WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019
LOCAL
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Residents protest water rate hike
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Frustrations over water
rates in Hermiston reached
a boiling point Monday as
dozens of residents showed
up to the city council meet-
ing to voice their complaints
about an increase imple-
mented in March.
The public comment
section of the meeting
lasted more than an hour,
with some citizens taking
more than one turn at the
microphone.
“I have to pull extra shifts
at work to pay my water
bill, which means time
away from my kids, time
away from my family,” Kirt
Hickey said.
He said that information
put out by the city ahead of
the increase made it seem
like he would be seeing a $20
a month increase, instead of
jumping from $80 to close
to $300. Others at the micro-
phone also described seeing
a spike in the past couple of
months that was more than
twice what they had previ-
ously been paying.
They said they felt lied to
by the city.
The rate restructure has
residents paying a base
rate of $30 per month plus
50 cents per 1,000 gallons
of water up to 15,000 gal-
lons, before the cost jumps
to $3.50 per 1,000 gallons.
City staff told commenters
that estimates of how much
their bill would increase had
been based on an average
over the course of the year,
with the expectation that
lawn irrigation would cause
much bigger increases in the
summer months compared
to winter.
Residents said that was
small comfort to people who
couldn’t make ends meet
now.
“Seniors are having to
choose between medications
or water,” Larry Smith told
the council.
One woman described
cutting back to showering
every other day, and hear-
ing that her neighbors were
showering together to save
water. Others said they
had stopped watering their
lawns, creating a fi re hazard
and nuisance.
“I’ve been here my whole
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Identifi cation tags of 20-year employees hang on a display
during a celebration for the 20th anniversary of the
Hermiston Walmart Distribution Center in April 2018.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
A man speaks to the Hermiston city council Monday about frustrations with a March water rate
increase. The audience for Monday’s meeting took up seats in the council chambers and spilled
over into the lobby.
life, went to school here,
and I’ve never seen it look
this bad,” Jesse Brazil said,
referencing the number of
brown lawns he was seeing
around town. “I’m so mad
about it.”
City councilors told the
crowd they sympathized
with the struggles of higher
rates, as they, too, were
affected as residents of the
city. Councilor Rod Har-
din, recently retired, said
he was adjusting to life on a
fi xed income and the water
rate increase had cut into his
budget.
City councilor Roy Bar-
ron said he had needed to
make adjustments in his
household as well, and
understood the feeling of
frustration with increasing
taxes and fees at a local,
state and federal level.
“You see yourself los-
ing money here and losing
money there and I’m sure the
water was a tipping point,”
he said. “People are say-
ing, ‘Where is that money
going?’ and the hard thing
with (water) infrastructure
is that it’s not always things
people see.”
Mayor David Drotzmann
said the city’s public infra-
structure committee spent
two years compiling a list
of all of the water and sewer
projects the city needs to
complete and found the city
is “way behind.” The city is
more than 100 years old, he
said, and some of its water
is still running through the
original pipes put in a cen-
tury ago.
The increased water rates
were not making a profi t
for the city general fund,
he said, but instead every
penny is being funneled
back into making sure the
city continues to have safe
and reliable water service.
The city had to balance con-
cerns about higher rates
with concerns about being
the “next Flint, Michigan,”
he said.
“We have some impend-
ing problems,” he said.
“We’re trying to prevent
broken pipes, lead in our
system.”
Resident Sandra Hickey
said she understood the con-
cern about maintaining the
system, but pointed out that
as a homeowner when she
wants to improve her home
she saves up and fi xes a lit-
tle at a time as she has the
money. She said she wanted
to see the city take a similar
approach.
“Most of us out here,
when we go up stairs we go
one at a time, we don’t jump
to the top,” she said.
Jackie Linton, the only
citizen who commented
when the city council voted
for the rate increase in Octo-
ber, told the rest of the group
that she had seen the decay-
ing pipes pulled out of the
ground and brought to city
council meetings, and had
listened to the hours of dis-
cussion in the meetings pre-
ceding the vote. That had
helped her understand the
need.
“This wasn’t done over-
night, and it was open to
the public,” Linton said. “I
voiced my opinion at the
time, just like everyone here
could have done.”
Drotzmann told the group
that as the city gathers data
in the coming months, the
council could look at that
information and consider
any adjustments that might
be needed.
In the meantime, he
encouraged residents to take
conservation measures and
work on fi xing leaks that
may be costing them hun-
dreds of dollars a month. He
said the city’s water app had
alerted him to a leak in his
line and that fi xing it had
already saved him $160 in
the fi rst month.
He thanked everyone
who showed up to share
their experience with the
rate increase.
“Keep
holding
us
accountable,” he said.
Walmart adding
100 jobs to Hermiston
distribution center
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Walmart
announced
Monday that it will be hir-
ing 100 additional asso-
ciates to fi ll orders at its
Hermiston
distribution
center.
Interested candidates
for the new positions were
encouraged to attend a
hiring event at the facil-
ity on Tuesday, and some
were given on-the-spot
offers. Those who were
not able to make it to the
hiring event can still turn
in an application online at
careers.walmart.com.
Wages start at $17.15
an hour but can go up
to $18.85 for shift work
and weekends. Benefi ts
for full-time employees
include medical, vision
and dental as well as access
to Walmart’s program that
offers access to online col-
lege classes for $1 per day.
The Hermiston center,
which celebrated its 20th
anniversary in the com-
munity last year, serves
106 Walmart stores in
the Pacifi c Northwest.
At that time the company
announced that $54 bil-
lion in goods had passed
through the center, and
company
executives
touted it as one of the com-
pany’s most productive
distribution centers in the
country.
With close to 1,000
associates working at
the distribution center in
Hermiston and hundreds
at stores in Hermiston and
in Pendleton, Walmart is
already one of the larg-
est employers in Umatilla
County.
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Hermiston School Board appoints new member
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By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
The Hermiston School
Board appointed a new
member to its ranks this
week.
The board selected Bryan
Medelez of Hermiston after
the resignation of board
member Dave Smith earlier
this month. Smith said he
left the board to focus on the
expansion of his business, O
So Kleen.
“It’s easier to be elected
than appointed,” said board
chair Karen Sherman, fol-
lowing
the
candidate
interviews.
Perry Hawkins,
Tim
Turner,
Nazario Rivera,
and Zaira Sanchez were the
other candidates up for the Medelez will be able to run
position.
for the position then for a
The fi ve applicants were chance to fi ll the remain-
interviewed by the board, ing term of offi ce until June
before second vice
2023.
chair, Ginny Hol-
Medelez is the
thus,
nominated
director of opera-
Medelez.
tions at his family’s
“No matter what
trucking business,
happens,”
Sher-
Medelez Inc. and
man said prior to
BJK Transport.
the
appointment,
Born and raised
Medelez
“the four other peo-
in Hermiston, he
ple in the room need
now has three chil-
to consider running for dren of his own. His two
election.”
sons currently attend Rocky
Vice board chair Josh Heights Elementary.
Goller agreed, reminding the
Medelez
expressed
applicants that before he was excitement over the new
elected, he had run unsuc- bond proposal, which, if
cessfully in the past.
passed, would in part pay to
Elections for the board replace Rocky Heights.
position will be held in May.
“I really think they
deserve an up-to-date facil-
ity. Not just my children,
but the other children that
go there and future children
who will go there,” he said.
After graduating from
Hermiston High School,
Medelez attended Oregon
State University and even-
tually went on to complete
his master’s degree in busi-
ness administration through
Eastern Oregon University’s
off-campus program.
He previously served as
vice chair on the Hispanic
Advisory Committee, and
on the board of directors for
the Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce. Medelez also
coaches youth football and
wrestling in the Hermiston
area.
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