NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
County, city approve agreements for more Umatilla data centers
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Umatilla County and the
city of Umatilla have both
approved enterprise zone
agreements with Amazon
Data Services for two new
$200 million data center
campuses in Umatilla.
Umatilla City Man-
ager David Stockdale said
the agreements differ some
from previous tax abatement
agreements the city has
entered into for data centers
in the past, but are very simi-
lar to agreements that Herm-
iston and Boardman have
both entered into with Ama-
zon over the past year.
The long-term enterprise
zone agreement exempts
Amazon from property taxes
on the developments for 15
years, provided Amazon
makes at least a $200 million
investment in each develop-
ment, hires at least 10 full-
time employees for the site
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla County Commissionar John Shafer, right, listens as county counsel Doug Olsen
describes the enterprise zone agreement with Amazon Data Services during a board of
commissioners meeting on Nov. 4, 2020.
and provides compensation
for those employees at least
130% of Umatilla County’s
average wage.
Stockdale said the for-
mula for payments that
Amazon will make in lieu
New fl oral shop
opens in Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Hermiston Floral Shop is
now open for business.
The shop, located at
174 W. Hermiston Ave.
in Hermiston, is owned
by Esperanza and Lucio
Ochoa, who also own a
jewelry store and boutique
in the building.
According to informa-
tion provided by the shop’s
employees, it sells custom
fl oral arrangements, includ-
ing corsages, table center-
pieces, wedding bouquets,
vases, funeral arrangements
and more. The business also
offers gift baskets, boxes of
chocolates and other gifts,
and can provide customized
names and messages on rib-
bons, water bottles and other
items.
Orders can be picked up
curbside during the pan-
of taxes includes a mini-
mum of $2 million per year
to be split between the city
and county (higher if more
than two buildings are built),
plus $50,000 for education,
$50,000 for public safety
and payments to all taxing
districts equivalent to what
the company would be pay-
ing in taxes on the fi rst $25
million of assessed value.
In 2017, Umatilla County
signed a different type of
HERMISTON HERALD
This
fall-inspired
fl oral
arrangement is for sale
at Hermiston Floral Shop,
which opened on Nov. 12 in
Hermiston.
demic, and Hermiston Floral
Shop also offers delivery. It
is open seven days a week.
The store had its grand
opening on Nov. 12.
For more information
visit the Hermiston Floral
Shop Facebook page or call
541-289-0213.
half to reinvest that money
back into economic devel-
opment in the community
where it was generated.
At a Nov. 4 Umatilla
County Board of Commis-
sioners meeting, commis-
sioners voted unanimously
to approve the two agree-
ments for the new Amazon
campuses. County coun-
sel Doug Olsen told com-
missioners the two planned
projects would be identical
in size and adjacent to each
other in the Wanapa indus-
trial area on the east side of
Umatilla. He said the plan is
for construction on the fi rst
campus to begin “shortly.”
“The terms of the
agreement are very simi-
lar to previous ones with
this developer,” he told
commissioners.
Commissioner George
Murdock said the county and
city had worked together as
co-sponsors of the enterprise
zone to forge the agreement.
Umatilla County Public Health
announces three new COVID-19 deaths
Hermiston’s ZIP code
still holds the record for
most cases in the state
with 1,767
Hermiston Floral Shop/
Contributed Photo
tax abatement agreement
with Amazon’s subsidiary
Vadata, known as a Strategic
Investment Program agree-
ment, sparking a major dis-
agreement between the city
of Umatilla and the county
over how the payments in
lieu of taxes should be split.
The county decided to give
Umatilla about $1 million
of the $4 million payment,
but the city manager at the
time, Russ Pelleberg, argued
that the city should receive
at least half, and threatened
legal action.
Since then, Stockdale
said, he is “proud to say the
city and county have made
some really great strides in
our relationship.”
He said the city appreci-
ates the county’s philosophy
with the long-term enter-
prise zone agreements that
not only should cities where
the projects are located
receive half the payments,
but the county should use its
Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health announced
three more county res-
idents have died with
COVID-19.
In a Nov. 16 news
release, the local health
department stated 49
county residents have
now died with the virus.
According to the news
release, an 81-year-old
man who tested positive
on Oct. 27 died Nov. 8 at
Good Shepherd Medical
Center in Hermiston.
A 63-year-old man,
who tested positive Oct.
29, died Nov. 8 at Trios
Southridge Hospital in
Kennewick.
A 66-year-old woman
with underlying condi-
tions tested positive Nov.
2 and died Nov. 13 at Ore-
gon Health & Science
University in Portland.
Over the seven-day
period between Nov.
11 and Nov. 17, the
health department also
announced a total of 271
new cases in Umatilla
County.
The county has had a
total of 3,924 cases since
the pandemic began, with
a majority of the cases
centered in Hermiston.
According to the Oregon
Health Authority’s latest
weekly report, released
Nov. 11, Hermiston’s ZIP
code still holds the record
for most COVID-19 cases
of any ZIP code in the
state, with 1,767 since the
pandemic began.
Oregon
Health
Authority continues to
track workplace out-
breaks, updating its list
in its weekly report each
Wednesday.
According to the Nov.
11 report, worksites in
Umatilla County with
at least 30 people work-
ing there, that have seen
COVID-19 cases among
employees in the past 30
days, are Eastern Ore-
gon Correctional Institu-
tion in Pendleton, Lamb
Weston’s Hermiston site,
Good Shepherd Medical
Center in Hermiston, J&J
Snack Foods in Weston,
Home Depot in Hermiston
and Dutch Bros Coffee
in Hermiston. Worksites
in Morrow County on
OHA’s report are Lamb
Weston East in Boardman
and Lamb Weston Board-
man Pac. The report also
lists an outbreak of 35
cases at Avamere Herm-
iston, an assisted living
facility.
Statewide, the Nov.
11 report showed 6.8%
of COVID-19 cases have
been hospitalized and
1.5% have died. As of
Nov. 17, the state has
reported 58,570 cases of
COVID-19.
Nationally, the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention reports there
have been more than 11
million COVID-19 cases
since the start of the pan-
demic and 246,232 deaths.
In the past seven days, the
CDC reports, the coun-
try has reported 47.5 new
cases per 100,000 people.
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