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.
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