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
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