HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2018
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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.