WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
EOTEC CLOSER TO AWARDING RODEO ARENA CONTRACT
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Hendon
Construction
submitted the only bid as the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center tried for the
second time to ind someone
to build a rodeo arena, but
the contract was not awarded
during the EOTEC board’s
Friday meeting.
Board chair Byron Smith
said there were some parts of
the bid that needed to be ad-
dressed with Hendon, which
will affect the inal price.
“There were some slight
discrepancies that legal
counsel found, but noth-
ing that is not correctable,”
Smith said.
He told the board that
the contract could likely be
awarded at a special meeting
in about two weeks.
The board had previously
issued a request for propos-
als for the arena, but on Aug.
4 rejected both bids. David
Bothum, a founding member
of the Farm-City Pro Rodeo,
had resigned from the EO-
TEC board in February with
the stated intent of bidding
on construction of the arena
through his company Both-
um Construction.
During the Aug. 4 meet-
ing, however, John Frew of
Frew Development Group
told the board that their le-
gal council did not believe
Bothum Construction — a
residential contractor — met
the legal deinition of a “re-
sponsible bidder” for the
scope of that contract. He
also recommended rejecting
the competing bid from Kir-
by Nagelhout Construction
Company of Bend because it
came in $740,000 over EO-
TEC’s $4 million budget.
The board rejected both
bids during that meeting
and issued a new request for
proposals that pared down
the base bid to the essentials
and marked components
like restrooms and lighting
as optional add-ons. Neither
Bothum Construction or Kir-
by Nagelhout Construction
Company submitted a bid on
the new request.
Since Hendon Construc-
tion of Umatilla was the
only bidder on the new re-
quest, the board voted to
declare them the low bid-
der but hold off approving
a contract until the issues
Smith referenced were ad-
justed and they had a inal
price to consider.
During Friday’s meet-
ing, the board also heard a
construction update from
John Eckhardt of Knerr
Construction, which has
partnered with Frew Devel-
opment Group to oversee
day-to-day construction of
the overall EOTEC project.
Eckhardt told the board
that they were almost done
paring down the barn de-
signs to meet budget, and
planned to issue a bid pack-
age for the metal buildings
Oct. 1. That leaves a tenta-
tive construction start date
of Nov. 1 and a inish date
of July 17, 2017.
“Right now that looks
pretty realistic,” he said.
Landscaping of the ven-
dors commons area can’t
happen until the paving and
site electrical work have in-
ished, he said, but they have
plans to lay down grass seed
in the spring, protected by a
layer of dead winter wheat
to keep it from blowing
away, and they are almost
ready to dig a second well
for irrigation.
Contractors have al-
ready been selected to
perform site electrical
and paving work, which
should be completed lat-
er this fall. Perimeter
fencing will be put out to
bid Oct. 1 with a plan of
completing it by Nov. 14.
The scope of signs, food
vendor stalls and exhibi-
tor staging areas are still
being discussed.
The rest of the board
agreed with Dan Dorran
that after the rodeo bid is
awarded the board should
schedule a work session to
review the history and pur-
pose of EOTEC, review the
current structure of com-
mittees, discuss upcoming
operational issues such as
stafing and decide “what
our expectations are” for
the 2017 fair and rodeo.
“We need to sit down
and really know where we
are,” he said.
After the committee re-
ports, Umatilla County Fair
board member Gay New-
man told the board he had
been hearing from com-
munity members who have
said they don’t have the
money to make a donation
to EOTEC but they would
be very willing to donate
their time. The current fair
and rodeo grounds have
been built and maintained
by volunteer labor, he said,
and people have been dis-
appointed not to be able
to do the same for the new
grounds.
“You’re starting to lose
some of the people who
really support us, because
they’re not being asked to
do anything,” he said.
Eckhardt said the prob-
lem is that state regulations
require a project such as
EOTEC, which is using
millions of dollars of state
money and administered by
a government entity, to pay
a prevailing wage for all
work done.
EOTEC board mem-
bers said they would love
to accept volunteer labor,
but they have to be care-
ful not to run afoul of the
Bureau of Labor and In-
dustries. However, they
did say they would look
at ways to legally allow
volunteer
involvement
for some projects such as
planting trees.
“I think there are a lot
of different opportunities,”
Dorran told Newman, “but
they are going to have to
be more well-deined than
what you and I are used to
at the fair.”
West Nile detections high in Umatilla County this year
County has most
positive tests in state
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
Though summer is
winding down, West Nile
virus remains a concern in
west Umatilla County.
Not only have 23 sam-
ples of mosquitoes tested
positive for the disease so
far this year, but two horses
near Umatilla also became
infected recently. Neither
horse was vaccinated, and
one had to be euthanized,
said Randy Gerard with the
West Umatilla Mosquito
Control District.
Gerard said residents
still need to protect them-
selves from mosquito bites,
despite cooler weather over
the holiday weekend.
“I don’t want people to
let their guard down,” he
said.
West Nile was irst de-
tected in Umatilla County
this year on June 28, about
a month earlier than usual.
High temperatures hastened
the cycle of mosquitoes in
the area, which Gerard said
has kept the district busy all
season.
“It seems like once you
get that initial detection,
you’ll be ighting it the rest
of the summer,” he said.
Another six mosquito
samples are currently be-
ing tested at the Oregon
State University Veterinary
Diagnostic Lab in Cor-
vallis, which could bump
up the number of positive
tests. Neighboring Morrow
County has had a total of
seven positive samples, and
another eight samples test-
ed positive in Baker Coun-
ty.
West Nile is primarily a
bird disease, with magpies,
blue jays and crows espe-
cially susceptible. Mos-
quitoes become vectors by
feeding on dead or infected
birds and passing it along
to humans and horses when
they bite.
Gerard said horse own-
ers are encouraged to check
with their veterinarians for
information on vaccina-
tions.
“We’ve been asking peo-
ple to vaccinate their horses
going on 10 years now,” he
said. “It really helps.”
Most people who be-
come infected with West
Nile do not become ill,
though one in ive may
experience mild lu-like
symptoms such as fever,
headache and body aches.
In rare cases, West Nile can
cause what’s known as en-
cephalitis, or inlammation
of the brain. Anyone expe-
riencing severe or unusual
headaches should seek im-
mediate medical care.
Tips to reduce the risk
of exposure to West Nile
include:
• Get rid of old tires or
other containers where
water can accumulate and
serve as a breeding ground
for mosquitoes.
• Flush or replace the
water in horse troughs
weekly.
• Flush or add mosquito
ish to ornamental ponds.
• Avoid outdoor activi-
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Hermiston
50 E Theater Ln
541-289-4480
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
Member FDIC
ties at dusk and dawn, when
mosquitoes are most active.
• Wear long-sleeve shirts
and pants when in mosqui-
to-infested areas.
• Use insect repellent
while outdoors.
• Screen doors and win-
dows.
The West Umatilla
Mosquito Control Dis-
trict will conduct an ae-
rial spraying for mosqui-
toes Saturday evening
between 7:30 and 8 over
approximately
10,000
acres near Diagonal Road
in Hermiston. The opera-
tion should take about an
hour, Gerard said.
To report mosquito in-
festations or dead birds,
Gerard said to call the
district at 541-567-5201.
“We run our program
all year,” he said. “When
the virus elevates like
this, we do a lot more
spraying in the areas that
need it.”
IN BRIEF
Temp agency to
lease space in East
Oregonian building
A Hermiston business
that started in a garage
in November has already
grown out of its irst
home.
Jiovanni Stafing LLC
will be renting the back
ofice of the Hermiston
Herald/East Oregonian
building at 333 E. Main
St. in Hermiston. The
business is a “temp-to-
hire” model that provides
temporary labor to
companies with an eye
on getting employees
permanent placements at
those companies when
an opportunity comes
available.
Jaime Ruelaz said he
named the business after
his son. He and his father
started it last November
with two employees and
one client. Now after
relying solely on word of
mouth and Facebook he
said they have more than
50 employees available
for temp jobs and six
local businesses that use
them. As a result, Ruelaz
said he felt the time was
right to move into a more
legitimate-looking ofice
space and start doing
things like joining the
Chamber of Commerce.
He said the stafing
agency mostly focuses
on factory and warehouse
work. Interested
businesses and employees
can contact Ruelaz at
541-571-9682 or via the
Jiovanni Stafing LLC
Facebook page.
Hermiston boy found
after brief search
Saturday night
Searchers found a miss-
ing 4-year-old boy Satur-
day night north of Herm-
iston.
Umatilla County Sher-
iff Terry Rowan said the
child walked away from
his house on Joy Lane
around 9:30 p.m., but
searchers found him about
an hour later in a ield ap-
proximately half a mile
from home.
“He’s OK,” Rowan
said Saturday, “but a little
cold.”
Rowan said the boy’s
family was having a bar-
becue at their home Satur-
day and left the front gate
open, which they believe
he walked out of.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston reported
two Hermiston oficers
joined the effort, as did Or-
egon State Police troopers
and a LifeFlight helicopter
with an infrared night vi-
sion camera.
Rowan said searchers,
which also included Mor-
row County Sheriff’s Of-
ice, Umatilla and Stanield
Police Departments and an
estimated 100 local citizens,
initially did a grid search of
the neighborhood. He added
that LifeFlight was “pretty
instrumental” in locating the
boy, as were the volunteers
who helped with the search.
“I just really appreciate
the outpouring of support
not only from other agen-
cies, but also the commu-
nity,” Rowan said. “If not
for them who knows what
would’ve happened? It was
a pretty chilly night and the
boy was not dressed for the
weather.”
Stanield oicer to
graduate police course
Stanield’s newest
oficer is about to graduate
from the Oregon Public
Safety Academy, Salem.
Tristan Walker joins
39 other new oficers that
will leave the Oregon
Department of Public
Safety Standards and
Training’s basic police
course on Friday, Sept.
9, to join agencies
throughout the state.
Walker, 27, was a
reserve oficer for several
years and in February
2015 was part of a crew of
volunteer ireighters that
used ropes to rescue a dog
that fell over a 30-foot cliff.