WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
NEWS
Council raises franchise fees
to pay for street projects
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Hermiston residents will
see an increase in some bills
after the City Council voted
to increase franchise fees.
The fees are part of an
agreement that various com-
panies selling electricity,
natural gas, cable television,
telephone landlines and inter-
net have made with the city in
exchange for placing cables
and wires in the city’s right of
way. The money from the fee
increase will be dedicated to
the street department.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan estimated the
increases — in most cases
from 3 percent to 5 percent
— will increase the average
Hermiston resident’s elec-
tric bill by about $1.70 per
month. Other impacts are
harder to estimate, he said,
because not all households
pay for things like cable or
natural gas, but it should av-
erage out to about $2.36 a
month per resident for every-
thing else combined.
The total impact will be
about $48.72 per year for the
average Hermiston resident.
The move will raise an
estimated $413,000 per year
for street projects. Current-
ly the city’s total budget for
street improvements is about
$200,000 per year. At that
rate, Morgan said, it would
take the city 59 years to com-
plete its top seven capital
improvement projects if it
stopped spending money on
any maintenance.
“Obviously, with inflation
as it is, we would never actu-
ally catch up,” he said.
With the extra money
from the franchise fees, in
addition to an anticipated
$400,000 a year from the gas
tax increase passed by the
legislature this summer, Mor-
gan said that timeline shrinks
to more like 11 years.
The city’s five-year capital
improvement plan for streets,
which the city council also
passed Monday, outlines those
projects that will be a priority.
During the 2018-2019 fiscal
year the city plans to realign
the confusing three-way inter-
section at Harper Road, Geer
Road and North First Place
behind Home Depot at a cost
of about $1.25 million.
Other top projects in-
clude major maintenance
work around Newport Park,
paving the unpaved portions
of Theater Lane, widening
North First Place, redesign-
ing the intersections of High-
land Avenue and North First
Place by the high school and
Orchard Avenue and North
First Place by the fire station,
paving and extending West
Gettman Road and widening
East 10th Street.
Franchise fee money will
also go toward maintenance
of current streets, such as a
grind and overlay of Herm-
iston Avenue planned for
the coming fiscal year. City
councilors said they don’t
like raising rates on Herm-
iston residents, but they also
feel a need to make sure
Hermiston’s streets are main-
tained and that its street sys-
tem can accommodate the
city’s growth.
“If you don’t keep it up,
you have to replace it, and
that’s much more expen-
sive,” council member Jackie
Myers said.
Another council member,
Doug Smith, said he recently
hit a pothole on a county road
that cost him more in pay-
ments to Les Schwab Tires
than paying increased fran-
chise fees will cost.
Not everyone was on
board with the fee increase.
Resident Cyndie Traner said
utility payments were already
too expensive for residents,
and questioned why the city
council could raise those fees
without a vote of the citizens.
“I personally don’t want
to have any increase in my
utilities,” she said.
Steven Gerber, senior
manager of government
relations for Charter Com-
munications, said the fee
increase would not come
out of Charter’s pocket, but
will be passed directly on to
customers. He questioned
the legality of the council’s
actions, particularly con-
cerning a separate ordinance
that allowed the city to start
charging franchise fees on
Charter’s internet and phone
services instead of just the
fees on cable it had previous-
ly been paying.
“Fees are imposed to re-
cover costs, taxes are to raise
revenue,” he said. “It seems
clear this is to raise revenue.”
Rich Lorenz, the city’s
utilities attorney from Cable
Huston, said the language in
the ordinance matched lan-
guage that the Oregon Su-
preme Court recently upheld
in a legal battle between the
city of Eugene and Comcast.
In the end the City Coun-
cil voted on a series of reso-
lutions raising franchise fees
on Umatilla Electric Cooper-
ative, Cascade Natural Gas,
Charter Communications,
Eastern Oregon Telecom,
EZ Wireless, Inland Devel-
opment Corporation, Wind-
wave Communications and
M2 Machmedia.
It also passed a resolution
allowing the city to charge
franchise fees on Charter’s
internet and phone offerings,
a resolution dedicating 33
percent of all franchise fees
to the street department, and a
resolution adopting the city’s
five-year capital improvement
plan for street improvements.
The increase will come
into effect Oct. 1 for Umatilla
Electric Cooperative and Jan.
1 for other companies.
Fire damages Umatilla hotel
HERMISTON HERALD
Umatilla’s
Tillicum
Inn was heavily damaged
Wednesday, Sept. 6, by fire.
The hotel, located at
1481 Sixth Street, was the
scene of hours of active fire-
fighting and mop-up by fire
departments from through-
out the region, including
those as far away as Pend-
leton.
The exact cause of the
fire was not immediately
known. But around 12:30
p.m., Umatilla Police Chief
Darla Huxel said it was
thought to have been related
to maintenance work.
“They were working on
a water line, or doing some
soldering,” Huxel said.
She said she did not
know if the person doing
the maintenance work was
an employee of the inn.
Huxel and other Umatilla
police officers directed traf-
fic as crews from Umatilla
Fire Department battled the
fire. They received mutual
aid from Umatilla County
Fire District 1 and Echo Ru-
ral Fire Department, Pend-
leton Fire Department and
others.
Five or six people were
staying in the motel at the
time and were evacuated.
Inn manager Josephine Ke-
pich said she did not know
details about what hap-
pened, and couldn’t com-
ment until she could get in
touch with the owner.
Outside the hotel, em-
ployees were discussing
how to re-house their guests.
The hotel has an annex be-
hind the main building.
A Hermiston native is
among sixteen individuals
nominated by President
Donald Trump to federal
judgeships.
Ryan Bounds was nom-
inated to serve as a judge
on the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals. Bounds, a 1991
graduate of Hermiston High
School, currently serves as
an assistant U.S. Attorney
for the District of Oregon,
prosecuting criminal cas-
es. He has also served as a
special assistant U.S. Attor-
ney for the District of Co-
lumbia. Prior to working at
the national level, Bounds
practiced commercial law
for Stoel Rives LLP, a Port-
land firm. Bounds studied
psychology and political
science at Stanford Uni-
versity before earning his
juris doctor from Yale Law
School.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden,
who serves Oregon’s sec-
ond congressional district,
applauded the nomination
in a statement.
“The President’s nom-
ination of Ryan Bounds to
serve on the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals is wel-
come news for rural Ore-
gon,” Walden said. “Ryan
has never lost touch with
his roots and understands
well the way of life in our
communities.”
Walden noted the influ-
ence federal court decisions
can have on life at the lo-
cal level, such as Columbia
River hydro-power opera-
tions and issues of federal
land management.
“Ryan’s deep roots in
rural Oregon, respect for
tradition, precedent and
THREE MINUTES WITH ...
JACLYN JENKINS
Umatilla County Chief Deputy District Attorney
When and why did you move to Hermiston?
I moved to Hermiston when I was 10, because my sis-
ter and I moved in with our aunt, who was a teacher
here. I left for college (Whitman College in Walla Wal-
la, Washington) and then law school (Hofstra Univer-
sity School of Law in Hempstead, N.Y.). I came back
after law school because I missed my home, and also
because I wanted to practice law and give back to the
community that had given an awful lot to me.
What is your favorite place to eat in Hermiston?
La Palma! I can’t wait until it opens again!
What do you like to do in your spare time?
When I have spare time, I have two dogs that I love to
take up into the mountains. We try to get a good hike in
every weekend. I love Zumba, and do it as frequently as
I can! I try to run when I can. I also like visiting friends,
traveling, going to concerts and working in my garden.
What surprises you about Hermiston?
Its growth. I can remember when I was younger grow-
ing up here, and it was just so much smaller. It’s amaz-
ing how much this now not-so-little town has grown in
a relatively short amount of time.
What was the last book you read?
The Alienist, by Caleb Carr.
What app or website do you use most often other
than Facebook or Google?
Probably E-Courts, for work! I spend way too much of
my Internet life there! But, for fun, probably Pandora. I
love listening to music, and enjoy the variety.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I was lucky enough to get to go to New Orleans for a
training. Because I was there for work, I did not get
near enough time to sight-see. I would love to go back
— what I was able to see and do was amazing!
PHOTO COURTESY TOM ROBERTS
The Tillicum Inn in Umatilla
was seriously damaged by
fire Sept. 6. Multiple fire
departments reported to the
scene.
Hermiston native nominated to federal judgeship
HERMISTON HERALD
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
deference to the political
branches of the state and
federal governments, will
provide rural Oregon with
that important voice on the
bench,” Walden said. “He
is uniquely qualified for
this judgeship.”
Bounds will now have
to be confirmed by the
U.S. Senate. Oregon’s sen-
ators Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley have threatened
to block the nomination
on procedural grounds be-
cause Bounds was not vet-
ted by the bipartisan judi-
cial selection committee.
What is the funniest/most embarrassing thing
that’s ever happened to you?
As I said, I like to take my dogs hiking in the mountains.
One time, we had just finished a hike. I was in my car,
with my dog (at that time I only had one), getting ready
to go. A vehicle pulled up next to mine, such that the
driver’s side windows were facing each other. The driv-
er, a man with no shirt on, asked me if there was anyone
else on the trail. I told him no (because there was not).
He then told me that he was not from Oregon. ... I was
not prepared when he asked me if I was aware if it was
legal in Oregon to hike naked! I was totally surprised,
as hiking naked seemed to me to be a bad idea on multi-
ple levels. Uncharacteristically short of words, I simply
told him that I did not know that it was illlegal to hike
naked. He then asked me if it would bother me if he did
(hike naked). I told him no, that we were leaving. He
said, “We?” I said, the dog and myself. When I looked
up, there he was, at the trailhead, in nothing but his
hiking boots and socks. It was only later that I realized
that he was probably naked THE ENTIRE TIME HE
WAS TALKING TO ME!
What is one of your goals for the next 12 months?
I would like to run a half marathon.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Professionally, in 2014 my boss, District Attorney Pri-
mus, and I, successfully tried a murder case (State v.
Craigen) together. It was our first murder trial, and the
defendant did not make that case easy. I feel like the con-
viction made the community safer, and also hope that the
conviction gave the victim’s family some small measure
of peace. Personally, this summer, I did an overnight hike
with some people up to Ice Lake in the Eagle Caps. I
had been planning, and buying equipment, to do an over-
night hiking trip for over a year. The hike was steep and
beautiful and a lot of fun! I plan to do more in the future!
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