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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 4, 2018)
HermistonHerald.com WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2018 $1.00 HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY COMMUNITIES OFFERING FIREWORKS AND FESTIVALS WEDNESDAY » PAGE A4 INSIDE HANDS FREE IN THE FIELD Distracted driving penalties can now add up to jail time. PAGE A3 FAREWELL Reta Larson will leave Umatilla County Fire District #1 after 31 years. PAGE A8 CHAMPIONS Hermiston trap shooting team gears up for nationals after winning third state title. PAGE A9 BY THE WAY City looking for feedback on food trucks STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston High School senior Trevor Horn drives a combine while harvesting Kentucky blue grass on Friday at Golden Valley Farms outside of Stanfield. Agricultural jobs for teens affected by technology, labor laws By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Whether pulling weeds, picking berries or driving machinery, many people found their first job on a farm. For Umatilla County kids, farm labor has been one of many options for making money in the summer, but the way young workers fit into the agricultural industry has seen major changes in the past several years. Darrin Ditchen, owner of Golden Valley Farms East in Stanfield, said his minimum hiring age is 16, the age teens have to be to operate heavy equipment. “If you can’t run equip- ment on a farm ... they can’t work too many hours,” Ditchen said. “At a farming job, that’s tough.” The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has sev- eral requirements for employ- ing minors both under 16, and under 18. Among other restrictions, workers under the age of 16 are prohib- ited from working in places STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS where power-driven machin- ery is used. Recent graduate from the Baker Charter School Benjamin Moore pulls a text sample from a freezer in the entomology lab See JOBS, Page A14 at HAREC on Friday in Hermiston. The City of Hermis- ton is considering amend- ments to its mobile food vendor rules, and it wants feedback from residents. A survey will be avail- able at hermiston.or.us until July 15. After the city passed a mobile food vending ordi- nance in 2013, many food vendors closed up shop rather than pay for a $500 license and follow the other regulations outlined. Those regulations include moving each night, pro- viding parking, not pro- viding seating for patrons, closing by 10 p.m. and following design stan- dards. As a result, the city only issued three vendors licenses and cannot issue more without a vote from the city council. As food trucks have gained in popularity nationwide, members of See BTW, Page A14 Umatilla City Manager Pelleberg resigns held an emergency meeting. After a closed-door executive session, Umatilla city manager Russ they voted to hire a recruitment Pelleberg has resigned after a short firm that could facilitate a nation- but turbulent time leading the city. wide search, and asked the city recorder to add the nam- City recorder Nanci ing of an interim city man- Sandoval confirmed ager to Tuesday’s agenda, the resignation in an as well as a discussion of email last week, noting compensation and a letter that Pelleberg turned in of thanks and congratula- his resignation to pur- tions to Pelleberg. sue other opportuni- ties and that his last day Pelleberg joined the would be July 27. He is city in 2013 as public heading up to Newport, works director and was Washington, for a city promoted in March 2016 Russ Pelleberg to city manager while still administrator job there and said in an email that maintaining his public he is leaving Umatilla on “great works duties. Former city manager terms.” Bob Ward had been set to retire in On Thursday, the city council February 2017 but asked the city HERMISTON HERALD council in October 2015 if he could end his contract early to make way for Pelleberg. The city council voted to accept Ward’s offer and promote Pel- leberg without interviewing out- side candidates. But later David Trott resigned from his position as mayor, citing “irreconcilable differences” with the city coun- cil after they declined to take any action on concerns Trott had about Pelleberg’s résumé. Pelleberg claimed two degrees from unac- credited online universities consid- ered diploma mills. Two other city councilors — Mary Dedrick and David Lougee — resigned shortly after voting not to accept Trott’s resignation, but did not specifically name the dis- pute between Pelleberg and Trott as their reason for leaving. During his tenure Pelleberg restructured city departments and created a community develop- ment director position, for which he hired former Umatilla County planning director Tamra Mabbott. He worked to create a parks mas- ter plan for the city and put in place initiatives for downtown revital- ization. He has been working on a water re-use project that would use water from local data centers for irrigation purposes. Mayor Daren Dufloth deferred comment to the city’s public infor- mation officer. The Umatilla city council meets Tuesday, July 3 at 7 p.m. at city hall, 700 Sixth St. in Umatilla.
