Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Poll shows support waining City to hold off on natural gas utility for proposed school bond By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Hermiston School Board considers how to approach bond, voters By ANTONIO SIERRA Staff Writer The closer the Herm- iston School District gets to committing to a cam- paign for a $104 million bond, the less Hermiston residents seem interested in passing it. On Monday, the Herm- iston School Board dis- cussed the findings of a new public survey, which collected findings from 373 registered voters be- tween Oct. 3-7, a major- ity of whom were active in three or four of the last elections. Prepared by The Nel- son Report, a public opin- ion research firm based out of Salem, the survey revealed that 48 percent of respondents opposed the bond proposal versus 46 percent in favor. This is a flip from a survey in May, when 47 percent of respondents supported the bond and 43 percent didn’t. Furthermore, the amount of people sur- veyed who were unde- cided dipped from 10 percent in May to 6 per- cent in October. The most recent survey’s margin of error is 5 percent. Despite the change in attitude, Superintendent Fred Maiocco urged the board not to be intimi- dated by the numbers, es- pecially considering that surveys before a 2008 bond showed public sup- port between 50-52 per- cent before it passed with more than 53 percent. “Whether it’s the pres- idential cycle, the state attention to the ballots or it’s this specific is- sue (people) are con- cerned about, we have a little more opposition,” he said. “We have to be aware of that, but it’s not out of bounds by any means.” To help accommodate the district’s skyrocket- ing enrollment, school officials are considering asking voters to approve adding another 86 cents per assessed $1,000 in property value to fund a number of capital proj- ects, including a Herm- iston High School ex- pansion, a new parking lot at Sandstone Middle School, and new elemen- tary schools at Rocky Heights, Highland Hills and the district’s Theater Lane property. Although an over- whelming majority agreed that schools were overcrowded which ad- versely affects the quality of education, 34 percent said they opposed the bond because taxes were already too high and 18 percent said they were opposed because the dis- trict was asking for too much money. There are some silver linings tucked into the re- port for the board. Support for the bond increased if the district emphasized that the bond would protect the com- munity’s investment, receive review from a citizen accountability committee, save the dis- trict money by making the new buildings more energy efficient, increase student safety, and be designed to ensure new residents would also con- tribute their tax money toward the projects. Maiocco was also heartened that the sur- vey showed more people were open to an 86-cent or 90-cent bond rate than were against it. “Cost is not the issue,” he said. “It’s all about the reasoning for the cost.” At 63 percent, there was strong support among the respondents to replace Rocky Heights while the Highland Hills, Sandstone and high school projects had slim leads within the margin of error. The least popular proj- ects were a new elemen- tary school on Theater Lane, with 47 percent say- ing it was a high priority and 49 percent marking it as a low priority, and only 40 percent of respondents said buying new property for future growth was a high priority. Maiocco noted that the 47 percent of respon- dents who opposed the bond was significant- ly higher than either of the 2008 surveys and the board would have to build a “robust” politi- cal action committee to court the 6 percent of voters who could still be persuaded. “This is by no means in the bag,” he said. Director of Opera- tions Mike Kay also gave the board a short presentation on the sta- tus of the old fairgrounds and senior center, both of which are now owned by the district. According to Kay, the fairgrounds should be vacated by Dec. 31, 2016 and the rodeo arena and the senior center should be vacated by June 1, 2017. Demolition of the se- nior center is scheduled for July 2017 and is ex- pected to be completed by March 1, 2018. The city of Hermiston has everything it needs to start its own natural gas utility, but will wait until the right opportunity comes along. The consensus during a work session on Monday night was that the required investment of $4-6 million to run a transmission line out to the industrial area south of Hermiston would only be worth it if it guar- anteed a major employer would set up shop in Herm- iston. Unless that happens, the City Council agreed with staff, the investment would probably not be worth the risk. “We’re currently sitting in a situation where we’re ready to go whenever need- ed,” Hermiston Energy Ser- vices Superintendent Nate Rivera told the council. He said if a large-scale natural gas user approached the city and promised to build on the Cook Indus- trial Site, near the intersec- tion of SE Kelli Blvd. and Feedville Road, and invest in the municipal gas utility, it would take about a year for that user to have the natural gas at their disposal. Considering it would prob- ably take that long for the company to construct their facility, “we’re as prepared as we can be,” Rivera said. The city first considered the idea of creating its own natural gas utility after a disagreement with Cascade Natural Gas in 2014. Du- Pont Pioneer had to halt a multi-million dollar expan- sion in Hermiston because Cascade Natural Gas told them the infrastructure needed to serve the expan- sion would cost $450,000 but later came back and said there had been a math- ematical error and reinforc- ing the pipeline would actu- ally cost $2.3 million. Then-City Manager Ed Brookshier recommend- ed at the time that the city look into forming its own natural gas utility instead of paying for upgrades to a company’s infrastructure that would then be owned by that company instead of the city. The city later suc- cessfully defended its right to do so in court. Rivera, who has been researching the option, said that the city’s best op- tion would be to connect to TransCanada’s mainline that runs near Stanfield and run a transmission line of its own down Highway 395. It would also need to construct a gate station and odorizer where the city’s line connected to Tran- sCanada’s line. The pro- cess would cost $4 million to $6 million and not count the distribution pipes to individual industrial prop- erties, the staff time to run the small utility and the contract with a company to respond to gas leaks. Rivera said he has devel- oped a request for qualifica- tions for an engineer, iden- tified a company that could perform maintenance and inspections, made arrange- ments with TransCanada and done everything else necessary to pave the way for a future Hermiston Gas Utility Department. City Manager Byron Smith told the council that he felt it “wouldn’t be wise” to just build the infrastruc- ture and hope it attracted a future industrial user that could help with the debt payments. Instead, he said, it would be better to only go forward if it guaranteed a large employer who could help “stabilize the system” up front. Councilor John Kirwan said even if that is the case, he was glad that the city could tell a potential de- veloper that the natural gas could be ready in a year if they needed it. “The time we’ve spent getting to this point is not wasted,” he said. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at 541-564-4536. 2005 Ford Mustang. Francisco Ramirez, 27, of Stanfield, was driving the Mustang, according to state police. Ramirez and Ammons were the only people in their vehicles and both died at the scene. A dog, though, was in the Honda and suffered an inju- ry. The animal was taken for treatment to the Hermiston Veterinary Clinic, 1995 S. Highway 395, Hermiston. State authorities closed the freeway for about four- and-half hours so emergen- cy workers could free the bodies and for the crash in- vestigation and removal of debris. State police also report- ed troopers think the Honda Ridgeline entered the free- way the wrong way at the Highway 730 interchange near milepost 168. The agency asked witnesses who saw the vehicle trav- eling the wrong way prior to the crash to contact the Oregon State Police Pend- leton Area Command at 541-278-4090. IN BRIEF Head-on crash kills two near Boardman A Stanfield man was one of two victims killed Monday night in a head-on crash near Boardman. The deadly wreck hap- pened around 7:30 p.m. on Interstate 84 near milepost 167, Oregon State Police reported Tuesday, when Clifford Ammons, 77, of Reedsport, drove a 2009 Honda Ridgeline west- bound in the eastbound lane and smashed head-on into a G R E G WA L D E N . CO M Greg Walden: DELIVERING FOR OREGON ALL NEW 2017 CAMRYS IN STOCK $ 3,000 OFF MSRP ALL MODELS! LE • SE • XLE • XSE Ensuring our Veterans Get the Care and Benefits They Have Earned and Deserve Growing Jobs and Solving Problems in Our Rural Communities STK #17T002. EXCLUDES TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICE SPECIAL FINANCING. $2,000 CUSTOMER CASH. $1,000 ROGERS DISCOUNT. PLUS TAX, TITLE AND $75 DOC FEE. ON APPROVED CREDIT. DOES NOT INCLUDE MILITARY OR COLLEGE REBATE. DRIVE A NEW 2016 COROLLA LE AUTOMATIC $ 159 MO WITH ONLY $999 DRIVEAWAY BACKUP CAMERA • BLUETOOTH • POWER PACKAGE Fighting for Better Management of Our Forests and Access to Our Public Lands Reducing the Government’s Spending and Debt STK #16T480. MSRP $19,795. CAP COST $18,783. $1,000 LEASE CASH PROVIDED BY TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. 36 MO/12K MILES PER YEAR LEASE. ON APPROVED CREDIT. PLUS TAX, TITLE AND $75 DOC FEE. ON APPROVED CREDIT. LEV $11,880. $999 DRIVE OFF. DOES NOT INCLUDE MILITARY OR COLLEGE REBATE. DRIVE A NEW 2017 RAV4 AWD LE $ 249 MO NUMBER 1 SMALL SUV! Vote Greg Walden for Congress www.GregWalden.com PAID FOR BY WALDEN FOR CONGRESS, INC. STK #17T4063. MSRP $28,213. CAP COST $27,464. 36 MO/12K MILES PER YEAR LEASE. ON APPROVED CREDIT. PLUS TAX, TITLE AND $75 DOC FEE. ON APPROVED CREDIT. LEV $18,380. $2,999 DRIVE OFF. DOES NOT INCLUDE MILITARY OR COLLEGE REBATE. FOR ALL OFFERS: NO SECURITY DEPOSIT REQUIRED. A DOCUMENTARY SERVICE FEE OF $75 MAY BE ADDED TO VEHICLE PRICE OR CAPITALIZED COST. DOES NOT INCLUDE TAXES, LICENSE, TITLE, PROCESSING FEES, INSURANCE AND DEALER CHARGES. SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. OFFERS VALID THROUGH 10-31-16.
