NEWS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Umatilla City Council candidates make their case
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Candidates for Umatilla
City Council participating in
a forum on Wednesday, Oct.
14, painted a rosy picture of
Umatilla.
All four candidates who
participated touted the city’s
recent growth and promised
great things to come for the
community.
“This is a very exciting
time to be involved,” incum-
bent Roak TenEyck said.
“We have so many things
teed up that we’re ready to
smash down the fairway.”
TenEyck has been on the
council since 2013. He is
being challenged for Posi-
tion #6 by Ivan Gutierrez,
who was not present at the
forum.
Incumbent
Ashley
Wheeler’s challenger, Isis
Ilias, who is running against
Wheeler for Position #4,
was also absent. In her clos-
ing remarks to the audience,
Wheeler said that Umatil-
la’s growth has meant much
more of a time commitment
as a councilor, with one city
council meeting a month
turning into two or three
and executive sessions that
sometimes go past 10 p.m.
She said she asked herself
whether she was ready to
“wholeheartedly” make that
commitment again.
“I’m here today because
I answered yes to that,” she
said. “I want to be able to
remain on this. It would
be an absolute joy. I know
that this train is moving fast
and I’m really excited to be
a part of this and of this
community.”
Daren Dufl oth and
Devon Mitchell are both
running for Position #2
on the council, currently
held by Michael Rox-
bury. Dufl oth is a for-
mer city councilor who
was appointed to serve as
an interim mayor in May
2017 but then lost a reelec-
tion bid in November
2018. Mitchell, who works
for Eastern Oregon Tele-
com and the Oregon Army
National Guard, has lived
in Umatilla since 2014 and
has not previously run for
the council.
Mitchell said he thinks
Umatilla is going in a good
direction and he would like
to have a hand in continu-
ing that direction, through
the city council and other
community involvement.
He said he wants to see
Umatilla become a desti-
nation, where people travel
from the Tri-Cities and
other surrounding areas for
recreation. He described
himself as a “history buff”
and said he wants to help
the city fi gure out how to
work hand in hand with its
partners to fi nally open up
the Old Town site so that
people can learn the site’s
history.
In response to a question
about how to get neglectful
property owners to clean
up eyesores, Mitchell said
façade grants have already
improved the look of down-
town and he thinks incen-
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla City Council candidate Devon Mitchell speaks during
a candidate forum at Umatilla City Hall on Wednesday, Oct.
14, 2020.
Umatilla City Council candidate Ashley Wheeler speaks
during a candidate forum at Umatilla City Hall on Wednesday,
Oct. 14, 2020.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Heraln
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla City Council candidate Roak TenEyck speaks during a
candidate forum at Umatilla City Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 14,
2020.
Umatilla City Council candidate Daren Dufl oth speaks during
a candidate forum at Umatilla City Hall on Wednesday, Oct.
14, 2020.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Joe Franell (left) asks a question at the Umatilla City Council
candidate forum
tives are a good way to
get businesses to purchase
and improve run-down
properties.
“Part of that is an incen-
tive and whether we extend
a hand to help them out,
whether it’s with grants or
other promotions,” he said.
Dufl oth, who owns The
Bridge (formerly known as
Riverside Sports Bar and
Lounge) with his wife Pau-
lette, said his previous years
on the council and his more
than 20 years of experience
as a local business owner
have given him a “10,000-
foot view” of the city.
He said for many years,
Umatilla went along with
little planning, but now he
credits much of its recent
growth and improvement to
the strategic planning that
has taken place for vari-
ous departments. He said
the city needs to continue
with those efforts, includ-
ing a current strategic plan-
ning process for parks and
recreation.
“When I fi rst got on the
council many many years
ago there was really no
plan,” he said. “We didn’t
have an economic plan,
we didn’t have a strate-
gic plan, we didn’t have a
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vision. It was a completely
different city.”
When asked what he
would do if given $1 mil-
lion to improve Uma-
tilla, Dufl oth said the most
important investment the
city needs to make now is
in information technology,
to increase the number of
residents who have reliable
internet in their homes.
Wheeler, who has served
on the council since 2018,
said councilors need to “put
our feet to the pavement” to
connect with residents, and
said she supports making
more events like Wednes-
day’s forum accessible on
the internet for people who
have a diffi cult time mak-
ing it to meetings in person.
She said Umatilla’s big-
gest challenge right now is
being strategic about how it
uses the additional money
fl owing in from data cen-
ters, new subdivisions and
other growth of their prop-
erty tax base. She said it is
exciting that so many peo-
ple want to live in Umatilla,
new homes are sold as soon
as ground is broken. She
credited the community’s
people and the way they
work together.
“More and more people
are seeing that and saying,
‘I could see myself living
there,’” she said.
TenEyck said called
Umatilla a “warm, inviting,
wonderful place to be” and
said one of Umatilla’s big-
gest strengths is its loca-
tion at the confl uence of the
Umatilla and Columbia riv-
ers. He wants to see initia-
tives that help draw more
people to that area for rec-
reational opportunities, and
said if given $1 million to
help Umatilla, he would
likely use it on a parks and
recreation initiative, such as
a splash pad or swimming
pool.
He said he wanted to con-
tinue with initiatives like the
annual Slam Dunk the Junk
spring cleanup event, and
to make sure Umatilla is an
inclusive city where every-
one can be involved.
“I want this to be an
excellent place to raise a
family,” TenEyck said. “A
safe place to raise a fam-
ily. Somewhere where you
can rely on your neighbor
when you need some help.
Someplace that you always
feel like that’s the place I
call home, and I suppose
it’s important to never lose
that, no matter how fast and
far we grow.”
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