NEWS
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
HeRMIsTOnHeRaLd.COM • A9
PGE starts scholarship fund for laid-off workers
By ANTONIO SIERRA
STAFF WRITER
Portland General Electric
is attempting to dull the sting
of upcoming mass layoffs
at Boardman Coal Plant
by offering employees free
classes at Blue Mountain
Community College.
PGE spokesman Ste-
ven Corson said the com-
pany’s $30,000 donation to
BMCC to establish the pro-
gram was one of the ways
PGE was avoiding leaving
its employees high and dry.
“We don’t want to be
that company,” he said.
PGE announced its
intention to cease coal-
based energy production
at the plant back in 2010,
but they recently started
talking with the more than
70 employees who work in
Boardman about their post-
coal plant options as the
deadline loomed.
Corson
said
some
employees talked about
transferring to another
PGE worksite while others
mulled retiring.
But for those employees
HH File Photo
The Boardman power plant is set to close at the end of 2020.
who were looking to stay
in the area, the company
is offering them a chance
to switch careers by get-
ting a degree or certificate
at BMCC.
Corson said the pro-
gram was not only meant
to benefit their employees,
but act as a retention tactic
to ensure that employees
have an incentive to con-
tinue working at the plant
through its closing date on
Dec. 31, 2020.
Casey
White-Zoll-
man, BMCC’s vice pres-
ident of public relations,
said she and BMCC Foun-
dation Executive Direc-
tor Margaret Gianotti vis-
ited the Boardman facility
a few months ago and were
impressed by PGE’s plan.
“This is a pretty amaz-
ing thing they’re doing,”
she said.
According
to
White-Zollman, the PGE
Boardman
Scholarship
Fund is open to anyone who
is or will become unem-
ployed due to the closure of
the Boardman Coal Plant.
Starting with the sum-
mer term in June, schol-
arship recipients will get
as much as $1,500 toward
their tuition.
Recipients must be
enrolled in at least one class,
and if they maintain at least
a 2.5 grade point average,
they will get another $1,500
for a second term.
Corson said the scholar-
ship fund will remain active
through the end of 2021,
one year after the Board-
man Coal Plant is slated to
close.
White-Zollman
said
six PGE employees have
already applied for the
scholarship.
Commissioners, crowd do not like county charter proposals
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
The group recommending
changes to Umatilla County’s
government felt pushback May 29
against its proposals. The oppo-
nents sang a song of, “If it ain’t
broke, don’t fix it.”
The eight-member charter
review committee presented its
findings and three potential ballot
measures to the board of commis-
sioners during a work session at
the county courthouse in Pendle-
ton. The simplest measure would
change the charter’s description of
the law enforcement department to
the sheriff’s office and rather than
spelling out most of the duties of
the sheriff refer instead to Oregon
law.
Elections also change. Per the
proposal, if no more than two
candidates file, there would be
no May primary election and the
candidates would advance to the
November general. If more than
two run, the two who win the most
votes in the primary face off in the
general.
The biggest proposal changes
the county from three full-time
commissioners to five part-tim-
ers who would be responsible for
hiring the county counsel and a
county manager. That also drew
the most resistance.
Commissioner Bill Elfering
said the lack of a full-time com-
missioner is a concern.
“Some have tried this the other
way, and it hasn’t worked very
well,” he said.
Commissioner John Shafer
hitched on, pointing out that Clat-
sop County is considering nixing
its manager and volunteer board
for full-time commissioners.
Charter review members strove
to defend the position, arguing the
size of the county and the size of
the county’s budget demands a
professional at the helm. Michele
Grable, the charter committee
chair, and other members argued
commissioners should focus their
time on policy, county advocacy
and strategy and not the “nit-
ty-gritty” of management. Grable
recalled one night when Commis-
sioner George Murdock oversaw
the problem of a leak in the dis-
trict attorney’s office on the third
floor of the courthouse. She said
commissioners have better things
to do with their time.
Some old habits are hard
to break, Murdock said in his
defense, but there was a greater
issue.
“I have an uncomfortable feel-
ing we are rushing to judgement,”
he said. “I’m still at a point I want
to ask questions.”
One of those, he continued, was
about how a manager would affect
the public’s access to commission-
ers. Yet he also said having he and
his fellow commissioners alone
decide the structure of county gov-
ernment “causes me great discom-
fort.” The broader public instead,
he said, should decide.
Some of that public spoke up
at the end of the meeting. Nearly
all said they did not like the idea
of part-time commissioners and a
full-time manager. One man said
he wanted to be able to take as
much time with a commissioner
as his problems demand, while
others worried a full-time man-
ager would impose his will on the
county.
Most, including Rex More-
house of Pendleton and Rob Lovett
of Hermiston, said they have no
problem with access to commis-
sioners now and the county board
is working just fine as is.
Only one person spoke in favor
of the committee’s recommenda-
tions: Hermiston Mayor David
Droztmann.
“I work in that environment,”
he said, “and it works really well.”
The charter committee and the
county board planned to continue
the discussion June 4.
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