COMMUNITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
EOTEC continues moving forward
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center board made
a formal recommendation
Friday morning that the Uma-
tilla County Fair board and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo board
keep their events at the cur-
rent fairgrounds until 2017.
The move came after a
meeting with stakeholders on
Sept. 16 in which the board
and project manager Frew
Development Group said they
needed time to raise another
$2.3 million if they were going
to be able to keep from further
scaling the project back.
Umatilla County Com-
missioners voted last week to
recommend the fair not move
next year to allow more time
for work at the EOTEC site.
Materials presented to
the public about EOTEC, in-
cluding the Frequently Asked
Questions document on the
city of Hermiston’s website,
have characterized 2016 as
year the project will begin
hosting the fair and rodeo.
But board members said Fri-
day it had always been a pos-
sibility that the move might
not happen until 2017, which
is why the county’s lease for
the current fairgrounds didn’t
expire until then.
“We have until 2017, but
we were trying to push the
envelope,” county commis-
sioner Larry Givens said.
During Friday’s meeting,
board members approved a
request by Frew Develop-
ment Group to amend the
company’s contract to make
it the general contractor.
Gary Winsand of Frew
Development Group said as-
pects of the project haven’t
gotten as many bids as hoped
because people are unfamil-
iar with the “design-build”
process inherent to EOTEC,
which overlaps design and
construction steps instead of
presenting contractors with
a set-in-stone plan to bid on.
The adjustment to Frew De-
velopment’s contract allows
the company to make cold
calls to area contractors to
solicit bids rather than being
limited to just putting out a
request for proposals.
“We’re trying to speed up
the process,” Winsand said.
He said, in light of dis-
cussions about raising more
funding, design and construc-
tion of lighting for the site
had been broken into separate
phases that can be completed
as funding comes available.
He also said Frew Devel-
opment is studying the cost
of building the barns out of
cheaper materials in order to
save money.
He said the bid package
for irrigation is on hold until
tests determining water avail-
ability on the site are complet-
ed. Results from the test well
that was being measured on
Friday were promising.
Winsand said contractors
began to install the roof deck
on the event center/exhibition
hall building on Thursday.
“Its been rolling on real
well,” he said.
Business manager Heath-
er Cannell said someone
from Frew Development is
working on creating a more
user-friendly website for
EOTEC, which she hoped
would be ¿nished by the end
of next week. She said she is
also moving forward with the
event-scheduling software
that will eventually be part of
the website.
Cannell said people have
already contacted her and ex-
pressed interest in hosting ev-
erything from horse sales to
local fundraisers at EOTEC
in 2017.
Rural crash injures one
One person was injured
Tuesday in a crash between
a tractor and a pickup north
of Stan¿eld on South Ed-
wards Road.
The cause of the accident
is still under investigation,
but preliminary informa-
tion indicated that the John
Deere Tractor had pulled out
of a ¿eld and was turning
south onto Edwards Road,
and it was struck by a north-
bound Ford pickup.
The driver of the pickup
was taken by ambulance to
Good Shepherd Medical
Center in Hermiston. The
pickup and the tractor were
disabled in the crash.
The accident is still under
investigation.
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
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Hermiston likely to seek new school bond in 2017
New review committee expected to deliver
recommendation within six months
By SEAN HART
Staff Writer
With record enrollment
and a steady increase project-
ed, Hermiston School District
is considering asking voters
to approve a facilities bond in
May 2017.
After the Facility Master
Planning Committee com-
pleted a Comprehensive
Master Plan in June 2015
outlining signi¿cant needs
in the next 10 years, Deputy
Superintendent Wade Smith
discussed the next step in the
process at the school board
meeting Monday.
He said the administration
would recruit a diverse group
of 14 community members to
serve on a Citizens’ Review
Committee along with two
school board representatives.
The group will review the
Comprehensive Master Plan
and the 2008 school bond out-
comes to recommend a capi-
tal planning program to meet
district and community needs
over the next 10 years, which
is expected by March 2016.
If the committee rec-
ommends pursuing a bond,
Smith said the district could
begin initial community out-
reach and solicit feedback
from March to June and could
then continue outreach and
plan re¿nement until January
2017, when the school board
ultimately begins considering
whether to place the bond on
the May 2017 ballot.
Smith said alternatives,
such as having two separate
shifts of students at one school,
were not attractive, long-term
options for the district or the
community. He also said if
voters approve a bond by May
2017, the district may qualify
for a new state grant program
that would cover between $4
million and $8 million of the
cost.
“We are ripe for that up to
$6 or $7 million,” he said.
Other districts in the state
competing for the $125 mil-
lion in grant funding available
may not be as far along in the
process as Hermiston, he said.
The Facility Master Planning
Committee was established in
2013 and completed months
of work before presenting the
Comprehensive Master Plan
in June 2015.
The plan cites a Portland
State University population
study that predicts a likely
increase of 800 students in
the district by 2023. Based on
that projection, 56 modular
classrooms — serving almost
1,100 students — would be
needed if additional perma-
nent capacity is not added.
Smith said, however,
that projection was based on
mid-range growth, but the
district added more than 200
new students this year, which
aligns with the study’s high-
range estimate. If the current
growth rate continues, the
district would add 1,200 stu-
dents by 2023, requiring 80
modulars to house 1,500 stu-
dents.
Maintaining the district’s
oldest campuses will also
require expansive repairs,
according to the plan, with
Rocky Heights Elementary
built 53 years ago, Highland
Hills Elementary School
35 and Sandstone Middle
School 20. The plan states the
old elementary schools also
pose safety and security risks
due to their outdated designs.
The plan offers three ap-
proaches to accommodate
capacity needs. Each would
build an additional elemen-
tary school on Theater Lane
property owned by the dis-
trict, expand Hermiston High
School and provide an addi-
tion at Sandstone.
The modest approach,
with a $73.7 million price
tag, would expand the high
school to accommodate 2,000
students and add a four-class-
room addition at the middle
school.
The moderate approach,
at about $94 million, would
replace either Rocky Heights
or Highland Hills, provide
an eight-classroom addition
at Sandstone and expand the
high school for 2,000 stu-
dents.
The $131 million com-
prehensive approach would
replace both Rocky Heights
and Highland Hills, provide
an eight-classroom Sandstone
addition and expand the high
school to accommodate 2,200
students.
When the $69.9 million
2008 bond was approved by
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voters, the district and partic-
ipating committees anticipat-
ed asking for another bond in
¿ve to seven years for the sec-
ond phase, which includes the
projects in the new plan. The
previous bond replaced Ar-
mand Larive Middle School,
Sunset Elementary School
and West Park Elementary
School.
Smith said, during the last
bond, the facilities planning
committee identi¿ed $110
million in needs, which was
reduced to $80 million by a
review committee and further
reduced to $69.9 million after
feedback from the community.
School board member Ja-
son Middleton, who started
in 2008, said he remembered
participating in some of the
¿nal aspects of the previous
bond. He said it seemed soon
to be pursuing another bond,
but he wasn’t sure what oth-
er options the district had to
accommodate the growth it is
experiencing.
“There’s a lot of need out
there,” he said. “We’re grow-
ing very fast. If there’s no
money to do anything, where
do we put the kids we’re re-
quired to take?”
IN BRIEF
Parks & Rec offers
classes to learn
dance basics
In just six lessons, par-
ticipants will learn the ba-
sics to get the beat, learn
the moves and have fun
during dance classes of-
fered through Hermiston
Parks & Recreation.
Three swing dances
will be taught, country,
hip-hop and rhythm and
blues. Also, a basic social
dance class will provide
smooth and social dancing
with lessons in the foxtrot,
waltz and cha cha.
April Dyntera will
instruct both classes be-
ginning Oct. 15 and con-
tinuing each Thursday
through Nov. 19. The
Basic Social Dance ses-
sion is from 6:15-7:15
p.m., and Just Swing It
is from 7:30-8:30 p.m.
The sessions meet in the
basement at the Hermis-
ton Public Library, 235 E.
Gladys Ave.
Open to ages 14 and
up, the cost for the class is
$30 for residents and $38
for non-residents.
For more information,
visit www.hermistonrec-
reation.com. To register,
call 541-667-5018 or
stop by the recreation of-
¿ce, 180 N.E. Second St.,
Hermiston.
Warming station
to train volunteers
in October
The Hermiston Warm-
ing Station will be conduct-
ing trainings for people in-
terested in volunteering at
the overnight shelter.
The trainings will take
place from 6-8 p.m. Oct.
13, 6-8 p.m. Oct. 14, noon
to 2 p.m. Oct. 16 and 4-6
p.m. Oct. 17 at St. John’s
Episcopal Church, 953 E.
Gladys Ave., Hermiston.
The warming station
at the ARC building, 215
W. Orchard Ave., is open
any night forecast with
freezing temperatures or
McKay Creek Estates
presents:
SAFETY
Join us as we host a lecture series to
increase safety awareness on fall prevention,
common home injuries and provide solutions
to keep you and your loved one safe!
S
severe weather Nov. 1
through March 31. Vol-
unteers must be at least
18, and two are always on
duty at any given time.
Volunteers work one
of three shifts: from 6:30
p.m. to 12:30 a.m., from
12:30-4:30 a.m. or from
4:30-7 a.m. For more in-
formation, call 541-720-
1146 or email warming-
station@gmail.com.
Foundation awards
grant for walking
path at BMCC
The Good Shepherd
Community Health Foun-
dation recently awarded
an $11,000 grant to build
a walking path at the East-
ern Oregon Higher Edu-
cation Center on South-
east Columbia Drive in
Hermiston.
The public pathway
will allow students to ex-
ercise without leaving
campus and will be used
for Blue Mountain Com-
munity College health and
physical education classes.
“We’re very excited
about this project as it’s
been in development for
about three years now,”
BMCC Hermiston Asso-
ciate Vice President Har-
vey Franklin said. “This
project will bene¿t the en-
tire community and help
with the quality of life
in our area. We’re very
appreciative of the Good
Shepherd
Community
Health Foundation for its
generosity in helping us
realize this pathway.”
The grant funds the
project’s ¿rst phase, which
will develop 1,800 feet of
4-foot walking path, and
will purchase two bench-
es to be placed along the
path. The second phase
anticipates expanding the
path to encompass neigh-
boring properties, includ-
ing the Oregon National
Guard, Stafford Hansell
Justice Center and the
state of Oregon building
on Southeast Columbia
Drive.
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