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-
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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
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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.