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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2020)
NEWS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 City council discusses Columbia Development Authority rescinds vote wayfi nding signs on industrial land By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR The fi rst time Glen Swan- tak of the design fi rm MERJE visited Hermiston, he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to park in the parking lot across the street from city hall, or if it was a private lot. “The fi rst time I came here, I went to city hall and I had no idea, really, where to park,” he said during a Monday, Oct. 26, work ses- sion with the Hermiston City Council. “I didn’t know if I was going to get a ticket; I didn’t know if I was going to get towed.” The city of Hermiston hopes to fi x that sort of con- fusion soon with the city’s wayfi nding sign initiative, which MERJE is designing with the help of a local steer- ing committee. The project will place signs around town helping people fi nd their way to parks, trails, down- town, municipal parking lots, the library and other points of interest around the city. The signs could also include informational kiosks, such as maps of downtown. The plan is for the signs to have a cohesive, decorative look tying them together and beautifying the city in addi- tion to being useful for visi- tors. Swantak said those sort of touches help signal to peo- ple that the community cares about itself. “It’s 50% getting people from point A to point B, but the other 50% is really mar- keting. It’s really about the brand impression you give people when they’re a fi rst- time visitor,” he said. Video of Swantak’s pre- sentation, including photos of what the various types of signs will look like and where they would be placed around town, can be found on the city of Hermiston’s Youtube channel, at youtube.com/ By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR MERJE/Contributed Photo This drawing from a Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, presentation by MERJE to the Hermiston City Council shows what a new sign welcoming people into Hermiston might look like. watch?v=oMHOIE3IXJw. City Manager Byron Smith said the city had not budgeted funds to pay for the entire citywide project all at once, but will start add- ing signs as money becomes available. Swantak suggested that instead of phasing the project by area of town, the city do it by type of sign — replacing all the park signs, for example, or the “Wel- come to Hermiston” ones. City Councilor Roy Bar- ron said he liked the designs and thinks the new signs will help beautify the city, but he said he would be interested in seeing Spanish included on at least some of the signs. Swantak said for signs along Highway 395 pointing to attractions like the East- ern Oregon Trade and Event Center, including Spanish would violate the Oregon Department of Transporta- tion’s rules. But he said they could look at incorporating Spanish into other signs. After the city council’s 6 p.m. work session, during its regular meeting the coun- cil approved annexation of a one-half acre of property at 315 E. Theater Lane at the request of the owner, Hum- berto Medelez. Acting in its role as the Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency, the council also approved a façade grant for 145 S.W. Fourth St. The property owner plans to spend $36,229 to put new siding and other improve- ments on a house to turn it into a business. The city approved a $10,000 match- ing grant. During his presentation of the city’s September fi nan- cial report, Finance Direc- tor Mark Krawczyk noted in September the city’s cash reserves had dipped below the minimum reserve bal- ance of $1,867,650 the city council has set for the city, by about $253,000. However, Krawczyk noted the city had spent about $333,000 on sup- port to local businesses in August and September, and the state did not reimburse the city for with CARES Act dollars until October, bring- ing the reserves back up above that line. He said revenue is down $334,000 in the fi rst quarter of the 2020-21 fi scal year, mostly due to COVID-19. But he said city departments have also been very good at cutting back their expenses to make up for the decrease. “There’s any one of a number of municipalities that would kill to have only a 12% drop in their revenue, so we’re very lucky relative to a number of our fellow cities around the state and the country,” he said. The Columbia Develop- ment Authority board has reversed a previous vote the board took stating its intent to deed industrial land on the former Umatilla Chem- ical Depot over to the Port of Morrow and Port of Umatilla. The change was a wel- come one to the Umatilla County Board of Commis- sioners, which had opposed the decision. County board chairman John Shafer said he appreciated the CDA’s willingness to spend more time considering the issue. During a Thursday, Oct. 22, meeting, the CDA board voted unanimously to rescind the original 3-2 vote taken Oct. 8 to “memori- alize” the board’s intent to deed the industrially zoned portions of the depot on the Umatilla County side to the Port of Umatilla for devel- opment, and the portions on the Morrow County side to the Port of Morrow after the depot is transferred from the U.S. Army to the CDA, and then the CDA disbands seven years later. Umatilla County Com- missioner Bill Elfering and Bill Tovey of the Confeder- ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation were the dissenting votes during the Oct. 8 meeting, stat- ing the entities they repre- sented were interested in being the ones in control of the lease on at least portions of the Umatilla County side. Afterward, Umatilla County commissioners said they felt “blindsided” and “ambushed” by the deci- sion, which had not been listed on the agenda for the Oct. 8 meeting. Port of Umatilla Gen- eral Manager Kim Puzey, who had been the one to propose the Oct. 8 vote, made a new motion during the Oct. 22 meeting that the board’s previous action be rescinded, “because it was not on the agenda.” Board members voted unanimously in favor to rescind the previous motion to deed the land to the ports, and did not discuss it further in the meeting. Prior to the Oct. 22 meet- ing, however, CDA board members had time to take the discussion back to their own entities they represent. During its Oct. 21 meet- ing, the Umatilla County Board of Commission- ers discussed adopting an offi cial statement that the industrial land should go to the county instead of the port. But Elfering, who rep- resents the county on the CDA board, said he would prefer a motion merely urg- ing the CDA to rescind their previous action and take more time to study and dis- cuss the issue. The commissioners adopted Elfering’s motion. Morrow County Com- missioner Don Russell rep- resents the county on the CDA board, and on Oct. 8 voted in favor of deed- ing the land to the ports. At the time, he stated it was his understanding that had “always been the plan” on the Morrow County side, since the Port of Mor- row has more expertise and money for industrial development. Commissioners John Doherty and Melissa Lind- say thought the CDA’s vote had been premature, however, and on Oct. 20 the board of commission- ers sent a letter to the CDA stating a vote of that sig- nifi cance should not have been taken when it was not listed on the agenda ahead of time. “This topic deserves to be correctly noticed in an agenda and allow all parties to be prepared to discuss the matter,” the letter stated. Zoning maps show 1,872 acres of industrial land in Morrow County and 1,278 acres in Umatilla County, mostly along interstates 84 and 82. Other parts of the roughly 20,000-acre former depot have gone to the Ore- gon Military Department for a National Guard train- ing center or are slated for a wildlife preserve that will be managed by the Tribes. Umatilla County Com- missioner George Murdock said the county estimates the Umatilla County side to be worth about $20 million to the residents of Umatilla County. During the CDA’s Oct. 22 meeting, the board also discussed preservation of historical assets on the depot, including portions of the Oregon Trail and the site of a munitions explo- sion that blew up one of the concrete storage igloos and killed six people in 1944. The board discussed having Morrow County be in charge of the south por- tion of the Oregon Trail slated for preservation, and placing Umatilla County in charge of the explosion site. A collection of Ore- gon Trail advocates have been pushing for the CDA to adopt a legally bind- ing covenant protecting the portions of the trail on the depot forever, but the CDA has not done so as it works through the process of plan- ning for mitigation or pres- ervation of historical and culturally signifi cant assets. OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY Please Welcome Ken Snider, MD OB/GYN A WORC taxi will get you to and from your job anywhere in western Umatilla County. Anyone who comes in through the end of December, can get four FREE punch cards, which equals 40 one-way rides to/from work. Visit https://hermiston.or.us/public-transit to find out how to sign up, and how WORC and the HART bus service work together to connect Hermiston. Good Shepherd Health Care System is pleased to welcome Dr. Ken Snider, OB/GYN, to Good Shepherd Women’s Center. Dr. Snider brings over ten years of OB/GYN experience to our community and is fluent in Spanish. Welcoming New Patients GOOD SHEPHERD WOMEN’S CENTER OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY 541.667.3801 620 NW 11th Street, Suite 103 Hermiston, OR 97838 “ My philosophy of patient care is generally to focus on illness prevention through good nutrition, regular exercise and preventative care. -Dr. Snider ”
