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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2015)
A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2015 BUSINESS County bans ag burning Agriculture burning in drought-stricken Umatilla County is prohibited until conditions improve. The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners held an emergency meeting July 22, and voted for a temporary ban to all burning in areas un- der county jurisdiction, includ- ing agricultural burning. The ban went into effect July 23. The ban also covers camp ¿ res at the county-run +arris Park campsite. County coun- sel Doug Olsen said the board last took this action in 2012. County commissioners cited dry conditions, low hu- midity and multiple wild¿ res as reasons to prohibit burning. County Commissioner Larry Givens also said the county needs to be ready to help oth- er agencies ¿ ghting ¿ res, par- ticularly in neighboring Walla Walla County, where an ag burn ban already is in place and a wild¿ re threatens the Mill Creek watershed. The county has an agree- ment from 1999 with other local governments to give mutual aid for big ¿ res, said Jack Remillard, Umatilla County emergency manager. +e told commissioners the agreement still is valid, but agencies probably should re- new it every ¿ ve years. With any luck, he said, signatures from area department heads and of¿ cials will be on a new agreement in a day or two. RDO offers test drives at the fair John Deere lawn and util- ity tractors will be on display for customers to try out Aug. 11-15 at the Umatilla County Fair. The event gives people a chance to get behind the wheel of the latest utility and lawn tractors, as well as see live product demos, and check out attach- FAIR ments and other equipment from RDO Equip- ment Co. and John Deere. Attendees also receive special savings offers, and the chance to win a John Deere tractor and attachment pack- age. Dennis Mof¿ t, regional sales manager at RDO Equip- ment Co., says this event is a great opportunity for anyone who has been interested in a new tractor or attachments to try and test different models, and ¿ nd out which is right for their needs. “The best thing about this event is that we give folks the opportunity to actually op- erate the equipment and see how easily it is to change out attachments on the machine,” he said “It’s a great chance for them to get hands-on ex- perience with the equipment before they take it home, and equips them for success.” The Drive Green event will be held at the RDO Equipment Co. booth at the Umatilla County Fair. It is open to all fair attendees, free of charge. Equipment, parts and service experts from RDO Equipment Co. will also be on hand to demon- strate and answer questions. The ¿ rst 50 adults who register at the event receive a $500 discount coupon that can be used toward the pur- chase of John Deere equip- ment, a coupon for hun- dreds off attachments and a chance to win a John Deere 3032E Compact Utility Tractor with D160 Loader and Frontier RC2060 Rota- ry Cutter. This is the seventh year that John Deere dealers have hosted Drive Green events. Depot land transfer won’t happen before 2016 By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer It may still be another year before the land of the former Umatilla Army De- pot site is returned to local control. Greg Smith, the new executive director of the Columbia Development Authority, said it is hard to make timeline predictions w h e n ork- DEPOT w ing with the fed- eral government. But he believes it will be another 10 to 15 months before the Army is ready to transfer the land to the local reuse authority. “The Army is just knee- deep in procedure and you have to work within that,” he said. Smith replaced former Columbia Development Greg 6mith Authority director Don Chance this summer, work- ing with the development authority in his capacity as an economic development consultant and not in his role as a state representa- tive. The authority’s board is made up of represen- tatives from the Port of Umatilla, Port of Morrow, Umatilla County, Morrow County and Confederat- ed Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Now that the chemical depot has been dismantled, the group is working with the Army on transferring part of the land to the Oregon Nation- al Guard and transferring the rest to the local reuse authority for use as indus- trial land and a wildlife preserve. Smith said the Colum- bia Development Authori- ty has made it clear that it is only willing to take the land off the Army’s hands if it doesn’t have to pay for it, if it is environmentally sound and if the necessary water rights are available to use the land for industri- al purposes. “It has to be clean, it has to have water and it has to be free,” Smith said. As part of that set of conditions, the Army is currently demolishing more than 20 buildings on the site, several of which are visible from Interstate 84, that have asbestos in them. It is also in the process of completing cultural and environmental studies for the site, ensuring that it is development-ready before the local reuse authority is ready to take it over. The Army can’t transfer the land until it has an of¿ cial Finding of Suitability of Transfer, which depends on the results of the studies. The next meeting of the Columbia Develop- ment Authority is Thurs- day at noon at the Port of Morrow’s Sand +ollow Conference Room. The meeting will include an overview of milestones and objectives for the com- ing year and approval of the budget summary for a grant. GUARANTEED to beat VERIZON & AT&T PLUS, UNLIMITED CONTRACT PAYOFF VOLUME 109 ɿ NUMBER 45 GA5< L. WE6T EDITOR gwest@hermistonherald.com 541-564-4532 6AM %A5%EE SPORTS REPORTER sbarbee@hermistonherald.com 541-564-4542 KIM La 3LANT MULTI-MEDIA CONSULTANT Nlaplant@ hermistonherald.com 541-564-4530 JADE McDOWELL REPORTER jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com 541-564-4536 6EAN HA5T REPORTER smhart@hermistonherald.com 541-564-4534 JEANNE JEWETT MULTI-MEDIA CONSULTANT jjewett@hermistonherald.com 541-564-4531 Just bring in your bill and we’ll beat your current Verizon or AT&T plan, or you’ll get a $50 Promo Card. Plus, take advantage of our unlimited contract payoff. 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