Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current, December 28, 2022, Image 1

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    Recall vote results
certified
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 52 8 Pages
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County commissioners talk broadband,
transit at Dec. 14 meeting
By Andrea Di Salvo
It was all about trans-
portation and communica-
tion at the Dec. 14 meeting
of the Morrow County
Board of
Commissioners in Heppner
this month.
At its Dec. 14 meeting
in Heppner, the Morrow
County Board of Commis-
sioners heard an update
from Aaron Moss, Broad-
band Action Team Coordi-
nator. The coordinator said
the project had high-level
designs and was ready for
grants.
“The next steps for us
are to get two projects out
of that one high level de-
sign, the one for the north
end of the county and the
one for the rest of the coun-
ty, including the middle,”
he said. “Those will most
likely be different partners,
so our next step is to split
that project while we’re
waiting on the maps from
the State of Oregon for eli-
gibility of their programs.”
Moss said he expects
assistance from the state in
the next couple of months.
“And that’s going to get us
from high level designs to
engineering designs, and
designs that are actually
actionable to build out.
So we’re moving forward
there, and we’re really just
waiting for the state in that
This map shows address points that have avail-
ability to speeds of 100mbps Upload and 100mbps
Download. The green or “served” areas are where
residents have or will access to internet service
offerings of at least 100mbps download speed and
100mbps upload speed. The red or “un-served/un-
der-served” do not, and are the focus of our Broad-
band Action Team’s infrastructure-building efforts.
realm,” he added.
Much of the conver-
sation centered around the
Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act, or “Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law,” which
President Joe Biden signed
into law on Nov. 15, 2021.
2026 in new Federal in-
vestment in infrastructure,
including in roads, bridges,
and mass transit, water in-
frastructure, resilience and
broadband.
Moss informed the
board that the money from
the first infrastructure bill
will come out about six
months after the application
is complete and will total
about $57 million. Follow-
ing that in a year or two will
be the bigger money, about
$600 million. He said there
was some problem with the
way the state fund is han-
dled, and several individu-
als and organizations have
been working on advocacy
at the state level to make
sure the state funding gets
fixed and the state is able
to secure federal money
and spend it according to
federal standards.
Moss said he had been
keeping state and federal
legislators updated, and
that Sen. Ron Wyden’s
office was having a webi-
nar concerning the federal
broadband maps, which
was important to the topic
of Moss’s update.
Moss explained that
the Federal Communica-
tions Commission (FCC)
releases a new broadband
map every five to 10 years
and recently released a map
By Andrea Di Salvo
The recall effort against
Morrow County commis-
sioners Jim Doherty and
Melissa Lindsay has been
successful, according to
official election results cer-
tified by Morrow County
Clerk Bobbi Childers this
week.
The original certifi-
cation date was set for
Dec. 20, but challenges
from Doherty and Lindsay
pushed the certification
back a week to Dec. 27.
Even so, the election results
stand, with county voters
recalling Doherty 1,339 to
1,174 and Lindsay 1,265
to 1,244.
To all appearances, that
leaves Morrow County
Commissioner Don Russell
as the county’s sole com-
missioner as of Tuesday
afternoon.
An article in the East
Oregonian referenced a
letter sent from attorneys
Steve Elzinga and Joe
Huddleston to Childers
on behalf of Doherty and
Lindsay alleging “numer-
ous errors” in the recall
election. However, the
Heppner Gazette-Times
did not receive a copy of
that letter and is not aware
of any legal action being
taken against the election
results at this time.
Lindsay lost her bid
for reelection in the 2022
general election, and so
would have left office ear-
ly in January in any case.
Doherty would have been
up for reelection in 2025.
Heppner holds alumni
basketball games
Heppner Basketball Alumni women’s participants (L-R)
Shelley McCabe, Madelyn Nichols, Madison Rosenbalm,
Paige Grieb, Janelle Ellis, Jessica Kempken, Petra Payne,
Kelly Barnett, Mindy Wilson and Savannah Poorman.
-Contributed photo
The Heppner Mustang start. The “young guns” led
boys basketball team hosted at halftime 23-22 and the
the 10 th annual Mustang game finished in a 38-38
Basketball Alumni games tie. A long overtime period
this past week. The games was played and the score at
brought back former Mus- the end of that was still tied
tangs to showcase their tal- at 61-61. A shorter second
The Biden Administration
ents once again the Heppner overtime period was played
touts the Bipartisan Infra-
gym. Both the men’s and and the “young guns” were
structure Law as the largest
women’s games were very the only ones to score, tak-
long-term investment in
exciting to watch. In the ing the victory by the score
infrastructure and economy
women’s game, the “more of 63-61.
in the nation’s history. It
Leading the way in
experienced” women won
provides $550 billion over
by the score of 44-25 and scoring for the winners
fiscal years 2022 through
-Continued to PAGE TWO the men’s game went into was CJ Kindle, who had
two overtimes and saw the 15 points. Mason Lehman
“young guns” beat the “old was next with 14 and Jake
dogs” by the score of 63-61. Lindsay had 11 points. Lo-
The women’s game gan Grieb followed with
was much closer than the 10, Blake Carter four and
ty to do anything other than cilor Katie Imes was the final score indicates as the Kevin Murray had three.
the basic functions is a real only city representative “young gals” were ahead With two points each were
challenge,” she said, adding able to be at the meeting, 22-19 at halftime. The Beau Wolters and Hunter
that that was why she decid- but she expressed her grat- “more experienced” team Nichols. Patrick Collins
ed to take the initiative on itude for the county’s help took over in the second scored one point and not
behalf of the cities.
in the process.
half and ran away with the scoring in the game was
ECONorthwest’s report
“I think it’s very, very game and won by the score Brock Hisler.
recommended that, to alle- key that we all work to- of 44-25.
The “old dogs” were
viate capacity restraints, the gether to improve our in-
Leading the way for led in scoring by Jeremy
cities take a collaborative frastructure, improve hous- the winners was Shelley Rosenbalm with 26 points.
approach together with the ing, improve the economy McCabe, who poured in Stephen Thompson was
county and regional orga- here in the south Willow 23 points. Madison Rosen- next with 11 and Tate Gen-
nizations in order to 1) up- Creek area,” Imes said, balm was next with 10 try had seven. With five
grade water and wastewater adding that Lexington is and Janelle Ellis had five points each were Brian Rill
infrastructure, 2) pursue just wrapping up a sewer points. Petra Payne scored and Andre Rauch. Lane
investments to overcome and water study, which she four points for the team Bailey finished with three
transportation and flood- said is really exciting.
and Mindy Wilson finished points and with two each
plain barriers and 3) attract
“It just puts everything with two.
were Leon Luna and Blas
developers or contractors on paper and really gets the
The “young gals” were Elguezabal. Brian Knowles
for near-term development. ball rolling,” she said. “It led in scoring by Kelly and Rocky Turner contrib-
Mabbott said there was does take time, of course. Barnett, who had 11 points. uted mightily but did not
a definite lack of develop- It’s a slow process, and it Madelyn Nichols finished score in the game.
er capacity in the South will have to be primarily with five and Paige Grieb
Lots of fun was had,
Morrow region. She said grant funded because of had four. With three points and no one was injured
South Morrow has capable the lack of resources here was Jessica Kempken, and playing in the game. Plans
builders who tend to do in Lexington.
Savannah Poorman had are already underway for
single-family homes or
“This project really two.
next year’s 11 th annual Mus-
maybe duplexes, but “We helps to bring everything to
The men’s game was tang Basketball Alumni
don’t have the Developers light and to be able to say, a defensive battle from the games.
with a capital D who come ‘Look at the big picture
in and might do an entire here. What do we have to
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
subdivision. Our neighbors do and what direction are
Irrigon and Boardman are
-Continued to PAGE FIVE
seeing that,” she said. She
also pointed to a lack of
funding for infrastructure
and desired amenities.
“ T h e r e ’s a t h e m e
throughout here of capac-
ity,” said Mabbott. “In par-
ticularly Lexington and
Ione, the existence of a
floodplain is a very signif-
icant barrier, so any new
development would have
to meet FEMA’s insurance
requirements, which means
you significantly increase
the initial cost, and then you
have a permanent, long-
term requirement to insure
those houses.”
Lexington Town Coun-
County, cities discuss housing concerns in
Willow Creek Valley
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Morrow Coun-
ty Planning Department
is stepping in to help the
cities in Willow Creek Val-
ley address their housing
concerns, Morrow County
Planning Director Tamra
Mabbot told the Morrow
County Board of Commis-
sioners at a meeting earlier
this month.
At the board’s regular
Dec. 14 meeting, Mabbott
told the board of commis-
sioners that county plan-
ning was awarded a housing
grant by the Department of
Land Conservation and De-
velopment (DLCD), intend-
ed to help the cities within
the Willow Creek Valley.
“The genesis really was
some work that was done by
my predecessor with all of
the cities in Morrow Coun-
ty, that looked at housing
issues, primarily the land-
based needs, so we did the
buildable lands analysis,
and the inventory available
for each of those cities,”
said Mabbott. “So I reached
out to all three cities and
said, ‘Hey, I’m happy to
submit a grant application
to the Department of Land
Conservation and Develop-
ment on your behalf. Are
you interested?’ and the
three cities in the Willow
Creek Valley said yes.
“Irrigon and Boardman
said, ‘We’re busy, we’re
growing, no thanks,’” she
added.
Over the past year,
consultant ECONorthwest
worked with Heppner,
Lexington and Ione along
with the county planning
director to develop a plan
that focused on two barri-
ers to housing—a lack of
infrastructure and a lack of
developer capacity in the
area. As part of their anal-
ysis, ECONorthwest also
identified another barrier,
capacity to advocate for and
pursue additional funding
for infrastructure and ame-
nities such as playgrounds,
bike paths, recreational
facilities, etc.
Each of the three cities
already have contracts with
Anderson & Perry Associ-
ates to develop plans to ad-
dress water and wastewater
infrastructure.
According to the con-
sultant’s report, cities
across Oregon are strug-
gling to attract housing
development. A common
theme among small cities in
Oregon is capacity, which
was also an issue that arose
prominently in the Willow
Creek Valley study.
“I do want to say that
that lack of capacity is
not that there’s not some
super-capable staff there,
it’s just that when you’re a
small city, especially when
you’re a one-person shop,
planning might not be your
priority,” Mabbott said.
“Generally, the capaci-
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