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CREZ II settles remaining disbursement Basketball camp
amid continuing tensions
VOL. 144
NO. 24 8 Pages
By Andrea Di Salvo
After more than one
contentious meeting, the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone (CREZ) II Board
has finally agreed on a
disbursement plan for the
remaining $900,000 from
its 2023 funds.
The June 3 meeting was
the third at which the board
tackled the disbursement of
the funds, which had been
earmarked to fund public
safety.
The CREZ II funds
will be distributed with
$300,000 going to Board-
man Police Department,
$300,000 to Boardman Fire
Rescue District, $100,000
to Morrow County Health
District, $100,000 to the
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2൶FHDQGWR,U-
rigon Rural Fire Protection
District.
The CREZ II board is
made up of two members
each from three sponsoring
entities—the Port of Mor-
row, City of Boardman, and
Morrow County. At least
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
one board member from
each sponsor must vote yes
for a motion to pass.
When it came to the
$900,000, the continuing
tension between City of
Boardman representatives
Paul Keefer and Karen
Pettigrew and Port of Mor-
row commissioners John
Murray and Kelly Doherty
was again obvious.
The main source of
contention seemed to be
whether the bulk of the
funds should go to the
Boardman area, which the
Boardman city councilors
stated was more impacted
by CREZ II growth, or
whether it should be dis-
tributed more evenly across
the county, which the Port
commissioners preferred.
Two motions in the
June 3 meeting failed with
four yes votes but two no
votes from either Board-
man or the Port. A third
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Doherty hesitantly agreed
to the proposal by Pet-
tigrew. Murray was the
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
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decision.
A Difference in Phi-
losophy
After the vote, CREZ
II Board Chair Keefer said
he felt the board needed to
take a serious look at how it
will distribute funds in the
future. If the board disburs-
es the 2024 funds at the end
of the year, which has been
the usual practice, the same
six board members will be
sitting at the table.
Even in the discussion
of a guiding philosophy,
though, the tensions were
obvious.
“With the board that
we have right now, we have
some serious disagreements
on how the pots of money
should be spent,” Keefer
said.
“Would you have an
overall philosophy on how
the money should be spent
to frame the discussion?”
asked Morrow County
Board of Commissioners
Chair David Sykes.
Keefer replied that
there is no language in the
CREZ II agreement that
restricts how the board
distributes the money and
suggested that the best way
might be a three-way split
among the city, county, and
Port. From there, he said,
the entities could distribute
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“And guess what? We
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the struggles we have right
now,” he added.
“If we nickel and dime
this pot of money to every-
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money to even get anything
done,” added Keefer. “The
three entities here need the
money. We are the ones be-
ing impacted by not having
the money.”
Doherty said that, if
each of the entities were
looking out for their own
interests, the Port would
be asking for the largest
share. However, she said
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they looked around and saw
-Continued to PAGE SIX
Heppner council approves $9.36 million budget
Heppner will contribute to courthouse infrastructure if mill
site is chosen
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Heppner City
Council unanimously ap-
proved a budget of more
than nine million dollars
IRUWKH¿VFDO\HDU
at its meeting June 10 in
Heppner. The council also
voted to put skin in the
game to the tune of a mil-
lion dollars if the county
selects the mill site west of
town as the site for the new
Morrow County Circuit
Court building.
The $9,363,466 budget
had already been approved
and passed on by the Hep-
pner budget committee
at its May 14 meeting.
The unusually high budget
is due to several million
GROODUV¶ ZRUWK RI FDSLWDO
projects.
The council held a pub-
lic hearing prior to adopt-
ing the budget but received
no public input.
The city also imposed
the permanent tax rate
of $10.6209 per $1,000.
Both actions were adopted
through Resolution 1075-
24.
Also at the meeting,
the city council voted to
contribute one million dol-
lars to the Morrow County
Circuit Court project if the
county selects the site at the
old Kinzua mill.
Heppner City Manag-
er John Doherty said city
representatives had met
with the county and Port
of Morrow (POM) in May,
and those entities had asked
whether the city would
contribute funds toward
the infrastructure costs
at the mill site if it were
chosen for the circuit court
building.
The city had agreed by
consensus to contribute but
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put it to a vote.
Meanwhile, the Mor-
row County Board of Com-
missioners has narrowed
its choices to either the
fairgrounds site or mill site
in Heppner and has decid-
ed to move forward with a
geotechnical survey of the
mill site.
“They roughly know
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some infrastructure costs,”
Doherty said. “The geo-
tech is going to tell them if
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depth and also soil quality.”
The county will make
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receiving the geotech re-
sults. The POM has gone
on record saying it will
donate land and contribute
$500,000 in-kind on con-
struction.
Heppner Councilor
Cody High said he thought
the mill site was a great
location and that losing
the courthouse in South
Morrow would be a huge
blow to the community.
He moved that the City of
Heppner contribute up to
one million dollars toward
the project in the 2024-25
budget.
“I believe in this proj-
ect,” he said.
Other councilors said
WKH\ GLGQ¶W PLQG FRQWULE-
uting that much but were
unsure where the money
would come from. Sug-
gestions included using the
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in CREZ funds, taking the
PRQH\ IURP WKH FLW\¶V LQ-
vestments or even taking
out a loan.
John Doherty ques-
tioned whether the city
could get a loan when there
was no return on invest-
ment, but High disagreed.
“Having the courthouse
in Heppner has a huge re-
turn for this community,”
KHVDLG³:HVKRXOGQ¶WORRN
at how many dollars we can
bring in. We should look
at what we can do for the
people of this community.”
Heppner Councilor
Ralph Klock agreed, say-
ing there would also be a
return in the form of future
development.
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disagree but reiterated that
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funding for a project out-
side the city limits.
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well up here for city redun-
dancy,” said Doherty. “We
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a reason for that to qualify
for grants, to qualify for
loans. We have to use it as
water security, water redun-
dancy.”
Doherty also pointed
out that the city has upcom-
ing capital improvement
projects totaling around $26
million, including water
and sewer projects, which
the city will have to take on
debt to accomplish.
“I was concerned with
trying to contribute a high-
er amount than what our
possible credit funds would
be,” he explained.
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out,” added Heppner
Councilor Sharon Inskeep.
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High said he just want-
ed to let the county know
that Heppner has “skin in
the game.”
“My hope is really that
WKH\¶UHJRLQJWRVD\µ:K\
are we trying to bankrupt
this small city of Heppner
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all these other things when
we have a huge reserve of
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Heppner Councilor
Adam Doherty agreed that
the city had to commit
but questioned the “up to”
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The council eventually
voted 6-1 to commit one
million dollars toward the
courthouse infrastructure if
the county selects the mill
site. Inskeep was the sole
no vote.
Also at the meeting,
the council reviewed bids
for the Chase St. property.
The 1400 and 1500 lots on
Chase St. had been listed
for sale together. The min-
imum bid was $24,000,
and the city requested a
development plan for the
property for the next year.
The city council re-
ceived only one bid. The
bid from Willow Creek
Economic Development
Group was for $25,000.
The council accepted the
bid unanimously.
Other Business
In other business, Hep-
pner Public Works Director
Chad Doherty reported
extensive work on water,
sewer, streets, parks and
other areas during May.
He also reported that he
spent several days working
on the Oregon Lead and
Copper Rule Revisions.
The survey of lead and
copper is required by the
state to identify all lead and
copper lines on drinking
water systems.
Doherty said he was
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OLQHVRQWKHFLW\¶VZDWHUV\V-
The coaches with the 2nd through 8th graders with their
shirts and balls. – Contributed Photo
The Heppner Mustang
Basketball teams hosted a
basketball skills camp for
local future Mustangs. The
camp was held on three
days last week and over 70
area youth attended. The
camp was divided into three
sections, 2nd through 5th
grade, 6th grade through
8th, and a high school divi-
sion. The camp was led by
WKHKHDGRI+HSSQHU%R\V¶
Basketball Jeremy Rosen-
balm. He ran the campers
through drills and showed
them skills that they could
work on to become better
basketball players. Oth-
er coaches who assisted
were Rob Wilson, Kacee
Lathrop, Stephanie Swee-
ney, Jeromy Wilson, and
Ken Grieb. Several Mus-
tang team players also
helped with the youth part
of the camp. Each of the
campers received a Mus-
tang Basketball T-shirt and
basketball after the camp.
The Heppner Booster Club
assisted in putting this fabu-
lous learning event on.
Commissioners approves
new water management
system for Heppner
By Annalynn Black
In continuing the
Morrow County Board of
&RPPLVVLRQHUV¶ -XQH WK
meeting next on the agen-
da was a discussion led by
Lindsey Grogan, the Hu-
man Resource Manager for
Morrow County, regarding
the implementation of a
non-discrimination poli-
cy that includes services
for non-English speaking
individuals. Grogan em-
phasized the importance of
formalizing such a policy
to ensure grant compliance
and promote inclusivity
within Morrow County. The
motion to adopt a non-dis-
crimination policy proce-
dure was passed unani-
mously.
Next, Tamra Mabott,
the MC Planning Director,
raised concerns about traf-
¿FLPSDFWDQDO\VLVDQGWKH
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-Continued to PAGE FIVE
Doherty graduates
from BMCC
Chad Doherty with Mom Cindi Doherty (left) and his wife
Alicia Woodbury Doherty (right). -Photo by Cindi Doherty
Chad Doherty, the Hep-
pner Public Works Director,
graduated from Blue Moun-
tain Community College on
-Continued from PAGE SIX Friday the 14 th in Pendle-
ton, Oregon. He graduated
with an associate Business
Degree and plans to attend
Eastern Oregon University
WR REWDLQ KLV EDFKHORU¶V
degree.
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information