NEWS
Wednesday, november 11, 2020
HermIsTonHeraLd.Com • A3
Hermiston Energy Services rates will increase
would climb from $111 a
month now to $117 in Jan-
uary and $124 in October,
according to Hermiston
Energy Services General
Manager Nate Rivera.
City councilors said rais-
ing costs on things is the
least favorite part of their
job, but it’s their job to keep
the city running as its own
costs rise.
“Sometimes we need
to realize we have to make
these hard decisions, and
sometimes it’s no fun
because we’re going to raise
the electricity, but if we
want to survive, we have to
do that,” Councilor Manuel
Gutierrez said before mak-
ing the motion to accept
HES’s recommendation.
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITor
The Hermiston City
Council approved a rate
increase for Hermiston
Energy Services during their
Monday, Nov. 9, meeting by
a 4-2 vote.
Overall, rates will go up
by 6.98% in January 2021
and another 6.9% in October
2021, but the effect to each
customer’s bill will depend
on the class they fall under
and how much energy they
use.
Residential rates will
go up by 6.1% in January,
small commercial by 7.92%,
large commercial by 8.67%
and irrigation by 7.57%.
The average residential user
Before the vote, Rivera
told the council that HES
has been pulling $85,000 a
month from its reserves and
has delayed maintenance
in order to put off the rate
increase for as long as pos-
sible during the pandemic,
but even with that strategy,
HES projected to have a
more than $1 million deficit
for the 2020-21 fiscal year,
mostly driven by increases
in the cost of the power that
HES purchases from Bonne-
ville Power Administration.
The proposed increases
would cover that deficit,
he said, and allow for an
expected 1% increase from
BPA next year. But it would
not cover the capital proj-
ects that have already been
delayed, increases in labor or
equipment costs, or replac-
ing any of the money drawn
from the reserves. HES is a
not-for-profit entity, Rivera
said, so all money raised
from rates goes straight back
into running the utility.
Three Hermiston resi-
dents — Renata Morgan,
Jackie Linton and council-
or-elect Maria Duron — tes-
tified at the meeting, asking
the council to consider ways
to reduce the burden on res-
idents. Morgan said she
would rather see more fre-
quent 1.5% increases than a
7% increase all at once when
her paycheck isn’t going up
7%.
“I
understand
what
you’re saying here about
this, but what I don’t under-
stand why you let it get so
far,” she said.
Linton said she under-
stood that people could
apply for help with their bill,
but many seniors on a fixed
income who were used to
working to support them-
selves for 50 or more years
will not always be willing to
ask for charity.
Rivera had previously
highlighted ways that residents
struggling to pay their bills can
get help. Those include HES’s
online “smart hub” where cus-
tomers can track their usage,
rebates on energy-efficient
appliances, free energy audits
and the HEAT fund available
to help pay low-income cus-
tomers’ bills.
Echo Fire District
mixes up tax bills
Council approves zoning change, annexation
Police chief also approved
to sign updated deadly Use
of Force Plan
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITor
Land use decisions by the
Hermiston City Council during
their Monday, Nov. 9, meeting
could pave the way for future
commercial development on
the northeast side of the city.
The council approved
annexation of an 11.5-acre
property at 455 E. Elm Ave.,
behind Walmart. The annex-
ation came at the request of
Steve Richards of Eastern Ore-
gon Development LLC.
Richards owns Highland
Mini Storage in Hermiston
and other storage facilities
in the region, and previously
tried to build another set of
storage units on Highway 395
near Rogers Toyota, before
the council denied his zon-
ing request in October 2019.
On Nov. 9, City Planner Clint
Spencer said it was his under-
standing that Richards planned
to add a similar storage devel-
opment to part of the Elm
property and use the rest for
new retail space.
In a separate agenda item,
the council also approved
change to the comprehensive
plan map for a 1.9-acre set of
properties on the north side of
West Theater Lane. Developer
John Ucney of UK Properties
submitted the application to
change the seven existing lots
from multi-structure residen-
tial to outlying commercial.
Spencer said the developer
doesn’t have a specific plan for
the tract of land yet, but hopes
to market it for commercial
use.
Council approves police
agreements
During their Nov. 9 meet-
ing, the city council also
approved Hermiston Police
Chief Jason Edmiston to sign
a mutual aid agreement and a
document known as the Uma-
tilla County Deadly Physical
Force Plan on behalf of the
city.
The physical force plan
was created after the Ore-
gon Legislature mandated in
2007 that all counties create
such a plan. Umatilla Coun-
ty’s was last updated by local
law enforcement agencies
in 2008, and Edmiston said,
given the increased scrutiny
on police use of force this
year, he suggested the agen-
cies review the plan.
City Manager Byron Smith
told the council there were no
significant changes made to
the 12-page plan during the
review process, and the coun-
cil approved it without fur-
ther discussion beyond clari-
fying which agencies the plan
covers.
“Now what we’re present-
ing to you is essentially the
same plan, but it has been
looked at and reviewed, and I
think that’s an important piece
that we’re staying current on
things like this,” Smith said.
Each law enforcement
agency is responsible for set-
ting its own policies with offi-
cers concerning events lead-
ing up to officers shooting a
suspect or using other meth-
ods of deadly force, but the
plan outlines what takes place
after such an incident occurs.
It states that a “law
enforcement agency of pri-
mary responsibility” will con-
duct a criminal investigation
while the involved officer’s
employing agency will con-
“The main key is really
to start that conversation
with them and let them
know there is help avail-
able; they just need to work
with us, and as long as a
customer is willing to work
with us, we’re not in a situ-
ation where we’ve ever tried
to shut them off. As long
as they’re making the best
effort they can, we’ll work
with them,” he said.
Hermiston Energy Ser-
vices supplies about 5,200
customers in Hermiston
with electricity. The rest of
the city is mostly covered by
Umatilla Electric Coopera-
tive, which HES contracts
with for labor but which is
a separate utility that sets its
own rates.
duct a simultaneous adminis-
trative review. It outlines the
steps those agencies should
take, how the involved offi-
cers should be debriefed and
that the district attorney —
who has the sole authority to
decide if a grand jury should
be convened — should be
notified as soon as possible.
It also requires that all agen-
cies signing the plan should
require at least four hours
a year of training on use of
force for its officers.
In addition to the use of
force plan, the council also
authorized
Edmiston
to
sign an updated version of
the mutual aid agreement
between
Hermiston
and
neighboring law enforcement
agencies in Umatilla and
Morrow counties.
Edmiston said the agree-
ment comes into play almost
every day, as personnel from
city, state and county agen-
cies assist each other. The
agreement also outlines the
structure of the Major Crimes
Team, which is made up of
detectives from multiple
agencies and is mobilized in
the event of a homicide or
other serious crime.
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITor
Residents within Echo Fire District have
been sent notice that they were overbilled
on their property taxes due to a filing error
for the district’s bond.
Taxpayers who have not paid their prop-
erty taxes yet can pay the lower amount
on their new, corrected statement, accord-
ing to the letter. Those who already paid
the amount in their initial statement will
receive a refund for the difference “in the
next few weeks.”
Rachael Reynolds, director of taxation
and assessment for Umatilla County, said
the error came from paperwork filed by the
fire district that mistakenly levied the dis-
trict’s $500,000 bond over one year instead
of 10.
The district also notified residents in a
statement on its Facebook page, apologiz-
ing for the error and any inconvenience it
caused.
Echo Fire District is an all-volunteer
fire district of 25 volunteers, covering 496
square miles in the county. According to
information provided by the district before
voters passed the $500,000 bond in May, the
bond will pay for new equipment, including
the replacement of a 1964 fire engine, and
the addition of a new bay to the fire station
so that the district can park all of its engines
indoors.
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