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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2017)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2017 FROM PAGE A1 UMATILLA: continued from Page A1 STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL Matt Tsui makes a collage about his favorite parts of Umatilla during an open house event Friday. BOND: District representatives also discussed some of the hazards of continuing to take money out of the gen- eral fund. Hermiston School Board chair Karen Sher- man said the main thing the school’s general fund pays for is personnel — and that it can’t address any capital improvement projects. Currently the district uses about 34 modulars as classrooms, and could see an increase to about 56 in the next few years if the district populations contin- ue to increase at projected rate. “Every time we drag a modular onto campus, it takes money out of our general fund,” said board member Josh Goller, who is also the chair of the bond’s Political Action continued from Page A1 “There have been two community-based commit- tees that looked at all those options,” said Katie Saul, district director of busi- ness services, in response to Weigum’s comments. “Those are options we have (considered). But at this point, the bond is the best option.” Another audience mem- ber, who was there repre- senting local construction companies, said he would support the bond. “Do I like to pay more taxes? No,” he said. “But you do what you have to.” Several district employ- ees and board members were present at the meeting to answer questions. Committee. “It’s not a vi- able long-term solution for the district.” District officials said the expanded high school would have 14 new class- rooms, which would offer space for increased career technical education classes. Hermiston Mayor Da- vid Drotzmann, who is on the Political Action Com- mittee for the bond, said the community has always been supportive of its schools. “As a community, we need to make decisions about how we want to edu- cate our kids,” he said. “My kids are no longer in school, but other people helped me support them when they were,” he said. “I’m doing that for the next generation.” The district has con- Voss said the plan might focus on the Sixth Street area, but the group wants to tie the best parts of Umatilla to downtown and help the community be more cohe- sive. They plan to follow the open house up with focus groups and in- terviews that reach out to various demographics in the community Amber Ayers, project manager, said the students have been work- ing with city staff to look at what work has already been done, and they got an extensive tour of the city. “I spent my morning walking around Umatilla, taking photos,” she said. “What a beautiful site.” One of the stations that people were encouraged to stop at on Fri- day was a large map of the city, where stickers were available to place on favorite locations. “Definitely the marina park is a popular choice,” technical lead Sam Roberts said, pointing to the map. “We have Java Junkies, and we’ve got a lot of runners marking the trail.” Umatilla resident Tina Ridings said she attended Friday’s event because she is “highly vested in the community.” She said some people have a negative perception of Umatilla. ducted several surveys to gauge community support for the bond. The most recent survey, in Octo- ber 2016, showed that 46 percent of likely voters “We are so much more,” she said. “Robotics has put us on the map. Our after-school programs are used as a model for the nation.” City councilor Mark Ribich was one of several city officials who attended. He said he was pleased with the event’s turnout and hoped the Portland State students were able to get “mass involvement” as they work on their revitalization plan over the next few months. “This is going to happen,” he said. “We are going to make changes to downtown one way or another, so we want it to be some- thing the community wants.” At the March 7 city council meeting, the council approved a contract with the students, all pur- suing a master’s degree in urban and regional planning, making the relationship official. City manag- er Russ Pelleberg said the group, under the name Confluentis Plan- ning, is the only group of students that chose a city in Eastern Oregon to focus on. He said their work will dovetail with downtown revi- talization work that he and Ribich have been doing, and with a future community development depart- ment. “We’re pretty excited about it,” he said. —— Contact Jade McDowell at jmc- dowell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536. supported the bond, 48 op- posed it, and six percent were undecided. Voters will decided whether to approved the bonds in the May 16 elec- tion. ——— Contact Jayati Ra- makrishnan at 541-564- 4534 or jramakrishnan@ eastoregonian.com RDO WORKS for any task on every property. 1025R SUB-COMPACT TRACTOR 150 $ * /MONTH L i t t le D a r l i n gs ! This special section will be fi lled with photos of and messages for adorable little darlings from Umatilla County. Families will want to keep this special keepsake for their child and family for years to come. 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