Hermiston
A4
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015
B USINESS
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
The main event center building at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center site is illuminated by the setting
sun during a tour of the ground on Monday, Oct. 26.
EOTEC authority
discusses Byron
Smith joining board
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center
authority board discussed
the implications of the city
of Hermiston’s $600,000
contribution during its Fri-
day meeting.
The city council voted
unanimously on Mon-
day to kick in the
$600,000
toward
construction costs
with the stipulation
that a city adminis-
trator join the EO-
TEC board.
During Friday’s Byron
EOTEC
meeting Smith
chairman Ed Brook-
shier said he and
the other execu-
tive committee members
“absolutely” felt that city
administrator should be
Byron Smith, and that he
should replace Brookshi-
er on the board when his
term is up at the end of
December.
Brookshier, who was
Hermiston city manager
when he ¿ rst joined the
EOTEC board, said he felt
con¿ dent that Smith is com-
mitted to making EOTEC
a success and would be a
good addition to the board.
Kim Puzey said while
he agreed that Smith
would make a great addi-
tion to the board, he also
wanted to express that
Brookshier’s vision had
been crucial to the project,
as has his willingness to
step up into the chair po-
sition after former board
chair Chet Prior died.
“You certainly have my
appreciation,” Puzey said.
Don Miller agreed, not-
ing that he was concerned
about losing Brookshier’s
expertise and wondered if
a non-voting “ex-of¿ cio”
position could be created.
Brookshier
assured
them that no longer being
a member of the board
would in no way lessen his
commitment to the proj-
ect. He would continue to
attend meetings and was
available to help see issues
like the water rights nego-
tiations through to the end.
“I am absolutely will-
ing to help any way I can,”
he said.
During the public
comment section of the
meeting, former board
member Dennis Doherty
said he was disappointed
Brookshier was going to
step down and said it was
worth asking the city and
county more about what
they wanted out of the
project so that “they can
take some ownership.”
The meeting also in-
cluded a brief update from
business manager
Heather
Cannell
and project manag-
er Gary Winsand of
Frew Development.
Cannell
said
the new design for
www.eotechermis-
ton.com was com-
plete and the web-
site was once again
functional.
She
said she was working on
making arrangements for
À ooring, paint, furniture,
kitchen appliances, elec-
trical outlets and audio-vi-
sual technology for the
exhibitor and event center.
Winsand said the cen-
ter, which is currently
under construction by
G2 Construction, is on
schedule to be completed
in March 2016. He said
design work on the barns
is underway and design
for the rodeo arena is ex-
pected to be ¿ nished in
February 2016. The arena
will take seven to eight
months to build, Winsand
said, necessitating a “very
aggressive” schedule once
the design is complete.
Brookshier said the
EOTEC board should have
the additional $2.2 million
it is seeking by then.
The city of Hermis-
ton has already given
$600,000 and the EOTEC
board plans to approach
the Umatilla County
Board of Commission-
ers for the same amount.
According to what board
members told the city on
Oct. 26, local hoteliers
have offered to raise their
$1 per room per night
Tourism Promotion As-
sessment to $2 per night
and use the extra revenue
to incrementally pay off
a $1 million municipal
bond at a rate of about
$100,000 a year.
“We’ve had a tremen-
dous amount of help from
the outside and it’s time
we step up and do this
right,” Brookshier said.
PGG CONSIDERS SALE OF
NAMESAKE GRAIN DIVISION
Board to consider
long-term options
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
Pendleton Grain Grow-
ers, the local farmers’ co-op
that has been a signature
brand of Eastern Oregon
agriculture for 85 years, is
in danger of losing its grain
division amid slumping
production and increased
competition.
Despite the announce-
ment last week, General
Manager Rick Jacobson in-
sisted the news is “not the
end of the world” for PGG.
The co-op’s board of di-
rectors will weigh offers to
sell, lease or merge grain
assets with another com-
pany after a disappointing
2015 harvest. That means
the McNary river terminal,
Feedville piles and 19 grain
elevators could soon be tak-
en over by an outside ¿ rm.
Jacobson said their pref-
erence is to stay within
the co-op model. He said
a number of entities have
expressed interest in a deal,
but did not specify which
ones.
“This whole market is
tough on the growers. Price
is down. Yield is down,” Ja-
cobson said. “Our responsi-
bility is to make sure they
have a good company to
deliver their grain.”
Board chairman Tim
Hawkins said the division
didn’t bring in enough
wheat from growers to
justify continuing service.
Grain is a business that re-
quires scale to stay compet-
itive, he said, and without
enough volume it doesn’t
make economic sense for
PGG to maintain those as-
sets.
“We had informed the
growers in meetings that the
future of the grain business
would be evaluated based
on the size of the handle
this year,” Hawkins said in
a statement. “PGG greatly
appreciates the support of
the producers that brought
us their grain, but there
simply were not enough of
them.”
PGG usually handles
about 12-13 million bushels
per year, but handled only 5
million bushels in 2015. Ja-
cobson pointed to a number
of likely factors, including
a third straight summer
of drought that cut wheat
yields in half in some areas.
Meanwhile, soft white
wheat prices have fall-
en to $5.69 per bushel in
Portland, compared to $7
last year. With such lean
margins, farmers have
started hedging their bets
with other grain handlers
in Umatilla County, in-
cluding Gavilon, owned
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Pendleton Grain Growers’ Rew Elevator stands as a longtime landmark west of Pendleton just
off Interstate 84. PGG has announced plans to divest assets of the company’s grain division.
by the multi-billion dollar
Marubeni Corporation.
“They can be pretty
price-competitive,” Jacob-
son said. “Some growers
had that additional option.”
Umatilla County farm-
ers grow the most wheat in
Oregon by a wide margin.
PGG was incorporated in
1930 after the stock market
crash a year earlier, as local
growers united to protect
themselves against falling
wheat prices.
The co-op has suffered
through dif¿ cult times in
recent years. Jacobson was
brought out of retirement to
manage PGG following the
resignation of former CEO
Allen Waggoner in May
2012. Waggoner’s resig-
nation came three months
after the U.S. Department
of Agriculture suspended
PGG’s warehousing license
based on discrepancies
found during a routine audit
of grain transactions.
Since last year, PGG
closed all six of their re-
tail stores across Eastern
Oregon as well as the au-
tomotive service center in
Pendleton. It also sold the
agronomy À eet to Crop
Production Services based
in Colorado.
The co-op lost $7.9 mil-
lion in 2014. However, Ja-
cobson remains optimistic,
pointing out PGG’s total
earnings at the end of June
were $4 million better than
last year.
PGG has consolidated
its debt through CoBank
and secured a $20 million
line of credit in June. Ja-
cobson said other aspects
of the business, including
seed, energy and irrigation
subsidiary Precision Rain,
continue to do well.
Selling the grain divi-
sion is not a catastrophe,
Jacobson said, but rather a
prudent decision.
“You have to look at the
long term, not just the short
BRIEFCASE
Irrigon hosts special
Veterans Day luncheon
Earl “Bud” Costello, a
World War II veteran from
Irrigon, is the featured
guest during the upcoming
Irrigon Chamber of Com-
merce meeting.
The no-host luncheon
gathering is Wednesday,
Nov. 11, at noon at Stokes
Landing Senior Center, 195
Opal Place, Irrigon. The
cost is $8 for members and
$10 for non-members.
Costello recently trav-
eled to Washington, D.C.,
with a group of 50 veter-
ans as part of the Honor
Flight Network of Eastern
Oregon Portland chapter’s
group. A nonpro¿ t orga-
nization provides all-ex-
penses-paid trips to the
nation’s capital for World
War II to visit sites like
the World War II Memori-
al, U.S. Capital, Arlington
National Cemetery and
the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier, as well as memo-
rials for the Korean and
Vietnam wars.
Costello will show pic-
tures from his trip and talk
about the experience. All
veterans are urged to attend.
For more information,
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
contact Phyllis Danielson
at
irrigonchamber@irri-
gonchamber.com or 541-
922-3857.
The Hermiston Herald
accepts news announce-
ments about job changes
and promotions, business
ownership changes, reno-
vations, remodels, changes
in business hours, new
business openings, busi-
ness owner retirements and
related items. Submit your
business news and photos
to newsroom@hermiston-
herald.com.
J OHN & R UTH N ICHOLS
celebrate their 50th anniversary! They married October
30, 1965 in Michigan City, Indiana. Immediately after
their wedding John served three tours in Vietnam,
retiring from the Navy in 1987. Ruth has always worked
in bookkeeping & accounting except for homemaking
while the children were younger. Along the way they
adopted five children (eight
grandchildren) and loved them as their
own. They also had a hand raising over
300 foster children through the years.
Their love for each other has always been
the unshakable foundation
of family, work and health.
We love you Mom & Dad,
Cindy, Sheryl, Peggy, Shannon and Brianne
FILE PHOTO
The Hermiston PGG store as it looked when it was
announced the store would have a close-out sale in 2014. The
former store location is now home to Hermiston Auto Parts.
term,” he said. “We could
either be a marginal compa-
ny, or merge some of these
assets and be a good, strong
company.”
There is no timetable
for a decision about the
grain division. The PGG
board will evaluate offers
before bringing any pro-
posal to a full vote of the
members. Until then, PGG
will continue to buy grain
and operate as normal un-
til a transaction is com-
pleted.
VOLUME 109 ɿ NUMBER 59
Gary L. West
Jade McDowell
Editor
gwest@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4532
Reporter
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
541-564-4536
Tammy Malgesini
Sean Hart
Community Editor
tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com
541-564-4539
Reporter
smhart@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4534
Sam Barbee
Jeanne Jewett
Sports Reporter
sbarbee@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4542
Multi-Media Consultant
jjewett@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4531
Kim La Plant
Multi-media Consultant
klaplant@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4530
To contact the Hermiston Herald for news,
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The Hermiston Herald (USPS 242220, ISSN
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STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Bradey Cope
G RISWOLD H IGH S CHOOL
Griswold High School is proud to name Bradey
Cope as the student of the week. Bradey is a
member of FBLA and National Honor Society. Last
year he took home state awards for his NHD
(National History day) project which took him all the
way to Washington DC to compete at the national
level. In addition, he is an all American athlete
participating in cross country, basketball and track!
Bradey was also a Umatilla County 4-H Ambassador
last year, and he is the current ASB President.
Congratulations Bradey and keep up the good work!
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