NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston council discusses city hall plans
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
A new city hall for Herm-
iston would come with an
approximately $9 million
price tag if the city council
approves the idea this year,
city manager Byron Smith
told the council on Monday
night.
The price would include
about $700,000 of renova-
tions to the basement of the
Hermiston Public Library so
that city staff could use the
space during the 18-month
construction period, and the
rest of the cost would go
toward building a new city
hall on the same site as the
current one.
Preliminary
designs
show a two-story building
with a basement, with each
of the three fl oors about
9,200 square feet in size.
The municipal court would
move into the new build-
ing, freeing up space for the
police department in its cur-
rent building, and would also
move the building depart-
ment and other staff out of
the old Carnegie Library.
Marcus Valentine, of
Architects West, said the
city’s current building at
180 N.E. Gladys Ave., a
renovated bank building
fi rst built in 1965, is not
ideal. The building is split
between fi ve levels but does
not have an elevator, and
its restrooms, council dais,
counters and some hallways
are not conducive to some-
one in a wheelchair. City
staff have also outgrown
the building, causing them
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
The Hermiston City Council is considering tearing down the current city hall and building a $9
million replacement on the site.
to spread to other buildings,
and there are security issues.
“It’s clearly defi cient in a
lot of respects,” he said.
The concept he presented
Monday is one that he and
Smith said would be much
more accessible and more
effi cient for city staff.
Only two people instead
of four would be needed to
staff the front counters, for
example. There would also
be room to grow, and Smith
said there was another gov-
ernment agency that had
already expressed interest
in leasing space in the base-
ment until the city needed it.
Meanwhile,
city
staff could use the base-
ment of the library, which
Smith described as “very
underutilized.”
Valentine said architects
had been talking with library
staff about what would make
the basement more usable,
and had been told one of
the main problems was that
the layout made supervi-
sion diffi cult. He proposed
a renovation to the basement
that would remove or shift
many of the walls, making
it more ideal for a makeshift
city hall, but also creating a
space that would be much
more usable for the library
as a children’s section in the
future.
“We want to appropri-
ately maximize the space,”
Valentine said.
The city had conducted
an online survey about city
hall in preparation for the
discussion. Smith said they
received 202 responses in
English and eight responses
to the Spanish survey. Fif-
ty-six percent of the respon-
dents said they came to city
hall at least a few times
per year. Their top wishes
for city hall were disability
access, effi ciency and timely
access.
Smith read several of the
written comments left on the
survey’s open-ended sec-
tion, which gave mixed sup-
port. One person said they
were fi rmly against a new
city hall, as it “adds taxes,”
while another said they get
jealous when they look at
the nicer city halls of Board-
man and Umatilla.
The city had originally
been planning on waiting
for a few years to build a
new city hall, but a fi re in
December has given the city
a choice to use its approx-
imately $175,000 insur-
ance payout to repair the old
building knowing it might
not stay up much longer, or
put it toward a new one.
Smith
recommended
building now.
“There’s not going to be a
cheaper time to do this,” he
said. “We have a very good
interest rate environment
right now, and construction
costs are not going to go
down.”
He said the city could
borrow the money via full
faith and credit bonds, with
either a 15-, 20- or 30-year
payment. The 30-year pay-
ment would be $439,000 per
year, which Smith said he
felt confi dent the city could
handle. He said the city
could use enterprise zone
payments in lieu of taxes
from companies such as
Lamb Weston, Amazon and
a new large project he hopes
to present to the council in
May.
Councilor John Kir-
wan said he felt the timing
was right to act now, and
there was no reason the city
couldn’t try to pay off the
debt in less than 30 years.
“To me, spending that
money smartly is to make
the investment sooner rather
than later, and pull the trig-
ger,” he said.
Boardman to pursue bond for
water and wastewater projects
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The Boardman City
Council voted Feb. 4 to ask
voters to approve a $20.3
million general obligation
bond for water and waste-
water projects.
According to the resolu-
tion passed Tuesday night,
the question will go on the
May 19 ballot. It will ask
voters whether the city shall
issue the bonds “to improve
and expand its water and
wastewater facilities” by
issuing bonds not to exceed
$20,320,000 that would
mature within 25 years.
The ballot language to
be submitted to the Morrow
County clerk describes the
projects the money would be
used for — a water booster
pump station, an approx-
imately 1 million gallon
water reservoir, a new water
collector well, a 13-acre
lagoon, and wastewater lift
stations. The money would
also help pay for acquiring
land for the projects, refi -
nancing outstanding debt
and covering the cost of
issuing the bonds.
If approved, the aver-
age annual property tax rate
is estimated at $1.56 per
$1,000 of assessed value
and the bonds would mature
within 25 years.
City Manager Karen Pet-
tigrew said Thursday that
passing the bond will actu-
ally save residents money.
If the city were to bor-
row the money to complete
the needed projects from
a source, such as the U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
she said, the agency would
require the city to raise its
water and sewer rates sig-
nifi cantly before it consid-
ered making the loan. She
said her combined water,
sewer and garbage bill is
$59.43 right now.
“We have chosen to keep
our rates low,” she said.
The minutes from a Jan.
4 work session show the
council listened to a presen-
tation by engineering fi rm
Anderson Perry & Associ-
ates about the benefi ts of
the projects, including reli-
ability, quality of wastewa-
ter treatment and creating
room for future growth. It
also cited information from
David Ulbricht of the Spe-
cial Districts Association
of Oregon, who told city
councilors that paying for
the projects through water
rates instead of bonds would
require the city to raise its
base water rate by $60 a
month and sewer by $20.
Pettigrew said the city
will provide detailed infor-
mation about the bond to
residents in the coming
months.
A Jan. 28 news release
from the city noted that it
was “beginning talks” about
expanding water and sewer
projects.
“The expansion will
ensure reliability in the
city’s water and wastewa-
ter systems and improve fi re
fl ow,” the release stated.
The release also noted
the city council had recently
extended incentives for
developers. The city had
previously set in place a
temporary waiver for water
and sewer system develop-
ment charges, and city coun-
cilors felt it would be bene-
fi cial to extend the waiver,
which expired at the end of
2019, for another year.
The waivers operate on
a sliding scale based on
the number of “equivalent
dwelling units” a residential
or commercial project rep-
resents. Developers can call
the city at 541-481-9252 for
more information.
Columbia Works launches summer intern program
The Port of Morrow, in
partnership with regional
industries, has launched
the new Columbia Works
Summer
Internship
Program.
An industry-led, sum-
mer work experience pro-
gram, Columbia Works
features paid internships,
free professional develop-
ment training and applica-
tion assistance.
Prospective interns can
choose from a diverse set
of opportunities that range
from farming and food
processing to education,
business, information tech-
nology, workforce devel-
opment and more.
“Our goal is to make
connections,” Kalie Davis,
workforce training man-
ager at the Port of Mor-
row, said in a statement.
“We want to make things
as easy as possible for both
our industry partners and
young adults looking for
internship opportunities.”
The program is part of
the Oregon Works net-
work that has seen success
in different regions across
the state. Columbia Works
was established to link
regional employers with
high school and college
students who are looking
to gain experience in their
prospective career fi eld.
“We believe Columbia
Works is a great resource to
get students the real-world
experience and exposure
to our industry and to see
the potential career path
CONCEALED CARRY
PERMIT CLASS
SATURDAY
FEB. 22 ND
1PM
CLASS
Ranch & Home
2500 S Hwy 395, Hermiston ONLY!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who sent
cards, food, flowers or donations for
HARRY NOBLE
and for all that came to his celebration of life.
A special thank you to Ken Huber of
Burns Mortuary, Marty Campbell, John
Wambeke, Tony Lundervold, the Military,
Don & Donna Eppenbach, Renate Meakins,
the Irrigon Sr. Center & Cowboy Church.
With much appreciation to, Dr’s Guy &
Jonas Oltman, Dr. Jeremy Anderson,
Good Shepherd IV Therapy & Vange John
Hospice for such compassionate care of him.
Helen Noble, Jerita Belyea, Jody Lafferty & Families
Interested in a Medical career?
Need funds to complete
your training?
Good Shepherd Community Health
Foundation medical scholarship
applications are now being accepted
from qualified local students
through February 29th.
The Foundation is again pleased to
partner with Tualatin Imaging to offer
additional scholarships for students
who have expressed interest in
pursuing a diagnostic imaging career
Please call 541-667-3419
for further information
Applications can be accessed online at
www.gshealth.org/foundation/scholarships
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The most valuable and respected source of
local news, advertising and information
for our communities.
they can have,” said Kirk
Jacobson, Beef Northwest
human resources manager
and Columbia Works steer-
ing committee member.
Shaun
Shaun Curtain
Curtain 360-921-2071
360-921-2071
or or email:
email: ShaunCurtain@gmail.com
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Councilor Jackie Myers
said she believed it was
important for the city to
send a message about acces-
sibility. Right now, she said,
there are people in the com-
munity who are hindered
from conducting business,
working at or serving in city
hall.
Councilor Roy Barron
said he liked the idea of
making the library a more
attractive place in the pro-
cess, and called city hall “the
peoples’ house.”
Mayor David Drotzmann
questioned how the city
would pay a 30-year debt
obligation after the current
enterprise zone agreements
run out in 15 years, and said
he worried about sticking
a future generation of city
leaders with a diffi cult debt
burden.
“We can always pay it off
sooner, but that just doesn’t
seem to happen very often in
government,” he said.
However, he supported
the overall idea of a new city
hall, saying it sent a state-
ment to the outside world
that Hermiston “means
business and wants to be a
player” in the state.
City councilors plan to
vote on the proposal for a
new city hall during the Feb.
24 meeting.
The survey on the city’s
website remains active for
the rest of the month, and
Smith said the city would
host a few public open
houses on the topic, includ-
ing one at 6 p.m. next Tues-
day at the Hermiston Public
Library.
Mark Sargent, DVM • Brent Barton, DVM
Eugenio Mannucci, DVM, cVMA • Jana von Borstel, DVM, cVMA
Small and Large Animal Care
Mon: 8-6
Tue - Fri: 8-5
Sat: 8-12
Emergency Service
541.567.1138
80489 Hwy 395 N
Hermiston
www.oregontrailvet.com
PLACE
YOUR AD
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Contact Audra at
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Today!
If interested please go to fuzzballrescue.com and fill out an application.
If you are not able to adopt, but would like to foster or donate, visit fuzzballrescue.com
or you can mail in donations to Fuzz Ball Animal Rescue, PO Box 580, Hermiston, OR 97838