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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2023)
SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 1, 2023 BEO reports 2022 earnings County commission discusses county admin, nitrate updates BEO Bancorp and its subsidiary, Bank of East- ern Oregon, last week announced consolidated year-end 2022 earnings of $8,585,000 with aver- age earnings per share of $7.13. Total assets were $890.3 million. Net loans were $488.8 million, while deposits ended the year at $819.8 million. “By all typical finan- cial measures, 2022 was a strong year. We ended 2021 in a very liquid and asset sensitive position. As 2022 unfolded, the tightening of fiscal policy and increasing interest rates by the Federal Reserve added significantly to our interest income,” said president and CEO Jeff Bailey. According to chief fi- nancial officer Mark Lem- mon, net income rose 24.1 percent year-over-year. Re- turn on average assets is one percent compared to 0.93 percent in 2021. Return on average equity is at 17.54 percent, up from 15.42 percent in 2021. “Our book value per share is $41.51, up 4.3 percent from last year’s $39.80, while shareholder equity increased 4.3 per- cent year-over-year,” said Lemmon. Chief operations of- ficer Becky Kindle said, “Deposits grew 8.8 percent year over year. Along with organic growth, we contin- Online participants able to interact in many languages thanks to Zoom translation program ue to gain new relationships in markets where bank consolidations and branch closures have occurred. Our team of bankers have done a fabulous job in navigating another interesting year.” “Loan volume in- creased 4.8 percent year- over-year. We have ex- panded our lending teams in strategic locations, and those efforts are paying off,” added chief lending officer John Qualls. Chief credit officer Ed Rollins said, “Our loan portfolio has performed exceptionally well over the past year. With improved asset quality we did not add to our provision for possible loan losses during 2022,” adding that this compared to a provision of $840,000 in 2021. “Given our rural foot- print, it should come as no surprise that as agriculture goes, so goes our bank,” Bailey said. “Timely rains in the late winter and spring turned what could have been a poor crop into an above-average crop in most of our trade area. Higher input costs were made up for by strong production and decent prices across the various commodities. “Renewal season has revealed strong margins as we head into 2023, but as last year proved, timely rains make all the difference in the world,” he concluded. Statewide graduation rate rises, but Morrow County still ahead of the curve Statewide rate second highest in Oregon’s history The statewide grad- uation rate for the class of 2022 is 81.3 percent, marking gains for every student group compared to the previous year and the second highest grad- uation rate ever recorded in Oregon, according to data released last week by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE). Meanwhile, Morrow County was ahead of the state average across the board. The 2021-22 four- year cohort graduation rate was 95.08 percent for Mor- row County, with a total of 174 graduates. The graduation rate was higher than 95 per- cent for several groups, including males, Career and Technical Education (CTE) students, Hispanic and Latino students and former or current English learners. Females had a 94.94 percent graduation rate, while white students overall had a 90.67 gradua- tion rate, economically dis- advantaged students were at 93.08 percent, students with disabilities were at 92 percent and homeless stu- dents had an 87.5 percent graduation rate. Within the county, the ODE reported an 85 percent graduation rate for Ione School District/Ione Com- munity Charter School. Morrow County School District had a 96.32 percent graduation rate. Over the past decade MCSD says it has seen continual growth in graduation rates, rising from 76 percent in 2011-12. The most recent rate is more than 15 percentage points higher than the statewide rate of 81.3 percent. .Hep- pner Jr. Sr. High School came in at 96.97 percent, Irrigon High School at 94 percent, Morrow Education Center at 77.78 percent and Riverside High School at a whopping 100 percent. Individual schools were not all broken down by demographic. For the graduating class of 2022 in particular, MCSD Matt Combe said is important to highlight that these families were dealt the tremendous challenge of learning during COVID restrictions for over half of their high school career. “We are very proud of MCSD students and the determination they continue to display to ensure they make it to graduation day,” Combe said. An ODE release stated that after a slight drop due to the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 graduation rates are “a positive sign that Oregon’s students and school systems are continuing to recover.” Donation fund established for Kendrick family Ione Community Church has announced it has established a fund to help the family of Ione man Andr’a Kendrick, who passed away suddenly last week. Checks can be made out to Ione Community Church with “Andr’a’ fund” in the memo line and can be taken to the Bank of East- ern Oregon ICC business savings account or sent to Ione Community Church, PO Box D, Ione, OR 97843. By Andrea Di Salvo The Morrow County Board of Commissioners discussed the hiring of a new county administrator and heard about the tran- sition of the water nitrate issue from emergency to long-term recovery at its last meeting in Heppner. The meeting was trans- lated into Spanish for online participants thanks to a new Zoom program implement- ed by the county this week. Morrow County Counsel Justin Nelson said he had tested the new translation system with Oregon Ru- ral Action, a communi- ty-based organization that had brought up the issue of translation at a previ- ous meeting. The system offers several languages and enables users to select their spoken and heard/ read languages for two-way translation. “It works pretty well,” said Nelson. During the meeting, the two commissioners addressed the hiring of an interim county admin- istrator to replace Greg Sweek, who resigned Jan. 13. Morrow County Human Resources Director Lindsay Grogan told the commis- sioners there were three applicants for the position, which closed last Tuesday. “All three do seem to be qualified,” Grogan said. Morrow County Com- missioner David Sykes asked Grogan what the process usually is for hiring in the county. She replied that human resources typi- cally scores the applications according to criteria pulled from the job description. The candidates are then in- terviewed, and those inter- views are scored according to the same criteria. The two are then added together for a final score. The commissioners agreed that Grogan should score the applications and forward qualified applicants to the board of commission- ers for interviews. Morrow County Counsel Justin Nel- son told the commissioners it would be appropriate to hold an executive session for those interviews, since it would be an employee type of position. The board of commis- sioners also chose Proth- man, a recruiting search firm based in Issaquah, WA, to help with the search for a permanent county admin- istrator. Morrow County Com- missioner Jeff Wenholz said he had researched several firms. While he found three that he said looked prom- ising, he recommended Prothman based on its fee structure and the fact that the firm had worked with Morrow County previous- ly. Prothman is commonly used for searches in the state of Oregon and has previously helped Morrow County with searches for a finance director, public health nurse supervisor and planning director. The estimated base cost for this search would be around $17,500 plus expenses. Wenholz asked if any county staff had input based on working with the firm previously. Grogan said she thought that was a good choice. She also added that the county could do its own background checks, so they could save on that cost with the search firm. The commissioners also heard from Mor- row County Clerk Bobbi Childers regarding the va- cancy for Position 1 on Robin Canaday - Contributed Photo the county commission. Childers said she currently had four filed candidates for the open commissioner position. Morrow County Public Health Director Robin Can- aday gave an update on the transition from emergency phase to recovery phase of the nitrate emergency. The emergency declaration offi- cially ended two weeks ago. The Oregon Department of Human Services in taking over water delivery to af- fected residents. Canaday said the DHS assured her the delivery will continue at least into June, not March as had been discussed pre- viously. Meanwhile, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is taking over the funding of well testing, research and filtration sys- tem. The OHA is currently planning strategic testing of wells and is developing a voucher system for well owners. “There are some kinks to work out as far as how people are going to access these vouchers,” Canaday added. Public health will also be working with the plan- ning department and the county’s new water systems consultant on long-term recovery. Other entities form Umatilla County and Oregon Rural Action are assisting in the application process for the 1.7 million in Congressional spending, and Canaday asked for the board’s continued support in their efforts. “This effort is going to be ongoing for quite some time,” said Canaday. Wenholz said he would serve as commission liaison to the recovery efforts. Also at the meeting, the board agreed to sign a letter of support for a grant appli- cation to the Oregon Dept. of Transportation Commu- nity Paths Program as a follow-up to a discussion held at a previous board meeting. Morrow County Planning Director Tamra Mabbott is applying for the grant, which would be for the planning and design of two sections of the Heritage Trail, a bicycle-pedestrian pathway between Irrigon and Boardman. It is part of a larger plan to rehabilitate and improve the Colum- bia River Heritage Trail, which runs across the north end of the county from the Umatilla County to Gilliam County lines. Morrow County Assis- tant Roadmaster Mike Hau- gen reported that the road department had several road emergencies in January, mostly due to heavy rain and high winds. They in- cluded water running down Halvorsen Ln., washouts on Kincade and McElligott, multiple trees down with one entirely blocking Lit- tle Butter Creek, a broken plank on a Dry Fork bridge, lots of mud on Depot Ln. and a sink hole on Clark’s Canyon. He said county road crews have also been working to build up the shoulders at the top of the grade on Ione-Gooseberry. In her report, Childers said the county clerk’s of- fice is currently setting up for a May 16 election for taxing boards. Filing will be Feb. 4 through March 16. The last day to register to vote is April 25, with ballots mailed on April 26. Childers said the county currently has 7,027 voters. Childers said the cost of paper and envelopes has risen, and those supplies are more difficult to get. Postage costs have also gone up. Cost of the May 2022 primary election was $12,221, but she said that election is more expensive because of colored paper used for different ballots. Cost per eligible voter was $1.73, with $4.41 per vote cast for the 39.1 percent turnout. For the Nov. 8 general election, cost per eligible voter was $1.61, or $2.73 per vote cast with the 58.9 percent voter turnout. Cost for the November re- call election was $1.35 per eligible voter and $3.68 per vote cast with 36.55 percent turnout. She also told the board she has the opportunity to get a $5,000 grant for mod- ernization. If received, she said she would most likely use the money for cameras to improve security at ballot drop boxes. Grogan told the board that 12 active positions are keeping human resources busy on the recruitment side, and that in the last three months they have hired a senior maintenance specialist, a payroll and benefits administrator, a transit manager and a sher- iff’s deputy. Grogan told the board that in 2019 there were nine positions filled. There were 24 job offers made in 2020, 38 in 2021 and 47 in 2022. “It’s getting a lot busier as the county grows,” she said. She said the safety committee had formed a subcommittee for wellness, and they are planning a year-long wellness program for employees. “We’re pretty excited about that,” she said. Sykes asked if Grogan has seen any improvement in finding qualified appli- cants. “Are you seeing any- thing loosen up?” he asked. “Nothing has been improving. It’s still very challenging to get qualified applicants to apply,” she re- sponded, adding that some public health positions have been open for years. “We’re struggling just like all the county governments I’ve talked to.” Morrow County Sur- veyor Matt Kenny reported that they surveyor’s office produced 16 survey maps in the final quarter of 2022. The yearly total for survey recordings was 45 and con- sisted of eight subdivisions/ replats, 19 partition plats and 18 standard survey filings. In her report, Canaday said that the health de- partment received a new vaccine refrigerator, and it is plugged in and holding temperature. She said ex- clusion day for schools is coming up Feb. 15, so they have been collaborating with schools and will be going to each school to try to get students up to date on vaccines prior to that date. Canaday also informed the board that the health de- partment has four staff start- ing the classes this month to become certified Spanish translators. She also said they still have two open positions for nurses and have created a new position to fulfill requirements of PE 75 (Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area Services), but have no applicants as of yet. During public com- ment, Linda Skendzel, Morrow County Veterans Services Officer, informed the commissioners of an upcoming funding oppor- tunity from Oregon Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs for suicide awareness. She said she had applied for the grant and would keep the board posted. The grant, if received, would have to be used before the end of the fiscal year. She said she had already been speaking with Community Counsel- ing Solutions (CCS) about partnering on the project. CCS already has a Zero Suicide program that Mor- row County Counsel Justin Nelson said would be a good tie-in to the veterans services aspect. Sykes ended the meet- ing by reporting that he had talked with Judge Daniel Hill regarding a new circuit court building and asking for staff input. “Circuit court needs a new building, badly,” Sykes said, adding that Morrow County has a high possi- bility of getting funding through a 50 percent match during this legislative ses- sion. He said former com- missioner Melissa Lindsay had been working on it ex- tensively, and he had been trying to get up to speed on the project. “I really want us to be on top of this,” he said. The Morrow Coun- ty Board of Commission- ers also held an executive session after the regular meeting. The stated pur- pose of the session was to consult with legal counsel regarding current or possi- ble litigation the county is involved in. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.