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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2021)
Solar farm may be increasing by 1,382 acres NextEra wants bigger facility in Morrow County 50¢ VOL. 140 NO. 24 10 Pages Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Ethics Commission rules Port of Morrow violated open meetings law Two thousand dollar fine for each board member By David Sykes After a nearly three- month long investigation by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, the Port of Morrow Board of Directors were found to have violated the Oregon open meetings laws. Civil penalties of $2,000 for the violations have subsequent- ly been assessed against all five board members Jerry Healy, Rick Stokoe, Marv Padberg, Joe Taylor and John Murray. In making its findings public the commission said on two occasions last year the Port publicized that it would be holding executive sessions for one purpose, and then while in the closed session discussed complete- ly different topics. Under Oregon law all government meetings are open to the public. The body may hold an executive session and exclude the public, but only for certain defined sensitive topics such as land deals or personnel issues. The body must pub- licly state the purpose of the executive session and while in that session, with the reason. Instead, it chose the public excluded, dis- to describe the purpose of cuss no other topics. The the session as something laws are designed for trans- completely different, thus parency while conducting violating the open meetings the public’s business, and law. also keeping the public The second violation informed on what its was on March 26, government is doing. 2020, when the Port The Ethics Com- announced it was mission found on the once again holding first occasion March an executive session 23, 2020, the Port for the purpose of Auditor announced in public State discussing “Leases Kip Memmott notices it would be filed the and Legal Action”, holding an executive complaint and yet again the session to discuss board talked about “Leases and Legal Action” something completely dif- which is covered under ferent. The talk this time the executive session law. was about several employ- However, while in the exec- ees’ medical conditions. In utive session Port members this session, however, the did not talk at all about board also discussed a sick leases and legal action, but leave payout policy that rather about a port employ- they had just adopted, a ee’s medical condition. The topic not allowed under any employee was apparently circumstances in executive requiring an extended leave sessions. of absence from their job. How the State Ethics The board could have Commission ended up in- legally discussed the medi- vestigating the Port goes cal condition of an employ- back to last year when the ee in the executive session, Ethics Commission re- as it is an allowed topic, but ceived a November 6 email only if it had property iden- from State Auditor Ariana tified beforehand that was Denney at the Audits Divi- sion, explaining that during an audit of the Oregon Department of Adminis- trative Services relating to CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) funding, and local government reimburse- ments, the Audits Division “became aware of actions taken by the Port of Morrow which appear to have vio- lated statutory requirements for executive sessions.” The commission was at the time discussing a new emergency paid sick leave policy for the port and how to use those funds to incentivize employees to keep them coming to work during the pandemic. Under the terms of the settlement announced Mon- day, June 11, all five board members signed papers with the Ethics Commis- sion agreeing to the terms, including the fines and a “letter of education”, in exchange for the commis- sion terminating the inves- tigation and both parties agreeing not to pursue any further claims, litigation or legal action in the matter. Lexington passes resolution opposing governor’s ‘draconian’ COVID orders Follows Baker City in opposition to governor’s ‘arbitrary and inef- fective’ emergency orders and mandates By David Sykes The Town of Lexington last week unanimously ap- proved a resolution strong- ly condemning Governor Kate Brown and the State of Oregon’s “arbitrary, in- effective and draconian” emergency executive orders and mandates used during the COVID-19 outbreak. The resolution was nearly the same as recently passed by Baker City, which says, in part, Brown and state agencies, such as the Occu- pational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), greatly overstepped their authority, and the state and federal constitutions, in imposing lockdowns on businesses, churches and citizens, which caused great harm to the citizenry. At least two other Oregon cities have passed similar resolutions. Lexington’s resolution (see complete copy below) says the state-mandated lockdowns have done dam- age not only to businesses and churches, but to the mental health and wellbe- ing of the citizens. “It is a violation of the …Consti- tution for a government to limit how our churches and citizens choose to practice their religious freedoms, which are crucial to mental health. Social distancing and prolonged isolation are proven to create a number of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, sometimes pushing individ- uals over the edge toward suicide as a last resort. That same social distancing and prolonged isolation, com- bined with unemployment and other stressors, are in- creasing cases of domestic abuse and violence,” the resolution states. The resolution goes on to charge that “Our local businesses directly attribute state lockdowns and OSHA guidelines as solely re- sponsible for their inability to earn a living or pursue other rights as outlined in our State and U.S. Con- Hyatt, Lehman invited to play in all-star’s game Hayden Hyatt and Jack- son Lehman, Heppner, have been invited to play in the Oregon 3A/2A/1A Senior All-Stars Series. The boys are two of the 31 baseball players who were invited to play. Hayden will be play- ing pitcher and shortstop Hayden Hyatt Jackson Lehman positions and Jackson will play first base and outfield. They will be playing in two games in the series with the first game beginning at 3:30 p.m. and the second at 6 p.m. The games will be played at the Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, OR. A spokesperson told the Ga- zette, “This is an honor that both Hayden and Jackson are looking forward to.” stitutions, and therefore we believe their property is being unconstitutional- ly seized by government without due compensation under the auspices of in- appropriately weaponized State agencies.” While admitting that Lexington is just a “small fish” in this argument, councilmembers agreed that if enough small cities and towns band together and stand in unity against Kate Brown they may be able to take on the “big fish” of state government, which they say has been abus- ing its authority through the emergency declaration process. “The town will support future statewide ballot initiatives that limit the duration and extent of the governor’s emergency powers, which may create similar lockdown scenarios during future emergencies, natural disasters and pan- demics,” the resolution said. In addition to Baker The wind farm now under construction north of Lexington may be increasing from nine square miles to 11. By David Sykes Renewable energy pro- duction might just get even bigger in Morrow County if a request by green energy giant NextEra is approved by the state of Oregon. The company has filed a notice of intent with the Depart- ment of Energy to expand an already approved Wagon Trail Solar Project by 1,382 acres. NextEra wants to in- crease the size of a solar farm already under con- struction north of Lex- ington, (those driving on Hwy 207 can see the start of construction) from an already licensed 5,957 acres to 7,339. If approved the new site would produce up to 500 megawatts of elec- tricity, enough to power an average 82,000 homes. If built it would be the largest solar farm in the state of Oregon. The filing with the En- ergy Facility Siting Coun- cil doesn’t guarantee the project will be built, but NextEra has been known as a giant in the world of green energy production, so chances are it will happen. The company already built a large windfarm in Mor- row County, which sells its power to Portland General Electric. The solar power will also go to PGE. The Oregon Dept of Energy is accepting com- ment on the new facility from now until July 8. The proposed facility consists of PV solar panels/mod- ules, steel tracker tables and posts, cabling, power conversion stations and related or supporting facil- ities. Proposed related or supporting facilities include distributed battery storage (lithium-ion); up to four collector substations on 5- to 10-acre sites, each; up to 8-mile 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission line on H-frame structures extend- ing up to 150 feet in height; an operations and mainte- nance building; up to three meteorological towers; site access, service roads, pe- rimeter fencing and gates; and, up to four temporary construction areas. City passing a nearly iden- tical resolution in March, other Oregon cities have fought back against what they view as gross govern- ment overreach. The city of Prineville this year passed an anti-lockdown resolu- tion, and Molalla on May 26 passed a resolution “in favor of business and citi- zens liberties” and against COVID-19 restrictions. The city of Canby in May also passed its own resolu- tion similar to Baker City’s. In other business at its monthly meeting June 8 the council voted in favor of vacating a town alleyway between C and D streets, over the objection of one citizen who said kids need the alleyway to access Wil- low Creek for fishing. John Edwards told the council the town has enough juve- nile delinquency “without cutting off fishing holes.” Both Mayor Juli Kennedy and councilmember Will Lemmon pointed out that there are plenty of access points to the creek for kids to fish and vacating an alley would not stop any kids from going fishing. The council also heard from town clerk Janette Eldrige about a proposed franchise fee on garbage service in the town. Eldrige said she sent letters to the two companies servicing Lexington, Hermiston San- itary Disposal and Miller and Sons Disposal Service about the proposed fee. She told the council Hermiston Sanitary told her verbally that they would rather let Miller and Sons “have the whole town” rather than pay the franchise fee, but she is waiting for a response in writing from the two companies before present- ing her final findings to the council. In other business the council heard from town maintenance man Scott Lamb who presented carpet samples for consideration -See LEXINGTON RESOLU- TION/PAGE THREE
