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.
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