HERMISTON ‘STARS’ RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY THROUGH DANCE » PAGE A11
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
$1.50
INSIDE
CLOSURE
Davis Amusement Cascadia
closes after years of provid-
ing rides for the Umatilla
County Fair. Page » A3
MLK DAY
Repair or
replace?
The annual Peace Walk takes
place Monday.
Page » A4
FOOD TRUCKS
Hermiston’s food truck
pod will return again next
summer.
Page » A10
BY THE WAY
City to host
wayfinding
open house
staff photo by Jade Mcdowell
The city of Hermiston
is hosting an open house
next week to discuss a
new wayfinding project.
The city plans to add
and update signs around
town to make it easier
for visitors to find their
way around Hermiston
and discover community
attractions.
According to a news
release, they have have
hired MERJE, a design
firm with “specific exper-
tise in Community Way-
finding,” to assist with the
project.
Community members
can come and listen to a
presentation, ask ques-
tions and give input on
Jan. 22 from 4-6 p.m. at
the Hermiston Commu-
nity Center, 415 S High-
way 395.
• • •
Last April, Fiesta
Foods closed its doors
at the corner of The-
ater Lane and Highway
395, and Grocery Out-
let confirmed it would
be opening a store at the
same address “some-
time in 2020.” This week
we checked back in with
Grocery Outlet and they
updated their timeline to
March 2020. Informa-
tion about job openings
and other updates will be
posted to groceryoutlet.
com as the opening date
draws closer.
• • •
The annual meeting
Hermiston City Hall remains closed due to damage from a fire as the city discusses the possibility of building a new city hall rather than
repairing the old one.
City councilors discuss building a new city hall earlier than expected after fire damaged the building
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Hermiston City Hall could remain
closed for much longer than previously
estimated if the city council decides to
replace the building rather than repair it.
The building, originally built as a
bank in 1965, was damaged by a fire
in the HVAC system on Dec. 17. City
Manager Byron Smith told the coun-
cil on Monday night that he didn’t have
all the final quotes in yet, but it would
require roughly $100,000 to replace the
damaged HVAC system and pipes bur-
ied in concrete, put in new carpet and
repaint.
The city council has included con-
struction of a new city hall in its
goal-setting sessions in recent years,
as the city has run out of room and had
to put staff in locations such as the old
Carnegie Library and Hermiston Com-
munity Center. Smith told the council
Monday that it may make sense to push
up the timeline.
“It’s hard for me to say, ‘Let’s spend
$100,000 on a building that in two
years I’m going to recommend you tear
down,’” Smith said.
Smith and several city councilors
discussed the limitations of the current
city hall, which has rooms spread out
over five levels, some of which are not
ADA-accessible. That includes the bath-
rooms, which are located on one of the
basement levels, and the council dias.
Mayor David Drotzmann said he
believed the inaccessibility of city hall
was a barrier to people with disabilities
wanting to work for the city or serve on
councils or in office.
staff photo by Jade Mcdowell
A notice on the door of Hermiston City Hall directs residents across the street to conduct
city business.
“We put a sign up that says Hermis-
ton is an inclusive community — except
for city hall,” he said.
While he agreed that Hermiston
needs a more accessible city hall, he
said he also worried about rushing the
decision too much, and asked how long
staff could last in their current locations.
Smith said one section of basement
in city hall that wasn’t connected to the
main HVAC system has reopened, while
other city staff have been farmed out to
locations such as the Carnegie Library
and the offices of Anderson Perry &
Associates. It has been crowded and
uncomfortable, he said, but they could
make it work for a handful of months.
If the city council decided to put
whatever insurance payout the city
receives toward a new building, Smith
said they could remodel the basement
of the library — where Monday’s city
council meeting was held — into city
offices and continue to use the Carnegie
See City Hall, Page A12
See BTW, Page A12
Possible community center sale affects EOTEC
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
A planning commission meet-
ing about a parking variance for
the Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center was briefly side-
tracked over a discussion about
the possible sale of the Hermis-
ton Community Center, where
the commission met on Wednes-
day night due to the closure of
city hall.
Several commission members
expressed opposition to the idea
of the city selling the center.
City manager Byron Smith
confirmed to the Hermiston Her-
ald last week that the city is still
willing to consider a sale once the
potential buyer, who still hasn’t
been named by the city, finalizes
and submits a proposal.
Commissioners
wondered
how getting rid of the venue
would affect EOTEC in light of
EOTEC manager Al Davis’ com-
ment that EOTEC’s event center
was booked “pretty much every
weekend” from February through
the fair.
“There are not very many
options to replace this building,”
Phil Hamm said.
Margaret Saylor agreed, not-
ing the community center also
had amenities EOTEC didn’t,
such as a stage.
“I just can’t conceive of a
city only having a facility like
EOTEC,” she said.
Davis said average attendance
See Center, Page A12
HH file photo
The sun sets over the carnival at the Umatilla County Fair in 2019. The potential sale
of the Hermiston Community Center could push more local events onto EOTEC’s
calendar.