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VOL. 143
NO. 34 8 Pages
Wednesday, August 23 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner passes homeless ordinance
Sen. Hansell may back proposed water project
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Heppner City
Council unanimously ap-
proved a new city ordinance
dealing with homeless
camping on city property
at its meeting last week in
Heppner.
The ordinance regu-
lates the ability of those
experiencing homelessness
to “site, lie, and sleep” on
city-owned property. It pro-
hibits camping on nearly all
city property, including city
facilities, sidewalks and
rights-of-way, city proper-
ties, city parks inside city
limits and any other proper-
ty that’s fenced and gated or
posted no trespassing.
At the same time, the
ordinance specifies how
and when, and for how
long, any homeless person
may camp in allowed areas.
Violations are consid-
ered a class B violation. The
entire ordinance is available
at Heppner City Hall.
This was the second
reading of the ordinance,
which is required by a state
law that took effect July 1
of this year. The first read-
ing was held July 10. The
council held a brief public
hearing before its vote but
received no public input.
In other city business
Aug 14, Heppner Inter-
im City Manager Thomas
Wolff said he had been
approached by Kim Cuts-
forth and Melissa Lindsay,
who had spoken with State
Sen. Bill Hansell at a recent
economic summit. Hansell
plans to come to Heppner
within the next couple of
weeks and review the site
of a proposed water project
on Cross Hill.
“All of our water cross-
es a single pipeline across
Balm Fork Bridge, and if
that were to be compro-
mised, we’d be out of water.
Period,” said Wolff. “It
wouldn’t matter how many
wells we have up Willow
Creek.”
A well on Cross Hill
would be an alternative
source to provide pressure
to the east side of town, as
well as a redundant water
source if something should
happen to the city’s other
water sources.
“And that seems to be
the ticket that got the sena-
tor’s attention,” Wolff said.
“He apparently is willing to
find some money to support
the drilling of that well and
the construction of that res-
ervoir as a redundant water
source for the citizens of
Heppner.”
If the project were to
come through, that would
also open up development
of a subdivision Willow
Creek Valley Economic
Development Group (WC-
VEDG) would like to build
on the hill above the hos-
pital.
“They dovetail togeth-
er,” said Wolff.
Wolff also asked what
the council intends to do
with the two properties it re-
cently acquired and cleared
on N. Chase St. Wolff said
he had already been ap-
proached by two parties
asking if the city plans to
sell the property. Heppner
Mayor Corey Sweeney said
it was the city’s intention to
put those properties up for
bid at some point.
Wolff also mentioned
a fence being installed
between 270 and 290 N.
Chase and said he wanted
to clarify that the city was
not installing or paying for
the fence, strictly speaking.
The city and the adjoining
landowner are sharing the
cost of the fence, and the
city is using a portion of
the WCVEDG grant used
for clearing the property to
pay for its portion.
“There are no dollars
out of the city’s pocket
for our cost share of that
fence,” he said.
Plans are also being
made to put in a new side-
walk section around Mor-
row County Sheriff’s Office
on Willow View Drive.
The city had apparently
planned a sidewalk in that
area in both 2014 and 2017,
which MCSO objected to.
Now, however, the sher-
iff’s office has returned
to the city to request the
sidewalk be put in after
all, citing safety issues for
pedestrians.
The council referred
the decision to the Hep-
pner Utilities Commission,
which met June 29 and
determined the sidewalk is
needed.
“It’s not real long,” said
Wolff. “But I believe, as a
safety issue, it needs to be
constructed.”
The project is not in
this year’s budget but will
be planned for in future
-Continued to PAGE TWO
Lamb Weston considers expansion at
Boardman plant
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Columbia River
Enterprise Zone (CREZ) III
and Lamb Weston reached
a tentative agreement Mon-
day regarding additional
investment at the food pro-
cessor’s Boardman West
plant.
L a m b We s t o n a p -
proached the CREZ III
board requesting a 15-
year Long Term Rural tax
abatement to expand and
modernize its 50-year-old
Boardman facility on Co-
lumbia Ave. The facility is
apparently the oldest plant
in the community.
The $230 million in-
vestment would include a
25,700 square foot expan-
sion of the existing facility,
as well as upgrades and
additions to machinery and
equipment within the plant.
Members of the Lamb
Weston team were at the
CREZ III meeting Monday
in Boardman to provide
details about the investment
and discuss the terms of the
proposed agreement.
Plant manager Brian
Jackson told the CREZ III
board that the expansion
would all be attached to the
current structure. He said he
didn’t anticipate much im-
pact on the plant’s footprint
and that there should be no
negative impact on its water
or wastewater.
At the same time, the
$160 million in machinery
and equipment will allow
the plant to automate and to
add different product lines
at the facility. Rather than
costing jobs, that is expect-
ed to create an additional 50
full-time jobs at the plant.
The plant currently em-
ploys around 500 people,
while all of Lamb Weston’s
Morrow County enterprise
zone properties employee
1,222 people. All of the new
positions would receive
“very competitive” wages
and full benefits, Jackson
said.
Lamb Weston staff also
said the new production
lines would be for products
currently produced at other
plants but that they are “all
within the platform.”
The new jobs would
come both from the addi-
tional product lines and
from the operators needed
for new, high-tech equip-
ment.
While no agreement
was finalized at this week’s
meeting, the parties at the
table worked through de-
tails similar to ConAgra’s
2012 agreement with the
enterprise zone. Under the
proposed agreement, Lamb
Weston would make a $1.2
million annual fee payment
each year of the agreement.
Of that, $200,000 may
be used as a discretionary
payment reduction. That is,
the company can use that
money to benefit local char-
itable organizations direct-
ly, and that amount will be
deducted from the overall
payment. If Lamb Weston
uses the entire $200,000,
its remaining payment to
the county would be one
million dollars per year.
Lamb Weston staff said
they appreciated the discre-
tionary component of the
fee, believing that it pro-
vides “meaningful involve-
ment in the community.”
In the past, the company
has directed spending to
organizations like FFA and
4-H, Oregon Trail Library
District, school activities,
senior centers and day care
centers, among others.
Also included in the
discussed agreement was
payment of 100 percent of
bonded debt and an em-
ployee wage rate of 130
percent of the county av-
erage.
While both the CREZ
III board and Lamb Weston
representatives expressed
agreement at the terms, the
final document has to be
drafted before it can be ap-
proved by the two parties.
Once the CREZ III board
approves the agreement,
the CREZ III sponsors also
have to individually ap-
prove the agreement.
CREZ III sponsors are
Morrow County and the
Port of Morrow, while the
City of Boardman has a seat
at the table through its Area
of Influence.
The CREZ III board
also heard an update from
enterprise zone manager
Greg Sweek and Morrow
County Assessor Mike
Gorman regarding Oregon
House Bill 2009. The legis-
lation will affect long term
rural facilities beginning
Sept. 24.
The biggest concern is
a required school support
fee of between 15 and 30
percent. While that sounds
like good news for local
school districts, Gorman
said the school support
fee does not go directly to
the school district. Rather,
it will go to the state for
distribution, including to
school districts that are
not within operational en-
terprise zones. So, while a
company’s enterprise zone
payments will go up, the
local school district may
not actually see any of those
funds.
“In their funding for-
mula, nothing changes,”
said Gorman.
Also at the meeting, the
CREZ III board discussed
concerns about online ex-
ecutive sessions. Oregon
law states that regular board
sessions must have an on-
line option but does not
specifically address execu-
tive sessions.
The concern raised by
several board members was
that there was no way to
control who else might be
in the room with an online
attendee and might there-
fore overhear confidential
details.
“I don’t want to be
personally liable if some-
one overhears something
I’m on the hook for,” Port
of Morrow board member
Rick Stokoe said, referring
to sometimes confidential
negotiations with compa-
nies within the enterprise
zone.
Morrow County Com-
missioner David Sykes also
pointed out that Zoom par-
ticipants can name them-
selves anything, and there’s
often no way to verify they
are who they say if their
camera is off.
The board determined
to provide no virtual op-
tion for executive sessions
going forward. Participants
such as members of the
media are allowed by law
but must attend in person.
The Heppner Ga-
zette-Times will be closed
Monday, Sept. 4, for the
Labor Day holiday.
The deadline for all
news and ads for the Sept.
6 edition will be Friday,
Sept. 1, at 5 p.m. Normal
business hours will resume
Tuesday, Sept. 5.
The G-T wishes every-
one a safe and happy Labor
Day.
Ione school board
faces backlash over
complaints against
former board chair
The Ione School Board faced some citizen backlash over several
topics at last week’s meeting, not the least of which was the
board’s silence regarding a formal complaint against former
board chair Rob Crum. Pictured L-R: Board secretary Kim
Thul, board chair Lisa Rietmann, vice chair Paola Cabrera,
and board members Rob Crum, Liz Peterson and Ed Riet-
mann. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
An Ione teacher has re-
signed, and the Ione School
District is in a state of tur-
moil over accusations made
against one of its school
board members.
There was tension in
the Ione School Library on
Aug. 15 when an unusual-
ly large crowd turned out
for the Ione School Board
Meeting. Several of the
members of the public were
waiting for one of the last
items on the agenda, hoping
for a resolution regarding
complaints made against
board member and former
board chair Rob Crum.
Early in the meeting,
the Ione School Board
elected Lisa Rietmann as
the new board chair, and
Crum handed the gavel to
Rietmann to conduct the
rest of the meeting.
Crum is facing accu-
sations of cyber bullying
from former Ione sixth-
grade teacher Alison Og-
den, among others. The
Ione School District had
-Continued to PAGE SIX
MCSD stays the
course as schools
continue to deal
with Covid setbacks
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Morrow County
School District is largely
staying the course with
its goals for the 2023-24
school year, the school
board decided during a
work session before its
regular meeting Aug. 14 in
Irrigon.
During the work ses-
sion, MCSD Superinten-
dent Matt Combe said the
district had made few ad-
justments to last year’s
goals due to ongoing effects
of the Covid-19 pandem-
ic and gaps staff are still
seeing.
“We felt, as a staff, that
the goals would be best
served without a lot of ma-
jor changes,” said Combe.
He said it is an oppor-
tunity for the school district
to continue establishing a
new baseline for a year after
two or three years that were
“anything but normal.”
“We still felt the effects
of poor attendance habits
this past school year. We
also saw some glitches in
accountability,” Combe
said. “I don’t think now is
the best time to make any
major changes.”
One change that was
discussed was the need to
address safety concerns in
the goals.
“I don’t disagree,” said
Combe. “Just about every
time we meet, we talk about
some kind of safety related
issue.”
“I think safety, to all of
us, is a given,” said MCSD
Board Member Mary Kil-
lion.
During the regular
meeting following the work
session, the board approved
the following four goals for
the coming school year:
Goal 1: During the
2023-24 school year, all
Morrow County School
District students will
demonstrate academic
achievement growth pro-
portionate to or above their
Oregon peers using a vari-
ety of measures. Students
are expected to grow aca-
demically a minimum of
one year at every grade
level, in preparation for
-Continued to PAGE EIGHT
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