
SaBrina Bailey Cave
Cody High
Erik Patton
Jaylene Papineau
269
95
170
123
348
108
174
108
38
56
37
132
77
48
85
73
131
282
202
248
863
589
668
684
30.55
20.85
23.65
24.21
Who got the votes and where? Above is a table of votes and percentages for each candidate
in the five county precincts.
By David Sykes
Results of last week’s
primary race narrowed the
county commissioner and
Justice of Peace races down
to two candidates for the
fall general election, but
because of uncounted bal-
lots at the clerk’s office
only one candidate in the
tight treasurer race has so
far been determined.
For county commis-
sioner, voters will see Jim
Doherty and Joel Peterson
face off in the general elec-
tion. Doherty got the most
votes garnering 1219 to
1122 for Peterson. Howev-
er, since neither received
51 percent of the total, the
contest will move on to the
general election in Novem-
ber. Peterson, who is from
Ione, won the Lexington
and Ione precincts, while
Boardman resident Doherty
Ione, Heppner seniors to
graduate Saturday
took Boardman, Irrigon and
Heppner. The key to the
general election may come
down to which candidate is
able to convert the most of
the 583 votes cast for the
other two candidates, into
his column this fall.
In the Justice of the
Peace race, voters chose
from three candidates and
likewise a runoff will be
held in the general since
none of them were above
51 percent. Glen Diehl took
1225 votes and Theresa
Crawford brought in 1152
and will face each other in
the November.
Candidates who will
face off in the treasurer race
has not yet been decided.
One candidate will for sure
be on the ballot as SaBri-
na Bailey Cave gathered
enough votes to place her
securely in first place. But
who came in second has
not yet been determined.
Bailey Cave did not receive
over 51 percent, so a runoff
with the second-place vote
getter will still be needed.
will leave from Heppner Jr/
Sr High School, proceed
Google Earth
Ione and Heppner High School seniors will attend a very different, but hopefully through town and end at
memorable, graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 30. Heppner seniors will graduate the fairgrounds where the
celebration will be held for
at 2 p.m. and Ione seniors at 7 p.m.
Heppner’s celebration will begin at 1:45 p.m. with a graduate parade procession that graduates and designated
family members only. Staff
members will be available
to collect cards and gifts for
the graduates at the foyer of
Heppner Elementary from 8
a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Ione graduates will par-
ticipate in a private ceremo-
ny at the football field at 7
p.m. on Saturday. Gradu-
ates will be on the field and
family members will gather
in designated areas outside
the field. Cards and gifts
may be dropped off at the
school office May 27 and 28
between 8 a.m. and noon.
Heppner seniors will participate in a parade procession through Heppner, where the public
can wave and cheer for the graduates as they pass by. Route shown as yellow line on map.
A total of 24 uncounted
ballots at the clerk’s office
still remain to be tallied,
and with a vote spread
of only 16 votes between
Erik Patton and Jaylene
Papineau, a second-place
challenger to Bailey Cave
has not yet been decided.
The uncounted ballots are
the result of unsigned and
out of county ballots which
the county clerk is presently
waiting confirmation on.
In other statistics across
the county, out of 6,535 reg-
istered voters, 3,108 turned
in their ballots for a 47.65
percent voter turnout. Ione
had the highest voter turn-
out at 69 percent followed
closely by Heppner with
about 68 percent. Lowest
turnout was Irrigon at 35
percent, then Boardman at
about 39 and Lexington at
around 65 percent turnout.
So, what age group
votes the most? 55 and
older comes in at 66.51 per-
cent. Then as the age goes
down so does voter partici-
pation with 40-54-year-olds
in Morrow County voting
at a 44.10 percent rate, the
25-39 age bracket at 28.79
percent and the youngest
18-24 age group coming
in lowest with only 19.5
of registered voters casting
their ballot.
For party breakdown,
Morrow County Repub-
licans vote higher than
Democrats. There are 1205
registered Democrats with
686 or 56.9 percent voting,
2249 Republicans with
1657 or 73.7 percent voting,
and 2671 nonaffiliated vot-
ers with 575 or 21.5 percent
casting ballots. Other vari-
ous parties, such as Liber-
tarian, have a combined 410
registered voters and they
had a 46.6 percent turnout
in last week’s election.
at the end of June, and the
county and port have been
going back and forth for the
past two months unable to
reach agreement on struc-
ture of a new one. Both
Boardman and the port had
warned that if agreement
on a new zone could not be
reached, they were prepared
to move forward and form
their own zone, excluding
the county.
After eight weeks of
negotiations the final stick-
ing point between county
and port ended up being
how much influence the city
of Boardman would have
on certain land located near
Tower Road and Boardman
Airport. The port wants
Boardman to be included
in all zone decisions about
that property, and Commis-
sioners Lindsay and Jim
Doherty do not want them
at the table. Commission-
er Don Russell does. The
property is undeveloped
land owned by the port and
the city of Boardman.
At last week’s meet-
ing, Lindsay seemed to
think there was still room
to negotiate with the county.
“We should not be making
decisions on a Boardman
enterprise zone until we
are finished talking to our
friends at the port,” she
said when refusing to call
for a vote on Boardman’s
proposal. Port Economic
Development Director Lisa
Mittelsdorf who attended
the commission meeting via
Zoom, said the only issue
holding up an agreement
between the port and county
was the property around
Tower Road. “It’s the one
issue between us,” she said.
Commissioner Doherty
indicated he was fine with
the port and Boardman
moving forward with an
enterprise zone. “In the city
limits with the port signing
on, it’s good to go, with or
without our decision on
the UGB,” he said. “They
(city and port) can move
forward without the county
consent,” he emphasized.
Boardman Rural Fire
District Chief Mike Hughes
was at the meeting and he
urged the county to get a
deal made with the port
and recertify
the current
enterprise
zone. He
said the cur-
rent CREZII
has helped
funding at
the fire dis-
trict, which B o a r d m a n
Rural Fire
i s f a c i n g District Chief
staffing and Mike Hughes
c o v e r a g e urged county
p r o b l e m s , to approve en-
and
h e terprise zone.
hoped in the
future a new zone would
continue to offer that as-
sistance. Hughes pointed
out that the fire district
covers 330 square miles
of the county and they are
understaffed to handle the
-See ENTERPRISE ZONE/
PAGE SEVEN
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