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VOL. 143
NO. 37 8 Pages
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Vandals tear up
Heppner practice
field, reward offered
Williams resigns from Boardman council
City signs off on CREZ agreement with Lamb Weston
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Boardman City
Council learned of the res-
ignation of city councilor
Isaac Williams at its Sept.
5 meeting. While no rea-
son was given publicly,
the councilor’s resigna-
tion comes in the wake of
charges filed against him
for a misdemeanor sex
crime.
Boardman Mayor Paul
Keefer said in a public state-
ment that the city was noti-
fied of the charges against
Williams on Aug. 25.
“Council member
Williams is allowed due
process according to the
Constitution of the United
States,” said Keefer. “The
council just can’t remove
council members.”
Keefer went on to say
that Williams had handed
in a written letter of res-
ignation, which the mayor
had accepted.
Due to Williams’s res-
ignation, the city council
now has a vacancy. The
council will accept letters
of interest until Sept. 26
and intends to decide on
Williams’s replacement at
its Oct. 3 meeting.
The Boardman City
Council also put its formal
stamp of approval on an
agreement between Lamb
Weston and Columbia Riv-
er Enterprise Zone (CREZ)
III. The agreement is for a
long-term rural tax abate-
ment for expansion and
development Lamb Weston
is planning at one of its
Boardman plants.
Stokoe, who had been
Boardman City manager
pro tem before Hammond’s
Isaac Williams
hiring, said the agreement
had to be formalized by
both the city and Morrow
County for it to take effect.
The county and the Port of
Morrow are the two CREZ
III sponsors. While the
City of Boardman is not
one of the enterprise zone’s
sponsors, the Lamb Weston
property does fall within
the city’s area of influence,
giving Boardman a seat at
the table when it comes to
negotiations.
Keefer said the agree-
ment is most exciting be-
cause of the bonding lan-
guage. Under the terms
of the agreement, Lamb
Weston will pay on all
bonding that takes effect in
affected taxing districts af-
ter the agreement is signed.
“They didn’t have to do
that,” said Keefer.
The Boardman City
Council also approved the
second reading and adop-
tion of an ordinance estab-
lishing the North Urban Re-
newal Plan. The council has
been working on the new
urban renewal area (URA)
for several months. The
first reading was conduct-
ed at last month’s council
meeting.
The city council also
passed a resolution set-
ting a new fee schedule
for the City of Boardman.
The new fee schedule had
been discussed at length
at a previous meeting but
had been tabled so staff
could investigate the fees
more. Stokoe and some
council members had been
concerned whether all of
the fees were reasonable,
especially planning fees.
Boardman City Manag-
er Brandon Hammond said
city staff had looked over
the fee schedules and found
that the city brings in about
$25,000 in fees annually,
while the cost to the city for
services is around $8,000.
“And it’s not always
just about apples and or-
anges,” added Hammond.
“Sometimes it goes up and
down based on the postings
or what is being asked.”
He said that during his
time on city council, he was
never in favor of charging
fees if they didn’t have
to, but there was also the
consideration of people
taking commitments more
seriously if there is a fee
involved. Boardman Plan-
ning Official Carla McLane
gave the example of having
better attendance at a class
if people had to pay more
for it.
“To bring that forward
to this, the conversation
with most of the developers
we deal with,” said Mc-
Lane, “they’re accustomed
in most of the jurisdictions
they work in to pay fees
that are upwards of 10 times
what we charge.”
Boardman Councilor
Richard Rockwell said he
understood both sides but
voiced again his concern
over finding ways to lower
the city’s costs—in partic-
ular, the cost of publishing
public notices.
“Where we send our
money to. That’s all I’m
saying,” he said. “That’s
something where I think
we can go, ‘Hey, let’s find
a cheaper way of doing
this.’”
Boardman Councilor
Cristina Cuevas also ques-
tioned whether new fees
would be publicized so
residents would be aware
of them.
“Just so the public is
aware that there is now a
fee for that,” she said, “so
that they’re not later cited.”
McLane responded that
many of the fees had al-
ready existed but were not
on the fee list, which was
one reason the council was
redoing the list.
“There were a lot of
inconsistencies, where fees
were being charged, but it
wasn’t clearly delineated
on our fee schedule,” said
McLane.
In other business, the
council appointed council-
or Brenda Profitt as the vot-
ing delegate for the October
meeting of the League of
Oregon Cities.
Also at the meeting,
Boardman Chief of Police
Rick Stokoe introduced
new hires Jason Navarro,
Thomas Way and Zachary
Stutzman.
Navarro was born and
raised in the Boardman
HJSHS seeks information regarding the substantial
damage caused to the practice field between the evening
of September 7 and the morning of September 8. A re-
ward is being offered for any information leading to the
conviction of those responsible. Please contact. HJSHS
AT 541-676-9138 or MCSO at 541-676-5317 with any
relevant details. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Wilson sworn in as
MCSO deputy
-Continued to PAGE FIVE
Heppner Yard of the Month for August
Cheri Alston
Cheri’s home and yard 325 E. Matlock.
Receiving Heppner’s
Yard of the Month recog-
nition for August is Cheri
Alston for her corner lot
home and yard at 325 E.
Matlock.
There have been a lot
of improvements in and
out of the place Cheri has
owned for 29 plus years.
She has done much of
the improvements herself
inside the 1888 house,
including learning how
to hang, tape, and mud
sheetrock, and gradually
restoring the charms of the
home’s original details.
The front walk inside
the fenced yard is lined
with boxwoods, meticu-
lously shaped by Cheri, a
nice remembrance of her
grandparents’ front walk
which was also between
two rows of boxwoods.
Since the house and
lot lasted through the in-
famous1903 Flood, work-
ing the ground has yield-
ed some discoveries: two
ladies rings, clay marbles,
old pennies, square nails,
and old toys. Finding the
soil to be lacking in nutri-
ents, Cheri routinely adds
compost, kelp based prod-
ucts, and other amend-
ments to build it up.
The first fence she
built to separate her medi-
tation garden from the herb
garden fell over in a strong
wind, but the sage green
picket fence she replaced
it with stands strong, now
with a climbing rose twin-
ing through. A Koi pond
was added and visited by
lots of big and little frogs
and a salamander. This
shady area of the yard was
a favorite of furry family
member, a beautiful St.
Bernard named Greta, who
sadly passed away this
summer at age 9-1/2 years
old.
Two areas are fenced
off to keep out deer; one
grows berries and rhubarb
and Cheri has plans to ex-
pand the second enclosure
that grows vegetables.
Other plans are continu-
ing to reseed the lawn and
plant another pine tree.
She laughingly states that
each year she adds more to
the list of plants she wants
for her yard.
A partial list of cur-
rent plantings are Russian
Sage, butterfly bush, lu-
pine, dianthus, iris, a blue
and white flowered bed, li-
lacs, plum tree, coral bells,
woodruff, peony, snowball
shrubs, heather, marigolds,
coneflowers and her favor-
ite, gaura.
Rocks found in the
yard are used throughout
the landscape along with
collectibles and yard or-
naments, including a camp
trailer-shaped bird feed-
er, a gift from a friend. A
back porch is a quiet spot
to enjoy her private yard.
Nearby original steps have
an iron forged boot scraper
embedded in the concrete.
Before
retirement,
Cheri’s work as a medi-
cal transcriptionist took
her to Idaho and South-
ern Oregon. She recom-
mends to newcomers to
gardening to at least try it,
accept starts from neigh-
bors and friends, ask ques-
tions about plant prefer-
ences, like sun or shade,
and time of bloom. She
states her love of garden-
ing comes from growing
up where there were year-
round flowers and beauti-
ful front lawns, so nicely
landscaped places feel like
home and make her smile.
“Having a yard that smiles
back at you gives a feel-
ing of joy and boosts your
spirit.”
Yard of the Month is
co-sponsored by the Hep-
pner Volunteers, MCGG
Green Feed & Seed Store,
and the City of Heppner.
Parole & Probation Lieutenant Gina Wilson was sworn in as
a Morrow County Sheriff’s Office deputy by Morrow Coun-
ty Undersheriff Brian Snyder.
Wilson began her career with MCSO as a dispatcher, then
moved over to P & P to become a deputy. Today she is the
head of the MCSO P & P Division. “Congratulations Lieu-
tenant Wilson. Your hard work paid off. So happy for you,”
said a MCSO news release.
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information