FROM PAGE ONE
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019
Bond
hard to win the support of
the community,” Mooney
said.
That $104 million bond
also aimed to replace Rocky
Heights and construct a
new elementary school, but
added replacing Highland
Hills Elementary School
and performing mainte-
nance such as a new roof for
Sandstone Middle School.
The bond would have cost
90 cents per $1,000 assessed
value.
“Community feedback
was that it wasn’t time
for Highland Hills yet,”
Mooney said.
She mentioned that
the district had needed to
“tighten its belt,” and that
the more recent Bond Mea-
sure 30-130, which scrapped
the proposal for a new High-
land Hills Elementary and
cut out funding for deferred
maintenance, helped with
that job.
The 2019 measure was
announced in July, shortly
after the district paid off
all pre-2008 bond debt,
decreasing property taxes
by 40 cents per $1,000. It’s
projected to preserve that
decrease, keeping the tax
level at less than $3.65 per
$1,000 of assessed value.
According to Pac/West,
the communication fi rm the
district retained to help with
the bond campaign, the key
to winning this election may
have been one very spe-
cifi c demographic: women
who didn’t share a house-
hold with any registered
Republicans.
County data compiled
by the fi rm showed that that
demographic made up over
1,000 voters and the major-
ity of them approved the
bond, creating a 200 yes-
vote surplus from the last
bond measure.
Votes among differ-
ent precincts— or elec-
tion districts— were varied.
According to a map from
the Umatilla County Plan-
ning Department, Hermis-
ton has nine precincts, eight
of which voted on the school
bond measure.
In two precincts out-
in crashes after the change.
The TSP for the section
of highway where Scott died
includes future traffi c sig-
nals at East Airport Road,
Ranch & Home and the
Walmart Distribution Cen-
ter. But the highway isn’t
close to reaching traffi c vol-
umes yet that call for addi-
tion of the lights.
In 2016, ODOT proposed
adding roundabouts to the
TSP as a possible alter-
native to traffi c signals in
those locations. The agency
dropped the idea, however,
at the city’s request after cit-
izens showed up to a city
council meeting to vehe-
mently oppose the idea.
While citizens who testi-
fi ed felt the heavy semitruck
volume by the Walmart
DC would be hindered by
roundabouts,
Strandberg
said ODOT has plenty of
data that shows roundabouts
reduce crashes. A traffi c sig-
nal might help direct traf-
fi c or slow it, but drivers are
still vulnerable to being rear-
ended or T-boned. Round-
abouts, by comparison,
make it diffi cult to create
conditions that would lead
to a fatal crash.
“Roundabouts
save
lives,” Strandberg said.
Another traffi c solution
ODOT has been implement-
ing that usually draws resis-
tance from citizens is “road
diets,” which reduce the
number of lanes on a high-
way as it comes through a
town. ODOT put Highway
11 on a diet through Mil-
ton-Freewater and now plans
to do the same in Stanfi eld.
While Stanfi eld’s road
diet — bringing Highway
395 down from fi ve lanes
to three — likely won’t
extend as far as Edwards
Road where Gallegos died
in October, it is expected to
make life safer for pedes-
trians trying to cross the
road downtown. Fewer
lanes, combined with side-
walk bulb-outs, generally
encourage drivers to stick to
the speed limit, reduce the
amount of distance pedestri-
ans must cross and eliminate
blind spots created as cars
drive next to tall trucks.
While ODOT controls
state highways, cities and
counties must also make
decisions about how to
direct traffi c on their own
streets.
“We have a lot more con-
trol there,” Hermiston City
Planner Clint Spencer said.
Spencer said Hermis-
ton’s planned road projects
can be found in the city’s
Capital Improvement Plan.
The plan includes projects,
such as repaving North First
Place and reconfi guring the
confusing three-way inter-
section of Geer, Harper and
Umatilla River roads.
Smaller projects, such as
the addition of fl ashing lights
near West Park Elementary
School and Hermiston High
School, aren’t included in
the CIP or TSP but are added
as the need arises. Spencer
said new development, such
as a subdivision, school or
large retailer, can warrant
new action.
“We determine how this
development is changing
demand,” he said. “With the
new school bond, we will
have to reevaluate certain
areas.”
Local jurisdictions often
use federal guidelines to
make decisions about add-
ing stop signs or other
improvements, but they do
have discretion to stray from
those guidelines. Two years
ago, Umatilla County added
Continued from Page A1
chair, Karen Sherman, and
vice chair, Josh Goller,
were careful about sharing
congratulations.
“We’re optimistic and
grateful,” Goller said after a
moment.
When all ballots were
tabulated, near 11 p.m., the
election showed itself to be
a close one.
Of the 14,586 registered
Hermiston voters this elec-
tion, 4,678— including
more than 1,200 Democrats
and more than 2,200 Repub-
licans— turned in their bal-
lots to voice their approval
or disapproval of the bond.
Voter turnout across all pre-
cincts ranged from 25 to
43%.
There were 2,446 yes
votes and 2,220 no votes,
which meant a 52.4% win
for the district.
While it might seem like
a small margin, it was a
swing from the district’s last
bond measure, which lost in
2017 by 59%.
“We’ve been working
Roads
Continued from Page A1
System Plan and place them
in the pipeline to seek fund-
ing to complete the project
once the data points hit cer-
tain benchmarks. Sometimes
they adjust the speed limit,
reshape an on-ramp, add a
traffi c signal, change lane
confi gurations, put up new
signs or add roundabouts.
“We’re open to ideas,”
Strandberg said. “We talk
to counties, talk to cities,
receive letters from individ-
uals, and we consider what
they have to say.”
On the other hand, some-
times what citizens think will
be the most safe doesn’t turn
out to be that way. Strand-
berg said ODOT has added
traffi c signals to places that
have not seen any decreases
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Supporters of the Hermiston School District Bond react to learning of the passing of the bond
during an election party at The Gathering Place in Hermiston on Nov. 5.
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side of city limits, less than
half of voters approved the
bond measure. In Precinct
105, which sits northeast
of downtown Hermiston
and extends from North-
east Tenth Street to North
Ott Road, only 43.86% of
voters approved the bond
measure.
Precinct 126, which
houses Rocky Heights Ele-
mentary, came up with
52% bond approval. Bond
approval peaked at just over
60% in Precinct 127, which
houses Hermiston High
School and West Park Ele-
mentary. That precinct also
had the highest voter turn-
out, according to data from
the Umatilla County Elec-
tions Department.
Precinct 130, which
houses Highland Hills,
approved the bond by 54%.
While Highland Hills will
not be replaced via the new
bond, the construction of a
new elementary school and
a larger version of Rocky
Heights will bring boundary
changes for the elementary
schools, adjusting Highland
Hills’ student population
down to a more manageable
level.
stop signs to Feedville Road
where it intersects with
Edwards Road between
Hermiston and Stanfi eld.
The stop signs made the
intersection exceed the rec-
ommendations in the fed-
eral Manual on Uniform
Traffi c Control Devices
for the number of trips
through the intersection
per day. But unusual con-
ditions, such as the miles
without a stop sign lead-
ing up to the intersection,
led to fatal crashes in 2014
and 2016, along with fre-
quent injury crashes caused
by people running the stop
signs already in place on
the Edwards side.
People running stop signs
points to an important point
in the conversation about
road safety:
“The biggest factor in
safety is the person behind
the wheel,” Strandberg said.
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