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
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