SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 29, 2022
City of Boardman assures
Health District approves $23
residents that city water is safe million budget
to drink
Officials at the City of
Boardman have taken spe-
cial steps to assure city res-
idents that their drinking
water is safe, meeting and
exceeding state and feder-
al water quality standards.
The city is using a number
of different communica-
tion tools to address the
concerns raised by a water
emergency recently de-
clared in Morrow County
relating to contamination
in rural drinking wells.
Boardman City Managet
Karen Pettigrew
“Different than their
rural neighbors, City of
Boardman residents re-
ceive safe and dependable
water supplied from local
aquifers,” said city offi-
cials. Links to information
and contacts to call are pro-
vided below.” “We want
Boardman City res-
idents to know that
the safety of families
in our community
is our top priority,
so we are taking an
extra effort to share
testing information
and reports that pro-
vide confidence in
the quality of the
drinking water that
we supply to city
residents and local
businesses,”
said
Karen
Pettigrew,
Boardman
City
Manager.
“The City of Board-
man has taken the follow-
ing steps to share informa-
tion about the city’s safe
drinking water: Posted wa-
ter quality testing results
on the city’s website show
nitrate levels well within
safety ranges established
by Oregon Health Author-
ity [www.cityofboardman.
com].
-The city posted in-
formation about safety of
drinking water and city
hall contact info on the
city’s reader board.
-The city posted public
service information flyers
in key locations around
town about Boardman Safe
Drinking Water.
-The city sent “Safe
The Morrow County
Health District Board ad-
opted a $23,536,653 bud-
get for the 2022-23 year
and imposed a tax rate of
$.6050 per thousand for
operations and a rate of
$.39 per thousand for a
local option tax for oper-
ations at their meeting in
Heppner on Monday night.
Drinking Water” public
service information to resi-
dential developers and city
home-owners
“We continue to work
closely with all local com-
munity health partners to
make sure our neighbors
get the assistance they
need. We particularly ap-
plaud the efforts of the
local businesses that have
volunteered assistance in
distributing clean water
and paying for testing kits/
filtration systems for our
neighbors in rural Morrow
County,” added Pettigrew.
For more information
about safe drinking water
(in Boardman), contact
Boardman City Hall, 541-
481- 9252.
Marie Shimer named board
chair
In other action the
board named Marie Shim-
er chair for the coming fis-
cal year. She will replace
John Murray. Shimer is
the principal of Riverside
Junior and Senior High
School. Diane Kilkenny
was named vice chair.
In other business, the
board:
-received the follow-
ing clinic reports for May:
Pioneer Memorial Clinic
in Heppner had 140 patient
visits for the month with
13 no-shows and 10 can-
cellations; Irrigon Medical
Clinic had 294 patient vis-
its for the month with 43
no-shows and 25 cancel-
lations; Ione Community
Clinic had 85 patient visits
for the month with three
no-shows and five cancel-
lations.
-received the follow-
ing profit and loss state-
ment for May: the district
received $1,032,311 in
gross patient revenue, less
$36,200 in provision for
bad debts, less $145,933 in
contractual and other ad-
justments, plus $218,296
in tax revenue and $3,439
in other operating rev-
enue for $1,071,913 in
total operating revenue;
less $1,539,449 in total
operating expenses and a
$683,456 in a non-oper-
ating gain for a $215,919
gain for the month.
-received the following
reports: Pioneer Memori-
al Hospital had four acute
(in-patient) admissions for
the month, three swing bed
admissions, three admis-
sions for observation, one
swing bed (non-skilled)
admission,
500
total
out-patients, 90 emergency
room encounters, 1,345 lab
tests, 124 x-ray/ultrasound
tests, 33 CT scans, seven
MRI scans, 28 EKG tests,
29 respiratory therapy
procedures; Home Health
had 193 visits; Hospice
had one admission and
three deaths; Pharmacy
had 2,067 drug doses for
$88,345 in drug revenue.
-received the follow-
ing ambulance report:
Heppner Ambulance had
21 transports for $38,089
in revenue; Boardman Am-
bulance had 22 transports
for $46,533 in revenue;
Irrigon Ambulance had 19
transports for $32,658 in
revenue; Ione Ambulance
had no transports.
In other action after
discussion the board voted
to combine the wage scales
of the nurse practitioner
and physician assistants.
District Administrator Em-
ily Roberts in asking for
the change said they should
make the same because,
“They are performing es-
sentially the same func-
tion.” Nurse practitioners
currently make more that
physicians assistants and
under the board action the
physicians assistants will
be bumped up to the higher
practitioners’ wages.
Justin Cameron PA
In other business the
board voted unanimous-
ly to hire a new physician
assistant Justin Cameron
to be working mainly at
the Irrigon Medical Clinic.
He will also fill in at the
Pioneer Memorial Clinic
in Heppner and the Ione
Community Clinic. He
will start with the district
in August.
In addition to his reg-
ular salary Cameron will
receive a one-time sign-
ing bonus of $10,000 and
a one-time relocation bo-
nus also for $10,000. He is
currently employed by the
Asher Community Health
Center in Fossil which he
joined in 2020. Cameron
was born and raised near
Eugene and he and his
wife Krystal are life-long
Oregon residents. He at-
tended Physician Assistant
school at Pacific Universi-
ty in Hillsboro.
In other business the
board voted to approve a
quote for remodeling work
on the annex at the former
physical therapy building.
The $15,595 quote was
from Elk Creek Construc-
tion of Stanfield and is for
framing, drywall, doors,
insulation and tape, mud
and texture in offices.
Owner/Broker David Sykes
541-980-6674
188 W. Willow
P.O. Box 337
Heppner, OR 97836
david@sykesrealestate.net
Do you have property to sell?
Now is the time!
I have buyers looking for homes,
land and building lots in the
Heppner, Lexington and Ione area.
This is a good time to sell!
Call, text or email me.
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