WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015
COMMUNITY
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston gives $600,000 to EOTEC
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The Hermiston City Coun-
cil agreed to give the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event Cen-
ter $600,000 Monday, on the
condition that a city adminis-
trator be given a seat on the
project’s board.
The contribution is the
¿rst step in the EOTEC
board’s plan to ¿ll a $.
million budget shortfall. The
board also plans to ask the
Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners for $600,000
and board member Dan Dor-
ran said local hoteliers were
willing to contribute $1 mil-
lion if the city and county
stepped forward. The hote-
lier money would be raised
through a city-sponsored
revenue bond that would be
paid back by the hoteliers
at a rate of approximately
$100,000 a year.
The city’s decision came
after two hours of discus-
sion in which councilors ex-
pressed support for EOTEC
but also questioned how the
project had ended up behind
the previously announced
016 completion date and
more than $ million short.
Doug Smith said original
talk of a $30 million or more
project completed in time for
the 016 county fair came
across as just hype.
“I hate to say it but I
feel the results so far have
been kind of dismal,” he
said. “What do we have? A
half-constructed
building
and pipes.”
Other councilors asked
the board why certain prob-
lems hadn’t been addressed
sooner and why there had
not been more work to bring
in money from private dona-
tions and sponsorships.
Dorran said that he took
“100 percent responsibility”
for encouraging the board
to go with a process where
contractors helped design
the project along the way,
instead of bidding on a ful-
ly-designed project. The pro-
cess is meant to address sit-
uations like EOTEC’s where
money was still coming in
as the project got underway.
But he said it had also caused
problems.
It was hard to solicit do-
nations without being able
to show potential donors a
comprehensive breakdown
of costs. And it meant some
problems popped up late.
Once the board delved into
all of the regulations and
building codes for the live-
stock barns, for example, it
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
John Frew, CEO of Frew Development, points out details of
the development that has taken place at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center during a bus tour of the site on
Monday, Oct. 26.
pushed the cost up from $14
a square foot to $ a square
foot, which explained why
the handout distributed at the
meeting showed $00,000
budgeted for the barns but
$1,3,000 needed to com-
plete Phase I.
John Frew, CEO of proj-
ect manager Frew Develop-
ment Group, said EOTEC
would still be completed
next year if the additional
$. million wasn’t raised
but many items, especially
the rodeo arena, would not
be up to the public’s expecta-
tion of quality or size.
“There’s not enough in
the bank to ¿nish those the
way that was expected. So
you either cut or ¿nd more
money,” he said.
Dennis Doherty, a for-
mer member of the EOTEC
board, told the council that
there was no stopping EO-
TEC at this point.
“What it boils down to is
do you want to build a sec-
Stanfield offers
sidewalk grants
at city hall and online at
www.cityofstanfield.com.
The city of Stanfield
is currently taking appli-
cations for sidewalk con-
struction grants.
The cost of construct-
ing and maintaining side-
walks is the responsibility
of the owner of the neigh-
boring property, but for a
limited time the city is of-
fering sidewalk improve-
ment grants for up to 0
percent of the cost of con-
crete sidewalks.
According to a letter to
property owners the grant
would reduce the cost of
installing a sidewalk from
about $16 per linear foot
to $8 per foot. The grant
would apply to new side-
walks or sidewalk repairs
within the road right of
way.
Applications will be
accepted until Jan. 1,
016. Forms are available
Another wreck occurs
at Highway 395 and
Baggett Lane
way in the left lane when
her car struck a red Ford
Focus that had been trav-
eling north and attempted
to turn left onto Baggett
Lane, according to Ore-
gon State Police trooper
Jerrad Little. He said the
two drivers were the only
vehicle occupants.
Little said neither
driver showed signs of
impairment, and he did
not believe speed was a
contributing factor to the
crash. He said, however,
the investigation was on-
going.
The driver of the red
Ford Focus said she was
not from this area, but de-
clined to provide further
information to the Herm-
iston Herald.
At about 30 p.m.
Oct. 19 — almost exactly
one week before this lat-
est wreck — a car turning
left onto Baggett Lane
was also struck by a car
ond-class facility or a ¿rst-
class facility?” he asked.
He said it was important
to remember that a one-time
contribution to construction
could help the project bring
in more revenue, reducing
the city’s contribution to op-
erating costs each year.
“If you build something
that is shoddy, people aren’t
going to pay to rent your fa-
cility and they’re not going
to pay to come through the
gate if they’re not happy with
what’s there,” he said.
City councilor John Kir-
wan said the feedback he had
gotten suggested many in
the community did not have
faith in the EOTEC board
to complete the project. He
said if he was going to feel
comfortable giving the board
$600,000 he wanted there
to be more accountability to
the city, including monthly
updates to city council. The
intergovernmental
agree-
ment forming EOTEC stated
that the city could appoint
a member of the EOTEC
board and he said he would
like to see someone volun-
teer to step down and allow
city manager Byron Smith
or assistant manager Mark
Morgan to ¿ll the role.
Board chair Ed Brookshi-
er, who started out his time
on the board as city manag-
er, said his term was up at
the end of the year and if he
needed to step aside in order
for the project to get the fund-
ing he was willing to do that.
City manager Byron
Smith told the council that
since more than $8 million
has been contributed by the
state, he saw the $600,000 as
an appropriate local match.
He said due to “wise deci-
sions in the past” there were
enough reserves in the city
coffers to make it work.
“I think there are suf¿-
cient funds ... to meet the
needs of this project,” he
said.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann described the money
as a “small price to pay” for
bringing a top-quality facil-
ity to Hermiston that would
bene¿t the community and
the county.
The council will have
to approve a formal bud-
get amendment at a later
meeting, but after Kirwan
made a motion to approve
a $600,000 contribution to
EOTEC on condition of hav-
ing a city administrator on
the board, the council voted
unanimously to pledge the
money to EOTEC.
traveling southbound on
Highway 39. All three
vehicle occupants were
transported to hospitals
— one by Life Flight heli-
copter — after last week’s
wreck.
iston on Monday, after the
project was delayed from
an earlier start date of Oct.
14.
The delineators —
Àexible posts that will be
replaced by permanent
cement barriers next
year — restrict cars
from turning left onto
Highway 39 from nearby
driveways, including
McDonald’s and Starbucks.
The change is designed
to improve safety after
a steady rise in rear-end
crashes at the intersection.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Livable Hermiston
group looks for
feedback
A four-question survey
is online at www.survey-
monkey.com/r/livable-
hermiston and on the city’s
website until 1ov. 1. One
question asks survey-takers
to imagine Hermiston was
given a $1 million gift to
enhance the city’s livability
and asks what residents’ top
spending priority would be.
The answers, collected
and analyzed by an inde-
pendent consultant, will be
shared with the city’s new
Livable Hermiston Com-
mittee.
According to a city news
release the committee came
about because community
members often come to the
city with ideas for adding
assets to the community,
ranging from an indoor
swimming pool to a muse-
um.
“The common thread
among all of these requests
is that they all would be
great assets which help
improve the quality of life
and livability of the com-
munity, but they also re-
quire an immense amount
of resources and commu-
nity support,” the release
states. “That’s why the city
of Hermiston is engaging
residents to ¿nd out ex-
actly what existing assets
could be enhanced, and
what missing assets truly
have enough broad-based
community support to be
able to become viable proj-
ects for the community to
strive for over the next ¿ve
to 10 years.”
Survey participants are
eligible for a drawing for a
$ gift card.
Few attend first
Hermiston school
facility forum
No Hermiston resident
who does not work for the
school district — or the
media — attended the ¿rst
facility forum last week
about capacity needs and a
possible bond effort in May
01.
Administrators showed
a slide show available on
the facilities planning sec-
tion of the district website,
hermiston.k1.or.us.
Deputy Superintendent
Wade Smith said student
growth, aging infrastruc-
ture and safety and security
risks have led to the need
for additional capital fund-
ing.
He said the facilities
master planning committee
identi¿ed $131 million in
need, and a citizens review
committee has been created
to make a recommendation
to the school board early
next year.
Another wreck oc-
curred at the intersec-
tion of Baggett Lane and
Highway 3 Monday
afternoon, one week after
a similar accident in the
same location sent three
people to the hospital.
Although neither of
the drivers of the vehicles
were transported to the
hospital by ambulance
this time, Sonia Mota-So-
telo, , Umatilla, said
she was sore after the
crash that sent her white
Ford Focus over the em-
bankment on the west
side of the highway at
about 30 p.m.
Mota-Sotelo was trav-
eling south on the high-
CONCEALED CARRY
PERMIT CLASS
Traffic delineators
placed at 395 and Elm
The Oregon Department
of Transportation installed
traf¿c delineators at the in-
tersection of Highway 39
and Elm Avenue in Herm-
I s Y our D aughter
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November 20 • 9:00 - 11:00am
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months of pregnancy. Healthcare professional
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