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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 2022)
Area Ag and water expert urges unity following Port of Morrow DEQ fine ‘The divide between the county and the port is starting to stick out.’ 50¢ VOL. 141 NO. 3 8 Pages Wednesday, January 19, 2022 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Irrigon county facilities open for business “I invite folks to stop in and visit,” says Commissioner Jim Doherty By David Sykes The ground was bro- ken in October 2020 and now the new county offic- es are finished and open for the public’s business in Irrigon. The new facili- ty is located on the corner of NE Main and Second Streets, next to the old planning and justice court buildings. The $6.8 million mixed-use office space will house a multitude of county offices and depart- ments including the Jus- tice Court, Planning De- partment, Sheriff’s Office, County Clerk, Surveyor, Veterans, District Attorney, Juvenile, Commissioners and Parole and Probation. The county seat will still be in Heppner and no offic- es will be closed there; the new Irrigon facility is just an expansion of service for the ever-growing north end of the county. County commissioners were glad to see the facili- ty up and running, includ- ing Chairman Jim Doherty. “This was a long time coming. I think one of the crowning achievements of this board of commission- ers is our attention to the county governments infra- structure. The new build- ing in Irrigon is reflective of our "coming of age" and a window of fiscal abilities to look to the future. It is the first of several domi- nos to fall as we turn our attention to modernizing the courthouse and moving the health folks out of the The new county office buildings have been completed and are now open for businesses in Irrigon Justice Court Judge Glenn Diehl and Morrow County Sheriff’s Deputy Dick Stokoe conduct business in the new justice courtroom. photos by Chris Sykes old market store in Board- man,” he told the Ga- zette-Times. “It's refresh- ing to be able to do these things and I am excited for our employees who are ex- cited to move in to the Ir- rigon office. I would invite folks to stop in and visit their offices,” he added. A formal grand open- ing date for the new 12,500 square foot facility has not yet been announced. County Administra- tor Darrell Green said al- though construction on the new building is done the project is not complete until we are able to demol- ish the old Irrigon Annex Boardman Police Chief named assistant city manager Part of city’s ‘organizational restructuring’ Boardman City Man- ager Karen Pettigrew has named Rick Stokoe as assistant city manager to oversee the city's inter- nal and external services functions, including fi- nance, information tech- nology, developmental services, public works and utilities, public safety and the human resources de- partments. “The addition of Stokoe to the assistant city manager’s position is part of an organization- al restructuring that will bring additional execu- tive capacity to the city's leadership team as com- munity needs and service demands evolve,” said Pettigrew. “Most recently, he served and will contin- ue to serve as police chief for the City of Boardman, and has more than 18 years of progressive leadership experience, including 18 years of budget develop- ment, control and 18 years of human resources man- agement knowledge. "Rick is going to bring a wealth of valuable expe- rience and perspective at a critical time as our city government adapts and responds to new public service challenges and op- portunities, and evolving work environments," Petti- grew said. Stokoe's selection for the new assistant city manager post follows a competitive nationwide executive search and re- cruitment. "I consider it an honor and privilege to con- tinue to contribute making Boardman an even stron- ger, safer, better place to live, work and play for all residents, business owners and visitors." he said. For a period of time Stokoe will continue to fill both roles as the po- lice chief and assistant city manager. As the current city manager nears retire- ment, Stokoe, who has Rick Stokoe filled in as city manager a few times, will assist in the transition. Stokoe and his family have resided in Boardman for the last 11 years and have been an ac- tive part of the Boardman community. Stokoe started his new position Wednesday, Jan. 5. By David Sykes A regional agriculture and water expert has called for unity between the Port of Morrow and county government following the recent announcement of a $1.3 million fine against the Port for nitrate ground- water contamination. Craig Reeder, who has a long history of working in the public eye on region- al water and agricultural issues, told last week’s County Commission meet- ing that now is not the time for finger pointing and divisiveness over the al- leged violations and stiff fine imposed by the De- partment of Environmen- tal Quality (DEQ) on the port. He said the county and port both need to come together to protect the area resources following these serious and important wa- ter contamination charges. “These issues have far broader reaching impacts, and the one thing we need to do is to come together as a community to support our resources and to pool those resources to fix any problems,” Reeder told the commissioners. “The Port of Morrow is our Port,” he said in urging the commis- sioners to set aside their differences and work to- gether. Reeder said recent comments he’s heard com- ing from county govern- ment are “very, very dam- aging” not only to the port but also area businesses and the regional economy. Reeder was before the commission last Wednes- day the day following a bombshell announcement that the DEQ had levied a $1.3 million fine against the Port for “repeatedly over applying wastewater containing nitrogen to ag- ricultural fields and failing to monitor those fields in the Lower Umatilla Ba- sin.” The DEQ said there were “thousands” of vio- lations over a three-year period “resulting in ap- proximately 165 tons of excess nitrogen being ap- plied.” The charge is par- ticularly potent since the area has a long history of high nitrate in the drink- ing water alluded to in the DEQ announcement. “Groundwater is used as a primary drinking water source by residents in the basin, which spans north- ern Morrow and Umatilla counties. High levels of ni- trate in drinking water are linked with serious health concerns, particularly for infants and pregnant wom- en,” the DEQ said. Reeder said the infor- mation the DEQ put out was very sensationalized and started a “brush fire” Ag businessman Craig Reeder about contaminated wa- ter. A search of the inter- net by the Heppner Ga- zette-Times revealed the story is getting wide play across the Pacific North- west from Seattle to Idaho and down into northern California with multiple newspapers, internet sites and television stations car- rying the story. Reeder said the government’s recent negative public comments were fanning those flames. “I am not here today to tell you there are or are not any problems, or that you need to squelch your opin- ions,” Reeder said to the commissioners. “I’m just telling you there has been some communications (from the county) that have gone out post-filing by the DEQ that are potentially very, very damaging, to not just the port but to the broader base. The divide between the county, and I don’t know if it’s the coun- ty’s position or just one person’s position, but the divide between the county and the port is starting to stick out. We are starting to feel a counterproductive weight from that,” Reeder warned. Reeder did not identify or name the county com- munications he was talking about, and a review by the Gazette of public docu- ments at least, showed only a reprint of the DEQ press release announcing the Port’s fine posted on the county web site. Reeder said there were a number of regional busi- nesses feeling the same way, and a letter had been written asking for unity between the port and coun- ty dealing with the water contamination charges. The letter had not been made public at that time, and an email sent from the Gazette to Reeder asking for a copy, had not been answered by press time Tuesday. -See PORT OF MORROW- PAGE SIX ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. 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