WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
UPDATES
SALONS
REOPEN
WITH
CAUTION
Umatilla
County reaches
109 confi rmed
COVID-19 cases
Umatilla County
Public Health
announced four new
confi rmed cases of
COVID-19 on May 26,
bringing the county’s
latest total to 109.
The county also has
four presumptive cases
of patients who have
been in close contact
with a confi rmed case
and are now show-
ing symptoms, but
have not received test
results.
Based on its May
26 numbers, the
county has 92 people
who have recovered
from COVID-19 and
three who have died.
Another 18 confi rmed
and presumptive cases
are currently active,
including one person
in the hospital. More
than half the cases con-
fi rmed have been resi-
dents of the Hermiston
and Umatilla ZIP codes.
So far, 1,496 have
also tested negative
in the county, accord-
ing to the health
department.
Statewide, the Ore-
gon Health Author-
ity website on May 26
showed 3,967 con-
fi rmed cases in the
state and 148 deaths
caused by COVID-19.
Nationally, the Cen-
ters for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention
reported more than 1.6
million confi rmed cases
and 98,261 deaths.
Anyone experienc-
ing COVID-19 symp-
toms they are con-
cerned about is
encouraged to call their
primary care provider.
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Stylist Tricia Marquez applies color to the hair of Jennifer McDonough
on May 23 at Trim’Ers salon in Hermiston.
Stylists deluged with calls
By KATHY ANEY
STAFF WRITER
H
air stylist Tricia Marquez waited for her
next client.
She had disinfected her styling chair
after the last client and wiped door han-
dles and other high-touch areas. The wait-
ing area gleamed, devoid of magazines
and other unnecessary items. A bright
pink mask with the words “Dye Pretty” hung from
her neck.
After two months of closure during Gov. Kate
Brown’s stay-at-home order, salons got permis-
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
See Salons, Page A1
Stylist Heather Smith applies color to the hair of Brenda Cooper on
May 23 at the Ellig’ance by Cherice salon in Hermiston.
Stylist Tricia Marquez applies color to the
hair of Jennifer McDonough on May 23 at
Trim’Ers salon in Hermiston.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston budgets for 2020-21 amid COVID-19
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
City budgets lay out a road map
of projects for the upcoming fi scal
year, but Hermiston City Manager
Byron Smith told budget commit-
tee members on May 21 that the city
may have to make some adjustments
as the fuller picture of COVID-19’s
economic impacts becomes clear.
The budget committee approved
the 2020-21 budget on May 21, rec-
ommending it to the Hermiston City
Council for fi nal approval during
the council’s June 8 meeting.
The city had originally planned
to give all employees a 2.75% cost
of living increase in July at the
beginning of the fi scal year, but
Smith told the committee that raise
will now be held off until at least
January 2020. Smith said the city
would see what effect the economic
downturn has on property tax reve-
INSIDE
nue, which makes up a majority of
the city’s incoming funds.
“If we’re going to have negative
impact on our revenues, we’ll know
in November,” he said.
The cost of living increase
would have cost the city approxi-
mately $275,000 for the entire year
if implemented July 1.
Smith said the city has seen
“slow and steady” growth in prop-
erty values over the past nine years,
and during the 2019-20 fi scal
year passed the $1 billion mark in
assessed value.
He said the city budgeted for
lower than usual amounts of other
revenue that have slowed or stopped
during the pandemic, such as rent-
als of the Hermiston Community
Center and Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center, revenue from the
Hermiston Aquatic Center and tran-
sient room taxes on hotel stays.
The city plans to add two new
Inside A special section honors
the Class of 2020
positions, both to the police depart-
ment. One, a new school resource
offi cer, will focus solely on middle
school students while school is in
session, and will be funded 75% by
the Hermiston School District. The
other is a new records clerk. Smith
said the police department has seen
a large increase in requests for foot-
age from body cameras, which takes
time to go through the videos and
make sure there are no HIPPA vio-
lations or other things that need to
be redacted.
“We’re not only getting a lot
more requests, but they’re taking a
lot more time,” he said.
The city’s biggest capital
improvement projects planned
for the year come in the water
and wastewater department. They
include a $610,000 project to replace
sewer lines at what Smith called the
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
See Budgets, Page A10
The Hermiston City Council is considering tearing down the current city
hall and building a $9 million replacement on the site.
A5 A Hermiston woman was
scammed out of her life savings
A7 The Maxwell Market opens for
its 2020 season with social distancing
measures
A11 A Hermiston nutrition special-
ist starts her own YouTube cooking
show
