WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
NEWS
Police remain committed to body cams
Chief says $70,000
price tag is worth
the investment
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
The city of Hermiston
spent $70,000 in late 2014
to give its police department
body-mounted video cam-
eras for officers. The con-
tract for the cameras, data
storage and records manage-
ment expires at the end of
five years.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said he rec-
ognizes the cost to the city
was significant, but the 12
Axon Flex cameras continue
to deliver and he hopes the
city re-ups the agreement.
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment has 27 officers, but the
17 in the patrol division have
to wear the cameras, plus the
four sergeants share one.
The sergeants spend part of
their shifts in the office, so
they do not need individual
cameras. Edmiston said that
helps cut down on costs.
Cam footage has revealed
“when we haven’t always
put our best foot forward,”
Edmiston said, and those
videos provide valuable
teaching tools for improve-
ment. The cameras also have
exonerated officers.
Right off, he recalled an
incident in late May 2015
when officers had to deal
with a transient near City
Hall. Two officers tried to
EO FILE PHOTO
It has been more than three years since the Hermiston Police
Department issued lapel-mounted body camera to all of its
patrol officers.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
A still image from a police body camera shows what the camera can see when an officer is
following a vehicle or making a traffic stop.
get him to leave, yet after
several attempts the man
refused and flicked a lit ciga-
rette at police.
“That was it,” Edmiston
said. “He was under arrest
for offensive littering.”
As an officer tried to
handcuff him, the chief said,
“he reared back and head-
butted a pane glass window.”
The window did not shat-
ter, and police took the man
to the ground, where he
began head-butting the side-
walk. A third officer rushed
over and put his boot under
his head to keep the man
from hurting himself.
Police cameras captured
the ordeal and a Hermiston
woman watched it unfold
from a distance. She con-
tacted Edmiston because she
thought she saw police kick
the man in the head and con-
sidered taking her story to
the media.
“I let this lady explain to
me what she saw,” Edmis-
ton said. “Then I played the
video for her.”
He said he told her it
was OK to think she saw
what she saw, but the video
showed what really went
down.
Hermiston officers with
the cameras also use “Signal
Sidearm,” technology that
senses when an officer pulls
their gun from the holster.
The holster sensor turns on
the officer’s camera and the
cams of nearby officers. The
technology means officers in
those stressful moments do
not have to think about flip-
ping on cams.
“It’s great because any
time we’re pulling our guns
out it’s a heightened situa-
Water, sewer rates may increase
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The Hermiston City
Council is planning to
restructure water and sewer
rates in October.
The city’s infrastructure
committee has been working
with engineers from Ander-
son Perry to create a capi-
tal improvement plan and
look at how to raise reve-
nue for needed maintenance
on water and sewer infra-
structure. The consensus is
that more money is needed
to continue operations; the
question is the best way to
structure rates to get there.
“We want to make sure
each utility can cover their
current and forecast expen-
ditures, and we want to
make sure it’s fair,” said
Dave Wildman of Anderson
Perry, during an hour-long
discussion Monday.
All rate structures Ander-
son Perry staff came up
with assume an annual rate
increase of three percent per
year to keep up with inflation
after the initial restructure.
On the water side, the first
option would be an increase
of the base rate from $19.82
per month to $20. Currently
users are charged $1.25 per
1,000 gallons after 13,000
gallons but the first option
would charge $2.50 per
1,000 gallons past 15,000
gallons. The result would
be that a “regular user” of
20,000 gallons would see
their bill go down slightly
from $44.48 to $40, while a
large user (65,000 gallons)
would see their bill increase
from $100.73 to $152.50.
The second option is sim-
ilar but increases the base
rate to $24.50, keeping a
“regular” user at about the
same as their current bill.
The third option raises
base rates to $30 and every-
thing over 15,000 gal-
lons to $3.50, bumping a
20,000-per-month user to
$55 a month.
Wildman said since the
city began paying off the
debt service for the waste-
water treatment plant built
in 2014, water has been sub-
sidizing sewer costs.
For sewer the city cur-
rently charges a flat rate of
$27.25 for all residential
users, and for commercial
users charges a base rate of
$29.66 plus $1.50 per 1,000
over 5,000 gallons. Options
presented to the council
include keeping residential
rates the same but raising
commercial, or upping the
base rate to $30 for all users,
with a $1 per 1,000 gallon
charge for residential and
$2 per 1,000 for commer-
cial. Another option would
feature a $36 base rate with
$2.75 per 1,000 fee for all
users, or $30 base rate with
$4.10 per 1,000 rate for all
users.
Rates for residential
users of 5,000 gallons would
remain $27.25 under the first
option, be $35 under the sec-
ond option, $49.75 under
the third option and $50.50
under the fourth.
Councilors said they liked
the idea of a structure that
focuses on raising charges
on heavy usage instead of
the base rate. Councilor John
Kirwan said it didn’t seem
fair that currently a person
living alone and generating
very little wastewater is sub-
sidizing a family with multi-
ple teenagers.
Mayor David Drotzmann
said raising the base rate
tends to affect smaller users
such as seniors on a fixed
income, and focusing more
on usage fees gives people
the power to lower their own
bills through conservation.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan noted that
when doing rate compar-
isons with similarly-sized
cities or the largest cities in
Oregon, Hermiston is con-
sistently in the “bottom five
to 10 percent” on rates, and
any of the rate restructures
the city is considering would
still keep it on the lower side
of the spectrum.
tion,” Edmiston said. “Why
wouldn’t we want our cam-
eras rolling?”
Camera footage has come
into play in criminal investi-
gations and prosecutions, he
said, and Hermiston Munic-
ipal Court Judge Thomas
Creasing has asked to see
footage.
“Any judge is going to
want as much information as
possible to make decisions,”
Edmiston said.
Local departments have
cameras in their police vehi-
cles, but Boardman is the
only other local agency to
use body cams. Pendleton
Police Chief Stuart Roberts
maintain he would like to
bring on the cameras, but the
cost is prohibitive.
The basic recording sys-
tem — from the cameras to
data storage — would run a
bit more than $70,000, Rob-
erts said, “but to do it right
would be about $100,000.”
And Pendleton has more
pressing needs, such as
keeping its fleet of police
cars running.
“I can’t think of a week
where we did not have at
least one if not two cars red-
lined or in the shop,” Rob-
erts said, and that costs “eats
up an entire line item in our
budget.”
The department has
applied for a federal grant to
cover the cost of body cams,
but Roberts said he was not
holding out hope for suc-
cess. Similar efforts did not
secure the crucial funds.
The Pendleton chief also
said some departments,
including Boardman and
Hermiston, jumped into the
camera use early, when com-
panies were offering sweet
deals. Some departments
nationwide are finding sub-
Stanfield city manager among
candidates for Umatilla job
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Blair Larsen, Stanfield’s
city manager, is one of
three finalists for the open
Umatilla city manager
position.
The Umatilla Chamber
of Commerce announced
Thursday that it will be
holding a public meet
and greet with candidates
Larsen, Scott Meszaros
and David Stockdale.
The event, which is
open to the public, is set
for next Thursday, Sept.
13 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the
Umatilla Chamber of Com-
merce & Visitor Center,
100 Cline Ave.
Larsen has worked as
Stanfield city manager
since 2013.
Meszaros has been town
administrator of Meeker,
Colorado,
(population
2,352) since 2012, accord-
ing to a news release from
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the chamber.
Stockdale was most
recently city administrator
for Prosser, Washington,
for two years.
The Tri-City Herald
reported that he resigned
in June after an investiga-
tion that showed he had
used an Oregon driver’s
license to avoid paying
about $361 in sales tax,
mostly at the Kenne-
wick Costco. He told the
paper it was a “simple
misstep” due to confu-
sion about his tax status
since the rest of his fam-
ily had not yet joined
him in Washington.
Former Umatilla city
manager Russ Pelleberg
resigned in June and the
city council chose com-
munity
development
director Tamra Mab-
bott to serve as interim
city manager while a
consultant conducted a
nationwide search for
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sequent contracts pack much
higher costs, Roberts said,
and are dropping their cam-
era systems in spite of their
obvious benefits.
Edmiston pointed out
Hermiston, Pendleton and
other local law enforcement
contract with the company
Lexipol to provide policy
and procedure manuals and
training, and Lexipol has
increased its price 40 percent
in the last three years. But
Lexipol’s team of lawyers
keep up with “all the crazy
case law” that comes out
of federal courts and does
a good job of updating the
information, so departments
pay. Otherwise, he said,
some city attorney would
shoulder that work load.
Edmiston said he expects
the next contract for the
body cameras to come with
higher costs, but he does not
see Axon asking for a signif-
icant increase.
candidates.
The public is invited to
meet the candidates Thurs-
day, with opening com-
ments by Mayor Darren
Dufloth and a brief state-
ment by each candidate
kicking off the night.
Light refreshments will
be provided.
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