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