A14 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016
FROM PAGE A1
No taxi ticket price
increase in Hermiston
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The Hermiston City
Council voted against a pro-
posed 25 cent price increase
Monday for the taxi program
that helps seniors and people
with disabilities.
The city will pick up the
tab for an estimated $6,000
more per year in subsidies to
the Umatilla Cab Company
instead.
The one-way tickets,
which qualiied Hermiston
residents can purchase from
City Hall for rides within city
limits, have been $2 apiece
since 2010. The city passes
that money, along with an
additional $4.35 per ticket,
on to the taxi company con-
tracted to run the program.
Mark Morgan, assistant
city manager, said the city
pays about $100,000 per
year to run the program, sub-
sidizing an average of 30,000
one-way rides.
He told the City Council
Monday that in the past two
decades Umatilla County’s
contribution to the program
has dropped from $50,000
to $27,000 per year, increas-
ing the city’s burden. At the
same time minimum wage
has risen from $8.40 an hour
and effective Friday, July 1,
it will increase to $9.50 an
hour, raising the cost of busi-
ness for the cab company.
“This is just a situation
where the Legislature was
trying to help low-income
workers but ended up hurt-
ing some low-income resi-
dents,” Morgan said.
Jeannette Byrnes, a Herm-
iston resident, asked the City
Council to ind another way
to keep the program going
without raising the ticket
price. For seniors living on
social security checks, she
said, every penny counts.
“When you’re nick-
el-and-diming, 25 cents is a
lot,” she said.
She said some Hermis-
ton residents only leave their
FIRE:
continued from Page A1
the district won’t see those
funds until this November.
Once the money is avail-
able, the district will be-
gin hiring additional crew
needed to staff Fire Sta-
tion 2 on Diagonal Road
around the clock. Stanton
described it as a “lengthy
hiring process.” Potential
hires have to go through a
series of mental and phys-
ical evaluations as well as
complete a stint at the ire
academy. The ire district
is aiming for a March 2016
target date to have new
crew at the stations with
veteran ireighters.
This week the district
welcomed four summer
seasonal ireighters from
the resident intern program
to help reduce the strain on
full-time ireighters.
“They’ve already made
a huge difference,” Stanton
said.
While additional perma-
nent staff support won’t be
in place for awhile, other
changes are moving for-
ward.
Re-lettering of equip-
ment has begun, new busi-
ness cards have been or-
dered and a new website
is under construction. The
new district emblem will
be chosen by a committee
then sent off for production
before it can be applied to
uniforms.
On Friday, ive new
members of the uniied ire
board will be sworn in by
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner Bill Elfering, prior
to holding their irst board
meeting.
Upgrades are still need-
ed for the Diagonal station.
The station has been around
for 30 years, but this will be
the irst time in its history
ireighters have been there
full-time. A paging system,
computers and other infor-
mation technology projects
are slated to begin in the
near future.
Supporters of the redis-
tricting efforts argued ad-
houses when they can afford
a taxi ride, and if the com-
munity could be as generous
as it is to its youth, it could
surely come up with a few
thousand dollars to keep the
taxi program from raising its
prices.
City councilors agreed
with her. Doug Primmer
and Manuel Gutierrez said
they thought the city could
ind the money in its budget
to help cover Umatilla Cab
Company’s increased costs
without raising rates.
“I think if the city can
afford it, we should do it,”
Gutierrez said.
Morgan said the city had
budgeted to start a Dial-a-
Ride program, which would
run fewer hours and require
24-hour notice, but would
also be a less costly option
to make sure people could
get to their doctor and other
regularly scheduled appoint-
ments. He said the details
were still being worked out
but he believed they would
be able to start offering the
program starting Jan. 1, 2017
for one dollar per ride.
City Manager Byron
Smith said in the meantime
he didn’t think one 25 cent
increase in six years was un-
reasonable.
“The cost of this service
keeps going up and I feel
like it’s a fair ask to ask our
riders to share some of that,”
he said.
City councilors disagreed,
however, and voted unani-
mously to keep the price at
$2 per ride but increase the
city’s subsidy from $4.35 per
ride to $4.60.
As part of that resolution
the council also adopted a set
of written policies governing
expectations for riders and
drivers who are a part of the
senior and disabled ride pro-
gram.
Morgan said he worked
with a committee of people
involved with the program,
including two regular riders,
to come up with the rules to
clear up confusion that had
happened when Hermiston
Transit Company went out
of business and Umatilla
Cab Company took over the
program.
“A lot of times we had
folks doing things that were
really unacceptable, but we
didn’t have a written policy
in place to manage that,” he
said.
The new policies make it
clear that riders who are part
of the program cannot bring
people along to ride for free.
A personal care attendant or
child may ride for the price
of an additional ticket, and
all other guests must pay full
fare.
Taxi drivers will not drive
to a person’s place of resi-
dence for free to deliver a
lost item, carry more than 25
pounds of groceries in one
trip, wait outside a building
for someone to complete an
errand, go inside and search
a facility for the passenger
they are picking up, wait
more than one minute for a
passenger to show up, act as
a moving company or serve
as a personal care attendant
for people not capable of
completing their errands on
their own.
Three no-shows over a
12-month period will result
in a suspension from the pro-
gram.
Morgan said the biggest
complaint he hears about the
taxi program is that it takes
too long for a cab to arrive.
He said the new policies
will help drivers save time,
allowing them to give more
rides per day.
Rider Dale Orem, who
helped craft the policies, said
he thought the policies were
fair and would be glad to
see shorter wait times after
sometimes waiting 30 min-
utes outside the grocery store
to be picked up.
“I can’t buy ice cream, for
one thing,” he said.
ditional staff members and
updated equipment will
help meet the demand of
a growing population and
work to shorten response
times.
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Chassiti James, left, and Jasmine Gatewood walk laps at the Hermiston Relay for Life.
CANCER:
continued from Page A1
Beyond supporting new
cancer research, Relay for
Life also provides an op-
portunity for survivors,
current cancer patients
and caregivers to make
new friends who under-
stand what they are going
through.
Heidi Howard was at
Relay for Life with her
son and nephew for that
very reason, after having
a brain tumor removed
about a year ago. She
said it was her irst time
at the event, and she was
looking forward to under-
standing what it was all
about and meeting other
local cancer survivors.
“I love all of the sup-
port for everyone,” she
said. “I even noticed some
co-workers here. ... My
surgery was out of Seat-
tle so I didn’t get to know
many people around
here.”
This year’s grand mar-
shals were Lou Ann and
Bryan Wolfe. Lou Ann
faced breast cancer a cou-
ple of years ago after be-
ing one of the Hermiston
Relay for Life’s original
co-chairs, and Bryan was
diagnosed with Stage 4
mantle cell lymphoma,
which can be treated but
not cured, in August 2015.
During the opening
ceremonies Bryan said he
was “new to this journey
many of you have taken
or are taking,” but said he
was deeply grateful for
the sacriices and research
that had allowed him to
continue to keep his can-
cer at bay.
“I’m looking forward
to a lot of time left to
come, a lot of memories,”
he said.
Lou Ann said she and
her husband were learning
to let things go that used
to bother them, and to say
no sometimes when they
needed to. She said she
was grateful to the sup-
port and friendships that
her involvement in Relay
for Life had brought when
it was her family’s turn to
battle cancer.
“There is always some-
one out there who knows
where you’ve been, who
knows where you’re go-
ing and can stand along-
side you and tell you it’s
going to be OK,” she said.
She said that God’s
grace had allowed them
to continue to ind fulill-
ment in life even when
times got tough.
“Our days are not al-
ways illed with laughter,
but they are illed with
joy,” she said. “Joy is
not dependent on sunny
circumstances and good
news.”
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