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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2015)
A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM LOCAL NEWS/COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015 Public can participate in EOTEC project success By DAVE DROTZMANN Guest commentary Dear Eastern Oregon residents, Recently, the Eastern Or- egon Trade & Event Center board hosted a community update that was well at- tended. However, we know that many of you who are interested and invested in this project were unable to attend. With that in mind, I reach out to you today with a project update on Phase 1 of the EOTEC. As a historical remind- er, the EOTEC project is a joint venture between the city of Hermiston and Umatilla County to remove the old Umatilla Coun- ty fairgrounds from the compressed 21-acre site in downtown Hermiston to a new 94-acre site south of town, near the airport. It’s long been a vision, started over 30 years ago by many regional leaders, that one day the new site would be the location for the Umatilla County Fair and the Farm-City Pro Rodeo, coupled with a new Eastern Oregon Event Center. The school to expand, the fair- Event Center will be capa- grounds needed to move. So in 2012, the school ble of hosting larger district purchased the audiences and attract- fairgrounds for $3 ing local, regional, million dollars, sav- and state conventions ing the community and conferences, all millions of dollars in of which is not possi- bonding. By doing ble at the current site without the invest- Drotzmann this, the school dis- trict guaranteed its ment of millions of expansion possibili- dollars into massive ties, without having to pur- infrastructure changes. The Umatilla County chase additional land and Fair is unique in that it is build a new high school one of the few fairs in the site somewhere else, at an nation that successfully estimated cost of over $100 operates in the black, and million. We all know that an its participation has grown by more than 54 percent initiative this size can’t be RYHU WKH ODVW ¿YH \HDUV accomplished without sig- This fact, coupled with QL¿FDQW DPRXQWV RI IXQG- the success and support of ing, which is the primary the Farm-City Pro Rodeo, reason the fairgrounds ha- makes for great appeal to a ven’t been moved for over larger audience of attendees 30 years. That all changed when the school district and spectators. Over the last 10 years, purchased the land, and regional leaders have been EOTEC received the state meeting to discuss the im- lottery funds secured by pending growth demands state Rep. Greg Smith. of the Hermiston School Those funds, along with District, including the high other state grants, and con- school. It was agreed upon tributions from Umatilla by all, that for the high County, the city of Herm- iston, and our local hotel group, has bolstered us to $14 million in available re- sources. The EOTEC Authori- ty Board hired the FREW Group in October 2013. Over the last two years, 55 out of the 94 acres of barren ground has been transformed to meet our current needs and potential future expansions. In Jan- uary 2015, the Exhibitor & Event Center building start- ed construction and is now 75 percent complete, with an expected completion date of April 1, 2016. A fundraising group, consisting of Dennis Bar- nett, Greg Harris, Nate Ri- vera and myself, has been authorized by the EOTEC Authority Board to pursue additional contributions with the goal of raising $2 million in private funding. If these funds are raised, EOTEC will be unburdened by mortgage payments, al- ORZLQJ LW WR EH SUR¿WDEOH sooner. This would also complete Phase 1, allow- ing us to host the Umatilla Final EOTEC meeting of 2015 is Brookshier’s last By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center board said goodbye to its chair Friday during its last meeting of 2015. Ed Brookshier said serving on the board has been a “true honor and pleasure,” even though the task has not been easy. “I hope to be able to continue to help in any way I can,” he said. Brookshier is being re- placed by Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith after the City Council de- manded that Smith be put on the board as a condition of the $600,000 the city recently agreed to contrib- ute toward construction. Vice chair Dan Dorran thanked Brookshier, not- ing that he had been meet- ing with people “no less WKDQ ¿YH WLPHV D ZHHN´ about EOTEC business in recent months. “It’s an amazing amount FILE PHOTO Ed Brookshier (center) LVÁDQNHGE\'DQ'RUUDQ OHIWDQG-RKQ)UHZ&(2 RI)UHZ'HYHORSPHQWDWD ZRUNVHVVLRQRQWKH(DVWHUQ 2UHJRQ7UDGHDQG(YHQW &HQWHUHDUOLHUWKLVIDOOZLWK WKH+HUPLVWRQ&LW\&RXQFLO )ULGD\ZDV%URRNVKLHU·VODVW PHHWLQJDVFKDLUPDQRIWKH (27(&ERDUG of time people don’t under- stand that goes into this and it’s all volunteer,” he said. The board had plenty of business to get to Fri- day. Rob Dreier, project manager for Frew Devel- opment Group, said the event center/exhibitor hall is on schedule to be com- pleted by March 2016. He suggested the board begin laying out policies and procedures for op- erating the building so that the EOTEC authority could “take off running” with hosting events in the building as soon as it opens in March. He also asked for the board to make a decision between using natural gas or propane to heat the building and the rest of the site. Natural gas would cost about $56,000 to put in, he said, compared to $23,000 for propane. But in the long run natural gas LV PRUH HI¿FLHQW LWV SULFH GRHVQ¶W ÀXFWXDWH DV JUHDW- ly and it doesn’t take up the space that a fenced- in collection of propane tanks would. The board unanimously agreed on natural gas after the discussion. They also approved EOTEC’s annual audit by Barnett & Moro, which found no structural weak- nesses or other issues with EOTEC’s bookkeeping WKDWQHHGHGWREH¿[HG The board approved an agreement with LRS Architects to create a three-dimensional model of the project to show po- tential investors during the fundraising committee’s four-month campaign to raise $2 million for con- struction by April 1, 2016. Dorran said the fund- raising committee was on a “very aggressive sched- ule” that works out to raising about $200,000 a week. Since EOTEC will host the fair, rodeo and other events to the ben- H¿W RI WKH HQWLUH FRXQW\ he said the committee is planning to look beyond Hermiston to the rest of Umatilla County, as well as eastern Morrow Coun- ty and across the river into Washington for possible donors. County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo starting in Au- gust 2017. By getting the funds upfront, this regional complex will not be taking on large debt, like other re- gional event centers, and this region can start seeing the rewards sooner. Families, groups, and businesses throughout the region, can directly invest LQ D IDFLOLW\ WKDW UHÀHFWV Eastern Oregon quality and EULQJVEHQH¿WVWRDOORIXV EOTEC can be the facility that communicates to the rest of the state, “We are committed to the people of our region and are willing to work together to make it happen.” So, please, join us, and the many others who’ve al- ready invested in this proj- ect. To learn more about Phase 1 of the EOTEC project, or how you can contribute, go to www.eo- techermiston.com. David Drotzmann is an optometrist and owner of Lifetime Vision Source in Hermiston He has been mayor of Hermiston since January 2013. The Community is invited and Welcome to Christmas Eve Service and Communion December 24, 6 p.m. First Christian Church C HRISTMAS E VE S ERVICE 775 W. Highland - Hermiston 541-567-3013 www.hermistonfirstchristian.org F IR ST P R E SB Y TE R IA N C H U R C H 201 SW D orion Ave., Pen dleton D E C E M B E R 24 TH 5:30 P M - Fa m ily Frien d ly Christm a s E ve Service 11:00 P M - Tra d ition a l Service, Scriptu re, Son g, Com m u n ion & Ca n d lelight LETTER TO THE EDITOR Baker City woman thankful for help On Saturday, Dec. 19, while driving home, I had a tire blow out and it did a lot of damage to the front of my car. I want to thank the very nice Umatilla state trooper that came out and helped me and stayed with us until the tow truck arrived and had my car loaded. I also want to thank the gen- tlemen from Hermiston Auto Body & Towing for graciously Church Directory and safely towing me and my car back to Baker City. Uma- tilla and Hermiston areas, you are so fortunate to have such wonderful people in your communities. It’s also so nice to know that there are such caring people in this area, given everything that is going on in the world. I am truly grateful! Thank You. AUDREY HINDMAN BAKER CITY, OREGON NEW BEGINNINGS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Worship Service 10:30 AM Sunday School 9:00 AM Pastor J.C. Barnett Children's Church & Nursery Available 700 West Orchard Avenue P.O. Box 933 Hermiston, Oregon 541-289-4774 Echo Community Church 21 N Bonanza Street Echo, OR Phone: (541) 376-8108 Sunday School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:30 am Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:45 am Children’s Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:15 am Potluck & Communion ~ First Sunday of the Month Seventh-day Adventist Church s h i W o r p w i t h u s ! 1255 Hwy. 395 S. • 567-5834 oasisvineyard.us Worship 10:00 AM "come as you are" The Full Gospel Home Church 235 SW 3rd Phone 567-7678 Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker Sunday: Sunday School . . . . . 10:00 am Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 am Evening Service . . . . . . 7:00 pm Wednesday Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:00 pm First United Methodist Church Of Hermiston Rev. Dr. James T. Pierce, Pastor Open Hearts, Open minds, Open doors "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 1 Pet. 5:7 191 E. Gladys Ave. Sunday Worship at 11am (541) 567-3002 Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church Grace Baptist Church 565 W. HERMISTON AVE. DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 7:00 am THURSDAY . . . . . . . . . Spanish 6:00 pm SATURDAY: . . . . . . . . . English 5:00 pm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 7:00 pm SUNDAY: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 9:00 am . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bilingual 11:00 am . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 1:00 pm OFFICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567-5812 NEW HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH 1350 S. Highway 395, Hermiston Sunday Worship Services English- Pastor Dave Andrus 9:00 & 10:45 am Spanish- Pastor Genaro Loredo 9:00 & 10:15 am Classes for kids during all services For more information call 541-567-8441 First Christian Church "Proclaiming the Message of Hope, Living the Gospel of Love" SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:30 AM SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:30 AM CHILDREN'S CHURCH 11:00 AM Nursery Provided 567-3013 775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston Nursery provided for all services Sunday School - 9:30 AM Worship - 10:45 AM 6:00 pm Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM “Proclaiming God’s word, growing in God’s grace” Saturdays Sabbath School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:30 a.m. Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 a.m. 567-8241 855 W. Highland • Hermiston 32742 Diagonal RD Hermiston OR 97838 Sunday School 10 am Worship 7 am Evening Service 7 pm Bible Study Wednesdays 7 pm Firestarter Youth Ministry (Ages 12-17) Monday @ 6 pm Christmas Eve Service at Hermiston Church of the Nazarene 1520 W Orchard Ave. Thursday, December 24th at 6:00 p.m. I look forward to joining you and your family for this 60 minute celebration as we celebrate Jesus. Pastor Eric www.hermistonnazarene.org or HermNaz App All People Are Welcome Celebrate Christmas Scripture, Tradition and Reason with the members of Family service 9am Sunday Gladys Ave & 7th Hermiston Fr. Dan Lediard, Priest. PH: 567-6672 125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232 Pastor David Dever Sun. Bible Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:00am Sun. Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . 11:00am Sun. Evening Worship . . . . . . . . . . 6:00pm Wed. Prayer & Bible Study . . . 6:00pm www.hermistonlmbc.com T HE C OUNTRY C HURCH Pastor James Becker Candlelight Communion St. Johns Episcopal Church LANDMARK BAPTIST CHURCH 555 SW 11th, Hermiston 567-9497 Hermiston Church of the Nazarene To share your worship times call Amanda Jacobs 541-278-2683 H ERMISTON F IRST U NITED M ETHODIST C HURCH 191 East Gladys • LIVING NATIVITY: Sat. Dec. 12 th 6:00 - 8:00 PM Sun. Dec. 13 th 4:00 - 6:00 PM - Walk through at your own pace as the Christmas Story unfolds with live actors, a donkey, sheep & chickens. - Afterwards warm up inside with refreshments. • Regular Sunday Morning Services at 11:00 AM • Christmas Eve: “Come and Go Communion Service” in our sanctuary Dec. 24 th from 7:00 - 8:00 PM
