Ambulance services review under way 50¢ VOL. 143 NO. 16 10 Pages Wednesday, April 19, 2023 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Heppner renews contract with sheriff’s office Council moves forward with purchase of security cameras By Andrea Di Salvo After intense discus- sion last week, the City of Heppner renewed its intergovernmental agree- ment with Morrow County Sheriff’s Office for deputy services. During discussion at the April 10 meeting, Heppner councilor Sharon Inskeep said she wanted clarification that the things the city is being charged for are in the city and not the county, and that violators were being cited as needed. “Are we paying this amount of money and are we getting our total city coverage that we’re sup- posed to be having?” asked Inskeep. “I don’t know how many times we have to bring it up about log trucks. I saw that one was stopped and not ticketed. I know other people that were stopped, doing some pretty unsafe things, and were not ticketed.” “Some of those things are not occurring in the city, but they’re on our city bud- get,” she added. “They’re on the outskirts of town, but they’re coming through on the city bill and not on the county bill.” Heppner city councilor Dale Bates pointed out that the city’s contract with the sheriff’s office is for 320 hours per month, but that MCSO always puts in more; in March, total personnel hours in Heppner were 410.5. “Obviously we’re get- ting 20, 25 percent more for our buck,” he said. Cutsforth also said that the contract is for a three- mile radius out from the 207/206/74 intersection by Heppner City Hall. “It actually goes way past the reservoir,” said Cutsforth. “So we’re ac- tually covering some stuff outside of the city.” “My question is, we’re paying out the money, but are we seeing anything back on safety things as far as truck stops and tickets and that stuff that’s being handled?” replied Inskeep. “I just think I see a lot of traffic infringements and vi- olations that are not getting taken care of.” Patrol Lieutenant Braun said the thinking on traffic stops is to make the stop and speak with the driver. If the deputy believes the person will be compliant in the future, they may issue a warning rather than a ticket. “The officer that’s mak- ing the stop,” he said, “It’s on them. We can’t tell them that they have to write a ticket.” Heppner city councilor Cody High said he thought they were past the point of discussing the contract, though he said he had his own issues with it. “I feel like the contract- ed hours should be patrol hours, not case hours, not meeting hours,” said High. “If we were paying a cop, city police, we’d be paying all that. Period.” said Bates. “And here we’re not.” High said he would move to approve the contract but would be “whole-heartedly in favor” of it going before the police commission or to a council work session for a deeper conversation regarding next year’s contract. “And then hash out any changes before, because right now they need a yes or no for their budget,” he added. The council voted unanimously to renew the MCSO contract at $194,831.96 for the fiscal year. New Security Cam- eras The city council also voted to move forward with new Verkada security cam- eras for several locations around town. Verkada’s Jackson Malec, who had given a presentation at the council’s March 13 meet- ing, was back April 10 to present a pricing proposal to the council. The pricing propos- al includes eight Verkada Bullet CB52-E cameras with 60 days of storage and a 10-year Verkada cam- era license for a total of $20,593.40. “These are some of our best cameras we offer” Malec told the council. Professional instal- lation will add another $4,907.08 to the cost. Included in the Verk- ada package is a 10-year hardware warranty, auto- matic updates, unlimited ar- chiving with Amazon Web Services, technical support, zero ongoing maintenance costs and unlimited users. Kraig Cutsforth said his thought was to purchase eight cameras and put two at Heppner City Park, one behind the library, one at Hager Park, one at the fire -Continued to PAGE TEN Morrow County School District remains optimistic about state budget By Andrea Di Salvo The Morrow County School District Board had an eye on the state legis- lature at its regular board meeting Monday, April 10, at Windy River Elementary in Boardman. While MCSD Superin- tendent Matt Combe report- ed several areas of concern, the budget remains top- most in everyone’s minds. Combe said the COSA state budget forecast for the next biennium is similar to what it was last month. “We continue to remain hopeful for the $10.3 billion to keep up with inflation, supply and demand trends, but many economists con- tinue to predict that it will land in that 10.1 to 10.2 range,” Combe told the school board. He also reported that there were a couple oth- er bills that are current- ly stalled but would have affected the district. One of those is an abbreviated school day bill. Combe said the last update he heard was that it was highly unlikely that it would take effect this school year. Meanwhile, Combe said, the district is current- ly in the budget cycling process for the 2023-24 school year, with a budget committee meeting sched- uled for May 9. MCSD Executive Di- rector of Human Resources Erin Stocker said union ne- gotiations will begin soon. “I’m a little nervous that we don’t have a firm number from the legisla- tive session at this point,” she said regarding salaries and benefits. “The benefit to waiting until we do have a firm number from the legislative session is that then we can give all we can give. Otherwise, we’re being a little bit conser- vative, making sure that we don’t exceed what the budget ends up being from the state.” Stocker also reported that the hiring season con- tinues to progress. She said the district’s objective is to fill positions but that the hiring pool is very compet- itive. She also reported that it looked like the emergen- cy substitute licenses would be continued next school year but with some “tighter strings.” “Which I don’t think is a bad thing,” she added. “But getting our full-time positions filled is our pri- ority right now.” She concluded by say- ing the district was mak- ing plans for professional development both for ad- ministrators and teachers based on feedback from the schools. MCSD Director of Ed- ucational Services Marie Shimer reported that the district had its food service audit and did very well. One piece the district needs to address is forming a com- mittee to review the district wellness policy, which the state requires to be done every three years. “We will be pulling together that committee in May and going over the policy with the rubric they provide and meeting that criteria,” said Shimer. She also addressed the issue of language transla- tion during board meetings, which board member Rosa Delgado had raised at a pre- vious board meeting. “We are researching that and looking at some different options, so we’re hoping by the beginning of the school year we’ll have that up and going,” said Shimer. “That would be in ad- dition to what’s available to the folks who are online,” added Combe. InterMountain Ed- ucation Service District (IMESD) Chief Financial Officer Beth O’Hanlon was also present via Zoom. She told the board that IMESD had received many requests over the years for the ed- ucation service district to sponsor a regional board conference for eastern Or- egon boards to informally network and collaborate on issues specific to local needs. O’Hanlon said the IMESD has started the planning process for that conference and that they would come back to the board with more specifics when they had it all worked out. O’Hanlon also updat- ed the MCSD board and staff on the Crystal Apple Awards, which is the ed- ucation service district’s annual event to recognize outstanding staff. She re- ported around 220 nomina- tions this year throughout the three IMESD counties. “I feel like it’s one of the largest amount of nom- inations we’ve had in re- cent years, so that’s pretty exciting, that people are nominating their peers,” said O’Hanlon. The Umatilla-Morrow Crystal Apple Awards will take place Tuesday, May 16, at 5 p.m. at the Pendle- ton Convention Center. In other business, the board approved a request from Heppner Technology Student Association mem- bers to attend the national TSA conference in Louis- ville, KY June 28-July 2. The estimated cost for the trip is $8,285, with most of that covered by previous years’ fundraising, Oregon TSA travel grants and stu- dent projects. The board heard from Heppner TSA Advisor Dave Fowler and TSA state officer Jacob Finch, as well as chapter officers Elizabeth Finch, Riley Palmer and Delilah Sauceda. The stu- dents told the board about their projects, what they had accomplished in TSA and what they hoped to accomplish at the national The Morrow County Board of Commissioners has authorized the updat- ing and modernizing of the County’s Ambulance Ser- vice Area Plan and designa- tion of Ambulance Service Area Providers, the county announced last week. During the process, the county will be working with the Oregon Health Au- thority, all the parties who provide or are interested in providing ambulance services, and any others who wish to be consulted or provide advice regarding the plan and the boundaries of ambulance service areas. While the county is working on that update, ambulance services will continue to be provided by the Morrow County Health District under the 1998 Am- bulance Service Providers Ordinance, so the public should not see any change in services. Questions or concerns can be directed to Roberta Vanderwall, Morrow Coun- ty Interim Administrator, rvanderwall@co.morrow. or.us. Lexington gears up for May Day Celebration The Town of Lexington is getting ready for its third annual May Day celebra- tion, with more events, more food, and more “flowers and flags.” -Contributed photo Plans for the third annu- al Lexington May Day cel- ebration are in full swing, with a day of festivities planned for Saturday, May 6. The theme this year is “Flowers and Flags,” with special focus on members of the military both past and present. The day will start with the Fire Department Break- fast from 7-10 a.m. Break- fast options include a meal of pancakes, sausage and eggs, small for $3 or large $6, or biscuits and gravy, small $2.50 and large $5. Breakfast will be held at the Lexington Fire Hall and will be served by local volunteers. At 9 a.m., those who want to burn off those breakfast calories can par- ticipate in the 5K run/walk from the fire hall to the red barn and back. The walk/ run begins at 9 a.m. The $10 entry fee will go to support veterans. The Holly Rebekah la- dies will hold a craft bazaar from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Holly Rebekah Lodge on C St. The May Day parade will take place at 11 a.m. down Arcade St., with a veteran speaker to follow at noon. In the afternoon, a corn hole tournament will take place at 1 p.m. at the fire hall. Entry fee is $20 per team. The event is spon- sored by the Broken Spoke. From 12:20 to 4:30 p.m., residents and guests can enjoy live music by Tony Buckman. Other events through- out the afternoon will in- clude a Cruz In, kids’ ac- tivities including a bouncy house, food trucks, raffles and a cake walk. The event is sponsored by the Morrow County Uni- fied Recreation District, the Morrow County Cultural Coalition and the people of Lexington. OHA lifts water testing application deadline for LUBGWMA well users Morrow County residents can submit vouchers for foresee- able future so they can learn nitrate exposure levels PORTLAND, OR— Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has lifted deadlines for domestic well users in the Lower Umatilla Ba- sin Groundwater Manage- ment Area (LUBGWMA) to submit applications for free water testing to help determine their risk of ex- posure to nitrate and other contaminants. OHA is now accepting testing voucher applications for the foreseeable future— the vouchers no longer must be submitted by May -Continued to PAGE NINE 15, and they do not expire June 7. The vouchers cover testing for nitrate, arsenic, bacteria, lead, iron, man- ganese and hardness. Ap- plications are available at http://bit.ly/3xzx1cp. They also can be accessed from OHA’s LUBGWMA page in both English and Span- ish, by emailing Domestic. Wells@odhsoha.oregon. gov, or by calling 971-673- 0440. Households in the LUBGWMA that rely on domestic well water for -Continued to PAGE SIX CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information