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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2019)
LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 Riverfront Park remains closed due to fl ooding damage By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR Jayati Ramakrishnan Hermiston city councilors and Umatilla County commissioners break ground on a site in Northeast Hermiston where a new water tower will soon be constructed. Hermiston breaks ground on new water tower By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER A small crowd turned up at the northeast edge of Hermiston on Wednes- day, to see the site where a water tower will soon stand. City councilors and county commissioners broke ground on a site at Northeast 10th Street and East Punkin Center Road, where crews will start working on a $4.1 million water storage and system expansion project. It’s expected to accom- modate more than 1,000 new homes in Hermiston in the next 10 years. The project will be funded by a partner- ship between the city and Umatilla County, with the county dedicating $2 mil- lion over four years. The city will furnish the rest of the costs. Additionally, the Infra- structure Finance Author- ity will loan $500,000 to the city and to the county each year, starting in sum- mer of 2020, as part of the two entities’ enterprise zone agreement. City Manager Byron Smith said they hope construction on the mil- lion-gallon water tank will be done by the end of 2019. The project will include installation of about 2 miles of water main, in the neighborhoods of East Theater Lane, between Northeast Fourth and Northeast 10th streets, along Northeast 10th between Theater Lane and Punkin Center Road, and East Punkin Center Road between Northeast Fourth and 10th. The entire proj- ect is expected to be com- pleted in mid-2020. Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann said the new water tower will mean Hermiston can accommo- date more people, and keep up with overall growth. He said the location of the water tower will make it feasible for developers to build homes on about 300 acres of residential land that previously wouldn’t have had adequate access to water. “This is about address- ing one of the coun- cil’s main goals,” he said. “Affordable housing for the community. It’ll allow us to keep employees here in town, recruit people. When we work with our partners at the county and the school district, amaz- ing things can happen.” Umatilla County Com- missioner George Mur- dock said the city is capi- talizing on its location, and its resources. “In terms of agricul- ture, we are clearly one of Oregon’s most produc- tive regions,” he said. “We add further value through the kind of partnership we are celebrating here today. Umatilla County is proud to be a partner with the city of Hermiston in a $4 mil- lion project that we mutu- ally hope will lead to the construction of a thousand new homes.” Threads of Life unveils quilt The public is invited to an event that celebrates lives touched by organ donations and transplants. The Threads of Life quilt unveiling is Satur- day from 1-3 p.m. at Pend- leton Center for the Arts, 214 N. Main St. The event also serves as a way to raise awareness about the criti- cal need for organ donors. Hermiston resident Cindy McIntyre, who received a life-saving heart transplant nearly fi ve years ago, will speak at the event. Coordinated by Donate Life Northwest, the quilt is comprised of individual- ly-designed squares created by community members honoring donors. The quilts celebrate the lives of trans- plant recipients and offers hope to those still awaiting transplants, including 3,000 people in the Pacifi c North- west, according to statistics provided by Donate Life Northwest. For more information, contact 503-494-7888, info@donatelifenw.org or visit www.donatelifenw. org/content/quilts. The water has mostly receded from Riverfront Park in Hermiston, but the park remains closed due to fl ooding damage. At least one large tree has fallen over, and the park is covered with a thick layer of silt and piles of debris ranging in size from twigs to logs. The section of the Oxbow Trail that connects the trail to the park has crumbled, and parks man- ager Jason Barron said other parts of the walking path around the park have been structurally compromised. The rest of the Oxbow Trail and the new Highland Trail are intact and remain open. “People are still able to get out and use our walk- ing path system, we just ask they refrain from using Riv- erfront Park until we can get in there and assess,” he said. Since the ground was still covered with thick, wet mud, Barron said last Thurs- day that his crew was going to let the park dry out until at least Wednesday before getting in there to assess damage and start hauling away debris. They don’t want their equipment to get stuck or tear up what grass is left. He said the city would work hard to get the park back in usable shape as quickly as they could. Some projects might take more than a few days — the city will probably bring in porta- ble restrooms, for example, Mark Sargent, DVM • Brent Barton, DVM Eugenio Mannucci, DVM, cVMA • Jana von Borstel, DVM, cVMA Small and Large Animal Care Mon: 8-6 Tue - Fri: 8-5 Sat: 8-12 Emergency Service 541.567.1138 80489 Hwy 395 N Hermiston www.oregontrailvet.com until they can clear out all the silt that washed into the restroom building. During Monday’s city council meeting Larry Fet- ter said it would probably be two weeks before the park was offi cially open again. Barron said the fl ood- ing, which caused the Uma- tilla River to cover the park for several days last week, came at a bad time while parks staff are busy getting all of the city’s parks ready for summer. The city of Umatilla has been dealing with its own fl ooding problems after its pedestrian bridge buckled under the pressure of high fl ood waters. While an early rough estimate had pre- dicted replacement costs might run as high as $5 mil- lion, city manager David Stockdale later said engi- neers had examined the bridge and reduced the esti- mate to $3.2 to $4.3 million. Stockdale said the engi- neers were not able to defi n- itively rule the bridge a total loss because the fl oodwaters were still too high to prop- erly assess the abutments. But they felt fairly confi dent it would not be salvageable. The city had an 18-inch water main running through the bridge, and Stock- dale said the engineers said demolishing and replacing the bridge with the water main would be a $3.2 mil- lion project. If government agencies decide that the water main needs to be run under the river instead of along the bridge, that would bump the estimated project cost up to $4.3 million. The good news, Stock- dale said, is Umatilla County emergency man- ager Tom Roberts said the price tag might be what puts the county over the damage threshold to receive federal and state disaster funds for recovery. The city council passed a resolution declar- ing a city emergency last week. Stockdale said the city wants to replace the bridge as soon as possible, but it will likely take more than a year to do so. Hermiston will stage “walk-in” for education on May 8 By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Many teachers around the state will stage walkouts on May 8, to demand better support for education from the Oregon Legislature. But Hermiston and Umatilla teachers decided not to par- ticipate in the walkout. Instead, teachers from each district will stage a “walk-in,” holding an event to send a message to legis- lators calling for adequate funding in schools. Delfi no Osorio Gar- cia, the Hermiston Asso- ciation of Teachers pres- ident, said there were a few factors behind Herm- iston’s decision to not join the walkout. One, he said, was that they didn’t want to add more days to the school year for students. If enough teachers walked out and school had to be closed, he said, it would add a day of school to Hermiston’s cal- endar year, putting their last day of school on a Monday and running into summer school. “Our decision was, how can we best support our union while also doing what’s best for our stu- dents?” he said. Garcia said the union decided to hold an event before school, at Hermis- ton High School’s Kennison Field at 7 a.m. on Wednes- day, May 8, inviting district administrators, school board members, Hermiston Asso- ciation of Teachers union members, and people from the Oregon School Employ- ees Association. Participants will listen to teachers speak about the need for adequate funding in schools. “We haven’t ever funded (schools) to where they need to be, and they keep taking away more,” he said. Umatilla School District Superintendent Heidi Sipe said the district will be hold- ing a walk-in on the same day, which will look a little different than Hermiston’s. Community members will start their day by listening to speeches about the district’s needs for funding. Then, they can choose to go to any of Umatilla’s three schools, and spend a day doing “a walk in their shoes,” seeing what a typical day looks like for Umatilla students. At the end of the day, they can turn in feedback about what they saw and what they think the needs and strengths of the district are. “So many people haven’t been in a school since they graduated,” Sipe said. “This is an event for everyone.” Oregon Education Asso- ciation president John Larsen said they are expect- EARTHLINK INTERNET ing more than 10,000 teach- ers and staff across the state to participate in the walk- outs, which will include marches, speeches, and music performances in indi- vidual communities. “Basically, it’s to try and bring attention to the dis- parity of funding in our schools right now,” he said. “Our schools have got to be funded.” Larsen, who was a Herm- iston High School language arts teacher for 15 years before stepping into the statewide union role, said there’s never been a state- wide demonstration by teachers like this in Oregon. “This is completely unprecedented,” he said. “It’s the result of 30 years of disinvestment from our schools. 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