Boardman
pedestrian and bike
path approved
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 15
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Amazon launches new $200,000 Morrow
County grant program
Will help locals with community projects
Leah Caudell-Feagan, senior community and partnerships manager for Amazon’s new Morrow County grant fund, gives a
presentation on the new program last week in Heppner. A “Pollinator Partnership” where people plant bee-friendly habitat
in their yard, or a “Community Fridge” to share food, were two of the six suggested projects the new program might fund.
A new grant program
to help Morrow County
people set up and fund
worthwhile community
projects has been launched
by Amazon Web Services,
the division of Amazon that
operates the data centers
located at Boardman. The
company announced the
program at a launch meet-
ing last week in Heppner.
Amazon has allocated
$200,000 to give out and,
as an example, could go
to such projects as set-
ting up a play day in the
community, establishing
a fruit orchard or starting
a “community fridge” to
share food that otherwise
might go to waste, says
Leah Caudell-Feagan, Se-
nior Community Partner-
ships Manager, who was
in Heppner to put on the
announcement luncheon at
the Gilliam Bisbee building
last week.
The criteria for apply-
ing for grants is as follows:
The fund is open to exist-
ing groups and individuals
(once they form a team)
to start new projects, or
expand an existing project,
in their community. The
project must address at
least one of the following
themes: STEM/STEAM
education, Environmental
Sustainability, Economic
Development, Community
Prosperity and Well-being.
Examples of eligible
groups include schools,
daycares, churches or other
faith-based organizations,
hospitals and hospital re-
habilitation centers, mental
health facilities, communi-
ty gardens, neighborhood
groups, senior citizen cen-
ters, community centers,
and recognized government
entities. The project must
take place in Morrow Coun-
ty, Oregon.
In order to apply for the
funds a prospective group
must complete a 30-day
challenge which includes
a 15-minute call with a
ChangeX team member
(ChangeX is the non-prof-
it company handling the
funding project for Am-
azon). Then they need to
recruit four people to join
the team, host a kick-off
virtual meeting and share a
team photo and action plan.
ChangeX will provide var-
ious support tools to help
people with their projects.
To apply for the fund-
ing or to learn more about
the project go to their web-
site https://www.changex.
org/us/funds/awsincom-
munities-morrow-coun-
ty-fund.
County contracts for finance assistance
Following the resig- culty in finding qualified
nation of County Finance applicants to replace Knop
Director Kate Knop, com- for the specialized county
missioners last week voted finance job.
unanimously to a contract
County Administra-
with the Oregon City firm tor Darrell Green said he
Wolfe Consulting, to pro- contacted four companies
vide finance assistance about providing contract
during the upcoming busy assistance. He said two
budget period and beyond. responded, one said they
The county approved a were too busy, and one
contract for Christa Wolfe, did not respond. “I chose
CPA to provide budgeting, Christa Wolfe as she brings
new budget soft-
the most value to this
ware, accounting
interim position,”
and reporting and
Green said in his re-
other finance ser-
port to the commis-
vices as required,
sioners. “She has past
at a fee of $200 per
experience as a depu-
hour. The contract
ty finance director for
will run until Octo- Christa
Clackamas County
ber 21, 2022, unless Wolfe, CPA and experience with
extended or it can be
OpenGov.” Open-
terminated with a 30
Gov is a government
day notice. Wolfe would be technology company that
working remotely on the offers cloud software for
job. The commission had public sector accounting,
earlier discussed the diffi- planning, budgeting, citizen
services, and procurement.
In other business at last
week’s meeting commis-
sioners heard from Board-
man business owner Jon-
athan Tallman, who said it
appeared contractors doing
work for Umatilla Electric
Cooperative had created
an access off Laurel Lane
which he did not think had
been legally permitted.
Tallman owns Farmer’s
Cup coffee shop on Laurel
and said he recently tried
for legal access. “I’m the
little guy and I don’t get a
fair shake when it comes
to communicating, and the
big corporations do what
they want. It’s a little bit
troubling,” Tallman told
the commissioners. He said
there was excavator equip-
ment crossing a county road
which was “ruining the road
and creating an access point
that is not a legal access.”
Commissioner Jim
Doherty said he had re-
ceived a call before the
meeting from Tallman and
went and looked at what
was going on. “I swung
down there this morning
and see where UEC (Uma-
tilla Electric Coop) has built
a road and approach off
Laurel Lane,” Doherty said,
adding he would have the
county public works direc-
tor “look into it.” Doherty
said UEC contractors ap-
parently also went off of
Rippee Road, Root Lane
and Olson Lane in addition
to Laurel. “To my knowl-
edge they would need a
permit to do all of those
things, so I can guarantee
Eric (Imes, Public Works
Director) has told me he
will look into it post haste,”
Doherty told Tallman.
The possible non-per-
mitted action by the con-
tractor promoted Doherty
to suggest punitive action
may be taken against them.
“Frankly if they did all of
that, a company that size
understands the rules and
they’ve got more attorneys
than I have cows. If they
did that knowingly I would
suggest they remove all
the poles they put in and be
fined accordingly, because
if we don’t stop these folks
that are abusing the permit
system in the county, they
are going to continue to
do so. But I will wait on
that onerous action until I
hear back from my public
works director on whether
they need to do those things
that the other citizens in
the county need to do,”
Doherty said.
Combe is currently princi-
pal at Heppner Elementary
and Heppner Jr./Sr. High
School.
-received the follow-
ing enrollment report for
April: A.C. Houghton Ele-
mentary, Irrigon-215; Sam
Boardman Elementary,
Boardman-349; Heppner
Elementary-180; Irrigon
Elementary-188; Windy
River Elementary, Board-
man-252; Heppner Jr./Sr.
High School-158; Irrigon
Jr./Sr. High School-373;
Riverside Jr./Sr. High
School-488; Morrow Ed-
ucation Center, Irrigon-71;
Total-2,274.
-received the follow-
ing enrollment report by
community: Boardman,
plus 40, April 2021-1049,
April 2022-1089; Heppner,
plus 19, April 2021-319,
April 2022-338; Irrigon,
plus 11, April 2021-765,
April 2022-776; Morrow
Education Center, minus
80, April 2021-151, April
2022-71; District Totals,
minus 10, April 2021-2284,
April 2022-2274.
-approved a request
from Beth Dickenson con-
cerning a travel request for
the Heppner FFA group.
-approved a resolution
accepting and appropriating
unanticipated revenues as
follows: Sam Boardman El-
ementary-$1,500 from the
Sam Boardman Elementary
Parent-Teacher Organiza-
tion, $25 to SBE from Peg-
gy Wallis and $100 from the
Oregon Education Associa-
tion Foundation; Riverside
Jr./Sr. High School-$3,100
from the Riverside Booster
Club.
-adopted the follow-
ing rescinded, new or re-
vised policies: Loss cover-
age-adopted; Personnel Re-
cords-adopted; Disclosure
of Information-rescinded,
Talented and Gifted Pro-
gram-rescinded; revised
Talented and Gifted Pro-
gram-adopted.
-received information
concerning the Oregon
School Board Association
summer board conference
to be held July 8-10.
-received the following
announcements: STEAM
Friday, April 29; Teacher
Appreciation Week, May
2-6; special board meeting,
Wednesday, April 13, at
6 p.m. at the North Dis-
trict Office/Zoom; budget
committee meeting, Tues-
day, May 10, at 6 p.m. at
the North District Office/
Morrow Education Center,
Irrigon; next regular board
meeting, Tuesday, May 10
at 7 p.m. at the North Dis-
trict Office/Zoom.
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NEW
2022
FOR
Oregon City firm to work remotely
The Morrow County
School Board, at their Mon-
day night meeting in Irrigon
and via teleconference,
approved a 15 ft. wide per-
manent access easement to
the city of Boardman for a
pedestrian and bike path for
the city. The path is located
at Main Street and Colum-
bia Avenue in Boardman.
Also at the meeting,
Superintendent Dirk Dirk-
sen reminded the board that
the ballots for the Morrow
County School District
bond will be mailed out
April 27. A town hall con-
cerning the bond has been
held in Heppner and is
scheduled for Irrigon and
Boardman.
In other business the
board:
-learned the district
“is continuing to receive
property taxes and reve-
nue in lieu of taxes more
than originally budgeted.”
“ODE (Oregon Department
of Education) revised the
State School Fund Esti-
mate for 21-22 based on
an updated ADM (student
average daily membership/
attendance) and revenues
which increased our antic-
ipated total at year end,”
stated a district release. “As
the end of year approaches,
we will continue to revise
the anticipated revenues
and expenditures.”
-received the following
report of 2021-22 antic-
ipated revenues: MCSD
revenues-$29,214,726;
2022 estimated expen-
ditures-$28,405,017;
revenues over expendi-
tures-$809,709; beginning
fund balance-$4,508,248;
projected ending fund
balance-$5,317,957; state
school fund estimate as of
June 24, 2021-$17,472,311;
as of November 2, 2021-
$17,992,079; as of March
24, 2022-$18,256,669.
-heard a report from
Dirksen on the fire at the
district school building in
Irrigon. He said five class-
rooms were deemed being
“in good enough shape to
be used.” But he said four
classrooms are still not in
use, with one having “major
work that needs to be done”
before it can be occupied.
-heard a presentation
on the district’s swim class-
es at the Boardman Pool
and Rec center.
-held an executive ses-
sion “to consider the em-
ployment of a public officer,
employee, staff member
or individual agent.” The
board officially hired Matt
Combe as district superin-
tendent, replacing Dirksen
who is retiring at the end
of the current school year.
for more
information
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