WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
NEWS
FILE PHOTO
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
The Hermiston City Council voted to grant Lamb Weston 15-year tax break on a $220 million expansion at their Hermiston
facility.
Lamb Weston gets tax break
City, county will
use revenue
for water
infrastructure
project
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
A planned $220 mil-
lion expansion of Lamb
Weston’s french fry making
operation in Hermiston will
come with a 15-year prop-
erty tax break.
The Hermiston city
council voted unanimously
on Monday to offer its first
Long Term Rural Enterprise
Zone Agreement, in contrast
to previous three to five year
agreements with DuPont
Pioneer Seed, Shearer’s
Foods and Eastern Oregon
Telecom.
While other enterprise
zone agreements have
exempted companies from
paying anything in prop-
erty taxes at all, the 15 year
agreement offered to Lamb
Weston includes payments
in lieu of property taxes that
will equal about 42 percent
of what the company would
have paid in property taxes.
Those payments will total
$1 million per year for 15
years, split evenly between
the city of Hermiston and
Umatilla County.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said the city
had to work hard to com-
pete with Boardman, Pat-
terson and other regional
Lamb Weston facilities for
the expansion, which is
expected to bring in at least
140 new jobs. The jobs are
required to meet or exceed
Umatilla County’s average
wage — currently about $18
per hour — with a total com-
pensation package worth
130 percent of the average
wage.
“It’s safe to say this
investment would not occur
without the approval of this
agreement,” Morgan said.
The Umatilla County
Commission has already
approved the agreement.
Morgan said the city and
county plan to work together
to use the $1 million per
year from Lamb Weston to
invest in a water infrastruc-
ture project designed to spur
increased housing develop-
ment in Hermiston, which
should in turn create even
more jobs in Hermiston as
workers previously living
in the Tri-Cities instead pay
for things like car insurance
or doctors’ visits locally. He
cited a study done by Wash-
ington State University esti-
mating that for every job
created in the potato pro-
cessing industry, 5.4 more
jobs are created in the area
indirectly.
Councilor John Kirwan
said the city has been work-
ing for a long time to lay the
groundwork for large invest-
ments like Lamb Weston’s,
and it was exciting to see
that work start to pay off.
“We have 140 jobs, but
that 140 jobs is not just 140,
it’s going to multiply by
five,” he said.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann said the project was
an example of how public
investment often leads to
private investment, and said
he was pleased to see that
the city and county planned
to re-invest the payments
by Lamb Weston back into
a growth-inducing project
instead of just melting it into
their general fund.
During the time for pub-
lic comment on the proj-
ect, Umatilla County Fire
District 1 Chief Scott Stan-
ton congratulated the city
on landing such a “big fish”
and said he was pleased that
the city was growing. How-
ever, he said while the city
will be getting payments
from Lamb Weston in lieu
of property taxes, other tax-
ing districts like the fire dis-
trict will not, creating an
added burden for the district
without any added revenue.
“There is no funding for
public safety in this at all,”
he said.
Ric Sherman, who is on
the fire board, said the proj-
ect would create a need for
the district to increase staff-
ing of Station 23, near-
est Lamb Weston, to 24
hours a day. He and Stan-
ton both urged the city to
consider setting aside some
of the money paid by Lamb
Weston over the next 15
years to help the fire district
cover the costs of protect-
ing extra infrastructure and
workers.
Drotzmann said those
were important points to
consider, but overall the
agreement was a win for the
community.
“These are the things you
have to do to stay compet-
itive and over time these
things pay off,” he said.
Don’t want to pump your own gas?
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
A new law allowing rural
counties in Eastern Oregon
to permit 24-hour self-serve
gas stations does not mean
changes are imminent.
The rule, which went
into effect Jan. 1, states
that counties east of Port-
land with populations under
40,000 — including Mor-
row County, but not Uma-
tilla County — can now let
customers pump their own
gas any time of day. For the
past two years, rural counties
in Oregon were permitted
to offer self-serve stations
between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
But employees at local
stations say little will change
for them. Brian Owshin, the
manager at Love’s Travel
Stop in Boardman, said
many people are now taking
advantage of the new law.
But he said they will con-
tinue to have staff available
for those who don’t want
— or don’t know how — to
pump their own gas.
“We always have some-
one to assist, at least until 6
p.m.,” he said, referring to
the old law.
Owshin said he didn’t
EO FILE PHOTO
Love’s Travel Stop near Boardman and others in Morrow
County will continue offering an gas pump attendant until
6 p.m., even as new state law allows stations to no longer
provide the service.
know whether the law
would affect the number of
employees at the station in
the long term. But he said
for the immediate future, no
changes were planned.
“No one’s losing jobs
with Love’s, which is great,”
he said.
Owshin said many of
their customers were local
farmers or other workers
who already pumped their
own gas at night, and that
most people seemed to view
the new rule as a positive.
Steve Scott of the Irri-
gon Shell gas station said he
hadn’t heard anything from
owners about whether they
planned to allow custom-
ers to self-serve. He said as
of now, they will continue to
have attendants fill tanks.
Shane
Dubry,
an
employee at the Heppner
Circle K, said until 6 p.m.
attendants are still helping
people pump. He said they
anticipate no changes to
their procedures or staffing.
Skyler Hall, an employee
at the Lexington Sinclair gas
station, said if people want
to pump their own gas they
can, but they still plan to
have an attendant on duty
in case people don’t want
to. He said so far, very few
people have elected to pump
their own gas.
The new law is effec-
tive in all Eastern Oregon
counties except for Uma-
tilla, which has about 76,000
people.
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Ariana Borden of Umatilla carries a quote from Martin
Luther King Jr. while walking with her mother, Selene
Torres, right, and Alex Hobbs, left, of Hermiston during
the 2017 Peace Walk. This year’s event, which includes
a walk and program, is Monday, Jan. 15 — Martin Luther
King Jr. Day — in Hermiston.
Peace Walk takes
steps to unite local
community
By TAMMY MALGESINI
COMMUNITY EDITOR
An event to help unite
the community and bring
awareness to the princi-
ples Martin Luther King Jr.
stood for is being coordi-
nated by the Black Interna-
tional Awareness Club.
“If you don’t remem-
ber our history, we are
doomed to repeat it,” said
John Carbage, president of
the Hermiston group. “We
don’t even want to back to
that time in history.”
The event begins with a
Peace Walk Monday, Jan.
15 — Martin Luther King
Jr. Day — at 11 a.m. at
the First United Method-
ist Church, 191 E. Gladys
Ave., Hermiston. From
there, people will take a
short stroll which will end
in front of Hermiston City
Hall, 180 N.E. Second St.
The gathering will include
the singing of the national
anthem and a short speech,
Carbage said.
Then, the group will
return to the church for
an indoor program that
includes words by sev-
eral local pastors, as well
as Rev. Robert Eadie of
Greater Faith Missionary
Baptist Church. In addi-
tion, Don Rome, one of
the original founders of the
Black International Aware-
ness Club, will serve as
the keynote speaker. Little
Angels, a youth choir, also
will perform.
The event, Carbage
said, always draws a
good crowd. Last year’s
walk and program, even
with snow-covered roads,
attracted more than 100
people, he said. Car-
bage is especially encour-
aged when youths attend
and participate, saying
they are the future of our
communities.
A civil rights advo-
cate, King, who received
the Nobel Peace Prize in
1964, was also a pastor
and author. In 1963, the
famous “l Have a Dream”
speech was delivered by
King in front of more than
250,000 people in Wash-
ington, D.C. He was assas-
sinated nearly five years
later while on the balcony
of his motel room in Mem-
phis, Tennessee.
Carbage said the Peace
Walk and program is the
last being coordinated by
the Black International
Awareness Club as the
group is being abolished
— officially changing its
name to the Hermiston
Cultural Awareness Club.
With the new moniker,
Carbage said he hopes the
club will attract additional
participants.
“We want a more broad
range of members,” he
said. “We want to bring
awareness to all cultures in
our community.”
Carbage invites every-
one to get involved with
the Hermiston Cultural
Awareness Club. It meets
the second Saturday of
each month at 2 p.m. at
Starbucks, 1235 N. First
St., Hermiston. People of
all races and cultures are
invited to attend.
The group coordi-
nated “Around the World
in One Fun Day,” which
was held at the close of the
2017 Hermiston Funfest.
In its first year, the event
highlighted various cul-
tures with performances,
food and informational
booths. Carbage said the
group is looking to expand
on last year’s event and
hopes more people will get
involved.
“I think a lot of change
happens with grassroots
efforts,” he said.
For more information
about the Martin Luther
King Jr. Day event, club
meetings or how to get
involved, call Carbage at
541-701-7073.
STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Rudy Barerra
Senior - Riverside Jr/Sr High School
Ruby Barerra is a senior at Riverside Jr/Sr High School.
Ruby is extremely involved in our school and the community.
She is currently very active in student leadership and is the
Senior Class President. Ruby has been a part of many
different clubs and activities at Riverside Jr/Sr High School
such as: Prom and Spirit Week Committee, Wrestling and
Track and Field Manager, Youth Entrepreneurs Business
Week, EOU Leadership Institute, Hugh O’Brien Youth
Leadership Seminar as well as Girls Soccer, Basketball and
Softball. Ruby is on track to graduate this year with her
honors diploma as well as and AAOT from Blue Mountain
Community College. After graduation Ruby plans to attend
Oregon State University.
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