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
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