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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Trott resigns as Action groups looking to Umatilla mayor give downtown a jump start whom Pelleberg had sent a letter of discipline to. Trott Umatilla Mayor David said he was also in contact Trott has resigned, citing ir- with citizens who had alleged reconcilable differences with unethical behavior by some city employees that he was the city council. Trott has been at odds with attempting to look into. At the following city other city leaders since Janu- ary, when he called a special council meeting on Feb. 7, executive session to city councilor Mel discuss the perfor- Ray asked for an ex- ecutive session to be mance of city manager added to the end of Russ Pelleberg and the the meeting to discuss city council chose to Trott’s performance. take no action on his Trott denied the re- concerns. In a lengthy quest, saying that the resignation email sent to the council March David public needed prior no- Trott 1, Trott accused the tice, and requested that council of putting “its councilors’ concerns collective head in the sand” about him be aired in an open and trying to quash any public session on March 7. discussion of problems Uma- Later, after receiving emails from councilors crit- tilla faces. “Attitudes like this show a icizing his request to have disdain and lack of respect for the discussion in public, Trott the public that the Mayor and withdrew his request for an Council represent,” he wrote. open session. The city also “Our ‘public’ are not going canceled a planned Feb. 21 to shrivel and melt away be- executive session for Pel- cause of an open and honest leberg’s annual review. In his resignation letter public discourse between the Trott criticized councilors’ Mayor and Council.” The council met in execu- suggestions that it would be tive session on Jan. 25 at the “political suicide” for the city request of Trott. Trott told the if the council had the discus- East Oregonian before the sion about Trott in open ses- meeting that he felt Pelleberg sion. “We, the collective Coun- had lied on his job application when he first applied to work cil (Councilors and Mayor) for the city as public works asked for the public’s trust by electing us to office,” he director in 2013. Pelleberg wrote that his wrote. “We took an oath to reason for leaving Columbia represent and serve the pub- Irrigation District in 2012 was lic, and to uphold local, state “elimination of position.” The and federal laws. We are not assistant manager position he above the public, we are here left has not been refilled to to serve the public, and I fear this day, but public records that some of our Council has show the district’s board vot- either lost sight, or never had ed to terminate Pelleberg for sight, of that obligation. We unsatisfactory performance. should not be ‘transparent’ Trott also felt that Pelleberg because it is some word of should have been more forth- the time, we should be trans- coming about the fact that the parent because it is the only institution where his bach- means by which the public elor’s and master’s degrees knows that we are properly are from — Breyer State conducting ‘their’ business, University — is an unaccred- for the good of ‘their’ com- ited online company that has munity.” Trott said he would take been labeled a “diploma mill” by the Alabama Community his concerns to the state ethics commission, and his resigna- College System. Trott also said he was call- tion was effective immediately. ——— ing the meeting to discuss Contact Jade McDowell concerns about Pelleberg’s jmcdowell@eastorego- interactions with city plan- at ning director Bill Searles, nian.com or 541-564-4536. By JADE McDOWELL By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Staff Writer If Main Street is con- sidered the heart of a com- munity, then Hermiston is rolling up its sleeves and preparing for some CPR. Downtown stakehold- ers met this week to form five action groups ready to tackle challenges they feel Hermiston’s downtown dis- trict faces. “Hermiston has a lot of potential, but there is defi- nitely some room to take some action,” Main Street coordinator Emma Porrico- lo said. Porricolo, who is part- way through a year-long stint as a RARE (Resource Assistance for Rural Envi- ronments) student for the city of Hermiston, told the group that interviews with downtown business own- ers, managers and prop- erty owners had shown five major challenges that stakeholders believe need addressed in order to help downtown thrive. Those challenges are a shortage of retail and restaurants, a perceived lack of parking, a need for building upkeep and ren- ovation, a need for beau- tification and a shortage of downtown events and activities. Some of those prob- lems are already being addressed in disparate ways by groups like the Hermiston Downtown District and the city. First Thursday events at the be- ginning of each month are now a fixture, for exam- ple, and shoppers drawn to Main Street businesses this Thursday were a sign that the effort is paying off. Kathy Lowe was there for First Thursday, and said she sees signs that downtown is already being revitalized from where it was a few years ago. “This is my first time, and I think it’s great to kind of help getting to know downtown,” she said. She had just come from Two96 Main, a fairly new pop-up market she hadn’t STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS The Hermiston downtown stakeholders are attempting to tackle challenges confronting Main Street like enticing more retail and restaurant businesses. known about before. She said she would definitely be back. Although some individ- ual efforts are bearing fruit, Tuesday’s meeting was a chance to talk about a larger vision for downtown, and about how to leverage all the available resources to get there. Sheri Stuart, Oregon Main Street Coordinator, kicked off the meeting with a presentation of ideas oth- er communities had found success with. She said while downtown businesses may be small individually, as a collective group they are a major employer in town. The health of downtown is also something that large compa- nies consider when choosing a community to build in. “If downtown isn’t clean and healthy and attractive and offering lots of services, they have other places they can be,” she said. Later, attendees broke into groups to discuss ways to make some of Stuart’s suggestions work in Herm- iston. Umatilla County plan- ning director Tamra Mab- bott facilitated the restau- rant and retail group, which was the most pop- ular table of the night. She said they discussed the need to create “syner- gy” through features like outdoor seating and sand- wich boards, and events like a Food Cart Friday. They also came up with a list specific businesses the city should work to re- cruit downtown that would draw more people. “We really need an ice cream shop,” she said. In the “parking prob- lems” group, members dis- cussed erecting wayfinding signs to help visitors easily find the parking lots avail- able for free public use. They also discussed ways to encourage employees to park in under-utilized lots instead of taking up prime spots directly in front of other businesses. While Hermiston’s downtown hosts a few very large events each year, the events group discussed ways to use the city’s planned festival street as an opportunity for small- er, more regular events like the farmer’s market to draw people downtown. Casi White of Simmons Insurance Group said she would bring her children downtown for something like a splash fountain or a children’s museum. On the beautification side, group members discussed a marketing campaign for the city’s bench and trash recepta- cle sponsorship program, which could result in more wrought-iron benches and trash receptacles down- town. They also identified 14 light poles that could be used for hanging flower baskets, and expressed a desire to create a gather- ing place in the large brick courtyard off Main Street by adding a water feature, benches and a Little Free Library. The renovation and up- keep group talked about pursuing more effective façade grants and creating a window decorating contest. Porricolo asked group members to exchange con- tact information, discuss who they could recruit to their action group and set a follow-up meeting. Com- munity members can con- tact Porricolo at city hall if they want to get involved. “It seems like there are some really great ideas to get things going in down- town and that’s exciting,” she said. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at 541-564-4536. Kiwanis Club celebrating its 10-year anniversary By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer The Echo Kiwanis Club is celebrating its 10th anni- versary next week. By some standards the club is small — a little over 20 members at any given time — but in a town of 700, it has an unusually high per-capita rate. Mike Duffy, club pres- ident, said people seemed to want to join Kiwanis Club in Echo to serve their community and network with others. “The basics are to find people who want to be in- volved in things and ask them to join, and then treat them respectfully, as vol- unteers deserve to be treat- ed,” he said. As the service club cel- ebrates a decade in Echo, Duffy said several of its charter members are still active in the club. Right now they meet the first and third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Ma- sonic Lodge, but they are discussing a return to their roots by meeting at the But- tercreek Coffeehouse and Mercantile, which opens for business Friday. The club’s original meetings 10 years ago were held in the building, back when it was the Red Express. The Echo Kiwanis Club runs Chester’s Food Pan- try, named after the late Chet Prior after he showed up to a meeting and an- nounced the club needed to reduce hunger in Echo. The pantry gives food box- es to dozens of families in the small community each month. The club also helps with events like the Red 2 Red bicycle race, and hosted an Oktoberfest celebration last year to raise money for restoration of the his- torical St. Peter’s Catholic Church, built in 1913. “It’s not used as a church anymore, but it’s a real dear landmark,” Duffy said. Echo Kiwanis raises about $7,000 per year for scholarships for local stu- dents and volunteered to run the city’s annual car show this year and do- nate the proceeds to Echo School. Students from the school’s mechanics pro- gram usually run the show as a fundraiser, but the program is taking a year off due to construction at the school and Duffy said Kiwanis Club members didn’t want to see the “ball drop.” The club also runs the BUG program, which stands for “bringing up grades.” Duffy said they look at grades partway through the year and then provide an ice cream so- cial and prizes for students who manage to raise their grades. “It’s a really simple program, but it works,” he said. The Echo Kiwanis Club is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a dinner party on March 16 at Sno Road Winery, catered by H&P Cafe and featuring a speech by past Kiwan- is International president Sylvester Neal. There will be no-host wine and beer starting at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m. Cost is $20 and attendees must RSVP to Duffy (541-379-4880) by Thursday, March 9. Contact Jade McDow- ell at jmcdowell@eastore- gonian.com or 541-564- 4536. They’re your dreams. 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