Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2025)
50¢ VOL. 145 NO. 4 8 Pages Wednesday, January 22, 2025 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon St. Pat’s button contest now open Heppner council solidifies water system priorities By Andrea Di Salvo The Heppner City Council began its Jan. 13 meeting by swearing in newly elected members. Mayor Corey Sweeney and council members Ralph Klock and Ian Murray are continuing in their posi- tions, while councilor Joe Armato is a new face on the city’s governing body. The Heppner City Council also started the new year with a focus on goals, especially the city’s water and related priorities. The council voted unanimously last week to move forward with engineering firm An- derson Perry’s recommen- dations for the city’s water system master plan. Prior to its regular meeting, the council contin- ued a Jan. 10 work session with Anderson Perry. The work session had been con- tinued to last week when the council asked the firm to trim the proposed work scope for high-priority proj- ects to a smaller budget. The work had originally been projected at more than $14 million. Project engineer Dane Maben was back at the Jan. 13 meeting to discuss the council’s priorities and their price tags. Those priorities includ- ed new flow meters at wells two and three, a new well (well six) and new water storage reservoir, well one pump building replace- ment, recoating the interior of well three, rehabbing the pressure-reducing valve station on all five existing wells, and four areas of distribution piping. The design phase of the project will take 12-15 months, Maben said, with another 18 to 24 months on construction. The total proj- ect cost in 2027 dollars is projected at $10.4 million. Included in that was a new reservoir of welded steel at $1.3 million. An equivalent concrete res- ervoir would cost about $1.9 million, Maben said, adding that cost was for the “Cadilac version” of concrete tanks. “I could talk to other companies to see if we can get that down to kind of a middle-of-the-road con- crete tank,” he said. However, he said the high-end tank would re- quire no recoating, only ba- sic cleaning. Welded-steel reservoirs require coating, which will have to be re- done every 30 to 40 years, though Maben said coatings are getting better and last- ing longer. The recoating for well three in this project will cost about $180,000. This is the first recoating of reservoir three in about 50 years. Reservoir three is about half the size of the reservoir at the proposed new well. The council had orig- inally considered a trailer mounted generator and manual transfer switches at the various well pumps. However, the city ended up going with permanent generators at well one and the planned well six. Maben said his under- standing of Oregon law was that backup power was only required at one location, but he recommended also installing it on the new well. “So if something hap- pens up here with your transmission line or some- thing, you have a well with backup power at the other end of the system as well,” Maben said. He also said the well pump station at the new well would be more ex- pensive because the state requires chlorination. The existing wells are already chlorinated. Maben said the coun- cil’s selection of project pri- orities didn’t lock the city into completing an of the projects, but that it helped in creating the city’s water system master plan. After that, the city could pursue funding for the project. “And if the funding package isn’t right to do that big of a project, we can go through your list and start scratching things off the bottom,” said Maben, “and work our way up to a project you guys can do and feel comfortable about doing.” At the same time, he said, that didn’t remove any projects from the mas- ter plan. While the $10.4 million is for high priority projects, the cost for the entire master plan would climb to about $30 million. “Everything we’ve talked about since we start- ed doing this is in the master plan,” Maben said. “Seven years down the road, you can pull this master plan off the shelf and say, ‘Oh, hey, we talked about doing this, but it wasn’t a high priority at the time.’” Then, he said, the plan could be amended with updated costs and the city could pursue funding for that project. On the matter of fund- ing, Maben had some sug- gestions. Safe Drinking Water is a program funded through Business Oregon. The city would have until Feb. 15 to submit a letter of interest. The Heppner St. Pat- rick’s Day button con- test is open for entries, the Heppner Chamber of Commerce announced last week. A $100 prize awaits the winning artist. Artwork must fit in- side the button circle and include the following in- formation: Heppner 1887, 42nd Annual Wee Bit O’ Ireland Celebration, March 13-16, 2025. Button design pages can be obtained from the Heppner Chamber of Commerce office. The contest is open to local entrants only. Button designs are due Feb. 8. For more informa- tion, contact the Heppner Chamber of Commerce at 541-676-5536. Ione fire department receives donation Ione Rural Fire Protection District (IRFPD) received a sizable donation from Brookfield Renewable recently. Steve Dumler, Site Facility Manager of Shepherd Flats for Brookfield Renew- able, applied for and was granted the award in the amount of $5,000. Steve presented the award at the regular meeting of -Continued to PAGE SIX the IRFPD Board on Jan. 13. Pictured are Steve Dumler (left) and Ione Fire Chief Virgil Morgan (right). -Contributed photo Heppner team assigned Elks receives donation in Smith pushes for more honor of long-time member Port commissioners to Palisades Fire Greg Smith An Oregon fire truck sits side-by-side with a truck from Los Angeles County during the response to the wildfires raging in Southern California. -Photo courtesy of OSFM Morrow County fire- fighters are on the front lines of the California fires, with firefighters from Hep- pner and Boardman an- swering the call. According to John Hen- dricks of the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Heppner Fire Department is with Oregon Strike Team 21, which is assigned to the Palisades Fire. Umatilla Co. Fire District #1 is also with Strike Team 21. Meanwhile, Board- man Fire Rescue District (BFRD) personnel and equipment are part of Strike Team 19, currently assigned to the Eaton Fire. The Morrow County fire teams are part of six water tender strike teams mobilized to California on Jan. 11. A water tender is a standard response tool to wildfires and is a special- ized truck designed to carry and deliver large amounts of water. Some of the water ten- ders mobilizing to Cali- fornia, like the truck from Heppner, are Oregon’s new tactical tenders that were delivered to local fire agen- cies through the OSFM Engine Program in 2024. Over the weekend, Or- egon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple was in Southern California, where she met with CAL FIRE officials, toured the fire-affected areas, and spoke with Oregon fire- fighters to learn about their experiences and work. “Firefighters from across the country are work- ing around the clock to sup- port these communities,” Ruiz-Temple said. “I thank them, their communities, and their families who sup- port their efforts during this deployment. The ability to share resources across state lines ensures states have the extra capacity needed during critical times.” In total, the Oregon State Fire Marshal has sent 21 strike teams, 370 fire- fighters, and 105 apparatus to support California’s re- sponse to historic wildfires in the southern part of the state. This is the largest out-of-state deployment for the agency. Ione Martin made a donation to the local Elks lodge in memory of her late husband, Jerry Martin. Pictured at his celebration of life are Ione Martin with children Scott Martin of Roseville, CA (front left), Lisa Mort of Richland, WA (back left) and Cindi Doherty of Heppner (back right). -Contributed photo Ione Martin of Herm- go toward someone seeking iston donated $1,000 to to become a teacher. the Heppner Elks Lodge #358 in memory of her late husband, Jerry Martin. She presented the check to Elks Chaplain Tim Dickenson at the celebration of life held at the Elks last week. Martin was a mem- ber of Lodge #358 for 57 years, and his family says the Elks was always dear to his heart. He was also a long-time Morrow County teacher with a passion for education and coaching. The donation will be split, with $500 going to- ward the Elks youth night and the other $500 going to a scholarship in Martin’s name. The scholarship will State Rep. Greg Smith of Heppner wants to add two commissioners to the Port of Morrow Commis- sion. Smith’s House Bill 2797 would expand the port from five commis- sioners to seven. In some ways, that makes sense. The Port of Morrow is the sec- ond-largest port in Oregon. The Port’s annual budget is nearly half a billion dollars. H o w e v e r, M o r r o w County voters would not be able select the two new commissioners. Rather, HB 2797 calls for the governor to appoint two new commissioners who “have knowledge or experience in the trade sec- tor.” That’s not all—the bill also states that the governor will appoint successors when the four-year terms end, with commissioners eligible for reappointment. The other five com- missioners would still be elected. The proposal is among 21 bills Smith filed ahead of the 2025 legislative ses- sion. Others include barring members of the Legislative Assembly from serving on juries, ensuring a person with a concealed handgun license is automatically qualified to get a gun pur- chase permit, and creating a new tax credit for volunteer firefighters, among others. CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information
