Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 COMMUNITY First EOTEC building open for business By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer It was a party at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center on Friday as curious community mem- bers mingled with civic leaders who helped estab- lish EOTEC to celebrate the opening of the center’s irst building. “Today is a day to cele- brate and say thank you,” Mayor David Drotzmann said as he welcomed the group. Although Drotzmann is involved in EOTEC today as a fundraising commit- tee member and mayor, he said it was important to acknowledge the long line of people who worked to make EOTEC a reality long before he took of- ice — people like Tom Harper, who as Hermiston city manager 30 years ago helped the city purchase the land where EOTEC now sits. “These gentlemen had the vision,” he said. EOTEC has had its challenges, Drotzmann said, and its detractors. But any community should be thrilled to have a $16 mil- lion investment with no debt to pay off. Larry Givens, Umatil- la County commissioner, said he was nervous when the county signed away the current fair and ro- deo grounds to Hermiston School District in 2012, but Hermiston is a “can-do community” that has made it work. State Sen. Bill Hansell was a Umatilla County commissioner when the county irst decided it wanted to move the fair from the center of Hermis- ton. He said the $8 million that eventually came from the state was helped along by the fact that Hermiston was a “visionary com- munity” and the Umatilla County Fair is one of the best county fairs in the state. As community members cheered the opening of the event center, city manager and EOTEC chair Byron Smith said he hoped the open house was the irst in a series of celebrations as the EOTEC project continues to move toward hosting the 2017 Umatilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo. The building that opened Friday is just one component of the over- all EOTEC project. When complete, EOTEC will also feature three large barns, a rodeo arena, food stalls, RV parking and ex- tensive green space — all yet to be built. According to Rob Dri- er of Frew Development Group, the EOTEC board should have bids in hand for construction of the barns by mid-June. He told the EOTEC board during their Friday morning busi- ness meeting there have already been contractors who expressed an interest in the project. A swine barn and “fur and feathers” barn will run about 15,500 square feet each and a third barn al- most three times that size will host horses and cattle. The rodeo arena is still under design, and Drier said it will probably be another three weeks be- fore bid documents are complete. He said the bid package will include var- ious add-on options that the board can price out for before deciding whether there is money in the bud- get. The original design work was done by local designer Jim Michaels. But in March, Drier asked the board to hire a second architectural irm to help inish the drawings to the standard needed. Since October, the board had been told that the drawings would be inished in Feb- ruary. George Anderson, a Hermiston attorney who has provided pro bono le- gal services to EOTEC, expressed frustration with the continued delays, say- ing during Friday’s meet- ing that as a private citizen he was “mystiied” that it had taken so many months to complete designs for the barns and the rodeo arena. “You’ve got contractors here, you need to light a ire under them,” he said. Smith said he under- stood the frustration, but there were a lot of factors at play. “We’re trying to make this happen, but this is not a straightforward one- group project,” he said. “It’s a community project that requires a lot of input from different groups, and that has impacted the time- line tremendously.” Anderson said he un- derstood that, but he felt the board shouldn’t be afraid to apply pressure on contractors and Frew De- velopment Group to work faster. Various smaller bid packages will also need to be completed in time for the 2017 Umatilla Coun- ty Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo. Food stalls, re- strooms, fencing, site light- ing, a public address sys- tem, signs and landscaping are still in the works. Some items have not been put out to bid yet, and others are being done in pieces. A request for proposals for signs for the site, for example, did not receive any bids and so the board is buying different types of signs from various vendors instead. The fencing bid was is- sued but then canceled af- ter contractors complained it was too hard to give a price per foot when they didn’t know how much fencing or what types of fencing was needed. The board now plans to issue a request for proposals for the 1.25 miles of chain link fence needed to inish en- closing the entire EOTEC grounds, then add decora- tive and interior fencing later. Water continues to be a challenge for EOTEC. A single shallow well is cur- rently providing the site’s water, but it won’t be enough for irrigation once all of the planned green space is seeded. Smith said that a second well would be dug soon. He said a nearby compa- ny has expressed an inter- est in selling deep water rights to EOTEC, but he is still working with them to overcome legal hurdles. If those hurdles prove too much, Smith said a sec- STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Umatilla County Fair Princess JaNessa Prewitt, right, greets visitors to the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center during an open house Friday in Hermiston. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS EOTEC board member Dan Dorran, right, gives a tour of the front ofice of the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center during an open house Friday in Hermiston. Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann speaks during an open house for the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center on Friday in Hermiston. facility rentals while also adding up costs, questions about EOTEC’s opera- tions budget continue to be mostly answered with: “We don’t know yet.” Umatilla County and the city of Hermiston plan to split evenly any subsi- dy needed for operating costs. They contributed $25,000 each during the current iscal year but ex- pect to need a bigger con- tribution as the project opens for business. The operating budget includes a salary for busi- ness manager Heather Cannell, who is running day-to-day operations STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Visitors to the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center both coming and going during an open house Friday in Hermiston. ond option would involve switching the property from the Stanield Irriga- tion District to the Hermis- ton Irrigation District and using some of their water. “We haven’t closed the door on that,” he said. Until the full EOTEC project is up and running, pulling in revenue from such as booking events. On Friday the board agreed that since the event center building is open, they will need to have some sort of receptionist to greet visitors and an- swer phones when Cannell is not on site. Even though work still needs to be completed on the rest of EOTEC, the event center will start hosting events immediate- ly. Cannell said bookings so far include seven pri- vate events and a variety of meetings, including a League of Oregon Cities gathering scheduled for today. CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT CLASS Oregon - Utah - Valid 35 States Fully Digital Enya 3 Series Hearing Aid Spring $ Special STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS PENDLETON Red Lion Inn: 304 SE Nye Ave. May 20 th • 1:00 pm & 6:00 pm 995 Walk-Ins Welcome! • Enhances Speech • Reduces Noise Call 541-276-3155 Ruud’s Hearing Aid Service OR/Utah: (Valid in WA) $80.00 or Oregon only: $45 www.FirearmTrainingNW.com • FirearmTrainingNW@gmail.com 360-921-2071 Sale price valid on the Resound Enya 3 series. Limit two at the promotional price. No other offers or discounts apply. Discount does not apply to prior sales. Feeling like you paid too much in taxes this year? Contact your fi nancial advisor today to learn about investing strategies that could benefi t you. Name www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC Financial Advisor . Street Address City, State ZIP Bob Blanc Mac H Levy 304 S Main St Phone 244 SW Dorion Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 541-276-6257 Pendleton, OR 97801 541-278-1600 Ben Buchert 352 SW First St. Pendleton, OR 97801 541-278-1200 Pam Stocker Kacie Levy 245 E Main Suite B 204 E Main St. Hermiston, OR 97838 Hermiston, OR 97838 541-564-9734 541-567-0390 Casey Hunt 304 S Main St Pendleton, OR 97801 541-276-6257