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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS EOTEC board expands role for Frew Development Change expected to speed up construction on grounds By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer If Frew Development Group’s role in the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center doesn’t change, there is no point in renew- ing its contract in August. That’s what the compa- ny’s CEO told the EOTEC board Friday. “We don’t want to waste your money and time,” John Frew said. Frew appreciated the passion behind the project, he said, but they were “lit- erally a village building a structure” and the endless rounds of meetings with stakeholders over every de- tail are hindering progress. “If you pursue perfec- tion and forfeit practicality you’re never going to get it done,” he said. The project is expected to be completed in time for the Umatilla County Fair in August 2017. The current fairgrounds in downtown Hermiston will be turned over to the Hermiston School District on Jan. 1, 2017. Frew Development Group was hired in 2013 as EOTEC’s project manager. For horizontal construc- tion such as underground utilities and for the recent- ly-completed event center building, Frew also was named the construction manager. Those projects, Frew said, were delivered “pretty much on time and pretty much on budget.” For the two major com- ponents left — the livestock barns and rodeo arena — Frew Development Group has a more limited role. The EOTEC board had expected to award a bid for construction of the barns on Friday, but held off after the two submitted bids came in more than $1 million over the $2.6 million budget the board had set, signaling a need to scale down plans or make other adjustments to the bid package before re-issuing it. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Visitors to the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center both coming and going during an open house earlier this spring in Hermiston. Designs for the rodeo arena, which board member Dan Dorran said at a June 10 meeting “have been looked at more than any drawings on earth,” were supposed to be inished in February but were not put out to bid until this month. “Those aren’t our proj- ects,” Frew said. “If they were, I guarantee they would have been built by now.” Board member Ed Brookshier said he agreed it was time for the board to trust the construction and design details to Frew, with the assistance of a lo- cal partner, similar to when Brookshier was Herm- iston’s city manager and trusted the engineers and contractors hired by the city to do their job instead of asking them to bring ev- ery detail back to the city council. “Our problem here, peo- ple, is process, and we have no more time for process,” Brookshier said. “I still be- lieve we can get the product done on time and on bud- get, but if we keep going as we’re going, we’re nev- er going to get there, or at least not next year.” Don Miller, who rep- resents the Umatilla Coun- ty Fair, said if the fair board was not consulted as of- ten moving forward, there were going to be decisions made that they disagreed with. But he also said af- ter months of meetings that Frew Development Group and the EOTEC board have a good understanding of what the fair wants. “The reality is, no mat- ter what, these barns ... are going to be superior to what we have currently,” he said. Board member Kim Puzey said after seeing Frew Development Group deliver on the site prepa- ration and event center, he was ready to make a motion to have Frew Development Group take “a leading role” in completion of the barns and rodeo arena with the help of a local partner to manage day-to-day ques- tions when Frew was busy with other projects. The board unanimously voted in favor of Puzey’s motion, and Frew said his irm was happy to take on that role and had a local partner in mind. On Friday the EOTEC board also oficially ap- proved the $9.1 million budget for 2016-2017 as recommended by its bud- get committee. The budget includes a $606,075 gener- al fund and an $8,525,000 construction fund. Operating revenues in- clude $45,190 each from Umatilla County and the city of Hermiston, an esti- mated $117,730 from the Tourism Promotion Assess- ment, event center rental revenue of $40,000 and a beginning cash balance of $55,300 undesginated and $297,665 in TPA revenue reserved for marketing pur- poses. Operational funds will pay for the salary of busi- ness manager Heather Can- nell, an administrative as- sistant, two janitorial staff and .25 FTE of a inance position through the city of Hermiston. Landing Days continues, though scaled down OSHA investigating onion By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Umatilla Landing Days was a little smaller than usu- al on Saturday, but Umatilla residents in attendance didn’t seem to mind. The annual event, which celebrates Umatilla’s history each summer, was originally scaled down to just the ire- works show after a struggle to ind enough volunteers, but later the parade, afternoon entertainment, food, games and an evening concert were all added back in. The only major components that ended up missing were the craft ven- dors and tours of Old Town. Leah Garza, who attended Landing Days when she was a child and was back again for the irst time in years, said the important thing wasn’t so much the event, it was the ex- cuse for community members to mingle. “We don’t have too many events every year in Umatilla, so it’s good to do something to bring the community to- gether,” she said. Candelario Escovado, a single dad who was taking a break in the shade watching his three children in a bouncy house, said he was just happy for something to keep the kids entertained. “There’s nothing to do but the library and the river, and we heard about this, so here we are,” he said. Nancy and Jeremy Evans, who have lived in Umatilla STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL Ethan Tracy prepares to hit a spider into a frog’s mouth at Umatilla Landing Days on Saturday. for about eight years, were enjoying teriyaki chicken kabobs in the shade on Satur- day afternoon. They said they used to run a Fourth of July celebration in Idaho, and the event fell apart after they left because no one was willing to step up. So they understand that sometimes events have to be changed when volunteer levels falter. That’s no reason the show shouldn’t go on, however, Nancy said. “I think it’s worth having because it gets a lot of people out with their children, and I know it’s hard to get people outside,” she said. Jeremy said they enjoyed the small-town celebration after previously attending pa- rades in Las Vegas, where it was sometimes an eight-hour ordeal to travel downtown, ind parking, watch the three- hour parade and then ight wall-to-wall trafic getting back home. “We come (to Landing Days) when we can, just be- Summer Gift s for everyone on your list! Put a smile on the heart with the power of flowers. HWY 395, HERMISTON 541-567-4305 Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5am www.cottagefl owersonline.com See Us for Hearing Tests Every Monday and Tuesday. 29 SW Dorion, Pendleton, OR Call 541-276-3155 for appointment cause we like to be outside and watch the people and the boats,” Nancy said. Jennifer Wylie, Umatilla Chamber of Commerce pres- ident, said organizers were thrilled with the weather, which featured cloudless blue skies and temperatures in the eighties. “It’s just a fun event over- all, and people love the ire- works,” she said. The afternoon featured entertainers from around the region, including the Round- Up City Cloggers, Umatilla High School cheerleaders and young Hermiston danc- ers Daytona Tracy and Phillip Mecum. shed ire that killed worker By ALEXA LOUGEE Staff Writer The cause of the fatal June 1 onion shed ire near Hermiston is still under in- vestigation. The ire claimed the life of Columbia Basin Spreaders Inc. employ- ee Joseph Adams, 62, of Umatilla. According to Colum- bia Basin Spreaders proj- ect manager Steve Wil- liams, the shed was going through a renovation pro- cess in an effort to update the air low system. Oregon OSHA is inves- tigating the ire. According to Gary Beck, statewide safety enforcement man- ager, the investigation is still at least two months away from concluding, though legally OSHA has up to six months to inish its investigation and pro- duce its indings. Beck said this is a particularly complicated case to igure out and there are no wit- nesses. Adams had worked for the company for more than 10 years, according to his Fri. Aug 12 • Starts at 8pm Also Featuring: Tormenta De Durango Domador De La Sierra brother Weslie Adams. His death was one of 27 work- place fatalities reported to Oregon OSHA in 2016 as reported on Oregon OS- HA’s website. The ire consumed an approximately 400-by- 150-foot single-story onion storage building, one of 18 buildings the company uses to store produce, and caused an estimated $1.2 million in damage. Columbia Basin plans to rebuild the facil- ity, though a timeline has not been set.
