A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2018
FROM A1
EOTEC
The deal
continued from Page A1
Road and Airport Road that
surround EOTEC. While the
city would immediately be
on the hook for any unantic-
ipated costs such as a major
maintenance problem, the
county would honor several
commitments it has already
made to the facility.
The county would con-
tinue paying $75,000 toward
operations for five more
years. It would also pay an
additional $85,175 in 2018
and $75,399 in 2019 based
on an earlier prediction
by management company
VenuWorks of cost overruns
in the first two years. The
county would also pay its
$105,000 portion of the final
overrun on EOTEC’s con-
struction budget.
VenuWorks has also cre-
ated a list of equipment, stor-
age and other things needed
to run EOTEC year-round.
Under Murdock’s proposal,
the county would still pay
$595,000 for its half of that
outlay. Money for the coun-
ty’s obligations to EOTEC
would come from $500,000
per year that potato proces-
sor Lamb Weston has agreed
to pay the county (with
another $500,000 to the city
of Hermiston) each year for
the next 15 years in lieu of
property taxes.
The EOTEC agree-
ment will add another year
onto a previous agreement
the county and city had to
use their first four years of
Lamb Weston payments for
a water project designed to
increase housing develop-
ment in Hermiston.
The Umatilla County
Fair would also agree to
increase its lease payment
from $10,000 per year to
$100,000 per year.
The city would be
expected to agree to build a
storage facility, office space
and conference room some-
where on EOTEC property
for use by the fair. There are
not currently enough offices
in EOTEC’s event center for
all VenuWorks and fair staff,
and the fair has been storing
items in shipping containers
on the property.
City Manager Byron
Smith said he envisioned an
EOTEC board that would
act as an advisory commit-
tee to the city council, which
would be the governing
board.
Reaction
Drotzmann
assured
the audience at Monday’s
meeting that there would
be opportunities for pub-
lic input over the next six
weeks. Responses from the
seven community members
who testified Monday were
mostly positive.
• Hermiston takes on full
ownership of and liability for
EOTEC in spring 2018
• Hermiston takes over the
portions of Ott Road and Air-
port Road surrounding EOTEC
• Hermiston will plan for stor-
age facilities, office space and
conference area for exclusive
use by the Umatilla County
Fair
• Umatilla County continues
paying its annual contribution
of $75,000 through 2022
• Umatilla County pays
$105,000 of construction cost
overruns
• Umatilla County pays
$595,000 toward proposed
capital outlay for equipment,
storage and other needed
investments
The city of Hermiston will take over full ownership and liability of the EOTEC facilities in spring 2018.
Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann lists the benefits of moving the Umatilla County Fair from
its old location in Hermiston to the new site at EOTEC during a special joint meeting of the
Hermiston City Council and the Umatilla County Commissioners on Monday in Hermiston.
“What you’re trying to
do here is going to unmuddy
a lot of waters we’ve had
going on in the last year,”
Gay Newman said, cit-
ing confusion over who to
approach about EOTEC
issues.
George Anderson said
he didn’t think anyone
should have their “knees
knocking” with fear about
EOTEC’s future after what
the people in the room had
accomplished in building
a $17 million facility with-
out going out for a bond.
EOTEC board member Dan
Dorran said he got emotional
when people talked about a
possibility of a “failure” of
EOTEC after all the hard
work and support that made
the project possible, and also
encouraged the city to keep
in mind the reasons EOTEC
was built in the first place.
He also threw out a sugges-
tion that in the future private
ownership of EOTEC might
be an effective solution.
EOTEC neighbor Chris
Waine said he did not believe
six weeks was enough time
for the proposal to be vetted
by the community. He also
questioned, as a county tax-
payer, whether the county
was walking away from a
huge investment before it
had a chance to get a return
on that investment.
Former interim EOTEC
manager
Nate
Rivera
encouraged the council to
be sensitive going forward,
as many people involved in
the project disagree on what
the definition of a successful
EOTEC is — one that hosts
the best fair and rodeo pos-
sible, one that is profitable,
BY THE WAY
BTW
continued from Page A1
some good news for you: the
sequel has arrived.
And if you were one
of the 300 people who
showed up to listen to author
Michael Stone talk about
his book, you can even take
a little credit for it.
In a recent interview
with the Charleston Post &
Courier, Stone said it was
his visit to Hermiston that
inspired him to write “Bor-
der Child,” which tells the
next chapter in the lives
of a family of Mexican
immigrants.
Stone told the paper he
was struck by how much of
the audience in attendance
that night was non-English
speaking (so many that a
translator was called in to
help), and he was touched by
how many people embraced
his work because their chil-
dren had read it.
At the Q&A afterward,
an audience member asked
if he planned to write a fol-
low-up, and on the spur of
the moment he said yes.
He began the first draft
on his flight home from
Oregon.
• • •
The rumor on the street
(among others) is that Winco
Foods is planning a Hermis-
ton location, but spokesman
Noah Fleisher said Winco
• Umatilla County pays $85,175
in 2018 and $75,399 in 2019 to
help cover initial losses pre-
dicted by VenuWorks
PHOTOS BY E.J. HARRIS
does not currently have any
plans to build in Hermiston.
Hermiston residents have
tried to rally social media
campaigns to bring the gro-
cery store to Hermiston in
the past, but for now they
will have to chalk the whis-
pers of success up to nothing
more than wishful thinking.
• • •
The public is invited to
“Come Sail Away With Us”
during the Hermiston Edu-
cation Foundation’s annual
Beach & Beef Fundraiser.
The dinner and live auc-
tion is Saturday, Feb. 3 at 5
p.m. at the Hermiston Com-
munity Center. Tickets,
which are $35 each, can be
purchased at the Greater
Hermiston Area Chamber
of Commerce office, the
school district office and at
www.squareup.com/store/
hef.
With a cruise ship theme,
people are invited to enjoy a
meal of crab and beef while
supporting students in the
school district. The nonprofit
foundation awards grants to
district staff for projects or
equipment to enhance the
educational experience of
students.
For a full story about
the education foundation
and additional details about
the upcoming fundraiser,
see next week’s Hermiston
Herald.
• • •
The Inland Northwest
Musicians were among 79
small nonprofit organiza-
tions that recently received
grants from the Oregon
Arts Commission. The
Small Operating Grants
are designed to support arts
organizations with budgets
under $150,000.
For the Hermiston-based
classical music organiza-
tion, the $1,230 grant award
literally puts gas in the
tank, said Carrie Kikel of
the arts commission. The
orchestra and choral ensem-
bles, which include mem-
bers from across the region,
travel throughout Eastern
Oregon and southeastern
Washington to perform free
concerts.
Founded in 1999, INWM
supports musicians in devel-
oping their talent. No audi-
tions are required to join.
For more information, con-
tact 541-289-4696, inwm@
machmedia.net or visit
www.inlandnorthwestmusi-
cians.com. For more about
the Oregon Arts Commis-
sion grant programs, contact
Brian Wagner at 503-428-
1981, brian.wagner@ore-
gon.gov or visit www.ore-
gonartscommission.org.
• • •
You can submit items for
our weekly By The Way col-
umn by emailing your tips
to editor@hermistonherald.
com or share them on social
media using the hashtag
#HHBTW.
or something else. He said
they needed to decide on
that definition, and to realize
that their definition might
not match that of donors
and volunteers who had
contributed.
Discussion
Drotzmann said he was
thankful the county was
willing to make investments
that it had already agreed to.
“The county acknowl-
edges their responsibil-
ity, they own up to it,” he
said. “They don’t just want
to drop this on the city of
Hermiston.”
Murdock said he drafted
the proposal the way he did
because he recognized that
the city wanted more con-
trol of EOTEC’s destiny, but
the county also wanted to
see EOTEC succeed and felt
there was a moral and ethi-
cal obligation to see certain
things through.
“This agreement cre-
ates budget certainty for the
county and a location for
the fair and rodeo, but also
relieves the county of many
of the burdens of day to day
operations,” he said.
The votes taken by both
governing bodies on Mon-
day did not dissolve the
intergovernmental
agree-
ment yet, but rather directed
negotiations to begin dis-
• Umatilla County Fair lease
increases from $10,000 to
$100,000 per year
solving the agreement by
March 1. While Murdock’s
proposal seemed supported
overall, there were sticking
points. The city council only
wants to take the portions
of Ott Road and Airport
Road bordering EOTEC, for
example, while the commis-
sioners expressed a hope the
council would consider tak-
ing all of it. There is $1.1
million set aside in the leg-
islature’s 2017 transporta-
tion package to improve Ott
and Airport, but Smith said
it would take more than that
to improve them to the stan-
dard needed to handle traffic
during fair week.
Commissioner
and
EOTEC board member
Larry Givens said it was
“pretty tough” for him to
take the vote after so much
involvement in EOTEC, but
he thought overall it was
“one of the best moves we
can make.”
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