Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2023)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 17, 2023 -- NINE Heppner City Council, loose dogs, vandalism, property -Continued from PAGE ONE the last several months. the city in exchange for the city vacating part of an alley on the other side of the landowner’s property in order to straighten out those property lines. He said the alley had been longer but other pieces had been va- cated decades ago. City attorney Bill Kuhn said there was a process the city had to go through to officially vacate the al- ley, including public hear- ings, and, if vacated, statute stated it would then be divided fifty-fifty between adjoining landowners. The council voted unanimously to begin the process of va- cating the alley. Cutsforth addressed his upcoming extended leave and said he had been trying to get recruiters to come talk to the council about replacing him, but had not gotten anything lined up yet. “Because you’re look- ing at maybe another month or two for me,” he told the council. Sweeney said he thought the city personnel committee needed to meet again, because the hiring timeline might not fit with Cutsforth’s timeline, and they might need to appoint someone in the interim. The council voted to move forward with trying to engage a recruiting firm. “The only issue I have with this is that it is a long process going this route,” said Sweeney. He suggest- ed beginning to advertise immediately to speed up the process. Cutsforth did add that, even though he will be on extended leave, he will not disappear “off the face of the earth,” but would be available to help with issues he had been handling over In his report, the city manager said that engineer- ing firm Anderson Perry is 83 percent done with the solid waste control plan and 32 percent done with sur- veying and mapping, with other sewer work around 96 percent complete. “We’re getting done with it. We’re basically waiting for the state of Or- egon to respond,” he said. “At which point it will go into the design phase.” At that point, the city will also start working on its water master plan. He said he thought they were just a month or two away from switching gears so An- derson Perry could work on the water plan. That process will take about six months to a year to finish the water master plan. Heppner Fire Chief Steve Rhea reported that the fire department conducted six lift assists, secured the landing zone three times, responded to one controlled burn not called in, one out- of-control burn on Hale Ridge, one CPR assist with EMS and two motor vehicle accidents with injuries. Rhea said both injuries involved Life Flights in which Life Flight landed at the accident and shipped patients from the scene. He also said the fire department received an Oregon State Fire Marshal grant for a tactical tender, with possible delivery De- cember of 2023. They had a captain and lieutenant complete a three-weekend training and receive Fire Fighter 2 accreditation. The fire department is also waiting on two grants for community wildfire risk reduction, one for city pro- tection and one for Wild- land Urban Interface at Blake Ranch. Rhea said one of the grants had been confirmed at $27,000. He also said the fire department hosted an S-212 Sawyer training over the weekend and then took participants to the Morrow-Grant Coun- ty Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Park to practice on trees there. “Everyone that attend- ed said it was a blast be- cause they got to cut big trees,” said Rhea. Cutsforth added that, because deputy fire chief Eric Chick had received his new pickup, it might be appropriate to surplus his old pickup. Rhea said the current Blue Book on it is around $9,000. The council voted to surplus the pickup and put it out to bid for a minimum bid of $4,000. Morrow County Sher- iff’s Office reported 320 deputy hours in Heppner for April. Driving com- plaints were up for April, along with a slight rise in juvenile and suspicious activity complaints. Traffic stops were down after a large jump in March, but there was one report of a stolen vehicle. MCSO also reported two felony arrests for April. High said he noticed a reoccurrence on Gale Street that seemed to get progres- sively more “agitated and dangerous” as the month wore on. “Is there any prog- ress made for that?” he asked. Lt. Braun responded that MCSO couldn’t nec- essarily act on behavioral health issues unless there was a crime committed. “There’s a process to have somebody evaluated when they don’t want to be evaluated,” he said. “That’s why you’ll always see that CCS (Community Counsel- ing Solutions) was called.” Chad Doherty reported that the city hired Aleea Strouse as a summer main- tenance worker. “She’s doing a won- derful job. The parks look fabulous,” said Doherty. Sweeney asked if pub- lic works intended to again provide a trash receptacle for town residents to throw away debris. Doherty said he preferred not to because people had taken advantage of it last time and left a mess around the Dumpster. He suggested working with the county to give people vouchers for the transfer station or dump. Both High and coun- cil member John Doherty said they like that idea. Sweeney suggested trying to have it coincide with Mustang Mop-up May 18, and the council voted to issue garbage vouchers for the weekend of May 20-21. In other business: -Barb Orwick reorted that the Neighborhood Cen- ter remains open with short- ened hours at least through May, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are accepting donations, but only on Wednesdays and Fridays. She said they have had a couple of people drop things off over the weekend, which is a problem, since there is a law against dump- ing and the bags sat out in the rain for a day or two. -Cutsforth that the city finally got a 2014 Freight- liner street sweeper figured out and would hopefully be getting that before too long. Cutsforth also said that the city website is up and going, and the city now has monthly maintenance on it by a company out of Pendleton. “So hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up and going,” he said. -The council learned that the street project is complete. Cutsforth said the only thing he is missing is the bill from the flaggers the city used when they did the torch-down striping. -Councilors approved a resolution increasing the carryover of vacation hours for Heppner personnel from 200 to 240 hours per year, which aligns more closely with industry standards. -Sweeney said he had met with Morrow County Health District CEO Emily Roberts and had phone dis- cussions with county com- missioners Jeff Wenholz and Roy Drago, Jr. about ambulance services and the possibility of jobs being lost. He encouraged people to attend county commis- sioner meetings and ambu- lance service hearings. “It may or may not af- fect Heppner, but if it does affect Heppner, it could be in a negative way,” said Sweeney. The next regular meet- ing of the Heppner City Council will be Monday, June 12, at 7 p.m. YOUR AD COULD BE HERE! Call 541-676-9228 Or Email graphics@rapidserve.net We also offer design and printing services Heppner Gazette-Times Sykes Printing ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Lunch & Dinner Menu Specials 5/18 to 5/24 Thursday pulled pork sliders, coleslaw, and baked beans for $9. Friday Chili Burger with cheesy curly fries for $9. Saturday soup is chicken dumpling Monday pulled pork nachos for $9. Tuesday Chopped Italian Hoagie and potato chips for $9. Tuesday night 6-9pm $2 Hard Shell Tacos Wednesday Fish Tacos, Rice, and coleslaw for $9. Live music June 10th
