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Celebration March 15 - 17
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VOL. 144
NO. 7 10 Pages
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County, Health District take tenative
steps toward peace, but will it last?
By Chris Sykes
Feb 8th - As the am-
bulance service dispute
escalates, tensions have
run high with a flurry of
Facebook attacks, threats,
rumors, innuendo, battling
media press releases, and
a waves of misinformation
circulating. This has created
a challenging environment
for reaching a civil conclu-
sion on the matter. Howev-
er, a potential breakthrough
meeting took place on Feb-
ruary 8th between the Mor-
row County Commissioners
and the Morrow County
Health District Board. This
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stone in the ongoing at-
tempts to resolve the future
of the ambulance service in
Morrow County.
One of the primary ob-
jectives of this meeting
was to address the rampant
drama and misinforma-
tion that has been fueling
discussions in the public.
Additionally, the aim was
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communication channels,
organize future joint meet-
ings, and joint statements,
and ensure that interactions
with the media and on Face-
book are handled appropri-
ately. The meeting attracted
considerable attention, with
55 individuals from the
public joining remotely via
the Zoom.
Representing the Mor-
row County Health District
were Diane Kilkenny, the
Chair of the Morrow Coun-
ty Health District, Trista
Seastone, serving as Vice
Chair of the Health District.
Additionally, John Murray,
Steven Munkers and Scott
Ezell, who hold positions
as Board Members of the
Health District, were also
in attendance.
Also in attendance
were Emily Roberts, the
CEO of the Health District,
and Sam Van Laer, the
Chief Medical Officer of
the Health District.
Representing Morrow
County were Board Chair
Dave Sykes, Commissioner
Roy Drago, and Commis-
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Ballard, a Morrow County
representative, and Greg
Goebel, Morrow County
Council were also present.
Diane Kilkenny from
the Health District began
the meeting with an open-
ing statement, stating that
the purpose of the meet-
ing was to find common
ground and move forward.
The meeting would discuss
rules for future meetings,
the framework of future
meetings, media, and press
release discussions, and
the set of future meetings.
She said the focus should
be on what is best for the
residents, government, and
Health District of Morrow
County, and the importance
of being good community
partners and collaborators.
David Sykes made his
opening statement from
the County’s side, saying
he agreed with Kilkenny’s
remarks but also wanted to
add to it. Sykes stressed
the importance of mov-
ing forward and avoiding
getting caught up in past
grievances. He suggested
that focusing on history and
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hinder progress and poten-
tially worsen the situation.
Sykes said, “If we sit here
around this table and start
saying, well, you said this
and you did this, this is
going to circle and we’re
not going to get anywhere.”
Instead, he proposed setting
goals for the next meeting
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ing solutions to specific
issues without dwelling on
past transgressions. Sykes
believes the meetings could
be more productive and
constructive.
John Murray from the
Health District spoke. Mur-
ray was out of town at a
conference but attended
the meeting via Zoom and
agreed with all the opening
comments that were made.
The rules Kilkenny
aske if there were any sug-
gestions about rules and
refraining from delving into
past matters. After outlining
the agenda, she opened the
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highlighting the need for
this discussion to involve
only the Health District
Board of Directors and
the Morrow County Com-
missioners, noting that the
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on the extent to which the
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they be allowed to join in
when they wanted, would
they be strictly forbidden
from speaking or would
they be permitted to re-
spond if directly addressed?
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they be allowed to join the
discussion? Sykes empha-
sized the need to establish
these guidelines upfront to
avoid any misunderstand-
ings or assumptions moving
forward. He also asked
about public participation
and people-watching on
Zoom.
Murray favored hold-
ing discussions directly
between the boards. He
proposed that if anyone
had any inquiries for the
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them directly. Both parties
reached a consensus that
the conversation should
primarily involve the board
members and the com-
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being questioned by their
respective boards and both
sides agreed.
Facebook and press
releases
The topic of Facebook
and press releases was
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tive method to deliver press
releases and statements
to the public. The main
concern was addressing
the spread of rumors and
misinformation on both
Facebook and other media
platforms.
Murray proposed the
idea of a joint press release,
which gained interest from
both parties. This sparked
a shift in the discussion
towards assigning respon-
sibility for releasing infor-
mation.
Several suggestions
were put forth, including
the idea of having all infor-
mation run up through the
board chairs exclusively for
posting on Facebook and
the same with their press
releases. This suggestion
garnered some support.
However, Commis-
sioner Drago raised a valid
concern. He pointed out
that this approach may not
be feasible due to a restric-
tion that prohibits com-
missioners from engaging
in discussions related to
county matters outside of
regular business meetings.
This concern prompted
further consideration and
exploration of alternative
approaches.
It was decided that
both the MCHD and the
County would engage in
a collaborative process of
exchanging statements via
email or written and deliv-
ered in-person letters. The
participants agreed to have
both parties thoroughly
review the statements and
press releases, making any
necessary changes, before
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-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
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th
Morrow County Board
of Commissioners Chair
David Sykes told the audi-
ence it was not a debate or
question and answer time,
but that the commissioners
did welcome discussion
outside of the meeting. He
pointed out that the agen-
da contained the contact
information for the three
commissioners.
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talk to any of you whenever
you want to,” Sykes said.
Emily Roberts, Mor-
row County health Dis-
trict CEO, said the health
district did not oppose the
county considering all pro-
posals, but that MCHD
felt a single-provider ASA
was the best for the county
and that she understood no
other proposals had been
received. She added that
Boardman Fire had three
years to submit a proposal
and had yet to do so. She
also said that considering
interim providers rather
than MCHD was not the
best choice for the county
and did not “consider the
will of the people.”
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to resolve this situation,”
she said. “Morrow Coun-
ty residents have been
speaking out in support
of MCHD’s ambulance
services for the past three
years.”
She also called it
“offensive” that Morrow
County Administrator Mat-
thew Jensen would consider
MCHD’s EMS advisory
committee “compromised.”
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orate, the comment may
have referred to previous
statements by Jensen that
having MCHD control the
EMS committee invited an
inherent ethical concerns.
“I would trust any per-
son on that committee with
my life,” said Roberts.
“Regardless of any-
thing that has happened in
the past, we have 35 days
left to resolve this situation
in a way that continues the
same level of service we
have had,” Roberts said.
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to put in a final effort to
make this happen on behalf
of our residents.”
Tina Davidson of Hep-
pner, who has been an EMT
for 14 years, spoke about
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ASA decision.
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ent ambulance service will
not be familiar with our
area, our mountains, rural
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It’s been stressful.
“I didn’t get into EMS
for all of this to happen. I
got into EMS to help my
community, and I still feel
that way.”
Stephen Munkers of
Irrigon, a MCHD board
member,
“I was under the im-
pression that this is the
county of Morrow, not the
county of Boardman or any
other large entity,” he said.
“This divisiveness isn’t
good for the county.
“I want the commis-
sioners to represent all of
the people, not just one end
or the other or whatever.”
Nicole Mahoney, CFO
and COO for MCHD, said
a recent county press re-
lease falsely accused the
health district of deceptive
accounting practices before
having a negotiated and
signed agreement, calling
the statements “misleading
and slanderous.”
“You make it appear
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The Annual St. Pat-
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Celebration is scheduled for
Friday, March 15 through
Sunday, March 17, 2024. If
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church group is planning an
event/activity during the St.
Patrick’s weekend, please
contact Madison Rosen-
EDOPDWWKH&KDPEHUR൶FH
at 541-676-5536 or hep-
pnerchamber@gmail.com.
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in the printed program.
Submit your event/activity
by Thursday, February 15 th .
This year’s St. Patrick’s
Day Celebration will in-
clude most of its traditional
activities, along with some
new, and older, revitalized
events. All entertainment
will be free, with sponsor-
ship from Morrow County
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Hanna and Matheny
advance to regionals
in Elks Hoop Shoot
(L-R) Berkley Hanna with her third-place trophy, Sonny
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East District competitors for each age group with District
Director Corey Sweeney and East District Vice President
Charles Caughlin. - Contributed Photo
Sonny Matheny and
Berkley Hanna competed at
the State Elks Hoop Shoot
on February 10 in Silver-
ton. Berkley received third
place for the 8–9-year-old
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place for 8-9 boys shooting
19 of 25 and will advance
to the regional competi-
tion. Regionals is the same
format as the local, district
and state competitions and
will be held on March 16
at Kamiakin High School
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WRQ7KH¿UVWSODFHZLQQHUV
from regionals will advance
to the National Elks Hoop
Shoot in Chicago, Illinois
from April 18 - 21. The
Elks National Hoop Shoot
is a free throw program
for youth aged 8-23. The
program was established in
1946 by the late-Past Na-
tional President Frank Hise
in Corvallis, Oregon. To
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entering your zip code and
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Hoop Shoot website.
MCHD Press Release:
Update to Heppner
City Council
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County Health District
extend the 90-day notice
period?
First and foremost, we
do not believe an extension
is in the best interests of
our communities or our
ambulance crews. A swift
-Continued to PAGE FIVE resolution to this situation
is necessary to mitigate se-
rious, ongoing safety issues
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which entity should provide
ambulance service.
Although there is a
tight timeline for resolu-
-Continued from PAGE TEN
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information