Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 Herald Business City supports transportation package, crime lab BRIEFCASE Latino Business Network hosts resource fair An informational forum to connect people to employers and services in our region is planned in Hermiston. The Latino Business Net- work is hosting the Commu- nity Agricultural Workers and Employers Resource Fair. The free event is Wednesday, March 8, from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Hermiston Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395. A free dinner will be served by Fiesta Foods. Vendor applications are available at the conference center or www.hermiston- chamber.com. For more in- formation, call the chamber at 541-567-6151. Workforce board offers help Money is available to manufacturing and health care companies in Eastern Oregon to assist with retrain- ing current employees. The Eastern Oregon Workforce Board has ded- icated $40,000 through the Incumbent Worker Training Program. This could include training in new or advanced skills that enable an employ- ee to multi-task or be more Follow us on Twitter @HermistonHerald productive. The program is limited to businesses in the manufac- turing or health care sectors. Priority is given to applicants who demonstrate that funding could assist them in avoiding a layoff, downsizing or clo- sure, or would provide reten- tion opportunities by upgrad- ing employee skills as a result of the training. For more information, call Tara Bishop at 541-278-5688. For more about the Eastern Oregon Workforce Board, visit www.eowb.org. Nominations open for assistant award The Hermiston Chamber of Commerce is seeking nom- inations for the administrative professional of the year. People are encouraged to nominate their administra- tive assistant to be recognized during a special Administra- tive Professionals Day Lun- cheon. The event is Tuesday, April 25 at 11:45 a.m. at the Hermiston Conference Cen- ter. Tickets are $20 each or a table of eight for $140. In ad- dition to all nominees Nominations are due by Fri- day, April 14. For more infor- mation, contact 541-567-6151, info@hermistonchamber.com. By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer The Hermiston City Council voiced its support for a state transportation funding package Monday with an official resolution urging the legislature to pass one. The council also threw its support behind fund- ing to keep the Oregon State Police crime lab in Pendleton open and fund- ing detectives on the Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotics Team. Mayor Dave Drotz- mann said the Legisla- ture has been promising a transportation package for a couple of years now, so it would be great to finally see it happen. The full list of ma- jor road projects the city would like to tackle car- ries a bill of about $43 million. The city’s annual budget for street projects is about $300,000 a year. “We need some help,” Drotzmann said. One of the first projects the city would like to take on is a $7 million over- haul of North First Place between Highland Avenue and Elm Avenue. Assis- tant city manager Mark Morgan said the project would include widening the road, putting in side- walks, adding turn lanes and installing traffic sig- nals where First Place intersects with Highland Avenue and Orchard Av- enue. When school gets out for the day or for lunch both intersections are highly congested, some- times to the point that they block emergency vehicles trying to leave the fire sta- tion. The city would also like to extend Gettman Road on the southern side of town so that it connects to Highway 395. The road currently ends at First Place, but extending it would create another path to Highway 395 for resi- dents on the south side of town, relieving conges- tion on Highland Avenue. “As we continue to grow to the south we need to look at how to provide additional connection from Highway 207 to Highway 395,” Morgan said. The project would cost $2.5 million, Morgan said, not including the cost to pave the portion of Gett- man that already exists. A third major project the city would like to ac- complish using transpor- tation package dollars would be realignment of Harper Road, Geer Road and First Place where they create a confusing three- way stop stretching across the railroad tracks. The project would cost $1.5 million. “It’s a mess,” Morgan said of the intersection,” but obviously it’s a chal- lenge due to the alignment of the railroad and the roadway.” Other projects on the city’s to-do list include widening 10th Street near Sandstone Middle School and Highland Hills El- ementary School for $8 million, building a bridge to connect Punkin Center to Interstate 82 for $15 million, improving Sec- ond Street’s connection to Highway 395 near the Hermiston Conference Center for $2 million and developing a new road in the city’s industrial area for $3 million. Those projects won’t happen without state or federal funding. Without state funding the area will also lose three drug detectives on the BENT task force and the entire forensics lab in Pendleton. Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said that if the crime lab in Pendleton closes, forc- ing law enforcement in Eastern Oregon to use the one in Portland, it will take longer for evi- dence to travel back and forth from the lab, lon- ger for that evidence to be processed, longer for analysts to come out to testify at trials and longer for them to drive out to Eastern Oregon and col- lect evidence from major crime scenes. “A lot of people already believe justice is slow,” he said. “Stand by if the fo- rensics lab closes, because it will get even slower.” Drotzmann said Gov- ernor Kate Brown’s pro- posal to close the lab was an example of her acting against Eastern Oregon. He said if the state takes such a valuable resource away it will “speak poor- ly” to lawmakers’ treat- ment of Oregonians on the eastern side of the state. Contact Jade Mc- Dowell at jmcdowell@ eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.
