WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2020
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Meet the new council
Hermiston City Council appoints Phillip Spicerkuhn to fi ll Ward IV seat after election
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Three new faces will be
joining the Hermiston City
Council — two who won
their seats in the Nov. 3,
election and one appointed
by the council on Nov. 9.
The 2021 city council
will be comprised of new-
comers Phillip Spicerkuhn,
Nancy Peterson and Maria
Duron, along with incum-
bents Rod Hardin, Doug
Primmer, Jackie Myers,
Roy Barron and Lori Davis.
Mayor David Drotzmann
was elected to another term
in the May primaries.
Incumbent David McCa-
rthy will not be on the
council in January, after
coming in fi fth in the fi ve-
way race for the council’s
four at-large seats, and then
being passed over by the
council for appointment to
a recently vacated seat rep-
resenting Ward IV.
During
their
Mon-
day, Nov. 9, meeting, the
city council interviewed
Spicerkuhn and McCarthy
for an interim appointment
to the council seat repre-
senting Ward IV that was
recently vacated by Doug
Smith. Because Smith had
more than two years left in
his term, a special election
will be held in March 2021.
Both McCarthy and
Spicerkuhn told the coun-
cil they intend to run in
March, but from December
to March, the council chose
Spicerkuhn to hold the seat
in a 4-1 vote.
“Both of you guys are
extremely impressive and
it’s a really hard decision
to make but I hope both
of you do run for the spe-
cial election and I think it’s
great that both of you will
now have council experi-
ence as well,” Councilor
Roy Barron told them.
In his remarks to the
council
on
Monday,
Spicerkuhn said he has
lived in Hermiston for 10
years now as an adult, but
was also born in Hermiston
and raised in Eastern Ore-
gon. He is an attorney for
Kuhn Law Offi ces, a past
Lions Club president, on
the board of directors for
the Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce and also a board
member for Umatilla Mor-
row Head Start.
He said he brings a pas-
sion for serving the com-
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
A voter places a ballot into a drop box in Hermiston on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
INSIDE
For complete election
results, see Page 10A
Spicerkuhn
Peterson
Durón
Hardin
Primmer
Barron
Davis
Myers
“I DON’T RULE; I SERVE. I’VE NEVER VIEWED MYSELF IN
ANY OTHER MANNER. I’M HERE TO SERVE THE PEOPLE
AND I APPRECIATE THEIR TRUST IN ME.”
Doug Primmer, Hermiston City Council member
munity, leadership experi-
ence and knowledge from
his work at Kuhn Law
Offi ces, which provides
representation for several
small cities in the area.
“I feel that being a mem-
ber on the city council is
the next step in being able
to serve the community of
Hermiston and being a part
of this community, helping
guide it moving forward,”
he said.
Spicerkuhn will be
sworn in during the coun-
cil’s Dec. 14 meeting and
immediately take his seat
that night. Councilors
elected in the recent elec-
tion will also be sworn in
on Dec. 14, but their term
will not begin until Jan. 1.
On Tuesday, Nov. 3,
incumbent Doug Prim-
mer was initially coming
in fi rst in fi ve-way race for
the council’s four at-large
seats, but after the last votes
trickled in ended up second
with 20.66% of the vote.
On election night, Prim-
mer said he took his lead at
the time as a sign that peo-
ple trusted him to represent
their interest on the council.
“I don’t rule; I serve,”
he said. “I’ve never viewed
myself in any other manner.
I’m here to serve the people
and I appreciate their trust
in me.”
This will be Primmer’s
third four-year term. He
comes to the council from a
background in law enforce-
ment, and recently retired
from a job with the Depart-
ment of Corrections.
When the last votes
came in, newcomer Maria
Duron ended up in fi rst with
20.88% of the vote. Duron,
a family engagement spe-
cialist for Hermiston School
District and former Hermis-
ton School Board member,
said Tuesday night, Nov. 3,
that she mostly wanted to
thank God, her family, and
everyone who supported
her during her campaign.
She described people who
helped her launch a “dig-
ital campaign” during the
pandemic, put up yard signs
and printed up fl yers for her
to hand out.
“It has been an incred-
ible journey for me,” she
said in a text message.
In third place was
another newcomer to the
council, Nancy Peterson,
with 19.66% of the vote.
Notifi ed of the fi rst round of
election results, the accessi-
bility specialist for Colum-
bia Basin College said she
was thrilled to be doing so
well. She said she thought
See Council, Page A10
New CEO settling in at Good Shepherd
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
When Brian Sims, Good Shep-
herd Health Care System’s new
CEO, was 10 years old, he spent a
lot of nights in the hospital.
It wasn’t because he was sick,
but because his single mother was
a nurse at a small rural hospital in
Arkansas, and she got permission
to let him sleep there some nights.
As he watched the hospital
staff work, from doctors to cus-
todial staff, he wondered if he
would have what it took to work
in health care.
“I saw how all the folks came
to work every single day and gave
everything they had, and some-
times left their hearts right on the
INSIDE
fl oor,” he said.
After he left Arkansas he
joined the Air Force instead, but
Sims said he eventually ended up
directing the recruitment of doc-
tors, nurses and other medical
professionals for the Air Force,
which lent itself to transitioning
to hospital administration once he
left the service.
In his most recent job as CEO
of Lucas County Health Cen-
ter in Chariton, Iowa, the hospi-
tal was recognized nationally as
a “Top 20 Critical Access Hospi-
tal for Quality” by the National
Rural Health Association. Sims
said when he went to pick up the
award, he met the recruiters that
would end up convincing him to
visit Good Shepherd and con-
A3 Hermiston Energy Services to
raise rates in January
sider applying for position that
longtime CEO Dennis Burke was
leaving behind.
“I said, ‘You know, I could
actually see myself here,’” he
said of his visit.
Good Shepherd’s board named
Sims as the health care system’s
new president and chief executive
offi cer in July, and he took over
the role on Oct. 1. He said he has
been greatly impressed with what
he has seen in his fi rst month,
including a recent drive-thru fl u
shot clinic that resulted in more
than 600 vaccinations in just a
few hours.
A hospital is just a building,
Sims said, and it’s the people
who make it what it is. He said he
feels good about the people Good
A6 Friends and family of Graciela
Garcia hold a vigil to mark one year
since her disappearance
Shepherd has in place, and said
his philosophy mirrors that of one
of his heroes, American Air Force
General Curtis LeMay: If you
take care of the people, the peo-
ple will take care of the mission.
Sims said he’s still in the lis-
tening stages of getting to know
the hospital system now, so he
doesn’t have a list of big changes
he’s planning to immediately
come in and make.
“I’m sure over time some
things are going to change, but it
will be gradual,” he said, calling it
an “evolution, not a revolution.”
When people visit a hospi-
tal or clinic it’s often because
they’re worried or hurting, he
See Sims, Page A10
A6 Dough Cookies opens a
storefront in Hermiston
Contributed Photo
Brian Sims took over as CEO at
Good Shepherd Health Care System
in October.
A11 Dan Dorran wins Umatilla
County commissioner seat