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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2017 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS City approves $6.8 million bonds for EOTEC, water projects, festival street By JADE MCDOWELL Staff writer The Hermiston city council approved issuance of up to $6.8 million in bonds on Monday night, but the city won’t create new taxes to pay for them. The bonds will pay for four separate projects, each with a different revenue stream to pay them off. City manager Byron Smith said that each set of bonds will be accounted for sep- arately, but issuing them at the same time saves tens of thousands of dollars in at- torney fees and is expected to get the city a more favor- able interest rate. Between $1.75 million and $2.15 million will be directed toward con- struction at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center. Smith said local hoteliers had agreed to an additional $1 per room per night tourism promotion assessment to be direct- ed toward paying off the bonds. He said the origi- nal plan was $1.75 million over 15 years, but he is in talks to see if they were willing to extend it to 20 years, which would raise an extra $400,000. Another $1.5 million will go toward creation of a festival street on NE Second Street next to city hall. Assistant city manag- er Mark Morgan said the festival street committee hopes to have a final design to show the council during an April 10 work session. Those bonds will be paid for through the revenue coming into the Urban Re- newal District. Smith said $1.7 million will go toward “smart” wa- ter meters that can be read remotely and alert ratepay- ers of leaks. $1.5 million will help pay for new equip- ment at the recycled water treatment plant that will save the city the expense of draining solid waste from the lagoons. Bonds for both of those projects will be paid for by a series of three 5 percent water and sew- er rate increases starting March 1. On Monday night the council also approved an updated joint management agreement with Umatilla County for land that is out- side city limits but inside the urban growth boundary. They also approved a resolution joining other Oregon cities in requesting that the legislature create a new law restoring recre- ational immunity. The law protects landowners who offer up their land for free recreational use from law- suits arising from injuries, but a recent Oregon Su- preme Court ruling stated that the injured party can still sue employees. Since cities are obligated to pro- tect their employees, cities such as Pendleton have closed some city parks to protect themselves, while Hermiston has stopped a planned skate park. Mayor David Drotz- mann said he visited Salem for Capital Day, and while he got a wonderful recep- tion from local senators and representatives, he did not leave Salem “overly opti- mistic” that much move- ment will be made on the League of Oregon Cities’ legislative priorities such as recreational immunity, property tax reform and PERS reform. “It’s an interesting place we’re in as a state,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of bipartisan movement for anything.” Hermiston asks for fair share of county transportation funds By JADE MCDOWELL Staff Writer Cities that saw their spe- cial transportation funds decrease again this year are questioning the fairness of how that money is allocat- ed. Oregon’s special trans- portation fund gives ciga- rette tax money to counties, transportation districts and tribes to provide transpor- tation for senior and dis- abled residents. In Uma- tilla County, that money is then distributed to cities and nonprofits by recom- mendation of the Special Transportation Advisory Committee. Hermiston assistant city manager Mark Morgan said during the committee’s Feb. 6 meeting, where the committee considered ap- plications for $397,000 in funds for the 2017-2019 bi- ennium, the money was not divided based on a formula that takes into consider- ation factors such as budget or services offered. Instead, the committee gave each applicant the same percent- age of their request. Morgan said it felt like the county’s approach to STF funds is to “throw a sack of money on the table” and tell the committee to give it to whoever it wants. “There’s no rhyme or reason,” he said. Linda Carter, finance di- rector for the city of Pend- leton, expressed the same frustration with making cuts based on what an agen- cy requested instead of the level of service it provides. “Those who shot for the moon got the moon, and those of us who asked for our normal request got STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS The HART (Hermiston Area Regional Transit) bus run by Kayak Public Transit drives down its route on West Moore Avenue in January in Hermiston. less,” she said. Carter said she believes there should be a set for- mula for calculating allot- ments of STF funds, based on things like the number of clients served and the service area’s percentage of senior and disabled res- idents. For the 2017-2019 bi- ennium the committee has recommended the city of Pendleton receive $62,500 per year, the city of Herm- iston $37,500 per year, the city of Milton-Freewater $37,500 per year, Good Shepherd Health Care System $26,000 per year, CAPECO $15,000 per year, Clearview Mediation $15,000 per year, Hermis- ton Senior Center $3,000 per year and Foster Grand- parents $2,000 per year. In 2015 the committee recommended Pendleton receive $90,000, Hermis- ton $32,000, Milton-Free- water $50,000, CAPECO $18,739, Good Shepherd $28,235, Clearview Me- diation $20,138, Hermis- ton Senior Center $3,000 and Foster Grandparents $6,500. Carter and Morgan said that in earlier years some of the nonprofits used to ask for — and receive — sig- nificantly less. County finance director Robert Pahl said the county provides guidelines for the Special Transportation Ad- visory Committee to con- sider in its decision-making process. “There is a coordinat- ed plan that the county put together with public input that has some priorities in it that the committee uses as guidance,” he said. Committee chair Darrin Umbarger said with less money coming in from the state, the committee decid- ed it was only fair to make everyone share the burden of cuts by getting less than they requested. Carter and Morgan ex- pressed concern that two of the three committee mem- bers who were present on Monday to vote on how the money would be distribut- ed were also affiliated with organizations asking for money (Umbarger is CEO of Clearview Mediation and Virginia Beebe is on the Hermiston Senior Cen- ter board). Umbarger said that he and Beebe had someone else give their organiza- tion’s presentation to the committee and recused themselves when it came time to vote on their orga- nization’s application. He said it was important to have people on the commit- tee familiar with programs for transporting senior and disabled residents. Pendleton uses STF funds for a taxi ticket pro- gram that subsidizes rides for senior and disabled res- idents, van transport to the senior meal program, the Care Ride to St. Anthony Hospital, a dial-a-ride bus and a taxi ticket program for the general public. Hermiston uses the money for subsidized taxi tick- ets for senior and disabled residents, while Hermiston Senior Center transports seniors to its meal program and Good Shepherd’s Care- Van offers rides to medical appointments. Milton-Freewater also has a taxi ticket program for senior and disabled residents. CAPECO offers a dial-a-ride program for seniors. Clearview Media- tion uses wheelchair acces- sible vans for a dial-a-ride service for seniors and in- dividuals with disabilities in the Pendleton area. And the Foster Grandparents program based in Pendle- ton reimburses volunteer “grandparents” who mentor elementary school students for their travel. Downtown Stanfield building collapse forces out residents By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN Staff Writer Part of a downtown Stan- field building collapsed Friday afternoon, forcing a restaurant and several rent- ers out indefinitely. The building, at 110 N. Main St., is home to the Blanquita Restaurant and Pupuseria, serving Salva- dorian food, as well as four apartments upstairs. Stanfield City Manager Blair Larsen said Stanfield police and the Umatilla County Fire District 1 re- sponded to the call, and found the entire back side of the building had collapsed. The back area is used for parties and special events, but is not occupied full time, and no one was in that area at the time of collapse. Larsen said an inspection has not been conducted on the building yet, but the fire department suspects the col- lapse was caused by ice and snow on top of the building starting to melt, and leaking into the structure. “The moisture may have weakened the beams,” he said. Larsen said the city has attempted to contact the owners, Antonio and Filber- to Chavez, but has not yet heard back from them. The building has been shut down and a dangerous building ordinance has been placed on the structure barring en- try. In order to lift that ban, Larsen said, the building must be repaired, and has to pass another safety inspec- tion. The restaurant’s oper- ators, Moises Torres and Blanca Orellana, could not be reached for comment by press time, and the number of people living in the build- ing was not known. Interested in a Medical career? Need funds to complete your training? Good Shepherd Com munity Health Foundation medical scholarship applications are now being accepted from qualified local students through February 28th. The Foundation is again p leased to partner with Tualatin Imaging to offer an additional $4,000 in scholarships for students who have expressed interest in pursuing a diagnostic imaging career. Please call 541-667-3419 for requirements and application form. HH FILE PHOTO The EOTEC board of directors met Friday to discuss the staffing and operational needs of the new facility. EOTEC OKs contract for maintenance, talks event center revenue By JADE MCDOWELL Staff Writer The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center board approved a contract Friday for maintenance and janitorial services. The contract is with Mabel Largaespada Dean’s Services, which will provide janitorial ser- vices for $22 per hour per person, and maintenance/ lawn care for $40 per hour per person. The board previously voted to seek out a contractor to handle those services after con- cerns that business man- ager Heather Cannell was devoting time to cleaning bathrooms and setting up tables that she should be spending on marketing the event center. As members of the EOTEC board continue to work on a marketing and operations plan for the project, Cannell and city of Hermiston finance director Amy Palmer have been working on financial reports that give the board a clearer picture of the costs and revenues associ- ated with each event. A report presented Friday of event revenue and direct expenses for those events was not a full picture because it only showed revenue that has actually been received, Palmer said. However, the report showed $26,444 in event revenue since July 1 and $6,779 in direct costs for those events. It did not include general overhead costs for running the event center or personnel costs. Money for marketing EOTEC comes from a $1 per room per night tour- ism promotion assessment on hotels and RV parks in west Umatilla Coun- ty, and the hoteliers last year added a second dol- lar that will be used to pay off construction bonds the city of Hermiston agreed to issue on their behalf. Board chair and city man- ager Byron Smith said the city council will be asked to approve multiple con- struction bonds, including $1.75 million for EOTEC, on Monday. Board member Vijay Patel noted that TPA reve- nue is down slightly from the year before. He said hotel revenue in Hermis- ton has taken a hit in part because an increase in ho- tel rooms in the Tri-Cities has decreased the amount of overflow to Hermiston hotels. On the construction side, John Eckhardt of Knerr Construction pre- dicted they will start breaking ground on the barns on Tuesday, al- though he cautioned that estimate was somewhat dependent on weath- er since there are some surveying activities they can’t do with snow on the ground. In December Eckhardt said they hoped to begin construction by the end of January. Carl Hendon from Hen- don Construction reported that work is going well on the rodeo arena, and he anticipated concrete work would be finished by the end of March so that they can start working on in- stalling things like bleach- ers and pens. In January he reported that weather delays had pushed the project’s ex- pected completion date from June 1 to June 14, but said Friday that since then “we’ve probably ac- tually picked up time.” ihen they say “No More Snow!” and you say “Th e iind iin iill Blow?” 541-567-4063 405 N. 1st St., Suite #107, Hermiston Verna Taylor, HAS Ric Jones, BC-HIS Forrest Cahill, HAS 541-215-1888 246 SW Dorion, Pendleton S T U D EN T O F TH E W EEK Isabelle C hapm an Pendleton High School Isabelle Chapman is a member of National Honor Society as well as FFA (she is an officer) and has participated in Cross Country and Tennis for 4 years at PHS. Isabelle is also a member of the PHS Jazz Band and Symphonic Band. She volunteers a lot of hours with other member of the National Honor Society. She is looked at in FFA and band as a leader and a mentor to the younger students. She leads by example in all her classes and has continued to push herself academically each and every year. Her current academic classes include AP Government, AP Literature, Honors Biology 2 and Spanish 4. All of these are Dual Credit Courses. Isabelle is also planning to attend Linfield College next year. Proudly Sponsored by 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121
