WEDNESDAY, AUG. 12, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
UPDATES
Umatilla
County
opens
COVID-19
relief
small
business
program
HERMISTON HERALD
Small businesses in
Umatilla County can get
a $5,000 grant as money
from the federal govern-
ment’s COVID-19 relief
package continues to
trickle down to Umatilla
County.
Umatilla County Eco-
nomic
Development
announced the start of a
new small business relief
program in a Aug. 6
press release, stating the
county intends to distrib-
ute $5,000 grants to qual-
ifying businesses propor-
tionately throughout the
county.
According to the city
of Hermiston, the city is
partnering with the county
to provide extra funds
for the program from the
city’s portion of the fed-
eral CARES Act, reserv-
ing a total of $745,000
specifi cally for Hermiston
businesses.
The county states
that eligible businesses,
including sole propri-
etors, must be directly
affected by the state’s
COVID-19
orders,
through a closure or other
mandated changes to the
business. Business must
also be headquartered and
operating in the county
and employ 50 people or
fewer.
A business can only
submit one application
and nonprofi ts are not
eligible.
The deadline to apply
is Aug. 26 and business
owners can apply for the
grants at www.umatilla-
county.net/grants. Paper
applications are avail-
able at local city halls,
where they can also be
submitted.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Katelyn Griffi n takes a moment with her lamb prior to having her picture taken on the fi rst day of the 2020 Umatilla County Fair Modifi ed Youth Livestock
Show on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston.
An early goodbye
Youths drop off animals for a socially distanced county fair
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Online
Fair week for the Umatilla
County Fair kicked off, like
everything else in 2020, in an
unprecedented way at 6 a.m. on
Tuesday, Aug. 11.
There were no corn dogs or
rides, no concerts or jugglers. But
there were still animals.
Youths (or their parents)
showed up early Tuesday morn-
ing with their lambs, saying
goodbye for the week before
the animal they spent the sum-
mer raising was weighed, photo-
graphed and sent off to await the
Youth Livestock Auction at the
end of the week. Other animals
will get their turn throughout the
week.
Blake Betz, an 18-year-old
FFA student who has shown ani-
mals at the fair every year since
he was fi rst old enough, said he
would miss the usual experiences
of fair week, even though he still
got the experience of raising his
steer, Lil’ Smoky.
“In years previous I’ve looked
forward to seeing friends from
other towns that I don’t usually
get to see, and get a week off and
For more photos
from the fair, see
this story at
hermistonherald.
com.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Juliann Bruce leads her lamb to the livestock check-in on the fi rst day of
the 2020 Umatilla County Fair Modifi ed Youth Livestock Show on Tuesday,
Aug. 11, 2020, at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston.
“IT’S SUCH A VITAL THING THAT
THE COMMUNITY IS NOT JUST
GOING TO FORGET ABOUT IT.”
— Kendall Cooper, Standfi eld
have fun hanging out,” he said.
Kendall Cooper, 17, an FFA
student from Stanfi eld, said this
was her fi fth year raising a mar-
ket hog for the fair. She said her
hog, a Yorkshire-Hampshire cross
named Belle, was looking good
and should make weight.
She said when the FFA stu-
dents got their animals in March,
school had just shut down and so
they had an inkling that if they
went through with raising an ani-
mal to show, fair week probably
wouldn’t look exactly the same as
they were used to.
Cooper said normally during
the week, particularly during the
Youth Livestock Auction, she is
making connections with people
See Fair, Page A12
Council OKs $9.6 million
in bonds for new city hall
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
The city of Hermiston is weighing the possibility of off ering 8 acres of land, near the city’s wastewater treatment
plant, for a potential housing development for senior citizens.
INSIDE
A3 Hermiston Herald inserts
masks into newspapers mailed to
subscribers
A3 Four candidates so far for
Hermiston City Council race
The Hermiston City Council
authorized the sale of up to $9.6
million in bonds to pay for a new
city hall and renovation of the
lower level of the Hermiston Pub-
lic Library during their Monday,
Aug. 10 meeting.
The city plans to build a new,
larger, three-story city hall on the
site of the current city hall at 180
N.E. Second St. The interior of
the previous city hall was dam-
aged during a fi re in the build-
ing’s HVAC system in December
2019, but the council had already
set a goal to start working toward
building a new city hall sometime
A7 Chamber puts land up for
sale
in the next few years. They cited
overcrowding that had pushed
staff into other buildings, and a
lack of wheelchair accessibility.
City Manager Byron Smith
told the council that based on pre-
liminary designs, ArchitectsWest
had given a “high-level” estimate
of $9 million for the project, but
the $9.6 million approval would
give some wiggle room if costs
came in higher than expected.
Smith said they expect to have a
fi rm, detailed cost estimate on city
hall by mid-October.
Paying off $9.6 million in
bonds would require a $470,000
annual payment, Smith said,
See Council, Page A12
A11 School district narrows new
school names down to three