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