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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2023)
Interim county administrator resigns 50¢ VOL. 144 NO. 3 8 Pages Wednesday, January 18, 2023 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Greg Sweek Morrow County is on the hunt for a new Morrow County Administrator after the surprise resignation of interim administrator Greg Sweek last week. In his Jan. 13 resigna- tion letter, Sweek told the and policy. It prepares and Board of Commissioners, adopts county and service district budgets and pro- vides administrative ser- vices, support and liaison to other public and gov- ernment bodies. It is also responsible for conducting public meetings and private and public land sales and exchanges, as well as en- acting ordinances, contracts and other legal agreements. The board had spoken about the vacancy pre- viously but revisited the appointment process at its regular meeting last week. Commissioners seek Old Gazette office will be new center applicants for vacant for business and art position By Andrea Di Salvo The Morrow County Board of Commissioners is actively seeking applicants for Commissioner Position 1. The position was left vacant upon the recall of former commissioner Jim Doherty, and it is up to the two current commissioners to appoint someone to fill that vacancy. The term is unexpired and will end Jan. From investigations to artistry: The corner of the 6, 2025. building that used to house the sheriff’s office will The board of commis- become an art gallery full of light, with space to cre- sioners is the governing ate in a variety of media. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo body for the county and is responsible for county ad- ministration, management Lexington council swears in returning members Council discusses water lines, IT issues -Continued to PAGE NINE Boardman city council accepts city manager’s resignation, swears in new council members Visitors will hardly recognize the former Ga- zette-Times office. Gutted right now, it will become a cluster of offices and a center for business services and training. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo By Andrea Di Salvo hind them, the Heppner M a n y i n H e p p n e r Community Foundation know that the Heppner Ga- began looking at other zette-Times has moved to needs in the community. Main Street, leaving its old The availability of the old building on Willow Street Gazette building provided dark and empty. What they the perfect opportunity to may not know is that big create the kind of flex space plans are in the works be- Cutsforth thought Heppner hind those blank windows needed. While some plans and concrete walls. are set in stone, others are The Heppner Commu- flexible. nity Foundation (HCF) and “It’ll evolve,” says Willow Creek Valley Eco- Cutsforth. “You don’t know nomic Development Group what needs are here until (WCVEDG) are teaming up you start offering to do it.” to give new life to the space, Engineering Northwest along with much-needed created the designs for the resources for South Morrow project, and Allstott Con- County. struction is doing the work. Kim Cutsforth, execu- For now, the space is en- tive director of the Howard tirely gutted. Cutsforth said and Beth Bryant Founda- they had to do an asbestos tion, said the space will abatement, and there’s a be an innovative hub with lot more that needs to go resources ranging from into making the space us- business startups to art. The able. The cement walls and new hub has no name yet. timbered rafters that form For now, it’s still referred the bones of the building to as the Gazette building. will remain, and Cutsforth In some ways, the proj- said they intend to use the ect is an extension of the existing structure as much process that created the as possible. Gilliam & Bisbee Event One major difference Center. will be the amount of light “When we started the in the building. Original Gilliam Bisbee project, we windows that have been didn’t really know what we boarded up will be reopened needed. We knew we need- to their original height, and ed something,” Cutsforth windows will be added to said. “We didn’t even know the front of the building. how badly we needed it.” Even the windows facing She recalls that the Gil- the Phelps’s building will liam & Bisbee center had be taken back to their full to cancel 22 booked events original size, only possible when the COVID-19 pan- because the Phelps gave an demic hit, and the building easement for window ac- hadn’t even opened yet. cess—the windows require With that project be- a 10-foot setback. The existing roll-up garage door in the back of the building will remain, in a fashion. Cutsforth said it will be replaced by a rolling door with glass. The ground in the alley, which is cur- rently higher than the floor inside the building, will be lowered. The rolling glass door and another door will let out onto a patio surround by a retaining wall. The entire facility will Stokoe appointed temporary city manager Boardman Mayor Paul Keefer presents a plaque of appreciation to outgo- ing councilor Leslie Pier- son. -Contributed photo By Andrea Di Salvo At its first meeting of the new year, the Board- man City Council accepted the resignation, effective immediately, of City Man- ager Karen Pettigrew. She was elected in November to serve on the city council and said she felt it was best for the city to resign at this time. “I know this transition is going to take some time,” Boardman Mayor Paul Keefer swears in new councilor Karen Petti- grew. -Contributed photo said Boardman Mayor Paul Keefer, thanking her for her service to the city. At a special meeting Jan. 12, the council selected Boardman Assistant City Manager/Police Chief Rick Stokoe as the temporary city manager until a re- placement could be chosen. Keefer swore in elected councilors Roy Drago, Jr., Karen Pettigrew and Isaac Williams. All three were elected in the November General Election. Council- or Drago has served the past -Continued to PAGE EIGHT “I regret to inform you that I can no longer per- form the duties of Interim County Administrator. The demands of the job require more time than I can devote to the position. I want to thank you for your confi- dence in my ability to do the job and am disappointed that I cannot complete the task.” The board had appoint- ed Sweek as interim admin- istrator on Jan. 4. Morrow County Com- missioner David Sykes says he and Morrow County Commissioner Jeff Wen- holz will begin the search for a replacement imme- diately. four years on the council and was re-elected. Coun- cilor Pettigrew is new to the council, replacing outgoing councilor Leslie Pierson. Councilor Williams was appointed to a vacant coun- cil seat in 2020 and was re-elected. “This is a pretty cool thing to do as a mayor, to swear in new councilors,” Keefer remarked. All three councilors will serve on the council for a term ending Dec. 31, 2026. The council voted 4-3 to elect councilor Heather Baumgartner council presi- dent for 2023. Williams was the other nominee. Keefer also presented outgoing councilor Leslie Pierson a certificate of ap- preciation for serving the past three years on the city council. City manager vacancy Keefer noted that the issue of the city manager vacancy was not on the agenda. The position was left vacant upon Pettigrew’s retirement. The council is in the process of interviewing candidates and held an ex- ecutive session to that end before Tuesday’s meeting, but no replacement has been chosen. Acting Boardman City Recorder Jackie McCauley asked whether the council wanted to think further on it or if the public needed to be notified ahead of time Lexington Town Councilor Bobbi Gordon (right) is sworn in by town recorder Veronica Hess at the Jan. 10 town council meeting. -Contributed photo Lexington Town Recorder Veronica Hess swears in returning Lexington Town Councilor Katie Imes (left) at last week’s meeting. -Contributed photo By Andrea Di Salvo Lexington Town Re- corder Veronica Hess swore in returning council mem- bers Katie Imes and Bobbi Gordon. Imes is serving a two-year term in council position #3, and Gordon is serving a four-year term in position #4. In her report, Lexing- ton Mayor Juli Kenne- dy said that the May Day committee had a second meeting Jan. 9 and that plans are moving along. The committee discussed costs and a budget. The town will try to get funding from the Morrow County Unified Recreation District, and a budget is required for that funding proposal. That meeting is coming up on Jan. 27. “I’m pretty sure this is it. We’ve looked into all these options, these are actual numbers, and this is what we’re going to pro- pose that we request for the May Day celebration,” said -Continued to PAGE SIX Veronica Hess. Hess also said she had received a form for request for Armed Forces participa- tion in public events from Carol Doherty. The form is to request an Armed Forces musical unit, personnel, color guard, guest speaker, equipment or other partici- pation in public events. “I got very excited when I was reading it, so I did fill it out and send it to her contact,” she said, adding that the form is still in draft phrase for council approval but that she sent it in so they could help with proper terminology for what to request for the May Day celebration. The Oregon National Guard is showing interesting in attending May Day, and it would be free of charge. Mayor Kennedy also reported that she registered for a couple of trainings with the League of Oregon Cities (LOC). One is not until April, but there is a mayoral training in January -Continued to PAGE TWO
