FROM A1
A14 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
WATER
WALMART
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Continued from Page A1
lons of water and sewer
every month would receive
a bill of $115 for water and
sewer combined, compared
to $70.82 previously. But
in practice, most families’
water use varies dramatically
between summer and winter,
when they aren’t watering
their lawn. A family that uses
10,000 gallons next Decem-
ber and 30,000 gallons next
June will see a December
water/sewer bill of $100 and
a June bill of $155.
City of
Hermiston, Oregon
Capital Improvements Plan
How much money is that
expected to raise?
Anderson Perry & Asso-
ciates, the engineering fi rm
that calculated the needed
rate structure to pay for
water and sewer projects in
the city’s capital improve-
ment plan, estimated the new
rates will raise an additional
$2-3 million per year. The
fi rm’s rate studies take into
account how much custom-
ers usually cut back on water
use as rates rise.
What is the extra money
being used for?
In January the city coun-
cil adopted a fi ve-year cap-
ital improvement plan put
together by a public infra-
structure committee and
engineers from Anderson
Perry. The plan included
$4.4 million for 18 needed
improvements to the water
system and $6.5 million for
23 different sewer system
expenditures.
Another $7.4 million in
water projects were listed in
the appendices as projects
that were needed but would
likely not be completed in
the next fi ve years due to
lack of funding.
Projects listed in the fi ve-
year plan include water
and sewer line replace-
ments, extending lines to
new areas, well upgrades,
pump upgrades, lift sta-
tion upgrades, emptying the
wastewater treatment plant’s
biosolids reservoir, replac-
ing the 20-year-old com-
puter system running the
LA GRANDE, OR.
WALLA WALLA, WA.
REDMOND, OR.
HERMISTON, OR.
1901 N. Fir Street
La Grande, Oregon 97850
(541) 963-8309
www.andersonperry.com
2018
City of Hermiston
The city of Hermiston adopted this fi ve-year capital
improvement plan on Jan. 28, 2019.
water system and replac-
ing or adding various pieces
of equipment. Some of the
city’s pipes being replaced
are more than 100 years old.
A PDF of the plan out-
lining all of the projects is
attached to the web version
of this story at www.hermis-
tonherald.com.
How does Hermiston’s water
rates compare to other cities?
The city of Pendleton
recently completed a rate
study to compare water and
sewer bills throughout Ore-
gon and southeastern Wash-
ington, using the average
Pendleton residential cus-
tomer’s usage of 9,725 gal-
lons a month.
Hermiston ranked 29th
lowest on the list of 41 cities,
at $96.79. The average was
$115.05.
Nearby cities on the
list included Milton-Free-
water
($69.62),
Uma-
tilla ($76.31), La Grande
($90), Kennewick ($94.52),
Pendleton ($96.95), The
Dalles ($103.62), Heppner
($107.79) and Walla Walla
($135.20). Pasco and Rich-
land were the lowest on the
list at $68.79 and $69.05
respectively, while Portland
and Sweet Home topped the
list at $222.89 and $192.28.
What help is available for
people struggling to pay their
water bill?
Low-income
Hermis-
ton residents can apply for
a 50% reduction in their rate
based on fi nancial hardship.
The application can be found
at city hall, 180 NE Second
St., or online at hermiston.
or.us/water/rates.
The city offers a free app
and website called EyeOn-
Water, where customers can
log in and track their water
usage. The app can be used
to spot leaks by checking for
fl ows of water happening
when no water is being used
in the home, and can also
be used to track how much
water various activities use
so that customers can create
a plan for conserving water.
If EyeOnWater detects a
leak, residents who present
evidence to city hall that they
fi xed the leak within 30 days
of its discovery will only be
charged for half of the water
lost in the leak during that
billing cycle.
The federal website epa.
gov/watersense offers infor-
mation about ways residents
can lower their water bill
through conservation.
implement the new policy.
“The root of violence
is mental health. State and
local governments have
not done enough to help
those that are in mental
health crisis,” the Uma-
tilla County Republican
Party Chair, Suni Dan-
forth, wrote in a statement
on Thursday. “Walmart’s
actions do nothing to stop
gun violence. They have
penalized, and will lose,
those customers who shoot
competitively and for rec-
reation in various shooting
activities.”
Specifi cally, Walmart
will no longer sell
“short-barrel ammunition,
such as the .223 caliber and
the 5.56 caliber,” or hand-
guns and their ammunition,
in any of its stores.
Until Tuesday, Walmart
only sold handguns at its
Alaska locations.
For each of these items,
McMillon stated in the
memo that stores will sell
through the inventory they
are already committed to
and sales will cease after.
Moving forward, its inven-
tory will be dedicated to its
hunting and sport custom-
ers with primarily long bar-
rel deer rifl es, shotguns and
the accompanying ammu-
nition for both.
While Walmart will con-
tinue selling fi rearms and
ammunition
specifi cally
geared toward those cus-
tomers in Danforth’s state-
ment, her comment sup-
ports other critics who say
Walmart is going to lose
their business altogether
anyway.
“I think Walmart is mak-
ing a big mistake,” said
HollyJo Beers. “We’re just
gonna go to only ma and
pop stores for everything
now.”
Beers is the county vice-
lead of Oregon III%, which
is a state militia movement
focused on protecting the
Second Amendment, and
said she open and con-
cealed carries frequently
and has done so “many
times” at Walmart locations
before.
According to Delia Gar-
cia, Walmart’s senior direc-
tor of communications,
if Beers or other custom-
ers were to enter the store
openly carrying a fi rearm,
management will address
them respectfully and ask
that they return it to their
vehicle or conceal it.
“The goal is to take
a
non-confrontational
approach and treat them
with respect,” Garcia said,
emphasizing the policy’s
purpose is to create a safe
environment for everyone.
In the memo, McMil-
lon noted recent incidents
at Walmart locations where
customers have openly car-
ried guns, which led to
evacuations and calls to
local enforcement after
scaring other people.
“These incidents are
concerning and we would
like to avoid them,”
McMillon wrote. “So we
are respectfully requesting
that customers no longer
openly carry fi rearms into
our stores or Sam’s Clubs
in states where ‘open carry’
is permitted.”
While the policy doesn’t
amount to an explicit ban,
Garcia said in cases where
deescalation and respectful
conversations aren’t suc-
cessful, local authorities
may be called.
“It’s a judgement call,”
she said on Thursday. “If
somebody is creating con-
cern for our customers and
it’s perceived as a threat,
the store may have to go
ahead and contact police.”
To prepare its employ-
ees for these situations,
Garcia said the corpora-
tion is conducting training
with all associates and dis-
cussing the importance of
respect and how to assess
these scenarios.
Garcia
added
that
Walmart is in the process
of creating signage that will
inform customers of this
policy clearly, but that they
aren’t likely to be ready to
go for a couple weeks as
they work through com-
pliance with various states
and jurisdictions.
Regardless of the past
incidents, Beers doesn’t
believe people should be
scared of others openly car-
rying to begin with, noting
that it removes the possibil-
ity of people like her being
able to defend others in a
shooting situation. She also
said she’s happy to have
a respectful conversation
with somebody about why
she feels that way.
“I don’t mind if some-
one’s uncomfortable,” she
said. “I just don’t want to be
regulated from my right.”
Sen.
Bill
Hansell,
R-Athena, said he didn’t
have a comment on the gun
control debate at large or
the discussion around open
carry. But he did say he
sees Walmart’s new policy
as well within their rights
as a business.
“They’re a private busi-
ness, and as a private busi-
ness they will make deci-
sions they feel is best for
them and their customers,”
he said.
According to the memo,
Walmart will not change
its policy on allowing con-
cealed carry of fi rearms
within its stores.
Mark Petersen, chair of
the Umatilla County Dem-
ocratic Party, declined to
comment on the policy.
A potential winner from
the decision are gun shops
in Pendleton and Hermis-
ton, which are expecting an
increase in customers mov-
ing forward.
After removing the
short-barrel ammunition
from its stores, McMillon
wrote in the memo that the
retailer expects its share of
the ammunition market to
drop from 20% to between
6% to 9%.
Randy Smith, who is
the owner of Hermiston’s
Smitty’s Ace Outpost, said
he’s already seen an uptick
in buyers of his ammu-
nition after Walmart and
other chain retailers opted
to raise the age requirement
from 18 to 21 last year.
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