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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2019)
LOCAL A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAy, JANuARy 23, 2019 Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan Todd Perkins is one of the owners of Five Star Car Wash, which just opened on Southwest 11th Street and Highland Avenue. EO File Photo The Stanfield City Council has talked about ways to preserve the historic water tower in the center of town. Stanfield survey shows opposition to dispensaries By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR tanfield residents sup- port keeping their landmark water tower but are still against letting marijuana dispensaries into town, according to a survey conducted by the city. The wide-ranging survey asked for citizens’ opinions on everything from auto- matic payments for utilities to Main Street upgrades. It got responses from 266 res- idents, representing about 12 percent of Stanfield’s population. City Manager Blair Larsen said the impetus for the survey was the old water tower that stands tall over the city. The tower was built in 1920, but taken out of service in the early 2000s due to leaks. At about one- tenth of the capacity of each of the city’s other water storage tanks, it wasn’t worth the cost to put it back in commission, Larsen said. “The only function it serves now is as a land- mark,” he said. The tower’s condition is deteriorating, and last year S Larsen asked the city coun- cil if he should put money into the 2018-19 budget for refurbishing it or tearing it down. He said an estimate from a company that could repaint and repair the tower put the costs at roughly $180,000. Due to lead paint in the tower, demolition would cost only slightly less, but would eliminate future maintenance costs. The council was divided on what should be done, so Larsen put the money in reserve for a year and posed the question to residents. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they pre- ferred to use city funds to refurbish the landmark. He said he will take that infor- mation back to the coun- cil during budgeting discus- sions for the next fiscal year. Larsen also added a question about whether the city should maintain its ban on marijuana dispensaries. “We had a couple of business folks come to the city and say, ‘We know you’ve got a ban, but we’re really interested in bringing a dispensary into the city,’” he said. Larsen said under cur- rent state law, in order to lift their ban the city would have to put the question to the voters during a Novem- ber election in an even-num- bered year — 2020 at the earliest. And given the fact that 57 percent of residents surveyed supported keep- ing the ban, Larsen said for now the city has no plans to place the question on the ballot. Another question asked residents about changes to Main Street to slow out- of-town traffic as it speeds through Stanfield on High- way 395. While Larsen said there wasn’t an immediate funding source available, the Oregon Department of Transportation is planning a repaving project along that corridor and there could possibly be some money available for related work. Thirty-nine percent of respondents supported hav- ing the same number of travel lanes with bumped- out curbs and landscaping to make the road feel nar- rower. Only 20 percent sup- ported reducing the num- ber of travel lanes, while the rest supported no changes or tactics such as increased enforcement. The final question of the survey was an open- ended chance for citizens to express other thoughts. Nine percent of responses included references to the odor coming from the 3D IdaPro Solutions dehydra- tion plant, which has drawn complaints for more than a year. Overall, however, Larsen said he was pleased to see that question provide mostly constructive sugges- tions for the city instead of a “rant-fest.” Some suggestions were unaffordable or out of the city’s control. But Larsen said the answers are some- thing city staff and city councilors are taking seri- ously as they look to Stan- field’s future, and his door is always open for further discussion. “We’re not all-powerful, we have constraints, and those constraints are there for a reason,” he said. “But we’re not opposed to chang- ing things if they were put in place based on someone’s opinion.” Good Shepherd welcomes new speech therapy manager release from Good Shep- Good Shepherd Health herd, Roberts has a partic- Care System’s speech-lan- ular passion for working guage pathology with children with department has a autism. new manager. “There is noth- Heidii Roberts, ing more rewarding speech-language for me than getting pathologist, will silly and teaching head up the depart- them about social ment. She comes skills and how to Roberts from the Portland be flexible,” she metro area, where said in a statement. she has run her own prac- “I also care for individuals tice for the past 10 years. with tongue thrust and lisp- According to a news ing articulation, and I plan By HERMISTON HERALD to contribute my experience with Orofacial Myofunc- tional Therapy (OMT).” OMT is used to treat indi- viduals with orofacial myo- functional disorders, which interfere with the develop- ment of bones and muscles around the face and mouth, in some cases causing prob- lems with speech. Roberts and her hus- band have two daughters, who also work in the med- ical field. Roberts said she applied for the Hermis- The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. ton position because she was ready for a change of scenery, and she enjoys the friendliness of Eastern Oregon. Speech-Language Ther- apy, at 600 N.W. 11th St., Suite E-25, is accepting referrals. For more informa- tion call 541-667-3635. Five Star Car Wash opens By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER The owners of a Herm- iston car wash have started a second one on the oppo- site side of town. Five Star Car Wash is now open, and is located at the corner of Southwest 11th Street and West Highland Ave- nue, near a cluster of new businesses. Todd Perkins, who owns the business with Hermiston native Russ Greene, said they had been looking to expand for a few months. They run the Five Star Auto Wash, near Hermiston’s Wal-Mart on the northeast side of town. “This side of town doesn’t have much,” he said. The car wash officially opened on Jan. 16, and Per- kins said as of now, they are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hours will expand as the days get longer. Heppner council fires city manager By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Six of Heppner’s seven city councilors voted on Friday, Jan. 11 to fire the city manager, citing issues with budget management. Edie Ball’s firing was effective immediately, and the mayor has appointed Kim Cutsforth, Ball’s pre- decessor, as the interim city manager while the council conducts a nation- wide search for a new manager. The city’s contract with Ball states that they were Newspapers in Education Their generous support of the Hermiston Herald NIE program helps provide copies of the newspaper and unlimited access to HermistonHerald.com and the e-Edition to schools throughout the community. Umatilla Electric Cooperative 1090 W. Hermiston Ave. Hermiston, OR Thanks to modern technology and industry-leading expertise, Phonak is able to bring you the best possible solutions for your hearing needs required to give her 30 days’ notice, but since they let her go immediately, they paid her for 30 days’ worth of service upon termination. The Hermiston Herald attempted to contact Ball, but was not able to reach her for comment. Council president Corey Sweeney said they hope the new manager will be more of a project manager. He said the council had a list of concerns with Ball, including that bud- get issues were slow to be addressed, if at all. Thank you to the following businesses for supporting www.eomediagroup.com M A K R A V N E L O H P Perkins said the car wash has some new ame- nities that aren’t avail- able at their other loca- tion. Customers using the self-wash station now have access to dryers and “triple-shine” conditioner, which gives the car a col- orful shine. The tunnel car wash also has some new LED lights that create a show as cars get washed. “It looks like a curtain of lava,” Perkins said. Perkins said he and Greene previously owned Five Star Auto Sales, which they recently sold to Toyota. “We always needed to wash our cars, and we would always see the land (by Wal-Mart),” he said. “The location was so good, we decided to start washing them.” The new business is located at 1180 West High- land Ave. 541-567-8229 JeremyJLarsonDMD.com Our patients are the very heart of our practice 1739 N. First St. Hermiston, OR 541-564-0264 541-276-1260 BLUECC.EDU 620 E. Main St. Hermiston, OR 541-567-3908 Bert's Auto Salvage & Towing BertsAutoSalvage.com 30775 Baggett Ln. Hermiston, OR 97838 541-567-1042 541-567-5050 QUIZNOS.COM 1565 N. FIRST ST. #9 HERMISTON, OR 97838 OldWestFCU.org Rick’s Car Wash 750 W. Elm Ave. Hermiston, OR 97838 541-567-6414 • UmatillaElectric.com 2411 NW Carden Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 DuPont Pioneer - Hermiston 541-567-1860 pioneer.com Starvation Ridge Farming 79937 S. Edwards Rd. Hermiston, OR 97838 541-567-5842 YOUR BUSINESS HERE: Call Today & Donate! 800-522-0255 2212 SE 9th St. Hermiston, OR 07838 For more information on the NIE Program, visit HermistonHerald.com/hh/nie. To make a donation, call 800-522-0255. Renata Anderson, MA 2237 SW Court, Pendleton • 541-276-5053 www.renataanderson.com
