Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2018)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018 FROM A1 at the Maxwell Pavilion, a 4,000 square foot shade structure Mitco is building at 255 S First Place. In Febru- ary, however, Myers claims he had an argument with city building official Chuck Woolsey and that Wool- sey immediately shut down work on a separate Mitco project known as the coal bin building, which Mitco was renovating to turn into a restaurant. In response, Mit- co’s attorney sent the city a notice that Mitco intended to sue. At the beginning of May, Woolsey placed a second stop-work order on the Max- well Pavilion project and sent Myers a list of requests for information he calls “unreasonable,” includ- ing requiring a plan for door latches and restrooms despite the structure not hav- ing doors or restrooms. During the vendors meet- ing when Myers announced the cancellation he accused Woolsey of being a bully and holding up his proj- ects out of personal dislike. In an hour-long, often col- orful speech, he said deal- ing with the city’s building department was like “play- ing chess with a pigeon” because Woolsey was “full of poop” and others at city hall needed to “grow a pair” and handle the problem. On Monday, Smith read a memo into the record about the situation, stating that the Maxwell Pavilion proj- ect would be an “excellent venue” for the farmers mar- ket and other events, and the city was still “very support- ive” of Mitco’s vision and projects. Smith said Mitco applied for a building permit on April 26 and initial plan review comments were returned May 7, approxi- mately seven business days later. He said that the city’s building department has been busy handling a num- ber of other major projects including the data centers, Ranch & Home and the new Lifeways facility. Smith said that Myers’ issue with the city seemed to be that he was not given priority status over those projects. “The problem with that is that we view everyone’s projects as important; not just ones that we’re a major funding partner on,” Smith wrote. “That’s why we treat rent fiscal year, which Smith said was mostly due to the city finishing up big cap- ital projects like the Har- kenrider Center and festival street. The city had expected to take on a re-alignment of the intersection of Harper, Geer and River roads during 2018-2019 but Smith said there are still design issues being worked out that will delay the project into the next year. The biggest capital proj- ect the city has planned for the upcoming fiscal year is a new one-million-gal- lon water storage tank in the northeast part of town. The roughly $4.5 million proj- ect will be paid for through a short-term loan that will be repaid by enterprise zone payments from Lamb Weston’s factory expansion. “The project will address a number of challenges for our water system there,” Smith said, noting that low water pressure in the north- east part of town was dis- couraging housing develop- ment there. He said if the city keeps growing as projected, in about five years it would not meet state recommendations for water storage capacity without the new tank, which will be the same size as the water tower on North High- way 395. The city is planning to move forward with a new skate park that will be built on First Place across from the police department and fire station. The depart- ment also plans to install the other nine holes of a disc golf course installed last year on 11th Street across from Good Shepherd Med- ical Center. Smith said the money for the course will be funded through raising pri- vate donations. Bids open next week for contractors to build the West Highland Trail Extension, which will create a trail that runs parallel to Highland Avenue from 11th Street to Riverfront Park. The city is keeping an eye on the Hermiston Com- munity Center budget since it took over operation. Every weekend in the center is booked for the year, he said, and so far revenue for the first quarter has tracked with what the center was making under the chamber this time of year. The city has recently taken over full management of another event venue — the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center. Smith said trying to move the finances from an intergovernmental arrangement with Umatilla County to being fully under the umbrella of the city’s finances has been quite the accounting challenge. As he went over the budget for EOTEC with the com- mittee he said most opera- tional costs listed were actu- ally covered by the $9,000 per month the city is paying VenuWorks to run the cen- ter, but they were all listed in the budget anyway to be more transparent about how EOTEC is run. Smith said money the city is contributing to sub- sidize EOTEC’s operation would come from the Tran- sient Room Tax placed on hotel reservations, not prop- erty taxes paid by local res- MARKETS continued from Page A1 “Our only interest is in ensuring that there will at least be a market this sum- mer, regardless of who oper- ates it,” city manager Byron Smith told the city coun- cil. “If that means it’s Mitco and that market appears to be viable, then that’s excel- lent, and we can step aside again.” According to Myers, the Maxwell Market will run Thursday evenings from about 4-8 p.m. with live music starting at 5 p.m. The market will be held on property Mitco owns on South First Street, across the street from the Max- well Event Center located at 145 N. First Place. Myers said it will take place under a temporary shade tent until the Maxwell Pavilion is completed. He also said he is waiv- ing all vendors’ fees and providing items like tables and security for vendors at no charge. The market is expected to start Thursday, May 24. According to Myers, Fet- ter approached him last year on behalf of the city and asked him if Mitco would be willing to take on the event BUDGET continued from Page A1 also being added to the Hermiston Community Cen- ter, which the parks depart- ment took over operation of in January, and to the Har- kenrider Center, which will house the senior center when it is completed in late sum- mer. Smith said the Harken- rider Center employee will work with the senior center board as a liaison and be in the building during activi- ties like mealtimes to offer assistance. The city is adding a storm water management posi- tion in 2018-2019 that will be split between the street department and utility fund. City staff will be given a three percent cost of living increase. Overall, the $54.9 mil- lion budget is about $4.7 million smaller than the cur- STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY Work has stopped on the Maxwell Pavilion in Hermiston, the planned site for the 2018 farmer’s market. all projects the same. I think seven days to turn around an initial review is perfectly normal, and it was han- dled the same as all other applications.” He also addressed other claims Mitco had made, including statements that it was unreasonable to require plans for things like restrooms and door latches when the pavilion wasn’t going to have restrooms or doors. Smith attached a floorplan provided by Mitco to the city in the fall, when the city was making a deal with Mitco to pro- vide $220,000 in support of the pavilion and parking project. Those drawings do show restrooms and possi- ble doors on the building, and Smith said Woolsey was trying to clear up confusion about “vague and conflict- ing” documents. During Monday’s council meeting a few people made statements in support of Myers. The strongest came from Robert Smith, who plans to be a vendor at the market. He called for both Woolsey and Fetter’s resig- nation or firing. “For those of you who are here, I suggest you cut ties with the city of Herm- iston, as they can no lon- ger be trusted,” he told the audience. idents. While in the past the TRT funds have been self-reported by hoteliers and short-term RV parks, the city plans to audit the affected businesses this year to make sure they are report- ing their income accurately. Overall, Smith said, the city’s finances are in good shape. He said proposed general fund revenues are up $710,000 over 2017-2018, and 61 percent of that num- ber was due to increased property tax revenue. The budget will be up for approval by the city coun- cil on May 29. The coun- cil meeting is being held on a Tuesday due to Memorial Day. GoodHealth LIVE WITH CHRISTOPHER K. SCOTT, D.C., CHIROPRACTIC MEDICINE The Chiropractor & You Fast enough to support the brain Oticon Opn™ scans the environment 100 times per second to give you access to 360° of sound. It distinguishes between speech and background noise, enables you to identify where different sounds are coming from, and continually adjusts and balances all the sounds around you. This helps your brain make sense of sound and gives you a natural hearing experience. Oticon’s exclusive BrainHearing™ technology helps you: • Focus on the sounds you want to hear • Understand speech with less effort • Enjoy a fuller, more natural soundscape • Shift your attention from one sound to another Oticon Opn™ is a Made for iPhone® hearing device Oticon Opn connects to your iPhone,® so you can stream calls directly to your hearing devices. Use the Oticon ON App with your iPhone or Android™ smartphone to control your hearing devices. Join Dr. Christopher K. Scott as he shares common chiropractic conditions he cares for right here in Hermiston. Wednesday, May 30 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Good Shepherd Health Care System Conference Center 1 and 2 610 NW 11th Street | Hermiston, OR 97838 A healthy dessert with light refreshments will be provided Oticon Opn and Oticon ON App are compatible with iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad (4th generation), iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th and 6th generation). Devices must be running iOS 9.3 or later. The app also supports Apple Watch. When downloading the Oticon ON App on iPad, search for iPhone apps on the App Store. Oticon ON App is compatible with devices powered by Android™ 6.0, Marshmallow or above. Please visit www.oticon.global/connectivity for more details on compatibility, or see the description for Oticon ON App on the App Store® and Google Play. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Android™ and Google Play™ are trademarks of Google Inc. Space is Limited. Register today! Call 541.667.3509 or Register Online at Eventbrite Renata Anderson, MA To find out more about what Oticon Opn can do for you, talk to your hearing care professional today. Call 541-276-5053 or visit www.renataanderson.com • 2237 SW Court, Pendleton Can’t Make it to the Event? Watch Live at www.facebook.com/gshcsnews
