WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Herald Business
Holiday Inn Express to open on Halloween
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff Writer
Hermiston’s newest ho-
tel is expected to open on
Oct 31.
The four-story Holiday
Inn Express, currently un-
der construction on High-
way 395, was originally ex-
pected to open this month.
But InnSight Hotel Man-
agement Group President
Richard Boyles said there
was about a three-month
delay on starting construc-
tion after the bank that the
company had used in the
past was acquired by anoth-
er ¿nancial institution.
“They were unable to
get that loan closed before
the merger,” he said.
Starting oYer on the ¿-
nancing process cost the
company time, but Boyles
said since then construc-
tion has been going well.
The general contractor is
Integrity Structures, with
subcontractors hired from
various places, including
Construction continues on the Holiday Inn in downtown
Hermiston.
some local businesses.
The 90-room hotel will
be Holiday Inn’s new For-
mula Blue model, which
includes amenities such as
a spacious lobby, indoor
pool, ¿tness area, meeting
rooms, continental break-
fast, guest laundry and in-
novations like curved head-
boards designed to reduce
noise between rooms.
The hotel is expected to
employ an average of 25
people, with some seasonal
Àuctuation. Boyles said it’s
a little early for InnSight to
start advertising for most
hotel positions, but they
have hired Steven Ar-
rasmith as general manager.
Boyles said one of Inn-
Sight’s pillars of corporate
culture is community in-
volvement, including vol-
unteer work with education
programs like SMART
(Start Making a Reader To-
day).
“I would expect we will
be very involved in the
community of Hermiston,”
he said.
Boyles said the company
looks forward to helping re-
vitalize the downtown area.
“I think the building
itself is a lovely addition
to the city of Hermiston,”
Boyles said.
The new hotel is in
Hermiston’s Urban Re-
newal District, meaning
extra tax revenue generated
through the boost in prop-
erty value will support the
district’s downtown revital-
ization projects, including
a planned festival street in
front of city hall. The hotel
received a $36,400 façade
grant from the Urban Re-
newal Agency.
Carty Generating Station in service
Workers finishing
cleanup work
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
Though workers are still
putting the ¿nishing touch-
es on the Portland General
Electric’s new Carty Gener-
ating Station near Boardman,
the natural gas-¿red power
plant is of¿cially in commer-
cial service as of Friday.
PGE announced the de-
velopment in a ¿ling with
the U.S. Securities and Ex-
change Commission, meet-
ing its startup deadline of
July 31 set by the Oregon
Public Utility Commission.
Construction on the plant be-
gan in 2014.
A rate increase took effect
Monday to cover the initial
estimated cost of the project
— $514 million — as previ-
ously approved by the PUC
in its 2016 Rate Case Order
for Carty. However, the actu-
al cost will range somewhere
between $640-$660 million
after the original contrac-
tor, Abeinsa, allegedly per-
formed shoddy work and
failed to pay some employ-
ees.
PGE ¿red Abeinsa and as-
sumed construction of Carty
in December, and is now su-
ing two surety companies to
recoup a $145.6 million per-
formance bond on the work.
More than 50 subcontractors
have also ¿led liens against
the property.
The utility says it will pro-
vide additional information
on its strategy moving for-
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY
PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC
The Generation Building
at the Carty Generating
Station became operational
in July 2016.
ward in another SEC ¿ling
due Wednesday, as well as
its quarterly earnings confer-
ence call also scheduled for
Wednesday. Unless the bond
is recovered, PGE has said
it intends to ask for another
rate increase to recoup the
full cost for Carty.
Carty has been built in
the shadow of the Board-
man Coal Plant and works
on a combined cycle sys-
tem, with one turbine run-
ning off the combustion of
natural gas and the other
running off of steam. The
power is carried ¿rst to the
Grassland Substation about
a mile away from the site,
and from there fed onto the
Bonneville Power Adminis-
tration transmission system
in Gilliam County.
The Carty Generating
Station was identi¿ed in
PGE’s 2009 long-range en-
ergy plan to ¿ll a customer
demand growing at a rate of
1-1.5 percent every year, ac-
cording to spokesman Steve
Corson. PGE serves roughly
840,000 customers primarily
in the Portland metro area
and Salem.
Measure 98 could bring $1M to Hermiston High School
By ALEXA LOUGEE
Staff Writer
A campaign spokesper-
son with ballot Measure 98
spoke to Hermiston Cham-
ber of Commerce members
at Tuesday’s chamber lun-
cheon.
Oriana Magnera gave
a short presentation about
the measure, which seeks to
give Oregon high schools an
additional $800 per student
to support career technical
education, advanced place-
ment and dual credit cours-
es and provide assistance to
students at risk of not grad-
uating.
The measure would be
funded by surplus general
fund dollars that have not
been earmarked for another
use. Supporters of the mea-
sure want to make sure new
revenue is allocated to high
schools. The measure would
not take money away from
already existing allocations,
nor is it a new tax.
Some have expressed
concern that the way the
measure is written would
not allow the new money
to go to existing school pro-
grams.
Magnera said that the
money could be used for ex-
isting programs, and bolster
temporary and short-term
grant-funded programs.
“Instead of crossing your
¿ngers and hoping the grant
comes through each year,”
Magnera said the measure
would provide a more sus-
tainable funding source.
Schools could also
use the money to expand
current programs by pur-
chasing new equipment,
repairing equipment, build-
ing new facilities or hiring
teachers. The purpose of
the language in the mea-
sure explaining how this
additional money could be
used was to ensure schools
used the additional fund-
ing to expand services, not
merely put more money in
other areas like athletics or
administrative costs.
The additional funding
could also be used to sup-
port dual credit programs
in high schools, such as the
Eastern Promise program.
It would also allow for the
hiring of additional tutors or
counselors to help students
at risk of dropping out ¿nd
ways to succeed.
According to 2014-2015
enrollment numbers, Herm-
iston High School would
receive $1.1 million in
additional funding, Pend-
leton High School would
get $687,200 and Umatilla
High School would receive
$327,200.
Supporters of the mea-
sure include Stand for Chil-
dren Oregon, the Latino
Network, the Coalition of
Communities of Color and
former Gov. Ted Kulongos-
ki.
The Oregon Education
Association, which is the
state’s teacher’s union, does
not support ballot measure
98. The organization says
it supports technical edu-
cation at the secondary lev-
el, but does not believe the
measure creates the funding
needed to support it and will
instead earmark too much
of the general fund money
to high schools. The associ-
ation also said the measure
takes away local control
from the district by telling
districts to spend money in
a certain way.
Oregon voters will de-
cide on the measure in No-
vember.
Follow us on Twitter
@HermistonHerald
Wheat & Barley
Pub closing down
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff Writer
A staple business of
downtown Echo is clos-
ing its doors Aug. 20.
Brad and Shelby
Dodson are closing the
Wheat & Barley Pub to
fulfill a dream of selling
most of their posses-
sions and roaming the
United States in an RV.
“We’ve been making
excuses for years, and
we’ve decided we’re
just going to go,” Shel-
by said.
The pub — with its
local craft beers and
wines, meats smoked
in-house, fresh local
produce and a rotating
menu more typical of
Portland than a small
Eastern Oregon town
— has garnered rave
reviews over the past
few years, including
five-star Yelp reviews
describing it as a “real
Eastern Oregon jewel”
and a “little gem of an
upscale pub.”
Three years since
the Dodsons took over,
Shelby said business is
still good and the eatery
isn’t closing over “any-
thing like that.” But the
couple wants to travel.
She said they don’t
have any specific itiner-
ary, they just want to see
“what’s out there.”
“We have a map of
the U.S. and a pen, that’s
it,” she said.
She said the couple
have made great friends
during their time in
Echo and will miss their
loyal customers. The red
brick building on Main
Street is up for sale (as
are most of the Dodsons’
possessions) but they
would also be willing
to rent to a tenant who
would run some sort of
upscale eatery or oth-
er business that would
draw people to Echo’s
Main Street.
“We’re looking for
potential renters inter-
ested in doing something
similar,” Shelby said.
“We built this place up
and it would break my
heart to see it empty.”
The Dodsons are
hosting a “Grand Clos-
ing” celebration over
their last two days open,
inviting people for one
last meal or round of
drinks at the pub over
live music. The cele-
bration will take place
Aug. 19-20 from 5 p.m.
to midnight at 201 W.
Main Street in Echo.
Training set for landlords
Landlords can gain in-
formation about how to
complete proper paper-
work and deal with col-
lections or small claims
with problem tenants.
From Inspections to
Evictions, a training is
being offered by Chris-
tian Bryant, president of
the IRC Real Estate En-
terprises. The event is
Saturday from 11 a.m. to
2:30 p.m. at the Eagles
Lodge, 428 S. Main St.,
Pendleton. The cost is
$40 for members of the
Umatilla County Rent-
al Housing Association
and $45 for non-mem-
bers. In addition, lunch
can be purchased at the
lodge for $6.
Those planning to at-
tend must register with
Let’er Rent by Thurs-
day. For more informa-
tion or to register, call
LaVonne or Teri at 541-
215-1770.
Clean Spot heads
up charity support
The Clean Spot Laun-
dromat and Car Wash is
excited about a partner-
ship with faculty, staff
and students of Clara
Brownell Middle School
in Umatilla in supporting
some of the First Nation
People of Canada.
With a high rate of
suicide and unemploy-
ment, the First Nation
people have been suffer-
ing a huge crisis and are
in need of support. The
Umatilla business laun-
dered clothing that was
left behind at the school
district and shipped them
to be distributed to needy
families.
For those who would
like to further help in pro-
viding support, contact
thecleanspot@hotmail.
com, 541-571-4299 or
stop by 1251 Switzler
Ave., Umatilla.
BABYSITTING BASICS
For babysitters ages 10-15. Learn childcare
techniques, children's developmental stages and
what to expect, basic first aid and infant and child
CPR. $30, includes lunch & all class materials.
9:00am - 3:00pm
July 16 or August 6
Must pre-register and pre-pay, call 541-667-3509
The Family of Ervin Williams would like to thank all of the family
and friends that have shown their support and love to Erv during
his fi nal days on this earth.
A few special individuals and groups we would like to name who
generously gave their time to Erv’s Celebration of Life;
• Echo Community Church
(all the members and the little children who sang “Jesus Loves Me”)
5-6
$7
• Echo Fire Department Justin Morris and Crew
• Frank and Laurie Nelson who played Christian Music
• Kiwanis Mr. Duffy and Mr. Doherty who played Irish Music
• The Boy Scouts who came in full uniform.
• The fl ag ceremony performed by the Navy Offi cers.
• Desert Springs Staff who Barbequed
• Girl Scouts who cleaned up
• Daniel (Buster) and Dee Rock who arranged the food
• NW Metal Fabricators Robert Harris who arranged all the
equipment.
We would like to thank Good Shepherd Hospice (Carolynn and staff) as
well as the staff of Good Shepherd Hospital for their excellent care.
We would also like to thank everyone who donated money in Erv’s
memory to the Echo Community Church, sent fl owers to the service,
brought food to our homes and the Celebration of Life, and for showing
up to celebrate his life with us that day.
We are sure that Papa Erv has been looking down from heaven laugh-
ing, smiling, crying and feeling very, very, very honored and loved by
all of you.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
HEALTHY FRIDAYS
FREE health screenings & health coaching: Blood
pressure checks, weigh-ins, body mass index,
cholesterol and glucose.
First & Third Friday
of each month
9:30 - 11:30am
GSMC Conference Center 7 (by Education Dept)
UNDERSTANDING & RESPONDING
TO DEMENTIA RELATED BEHAVIORS
Learn behavior triggers and strategies to
help intervene with some of the most
common behavioral challenges of
Alzheimer's Disease and dementias.
July 26 • 6:00 - 7:30pm
GSMC Conference Room 1
Information or to register
call
(541) 667-3509
or email
healthinfo@gshealth.org
www.gshealth.org