School supplies
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VOL. 139
NO. 38
8 Pages
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City awards $2.7 million street
reconstruction contract
Heppner Elementary students and staff recently received do-
nations of school supplies from the Bank of Eastern Oregon’s
school supply drive. This year’s drive was a special challenge
to be able to provide supplies to students at home and in the
classroom. Pictured: Dieter Waite, HES Principal, and Deb
Campbell, Library Tech.
Bids came in lower than expected
By David Sykes
The Heppner City
Council Monday awarded
a $2,719,894 contract to
Pasco-based Premier Exca-
vation, Inc for reconstruc-
tion of several of the city’s
badly deteriorated streets.
Bids came in better than
expected prompting City
Manager Kraig Cutsforth to
say all the work including
sewer infrastructure would
be completed. He added
there would be $250,000
left over for other needed
work within the city. “I
think we are going get some
extra out of this,” he told the
council.
Streets scheduled to
be completely redone are:
Gale, Willow, Church and
May. Part of Center street
will also have work. Cuts-
forth said he should have a
better idea when the proj-
ect will start in about one
month. The contractor has
12 months to complete
the work. Cutsforth was
especially pleased the city
should have enough money
to complete any needed
sewer work that is discov-
ered during excavation.
Money for the project came
from a grant from the State
of Oregon.
In other business at
Monday’s council meet-
ing Cutsforth showed the
council new decorative
streetlights the city will be
installing. Two “sample”
lights were displayed, and
they, along with one other
type, will be installed at
the intersection of May and
Main near city hall soon so
people can see what they
look like.
Thirty of the decorative
lights, and one pole, are
scheduled to be replaced.
The lights are all LED and
will replace the current
halogen. “They will be
brighter and cost less to
light,” Cutsforth said. One
type of light has ballast
and one does not. They are
made out of light weight
heavy-duty plastic. One of
the lights has a “cap” on the
top which forces the light
down toward the ground for
better lighting, Cutsforth
pointed out. Citizens will
have their chance to judge
for themselves which light
they like best when the
“samples” go up.
In other business, the
council heard that the city
had received $31,000 in
COVID-19 payment mon-
ey. The funds were used to
purchase eight new picnic
tables placed on the side-
walks in front of businesses
downtown for eating. Also
a new larger TV screen was
bought for Heppner city
hall to hold better Zoom
meetings, and $25,000
was given to the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce to
be used for distribution to
local businesses hit hard
financially by the virus shut
Ballots to go out
soon
Morrow County Clerk
Bobbi Childers reported
ballots for the November
3 general election will be-
gin to go out Wednesday,
October 14 for Morrow
County residents. Military
and overseas ballots have
already been sent.
The last day to register
to vote or change party
affiliation in the upcoming
election will be Tuesday,
October 13. Remember,
ballots are not forwarded.
Voter registrations must
be updated in the case of
a name change, signature
change, political party af-
filiation change, residence
or mailing address change
or moving into Morrow
County. Check or update
voter registrations on
the Oregon Secretary of
State website (My Vote)
at https://secure.sos.state.
or.us/orestar/vr/showVot-
erSearch.do?lang=eng&-
source=SOS.
Those who do not re-
ceive ballots, but believe
they should have, should
contact the Morrow County
Clerk’s office at 541-676-
5604. Voter’s Pamphlets
will be mailed to all resi-
dential households by the
Oregon Secretary of State’s
office October 7-10.
All ballots are due by 8
p.m. on Election Day, Tues-
day, November 3. Ballots
must be received, not sim-
ply postmarked, on that day.
Ballot return envelopes will
include prepaid postage for
business reply mail, which
is not the same as first class.
Mailed ballots should be
mailed no later than Oc-
tober 29 to allow enough
time to arrive by November
3. After that date, ballots
should be dropped in a
drop box.
For voter convenience,
24-hour drop boxes are lo-
cated throughout the coun-
ty. All drop boxes close
at 8 p.m. on election day.
Drop boxes can be found
in Heppner: Behind the
Bartholomew Building, in
the parking lot. Ballots may
also be dropped at the Mor-
row County Clerk’s office
inside the courthouse from
8 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m.,
M-F and election day (Nov.
3) from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.;
Lexington: 365 West Hwy
74 (Morrow County Public
Works parking lot); Ione:
Spring St. (in front of the
turn to 3rd Street); Board-
man: NW Boardman Ave.;
Irrigon: 205 NE 3rd St.
(Irrigon Annex). All drop
boxes are open 24 hours,
except on election day.
Morrow County did
not move into Phase Two,
it was announced recently.
Although the commission-
Heppner City Manager Kraig Cutsforth shows the two different styles of decorative lights the ers feel the county has seen
city is considering purchasing. Three of the “sample” lights will be installed downtown at the great improvement it was
not enough to satisfy the
Main and May intersection soon so people can see for themselves what they look like.
partners at the State Health
Authority.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Melissa Lindsay
told the Gazette, “We spoke
with Director Allen and
discussed our numbers and
the Phase Two improve-
ment Umatilla County was
granted. The Governor’s
office is very unclear as to
what monitoring tool they
will hold Morrow Coun-
ty accountable to, with
several metrices currently
on the state website and
each county being granted
differing phases based on
various ranges of meet-
ing the requirements. The
A dump truck at the Morrow County Public Works shop in
current guide appears to
Lexington was a total loss after catching fire. -Contributed
be the number of cases per
100,000 a week, at which
we would need to be at 12
cases over a one-week time
frame for improvement. We
currently are not meeting
this data point.”
“It is very frustrating
as the data for a small pop-
ulation is skewed very eas-
ily by small changes when
based on a per 100,000
calculation. I requested
a follow up conversation
to look at the data that
will drop through Saturday
and continue to request a
comprehensive look at the
numbers with regards to
population and demograph-
ics of our specific county,”
she continued.
“We will remain in
Phase One and continue
to work with the situation
the best we can. I do be-
lieve a weekly conversation
Red lines show the streets due to be renovated in Heppner’s
upcoming construction project.
down.
In other business the
council heard from city
attorney Bill Kuhn who
said the paperwork is done
and almost signed for the
city to purchase a lot from
local businessman Jason
Patterson on Chase Street.
The city plans to use the lot
to create parking for when
the city has special events
and parking is hard to find.
The price is $18,500.
Morrow County not
moving to phase two
Truck burns at county shop
-See PHASE TWO/PAGE
THREE
photos.
On September 8 at
11:45 p.m. Eric Imes, Assis-
tant Roadmaster, received
a call about an explosion
and flames at the Morrow
County Public Works shop
in Lexington. When he
arrived, he discovered one
of the road department
dump trucks fully engulfed
in flames. It was deter-
mined the explosion that
was heard was the left front
tire exploding. Pieces of
smoldering tire were found
as far as 100 feet away.
Lexington, Heppner
and Ione Fire Departments
responded and extinguished
the fire, which was most
likely caused by a short in
the electrical system. Imes
reported the truck had been
parked for at least six hours
before the fire was reported.
Fortunately no other
trucks or equipment were
parked near the burning
truck. The closest truck
only suffered some discol-
oring of the door emblem.
The window of that truck
was so hot Imes decided not
to move it, thinking the hot
window might shatter.
Imes told the Gazette,
“The fire was so hot it twist-
ed the truck frame, bent the
front axle and bent the front
leaf springs downward.”
The truck was a total loss.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
350 MAIN STREET LEXINGTON OR 97839
CONTACT JUSTIN BAILEY 541-256-0229, 541-989-8221 EXT.
204
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