SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 7, 2024
County entities give updates, discuss cooperation
By Andrea Di Salvo
Representatives of
Morrow County, the Port
of Morrow and the five
municipalities of Heppner,
Lexington, Ione, Irrigon
and Boardman shared just
a few of the good things
happening in the county at
a city-county-port meeting
held July 30 in Heppner.
Top of mind for many
seemed to be creating coop-
eration and unity out of the
political turbulence that has
troubled Morrow County
for the past few years.
Irrigon City Manager
Aaron Palmquist led the
way when he suggested
that all the entities come to
the next quarterly meeting
with ideas for a long-term
scheduled plan that would
allow for better cooperation
among the county govern-
ments.
“I think we need to
learn to plan if we’re going
to be leaders,” he said, add-
ing that it applied to every-
thing from capital projects
to bonds.
“A whole bunch of us
as separate jurisdictions go
out and put things out there
for ‘taxing,’” he said, “but
nobody coordinates. And
guess what we get? Goose
egg.
“If you know that you
want something, let’s get it
on there so it’s not a ‘Hey,
you,’ kind of thing because
there’s a lot of lift and
there’s a lot going on.”
He also pointed out that
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone (CREZ) III sunsets
soon and said he would
like to see the county and
Port develop set plans and
procedures before CREZ
IV begins.
“We need to have
something so there’s con-
sistency,” he said. “I’d like
to see some policies and
procedures that cleans up
a lot of the—I’ll be very
clear—rancor that we have
going on across our coun-
ty,” Palmquist said.
Boardman Mayor Paul
Keefer echoed a similar
sentiment when he asked
how city leaders could
put aside differences and
work together going for-
ward, specifically regarding
Ambulance Service Area
contracts currently under
negotiation between Mor-
row County and Morrow
County Health District.
“How do we get past
this?” he asked. “How do
we get to help, be support-
ive? How do we be support-
ive to get the county to be
able to get an agreement?
“Time’s running out,”
he added. “I don’t have the
answer to that, but there’s
a lot of smart people here
who can help make that
happen.”
Heppner Mayor Corey
Sweeney said he felt that
round table discussions
like the city-county-port
meeting went a long way
toward that.
“And when we can
reach out to people in our
neck of the woods and we
can explain and we can
be informed and we can
combat some stuff—false
information and misleading
information—I think that
goes a long way to squelch
a lot of the noise that some
sides create,” Sweeney
said.
Aside from discussion
for the good of the order,
each entity also gave an up-
date on recent happenings
in its jurisdiction.
Morrow County
In the county update,
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners Chair Da-
vid Sykes said the Inter-
governmental Agreements
(IGAs) have been pulled
from the Ambulance Ser-
vice Area (ASA) provider
contract being negotiated
with the health district.
“So we’re closing in on
that, I think,” said Sykes.
He also said the county
is researching the site of
the old Kinzua Mill for the
new circuit court building.
The geotechnical surveys
are being analyzed, and the
results should be in soon.
“That will tell us the
story on that site down
there,” he said.
Sykes said the testing
was done in the southeast
portion of the mill site.
Sykes, who is also the
CREZ interim manager,
also reported that the en-
terprise zone received a
boundary extension down
in the Lexington area.
“That was pretty excit-
ing,” he said. “We’ve got
a little piece of enterprise
zone down here in south
county now.”
He also reported that
zoning was approved for
the new data center going
in on Tower Road in Board-
man.
The new 10,000-acre
solar farm south of Bomb-
ing Range is still in prog-
ress, with an Energy Facil-
ity Siting Council hearing
planned later this month.
Part of the proposed con-
tract is around $11 million
in mitigation for building
on farm ground. A commit-
tee within Morrow County
would determine how the
money would be spent, said
Sykes.
“The mitigation fund is
a new concept that hasn’t
been used,” Sykes said.
Another 5,000-acre
solar farm is also being
planned near there.
Roy Drago Jr. gave an
update on the wildfire situa-
tion. Oregon has the largest
wildfires in the nation, with
about one million acres
affected so far, Drago said.
“So far Morrow Coun-
ty’s south end from west
to east is all on fire right
now,” Drago said. “Lots of
fires out there and lots of
people working hard, lots
of hours, and hopefully they
stay safe.”
The fire came within
five miles of the Morrow
County OHV Park, but so
far, the park has not been af-
fected aside from smoke is-
sues. Only one structure has
burned in Morrow County,
and that was apparently an
outbuilding.
Drago reported that he
would be at a meeting to
learn about securing FEMA
funding to help with the
fires. He also said a lot of
help is coming from Aus-
tralia and New Zealand,
since it is off-season for
firefighters there.
Port of Morrow
Port of Morrow Exec-
utive Director Lisa Mittels-
dorf said the SAGE Center
expansion is nearing com-
pletion. A delay in some
materials has pushed back
the grand opening date,
originally planned for the
first of October. They have
also hired a new event co-
ordinator.
“It’s going to be a beau-
tiful facility,” she said.
She said they opened
Marine Drive for the Fourth
of July but then closed it
again. They are still waiting
for guard rails for the east
end of the road.
“That’s a safety issue,
so we put the barriers back
up,” she said.
Port Chief Operations
Officer Mark Patton said the
job for the two wastewater
lagoons has been awarded,
and the contractor should
be on-site within 30 days
to start on pond three. They
will move on to the pond
four lagoons in the spring.
They expect to have the
project completed by Sep-
tember 2025.
They are also moving
forward on the farm five
expansion of an additional
750 acres.
The Port’s secondary
treatment is still under re-
view by the design group
but had come in “way over
budget” at about $40 mil-
lion. Patton said they are
also working with the De-
partment of Environmen-
tal Quality (DEQ) on the
design.
Patton also said the
airport is being paved, with
four and a half miles of new
road. He said it should be
complete within about two
weeks. A water infrastruc-
ture project is also under-
way at the airport.
GSI is working with
DEQ on flood mitigation
at the Port’s Heppner site.
“We never did get a
clean bill of health on en-
vironmental cleanup there,”
Patton said, adding that
about 99.9 percent of the
work was done.
He said the next step
will be to dig test holes and
get a report to DEQ so the
department will hopefully
allow the Port to move
forward on flood mitiga-
tion. He said the process is
moving slowly but he hopes
to get through it in the next
couple of months.
Columbia Develop-
ment Authority
Included in the POM
report was an update on
the Columbia Development
Authority. Port commis-
sioner Kelly Doherty, who
is the Port’s representative
on the CDA, said the CDA
is in a “holding pattern.”
The CDA is the inter-
governmental organization
overseeing the develop-
ment of the former Uma-
tilla Chemical Depot near
Hermiston. The CDA Board
consists of one represen-
tative each from Morrow
County, Umatilla County,
the Port of Morrow, the
Port of Umatilla and the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion (CTUIR).
Umatilla County has
filed a lawsuit against the
CDA, alleging breach of
contract over a March vote
that turned over control of
industrial property to the
two ports.
“We’re waiting to see
how that all plays out,”
Doherty said.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Jeff Wenholz, the
county’s representative on
the CDA, said an affirma-
tion of the transfer passed
3-2 at the last CDA meet-
ing, with Morrow County
and the ports of Morrow
and Umatilla for and Uma-
tilla County and CTUIR
against.
CTUIR presented a
motion to enter into media-
tion and suspend everything
for 45-60 days, but that
motion failed along the
same lines.
“I think the county’s
position on this is that
what’s in Morrow County,
we ought to have say on, not
the other people outside of
the county having a say on
what develops out there,”
he said, adding that the
two ports were the mon-
ey-makers with experience
in development. “So we’ll
see where Umatilla County
goes with their lawsuit.”
Mittelsdorf added that,
the way it stood, Morrow
County could be outvoted
by the other three parties
regarding what happens
inside the county.
“It’s to the benefit of
the citizens of Morrow
County to have local con-
trol,” she said.
Heppner
Heppner City Man-
ager John Doherty report-
ed that the first meeting
for Heppner’s economic
development committee
took place in June. Three
goals that came out of the
meeting were increasing
housing, improving daycare
services and attracting new
businesses.
For housing, Doherty
said a new subdivision
will be going in east of the
hospital and Rock St. The
project will move forward
after the city gets another
well and reservoir located
on that hill. The city has
also been looking at smaller
buildable parcels within
town, including properties
that are neglected or have
absentee homeowners.
“We have a lot of that
here, where kids live on the
other side of the state or the
other side of the country
and a parent passes away
and the property just gets
neglected,” Doherty said.
“Trying to get some people
to move forward with either
rehabilitation and renting or
selling.”
He also mentioned that
Heppner building space is
limited by steep topography
and flood plains.
For daycare services,
Heppner Day Care is look-
ing for property to buy so
it can expand. Doherty said
the state policies on daycare
square footage are strict,
and Heppner Day Care has
reached its capacity.
“They’ve looked at a
couple of properties and,
for the size of property that
they need to build their fa-
cility, that has been a chal-
lenge in Heppner,” he said.
For attracting new busi-
nesses, Doherty said there
are underused storefronts
in the commercial district,
and most of the industrial
land is currently within the
flood plain.
The city’s water master
plan is nearly complete, and
the city is planning various
water, wastewater and street
projects. However, Doherty
said that, realistically, it
would probably be 2026
before any water projects
are able to break ground.
The city is also up-
dating several ordinanc-
es, specifically for mo-
bile homes and short-term
rentals. Doherty said the
city is having issues with
people putting in short-term
rentals while there aren’t
enough long-term rentals
and homes to support the
Heppner workforce. It also
poses difficulty collecting
transient room taxes.
Keefer mentioned that
he had attended a League of
Oregon Cities meeting and
heard that cities around the
state are having the same
issues, especially along the
coast.
“Some of those tourist
towns who really need that
sales tax are losing it due
to Airbnbs,” said Keefer.
“That’s a serious problem
that cities in the state of
Oregon are dealing with.”
John Doherty also re-
ported that the building
on Gale and Willow in
Heppner is getting closer
to completion. The building
will contain some offices,
such as the Heppner Cham-
ber of Commerce, and will
have a commercial kitchen.
That will add to the
meeting space available in
Heppner, in addition to the
Gilliam Bisbee Building,
which has gained in popu-
larity in the last five years.
“That building gets
quite a bit of use, and now
we’ll have another one,” he
said. “It’ll be a neat addition
to the city.”
He said the new build-
ing should be fully op-
erational by the first of
September. The current
chamber office space will
be converted to a vendor
mercantile.
Boardman
Keefer reported that
Boardman is reviewing and
discussing its local charter.
The last time it was dis-
cussed was 1985.
“We’re looking at com-
ing up to a better and im-
proved charter,” he said.
They have had sev-
eral community outreach
events, and the new charter
will be on the November
ballot.
The city is also working
on several capital improve-
ment projects and finishing
up its General Obligation
Bond water projects.
Boardman continues to
try to address the shortage
of middle income, or work-
force, housing.
Keefer also said they
were putting “significant
effort” into updating the
city’s guidance and regula-
tory documents, including
the transportation system
plan, development code,
municipal code and com-
prehensive plan.
Ione
Patton, who is also an
Ione City Council member,
said the city got approval
from the USDA to move
forward with the new sewer
system for Ione.
“We got the promise
from Business Oregon that
we’re going to be fully
funded and we got the
promise from DEQ that
we’re going to get that
loan,” he said.
The city will be moving
forward on the sewer sys-
tem in about 30 days.
“I never, ever thought
this was going to happen,
but somehow we got it
done,” he said. “It’s a good
thing for Ione.”
Irrigon
Palmquist was optimis-
tic about Irrigon’s outlook.
He said more than $17
million has been brought
into the city in the 11 years
he has been city manager.
Most recently, Oregon State
Parks awarded Irrigon a
million dollars for a splash
park.
“It’s going to be totally
different, not normal,” he
said.
Palmquist said Irri-
gon’s Safe Route to School
ODOT project took six
years to accomplish but
is finally done. ODOT is
coming out to video it,
and it will be on YouTube,
Palmquist said.
The city also paved two
city streets that had been
gravel, which were 100
percent paid for through
user fees. They are also be-
ginning to meet concerning
city infrastructure updates.
Lexington
Lexington Town Re-
corder Autum Crumpton
reported that the town just
purchased the property for
its new well site. Ander-
son Perry has finished the
design, but the town is
still looking for funding.
They are hoping to begin
construction by the end of
2025.
The well will be in ad-
dition to the town’s current
well. The town had a re-
cent water shortage, which
Crumpton said she thought
was from firefighters pull-
ing from the town’s water
source.
“It went right back up,”
she said.
Lexington Town Coun-
cilor Katie Imes has started
a Lexington Community
Development nonprofit.
The town has also re-
ceived funding for the next
May Day celebration and
will be meeting soon to
begin planning.
The next city-county-
port quarterly meeting is
planned for October 29.
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