WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
LOCAL NEWS
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
EOTEC still
working on fair,
rodeo contracts
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
Staff Writer
Less than six months re-
main until the start of the
2017 Umatilla County Fair
and Farm-City Rodeo and
construction is progressing
at their new home, but some
operational details have yet to
be worked out.
At the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center board
meeting Friday, Farm-City
board member Mike Kay
raised a concern that a con-
tract between EOTEC and
the rodeo has not yet been
finalized.
“From a history stand-
point, we’ve been waiting
for a year for this,” Kay said,
recalling repeated attempts
to solidify a contract. “We’re
now five months away from
the rodeo, and we still don’t
have any type of a working
agreement.”
He added that the agree-
ment for the rodeo-specific
mercantile building had al-
ready been completed and
a year-long lease had been
signed.
“We have a piece of prop-
erty that we have to start de-
veloping that’ll be at financial
cost to the rodeo,” he said.
“It doesn’t do us any good to
continue to work on the mer-
cantile piece if we don’t have
a working agreement on the
piece of property.”
Byron Smith, who is both
EOTEC board chair and
Hermiston city manager, said
the contract has been delayed
so the fair and rodeo contracts
can be brought before the
board at the same time, but
told Kay and the Farm-City
board to trust in the “good
faith” agreements between
the entities.
“It’s been a little slower
putting together the con-
tract for the fair than for the
rodeo,” Smith said. “We’re
starting to work with them,
and have gone through a first
draft.” He said many people
want to be able to comment
on the agreement before it is
finalized, but that should hap-
pen in March.
The EOTEC board in-
cludes representatives of the
fair, rodeo, city and county.
The board received some
construction updates at the
meeting as well. Smith re-
ported Hendon Construction
is continuing to pour con-
crete walls for the arena de-
spite the cold weather, and
construction has also begun
on ticket booths and sound
EO FILE PHOTO
A three-year mosaic project
created by Highland Hills
fifth grade students was
donated to the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center on Friday.
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
racks. Gravel was scheduled
to be brought in this week,
and Smith said the city is also
paying for the drilling of a
second irrigation well.
The board also discussed
how to handle sponsorship of
the fair and rodeo this year.
Smith noted that in the past
EOTEC has sponsored both
entities, but this year may be a
little different, as both events
will now be on EOTEC prop-
erty.
Both groups said they
would still like EOTEC’s
sponsorship, and will go
through the application pro-
cess.
Smith said EOTEC paid
about $5,000 in sponsorships
for each group last year, and
anticipates EOTEC’s con-
tribution will be similar this
year.
Also at the meeting:
• Hermiston teacher Pat
Temple and Rotary president
Dean Fialka presented a mosa-
ic artwork donation, which de-
picts the Hermiston Butte and
was created by students over
the past three years. The art-
work will hang in the EOTEC
building for the public to enjoy.
• The board announced
a neighborhood meeting at
5:30 p.m. on March 7 where
fair and rodeo representatives
will discuss logistics for the
events including parking,
traffic and noise issues.
• The board discussed the
proposed organizational struc-
ture for EOTEC. At the top of
the chart is the Hermiston City
Council and Umatilla County
Commissioners, followed by
the EOTEC board. The board
oversees the manager, who in
turn is in charge of an admin-
istrative assistant and opera-
tions/maintenance manager.
The board hopes to finalize
this structure at its next meet-
ing, March 10, at 7 a.m.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ra-
makrishnan at 541-564-4534
or jramakrishnan@hermis-
tonherald.com
Irrigon residents show their love for their hometown during the “Irrigon Proud” noise parade, tossing candy to spectators
from their homemade float.
City of Irrigon celebrates 60 years
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
Staff Writer
A pack of ambulances
and sheriff’s cruisers drove
down the streets of Irrigon
Saturday afternoon as part
of the city’s 60th birthday,
kicking off the “Irrigon
Proud” celebration with a
noise parade.
The vehicles, along
with some citizens who
decorated their cars or rode
on bikes alongside, ended
up at City Hall. More than
50 people gathered to hear
the winners of the Irri-
gon poster and essay con-
tests announced, and later
looked at city memorabilia
and gathered for a bonfire
at the Irrigon Marina.
Though cityhood has
only been official since
1957, it has been called
“Irrigon” since 1902 —
combining the words “irri-
gation” and “Oregon.” Cit-
izens listened to historical
anecdotes and memories
from several of the city’s
long-term residents.
Mick Tolar, the prin-
cipal of A.C. Houghton
Elementary School for
30 years, read some notes
on the history of educa-
tion in Morrow County.
The old school building
was destroyed by a fire in
the 1920s, and the Irrigon
school district became a
part of Morrow County
School District in 1959.
“When I joined in 1960,
A.C. Houghton had an en-
rollment of about 150 stu-
dents,” he said.
Janet Park, who grew up
in Irrigon, recalled some
of the changes to the town
from the one she knew
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Mick Tolar, the longtime principal of Irrigon’s A.C. Houghton Elementary, recalls some of
the history of the town during the Irrigon Proud celebration Saturday.
growing up. She grew up
in a house near the town’s
fire station.
“We didn’t have elec-
tricity in that house until
1947,” she said. She re-
members the day they got
running water and a phone
in the house, and some of
the things they did for fun
— exploring meadows and
areas by the river, and slid-
ing down the fire escape
using the waxed paper
used to cover bread.
“We didn’t have plastic
then,” she said.
Park said a highlight
she recalls is meeting Pres-
ident Harry Truman, who
came through Umatilla
County on his whistle-stop
tour in 1948.
“Irrigon was a good
place to grow up,” she said.
“It was pretty simple.”
Marilyn Stewart, a
former teacher at A.C.
Houghton who still lives
in Irrigon, moved there in
1950 when her husband
got a job at the Umatilla
Army Depot. She remem-
bered all the stores and
buildings that were in Irri-
gon when she moved there
— and how many more
there are now.
“How far have we
come?” she asked. “Stop-
lights, sewer system, the
marina, new buildings, a
gas station.”
“It’s been a very inter-
esting journey,” she said.
“There’ve been some ups
and downs, like with any
town. But if all the people
of Irrigon work together,
I’m sure it can be not only
a great city, but one you can
all be proud to call home.”
–——
Contact Jayati Ra-
makrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
hermistonherald.com
City council discusses replacing EOTEC board
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Frustration with prog-
ress on the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center has
the Hermiston City Council
discussing a takeover of the
project.
Councilor John Kirwan
proposed during Monday’s
meeting that the council ask
the Umatilla County Com-
mission — the project’s
other partner — for permis-
sion to become EOTEC’s
acting board until after con-
struction is complete and
the 2017 fair and rodeo are
over. The rest of the council
was less sure of the idea but
agreed that they should dis-
cuss it in a special meeting
with the county commis-
sioners as soon as possible.
Kirwan pointed out that
it had been more than a
month since the county and
city had asked the EOTEC
board to come back with
an operations plan for who
will run the center. The
EOTEC board discussed a
plan on Friday but did not
approve it.
“There’s a lot of over-dis-
cussion and over-planning
and not a lot of action,”
he said, calling EOTEC
“literally and figuratively
bogged down in the mud.”
City Manager Byron
Smith, who also serves as
the EOTEC board chair,
has estimated he spends 20
to 25 percent of his time
on EOTEC. Kirwan said
Smith’s time, along with
“untold hours” from other
staff members, donation
of the 90 acres the project
sits on and other in-kind
donations means the city
is “already doing the heavy
lifting.” He proposed the
council also approve con-
tracts, bids and other EO-
TEC business during a
once-a-month special ses-
sion before their regular
meetings.
Mayor Dave Drotzmann
was skeptical.
When they say “You need a hearing test!”
and you say “I have a hairy chest?”
“So we’re going to ac-
complish more than they’re
accomplishing, in one
hour?” he asked.
“I believe so,” Kirwan
replied.
Drotzmann, who was on
a committee that raised $2
million for the event cen-
ter, said he shared Kirwan’s
frustrations that EOTEC
was not finished earlier and
there was still not an oper-
ations plan in place. But he
said he didn’t think “com-
ing late to the party” would
make things move any fast-
er, considering the depth of
experience with the project
— and the Umatilla County
Fair and Farm-City Pro Ro-
deo — that current EOTEC
board members have.
City attorney Gary Luisi
said there would have to be
a rewrite of the intergov-
ernmental agreement with
Umatilla County that the
county would have to ap-
prove. Luisi also comment-
ed that it would be “diffi-
cult” because partners like
the fair, rodeo and hoteliers
who are used to having a
seat on the board would
want to see their interests
protected.
Councilor Doug Smith
said he was concerned
about how the move would
be perceived, while Doug
Primmer said he worried
about delays while paper-
work was adjusted and ev-
erything was legally trans-
ferred to the council.
“I think it would bring a
lot of that stuff to a grinding
halt,” he said.
Rod Hardin said he
thought that whatever hap-
pened, there needed to be
more conversation with the
county.
“The two of us are a
team,” he said.
“The other half of the
team needs to show up,”
councilor Jackie Myers re-
plied.
Kirwan agreed with My-
ers that it didn’t feel like the
county was placing enough
importance on EOTEC,
and the city needed to push
them to step up.
When asked what he
thought about the proposal,
city manager Smith replied
that EOTEC is a “compli-
cated thing.”
“I would be a little leery
of the concept,” he said.
At councilors request,
however, he said he would
set up a meeting with the
county to discuss it. He
also said he would try to
push the EOTEC board to
move faster on decisions
such as the lease with the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo,
which rodeo board mem-
ber Mike Kay said during
Friday’s EOTEC meeting
was still not completed af-
ter a year of waiting for it
to be done.
Smith said he did still
believe that the project will
be able to host the 2017
fair and rodeo. Contractors
broke ground on the barns
last week.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Photo, Left to right:
Verna Taylor, HAS
Ric Jones, BC-HIS
Forrest Cahill, HAS
541-567-4063 • 405 N. 1st St., Suite #107, Hermiston
541-215-1888 • 246 SW Dorion, Pendleton
