Morrow &
Umatilla Counties
urge state to lock in
nitrate water
research funding
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 7
8 Pages
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
School prepares to put up $138 million
bond
Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area has
long history of high nitrate levels in the drinking water. Con-
cern over nitrate levels has increased recently with the DEQ
charges against the Port of Morrow.
Artist renderings of proposed new Heppner K-12
percent 11 years ago, to 96
percent now. “I don’t have
the right words to say,” he
said. “It’s really wonder-
ful,” attributing “attention
to detail” by teachers and
administration.D
Dirksen said he ex-
pected some new guide-
lines on COVID 19 to
come from the state which
would increase school’s
local control, albeit with
“some strings attached.”
He expects a federal deci-
sion on or around March
31. “So stay tuned,” he
said. “I’m hoping to get
more local control. We’ve
done a great job keeping
the masks on. We didn’t
have to shut the schools
down.”
In other business the
board:
-learned of the hiring
of Barb Phillips, the new
executive secretary taking
over from current secretary
Cheryl Costello, following
her retirement at the end of
the school year. Dirksen is
also retiring at that time.
-received the follow-
ing revenue statement: as
of January 31, the district
received $28,937,833 in
revenue, with $28,092,874
in expenditures, with
$844,959 in revenue over
expenditures for a be-
ginning fund balance of
$4,508,248 and a project-
ed ending fund balance of
$5,353,207.
-received the follow-
ing enrollment report as of
February: A.C. Houghton
Elementary, Irrigon-209;
Sam Boardman Elementa-
ry-356; Heppner Elemen-
tary-182; Irrigon Elemen-
tary-255; Heppner Jr./Sr.
High School-159; Irrigon
Jr./Sr. High School-376;
Riverside Jr./Sr. High
School, Boardman-485;
Morrow Education Center,
Irrigon-67; total-2,274.
Enrollment by com-
munity is as follows:
Boardman-an increase of
41 from 1,055 in 2021 to
1,096 in 2022; Heppner-an
increase of 22, from 319 in
2021 to 341 in 2022; Irri-
gon, a loss of 2, from 772
in 2021 to 770 in 2022;
Morrow Education Center,
a loss of 56, from 123 in
2021 to 67 in 2022; district
totals, a gain of five, from
2,269 in 2021 to 2,274 in
2022.
-approved the 2021-
22 Spring Coaching List
to rehire (Heppner listed
only): Timothy Wilkins,
head high school base-
ball coach, Scott Coe,
assistant baseball coach,
Russ Nichols, head track;
Alaina Lemmon, half-time
assistant track; Alan Scott,
half-time assistant track,
Ken Grieb, head high
school golf, Carri Grieb,
assistant high school golf,
Petra Payne, head high
school softball, Madison
Rosenbalm, assistant high
school softball, Antonia
Nichols, junior high head
track, Stephani McAninch,
junior high assistant track.
-approved the fol-
lowing employment ac-
tion for February: resig-
nations-Krystal
carroll,
IJSHS ed assistant, Whit-
ney Coffman, IJSHS head
cheerleading coach, Misty
Johansen, SBE head cook,
Julia Longoria-SBE first
grade teacher, Dulce Pena,
SBE ed assistant, Sybil
Stewart, HES second grade
teacher; retirements-Robin
Graff, PERS retiree, work-
ing the remainder of the
school year; employment/
promotions/transfers-Yis-
el, SBE temporary teacher,
Rachel Flynn, RJSHS lan-
guage arts teacher 2022-
23, Robin Graff, RJSHS
career and technical ed
teacher 2022-2023; Ale-
jandra Gomez, MCSD be-
havior tech, Alicia Perez,
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The
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for purchase for $3 at the
Chamber of Commerce,
the City of Heppner offic-
-See BOND/PAGE SIX
By David Sykes
Morrow and Umatil-
la counties have joined
together in urging The
Department of Agricul-
ture (ODA) to expediate
the hiring of, and lock in
funding for, a researcher
to study nitrate levels in
their two counties. The
effort comes on the heels
of a recent $1.3 million
fine by the Department
of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) against the Port of
Morrow for exceeding ni-
trate application on farm
ground in the area over the
past three years.
The DEQ says the
Port violated their per-
mit more than a thousand
times, resulting in 165
tons of excess nitrate be-
ing applied to farm ground
in areas already identified
with high nitrate levels.
The two county govern-
ments are apparently so
concerned about the im-
pact of the violation that
they wrote a joint letter to
the Oregon Department of
Agriculture urging them
to lock in $250,000 in al-
ready allocated funding
for the nitrate research. “It
is our current understand-
ing that the procurement
documents related to the
hiring of a researcher are
currently under review.
As you are aware, time is
of the essence regarding
the use of these one-time
funds provided by the
Legislature, as the funds
are set to expire in June
2023,” the letter said. “We
appreciate your efforts in
furthering the review of
this procurement and the
hiring of a researcher,” the
Feb. 9 letter said.
In the letter the coun-
ties also asked the funds be
reallocated if the research
work is not completed
by the deadline. Morrow
County Planner Tamra
Mabbott was at the Feb.
9 meeting of the county
commissioners,
urging
them to approve the letter.
Mabbott said new studies
are needed since most of
the available data on ni-
trate levels is outdated.
The DEQ and the Or-
egon Department of Ag-
riculture (ODA) declared
the Lower Umatilla Ba-
sin a Groundwater Man-
agement Area (GWMA)
in 1990 because regional
nitrate-nitrogen concen-
trations exceeded 7 milli-
grams per liter. The area
encompasses Morrow and
Umatilla counties includ-
ing Hermiston, Boardman,
Irrigon, Stanfield, and
Echo.
High nitrate concen-
trations in drinking water
are linked with serious
health concerns for infants
and pregnant or nursing
women. Sources of excess
nitrate in water include
fertilizers, septic systems,
wastewater treatment efflu-
ent, animal wastes, indus-
trial wastes and food pro-
cessing waste waters. The
Port of Morrow especially
takes the food processing
waste water from the busi-
nesses located in its indus-
trial park at Boardman and
spreads that water over
farm ground in the area.
It has a permit with the
DEQ for how much of the
nitrate-rich water it can ap-
ply over a period of time,
a permit the DEQ says the
Port exceeded, and the rea-
son for the fine. The Port
is in the process of appeal-
ing that fine.
At the commission
meeting Mabbott said the
request to lock in the funds
was needed because those
involved do not think the
research will be done by
the June 2023 deadline.
Commissioner
Don
Russell asked Mabbott if
the DEQ target of 10 parts
of nitrate per million for
safe drinking water was ar-
rived at by science, or “just
a dart thrown at the wall.”
Mabbott said that threshold
had some science behind it
since it was developed by
the Federal Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
and the Centers for Dis-
ease Control.
Russell also pointed
out that those nitrate safe
drinking water standards
were adopted some time
ago and perhaps they need
updating. “Those were set
-See WATER/PAGE SIX
E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
es and Murray’s Drug in
Heppner.
No $100 “Pot O’ Gold
drawings this year and a
limited supply of buttons
will be made.
NEW
2022
FOR
By April Hilton-Sykes
The Morrow County
School District released
design photos of the pro-
posed changes to schools
in in preparation for the
$138 million bond mea-
sure to go before voters
on May 17. If the measure
passes, the district would
be awarded a matching
grant from the Oregon
School Capital Improve-
ment Matching Program
for $4 million.
MCSD
announced
that the proposed bond
and grant funds, if passed,
would finance the follow-
ing:
-Heppner: “New se-
cure entries and offices
with a reconfigured line of
sight; new auxiliary gym
and locker rooms; a new
building added to current
seven-12 building to in-
clude elementary students
(at the current Heppner
High School site); and a
reconfigured playground
and parking.”
-Irrigon: “New secure
entries and offices with a
reconfigured line of sight;
new competition gym and
locker rooms; reconfigure
three classrooms at A.C.
Houghton
Elementary;
construct new front office
at ACH; reconfigured traf-
fic and parking at Irrigon
Elementary and Irrigon Jr./
Sr. High.
-Boardman:
“new
secure entries and offic-
es with reconfigured line
of sight; new competition
gym and locker rooms;
four new elementary class-
rooms; four new Jr./Sr.
High classrooms; recon-
figured traffic and parking
between Sam Boardman
Elementary and Windy
River Elementary.
“If the proposed mea-
sure passes, the proposed
bond would mature in 20
years or less and the bond
rate would be an estimat-
ed $2.67 per $1,000 of
assessed property value,
although the actual levy
rate may differ. If the pro-
posed measure passes, it
is estimated that a taxpay-
er who owns a house as-
sessed at $200,000 would
pay approximately $534
per year,” according to the
district “proposed bond
measure information.”
“If the proposed bond
measure does not pass, the
grant money would not be
received from the state, the
proposed projects would
not be completed and tax
rates would not increase.”
Also at the meet-
ing, Superintendent Dirk
Dirksen reported on the
increase in attendance dis-
trict-wide from only 76
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