Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2024)
+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQ Wednesday,June 19, 2024 7+5(( The best family-friendly Fourth of July is in Ione ~ Letters to the Editor ~ The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you can be UHDFKHG7KHDGGUHVVDQGSKRQHQXPEHUZLOORQO\EHXVHGIRUYHUL¿FDWLRQDQGZLOOQRWEHSULQWHGLQWKHQHZVSDSHU/HWWHUVPD\QRWEHOLEHORXV Escape the city lights earth county. The Frog The GT reserves the right to edit. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed and head to Ione, Oregon Hollow Band, who have LQWKHFODVVL¿HGVXQGHU³&DUGRI7KDQNV´DWDFRVWRI(PDLOWRHGLWRU#UDSLGVHUYHQHWRUXSORDGWR+HSSQHUQHW for a small-town celebra- opened for national mu- &RPPLVVLRQHUVZRUNKDUGRQGL൶FXOWLVVXHV I am writing this letter to address the complaints listed against the Morrow County Board of Commis- sioners (BOC) as the rea- sons for the recall. Many of the issues listed are items that we as the current BOC inherited when we took R൶FHLQ,DPSURXG to say that we have tackled these often-contentious issues head-on and we are addressing them following State laws and regulations and not bowing to political/ peer pressure. We have been committed to follow- ing the law and legal pro- cesses and being prudent with taxpayer dollars. Regarding the Am- bulance Service Area Plan (ASA), under Oregon state law, the county has ultimate responsibility for ambu- lance service in the county. The law also states that the ASA is to be updated HYHU\ ¿YH \HDUV )RU RQH reason or another, the ASA had not been updated since 1998. In 2021 the previous BOC sent a draft ASA to the Oregon Health Author- ity (OHA) for approval. The OHA then sent back D PRGL¿HG YHUVLRQ RI WKH ASA that the County had submitted. At no time did the County through the Board of Commissioners DGRSWWKLVPRGL¿HGYHUVLRQ of the ASA and implement it with a new ordinance. So, when we, the current Board of Commissioners, took R൶FHZHVHWRXWWRGUDIWD new ASA, at the advice of our legal counsel, that met state laws and adopt and implement this new ASA. At no time did we tell the Morrow County Health District (Health District) that they could not pro- vide ambulance services for Morrow County. The Health District is the entity that decided that they were not going to provide ambu- lance services for Morrow County after March 12, 2024. The BOC met mul- tiple times with the Health District to come up with a plan for the Health District to provide ambulance ser- vices past March 12, but we were unable to come to agreement on a mutually agreed upon plan. So that is how we got to where we are today with the Boardman Fire Rescue District pro- viding ambulance services on an interim basis until the new ASA is fully im- plemented and contracts are signed with the ambulance provider or providers. The allegations that the BOC has not been transparent or taking input on this issue are just false. Every time we have discussed this it has been on the agenda, and we have taken public comment. Last year we held multiple public listening sessions on this very topic. From the beginning, we have said we were going to draft a new ASA, (again at the advice of our lawyer), and follow the state laws and regulations for adopting and implementing an ASA. Throughout the process, the Health District has been involved and consulted on the formulation of the new ASA. Granted, this has been a much longer process than any of us would have wanted but we wanted to be sure we were doing this in a legal manner. The next com- plaint listed against us concerns the location of the Circuit Court building. Again, this is an issue that predates the current BOC. The previous BOC in con- sultation with the Oregon State Court system had done a review of the current facilities for the Circuit Court and they concluded that the current facilities did not meet the State standards for a Circuit Court facility. The study determined that a new building was needed for the Circuit Court. The previous BOC started the process and submitted ap- plications for state funding to construct a new Circuit Court building. After we WRRN R൶FH LQ &KDLU Sykes, District Attorney Justin Nelson and others went to Salem to give tes- timony to secure funding from the State for the new Circuit Court building. Even before the funding was secured, there was a building site committee with County employees and Chair Sykes that met and worked with the City of Heppner to identify sites in Heppner to locate this new building. The city came back with a list that was then narrowed down to four sites, by the building site committee, for the BOC to consider. When looking to see where to locate the new Circuit Court building, the BOC was following Oregon Revised Statute 3.016 which says that the Circuit Court will be held in Heppner. Of the four sites presented to the BOC for consideration, only one IXO¿OOHG WKH UHTXLUHPHQWV that the lot had to be in the city of Heppner, was large enough to site the size of the building needed, have enough parking space, and QRWEHLQDÀRRGSODLQ7KH site next to the fairgrounds IXO¿OOHG DOO WKHVH UHTXLUH- ments and the County al- ready owns the property. So, trying to be prudent and good stewards of tax- payer dollars we selected the property next to the fairgrounds. The other sites considered were either too VPDOOLQWKHÀRRGSODLQKDG buildings on them already or a combination of those factors. It was not until after we received pushback on our site selection that the Oregon Chief Justice issued an opinion that the Circuit Court building did not have to be in the city of Heppner. It only needs to be in Mor- row County. Upon learning this we have since looked at other sites for the new Circuit Court building. Up to the point of us receiving the opinion that the building does not have to be in the city of Heppner, we were following what the Oregon Revised Statute says and WU\LQJWREH¿VFDOO\UHVSRQ- sible. Again, to accuse of not taking input on this topic is false. The list of sites for consideration was compiled with the help of R൶FLDOVFLWL]HQVRIWKHFLW\ of Heppner, there have been town halls held on this sub- ject, and our Administrator, Matt, has met with those groups and individuals that have expressed concerns about the location next to the fairgrounds, The next complaint that we are lowering our workload by only meeting twice a month is another one that is not true. While it is true that we are only meeting twice a month for normal Board meet- ings, those meetings are lasting longer than they used to when the BOC met four times per month. The number of hours spent at BOC meetings is compa- rable to the time spent by the prior BOC when they met four times per month. We still have our normal committee assignments and other meetings to attend. Meeting twice a month is D ¿QDQFLDO VDYLQJV IRU WKH &RXQW\WKURXJKH൶FLHQFLHV such as half the meeting notices, meeting agendas, meeting packets, minutes, and meeting setup are re- quired of the Executive Assistant, half the legal no- tices of meetings to be held have to be published in the newspaper and savings of VWD൵WLPHDQGIXHOWUDYHOLQJ to meetings. Next, the nitrate issue of the Lower Uma- tilla Basin Groundwater Management Area (LUB- GWMA). This is an issue that has been known about since 1990 when the LUB- GWMA was designated. This is an issue that did not occur overnight and will not be solved overnight. To say that we have not done anything to address this issue is also not true. 'XULQJ RXU WHUP LQ R൶FH we have made sure that those with high nitrate lev- els have access to clean drinking water. We have also secured $1.7 million in Federal money for Phase 1 that is to be used in Morrow and Umatilla County to test wells and gather data on those wells to help identify possible solutions to ad- dress those wells that test high for nitrates. We have also been granted $1.32 million in Federal money for Phase 2 in Morrow County to do some engi- neering work on those pos- VLEOHVROXWLRQVLGHQWL¿HGLQ Phase 1. As stated earlier, this is not something that will be solved overnight. We are working on this and following the steps needed and dictated by the funding that we receive. We also want to be sure that any VROXWLRQVLGHQWL¿HGDUHWKH right choice. The last complaint listed against the BOC has to do with the tax abate- ment programs for Amazon. First of all, Amazon is not the only company that has gotten an Enterprise Zone agreement. Morrow Coun- ty Grain Growers, Lamb Weston, Tillamook, and RDO Farms have all been recipients of tax abate- ment through the Enterprise Zone. To say that tax abate- ment programs are unnec- essary is not accepting the reality of the business envi- ronment in which we live. Businesses have options of where they choose to locate and make investments. To single out Amazon is unfair, without those programs, Amazon most likely would not be in Morrow County so Morrow County would not EHDEHQH¿FLDU\RIWKH million that Amazon paid in property taxes in 2023. That amount is more than the other 19 of the top 20 taxpayers in Morrow Coun- ty combined. The $21.3 million is property taxes only and does not include the about $12 million they paid in Enterprise Zone IHHVODVW\HDU,GR¿QGLW puzzling that this BOC is criticized for “bad deals” when only two of the seven data center sites that are under construction/operat- ing were approved by this BOC and these two sites will be having to pay for any bonds that are passed for education or public VDIHW\DQGWKHSUHYLRXV¿YH sites are exempt from any bonds. This seems like this BOC did a better job of ne- gotiating than the previous Boards did. So, in summary, I would say this Board of Commissioners has taken on several hard/conten- tious issues that were there ZKHQZHWRRNR൶FHDQGKDV constantly worked to solve these issues in a legal, open, and fiscally responsible matter. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact any of us. Our contact details can be found RQ WKH &RXQW\¶V ZHEVLWH co.morrow.or.us. J e ff We n h o l z Morrow County Commis- sioner WCCC Men’s Club Sixteen participated in WKHPHQ¶VSOD\RQ6XQGD\ May 16 th , at Willow Creek Country Club. The results are as follows: Net 1 st /2 nd tie Delbert Bin- schus-Tom Shear 61 3 rd Jerry Gentry 62 Gross 1 st /2 nd tie Aaron Ma- son-Dennis Peck 67 3 rd Derek Gunderson 69 7KH QH[W PHQ¶V SOD\ will be on June 23 rd . Jer- ry Gentry, Willy Gentry, and Rick Johnston will be hosting. tion this Fourth of July. The day starts early with a Fun Run/Walk at 7am and a KHDUW\)LUHPDQ¶VEUHDNIDVW from 78am-10am. There is a parade that starts at 1pm and other events throughout the day include Bingo, a classic car show, a fish- pond, and a talent show at 4:30pm, which is open to anyone interested. We are excited to bring back games from Knocker ball Tri-Cities. These will be free for all and will include laser tag, putt putt golf, soccer dart board, con- nect four and axe throwing. Free face painting and glit- ter tattoos will be available in the park by artist Laurie Ellis. Food vendors will also be part of the festivities. Live music will kick off at 2pm with upbeat blues by Luke Basil. At 3:30pm ZG3- the Zax Grooms trio will bring some down to sic acts like Sarah Evans and Dan+Shay, will take the stage around 6:30pm. Heading the 2024 celebra- tion will be River Divide, who will bring you high energy hits of today as well as classic country, pop and rock tracks from yesterday. Thanks to a grant from Morrow County Unified Recreation District, the concert is free; just be sure to bring a lawn chair or blankets as seating is not provided. All this family IXQEXLOGVXSWRD¿UHZRUN spectacular, shot from the hill overlooking the small town. Set up your spot in the city park and spend the whole day right there with a great view of the exciting ¿UHZRUNVVKRZ Visitors of all ages are welcome. Dogs will not be allowed in the park. For more details find us on Facebook at facebook.com/ ione4thofjuly. HCMD to hold meeting June 24th The Heppner Cemetery Maintenance District will hold their monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 24, 2024. The regular meeting will be held at 5:15 p.m. Agenda items include minutes of SUHYLRXVPHHWLQJ¿QDQFLDO report & Cemetery Oper- ations. The meeting will be held at the Ag Service Building conference room at 430 W Linden Way. Meetings of the Heppner Cemetery Maintenance District are open to the public according to ORS 192.640(1). For questions, contact Janet Greenup at 541-561-6768. WWW.HEPPNER.NET Sɲɟɪɦɱ1ɢɴɰ$ɡɳɢɯɱɦɰɦɫɤ $ɫɫɬɲɫɠɢɪɢɫɱɰ /ɢɱɱɢɯɰ7ɬ7ɥɢ(ɡɦɱɬɯ 6ɢɫɡ8ɰ3ɥɬɱɬɰ 6ɱɞɯɱ$1ɢɴ6ɲɟɰɠɯɦɭɱɦɬɫ DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5PM 375 W Union Ave, Heppner $265,000 177 N. Main P.O. Box 337 Heppner, OR 97836 Chris@sykesrealestate.net Broker Chris Sykes 541-215-2274 This single family home, spanning 1641 square feet, boasts a spacious dining room and living room along with a family room 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and lots of storage. Situated in a peaceful neighborhood, it is conveniently located close to the swimming pool, high school, baseball park, and downtown area. The property sits on a large lot with street access, with lots of parking and also features a shop. Large covered deck, patio and a carport. The total land area is 0.25 Acres.MLS#: 23224220 New parking signs at City Hall The new parking sign in front of City Hall. -Photo by Cindi Doherty. According to City Manager John Doherty, new parking signs were installed outside of Hep- pner City Hall in May. The sign reads “Reserved Park- ing for City Hall Visitors 30-minute wait limit Mon- day-Friday 8am-5pm. Un- authorized vehicles towed away.” Doherty explained to a reporter from the Ga- zette that the enforcement of no parking was necessary due to people leaving their cars parked in front all day while working at nearby businesses. This caused in- convenience for individuals who needed the parking to carry out tasks such as pay- ing their water bill at City Hall, forcing them to park further down the street. He also mentions Main Street has already has a time limit RIR൵VWUHHWSDUNLQJRIWZR hours, Doherty stated that “we got tired of it.” ($562) (;3(5,(1&( 5HDG\WRKHOSZLWK\RXU KHDULQJKHDOWKFDUHQHHGV 1:WK6WUHHW 6XLWH( +HUPLVWRQ25 36$VNXVDERXWRXUILQDQFLQJ RSWLRQV &DOO9HUQD 2൵HULQJFRPSOLPHQWDU\KHDULQJ HYDOXDWLRQDQGRUWRKDYH\RXUFXUUHQW KHDULQJDLGVFOHDQHG FKHFNHG VFKHGXOHWRGD\
