NEWS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston council prepares for leadership turnover
Manuel Gutierrez
recognized for 15 years
of service to the city
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Durón
The Hermiston City
Council said goodbye to two
members and saw three new
ones sworn in during their
Monday, Dec. 14 meeting.
It was the last meeting for
Manuel Gutierrez, who did
not run for another term in
preparation for a move out-
side city limits, and David
McCarthy, who lost his bid
for reelection.
Mayor David Drotzmann
presented Gutierrez with
a parting award, recogniz-
ing him for 15 years of ser-
vice to the city, including
his recent eight-year stint on
the council, a previous four-
year term on the council
and years on the city’s bud-
get committee and Hispanic
Advisory Committee.
“I’ve looked up to you
and your relationships with
our Latino community,”
Drotzmann told Gutierrez.
“You’ve been a strong advo-
cate for our community,
not just for Latino residents
but for all residents, always
advocating to make sure
we’re looking out, espe-
cially, for the ‘little guy.’”
Councilor Roy Barron
thanked Gutierrez for his
Nate Rivera/city of Hermiston
Hermiston city councilor Manuel Gutierrez hands a watermelon to a Portland resident in
Pioneer Square in 2018. Gutierrez was recognized for his service to the city during his fi nal city
council meeting on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.
example, noting it would be
intimidating to be the only
Latino member of the city
council. He said if it weren’t
for Gutierrez, he might not
have run for offi ce when he
did.
“You paved the way for
other Latinos and people of
color on this council,” he
said.
Newcomers
Maria
Duron, Nancy Peterson and
Philip Spicerkuhn were
sworn in at the end of the
Dec. 14 meeting in prepara-
tion to take their seat at the
beginning of the council’s
fi rst meeting of 2021. Coun-
cilors Doug Primmer and
Rod Hardin, Mayor David
Drotzmann and Municipal
Judge Thomas Creasing also
took the oath of offi ce after
being elected to another
term.
During the meeting, the
city council awarded Sineco
Construction of Hermiston a
bid for a $357,000 water line
replacement project during
their Dec. 14 meeting.
“We did get fi ve bidders
on the project, which was a
good turnout from the bid-
ding community,” Assistant
City Manager Mark Morgan
told the council.
The project will replace
1920s-era
pipes
along
Northwest Sixth Street,
Northwest Seventh Street
and West Ridgeway Avenue
near Rocky Heights Ele-
mentary School.
The council also adopted
a new fee schedule, com-
bined into a single master
document instead of hav-
ing them spread out over
various documents in each
Peterson
department. City Man-
ager Byron Smith said the
change should make it easier
for both staff and the public
to fi nd what they’re looking
for.
The public should also
have an easier time fi nding
other information and docu-
ments after a new version of
the city’s website planned to
go live this week. In a pre-
sentation of the new layout,
City Recorder Lilly Alar-
con-Strong said the new
website was designed to be
much easier to navigate on
a mobile phone, and more
user-friendly for the public.
“A lot of questions I got
(about the old website) were
where do I fi nd this, or where
do I fi nd that, and sometimes
I had trouble fi nding things,
and it would be things that I
put on the website, so I can
only understand what it was
like for our constituents to
fi nd things,” she said.
The new website fea-
tures a mobile-friendly
“scroll-free” design, a prom-
inent search bar, a button to
translate the site into var-
ious languages and direct
Spicerkuhn
online submission forms to
replace the PDFs that pre-
viously needed fi lled out
and emailed or mailed in. It
also organizes information,
such as staff contact infor-
mation and public records,
into a single searchable page
instead of farmed out by
department.
Alarcon-Strong said the
city had to change website
providers after the Inter-
Mountain Education Ser-
vice District gave notice to
cities that it would no longer
be offering web services to
municipalities. After putting
out a request for proposals,
the city chose Municode to
design its new site.
After a discussion at the
last city council meeting
about the city dipping below
the minimum reserve lev-
els set by statute in Septem-
ber and October, Hermis-
ton Finance Director Mark
Krawczyk shared that in
November the city’s gen-
eral fund was just shy of
$4 million over the mini-
mum reserve level, thanks to
property taxes beginning to
come in.
Umatilla Chemical Depot gets mention in federal defense bill
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
An amendment regarding
the former Umatilla Chemi-
cal Depot was included in
the fi nal National Defense
Authorization Act passed
by Congress on Friday, Dec.
11.
The Columbia Develop-
ment Authority — a part-
nership between Umatilla
County, Morrow County,
Port of Morrow, Port of
Umatilla and the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation — has
been working with the U.S.
Army to turn most of the
depot over to local control
now that the land no longer
functions as an active army
depot.
A portion of the prop-
erty has already been
turned over the the Ore-
gon Military Department
for a National Guard train-
ing facility known as Camp
Umatilla, but the CDA
intends to use the rest for a
wildlife preserve and indus-
trial development.
Greg Smith, CDA direc-
tor, said while the Environ-
mental Protection Agency
signed off on the depot as
clean, when the Army did
a follow-up review out of
“an abundance of caution”
it determined that about 60
acres of property along the
western side of the depot
needed additional cleanup.
Smith said the CDA is
working with the Army to
continue with the transfer of
the rest of the depot, how-
ever, with the understanding
that the Army would turn
over the 60 acres later after
any environmental hazards
are cleaned up.
“If it’s not clean, we’re
not taking it,” he said.
The $740 billion National
Defense Authorization Act
includes a line directing the
Secretary of the Army to
submit to Congress a plan to
fi nish remediation activities
on the depot within the next
three years. The Army is
directed to submit the plan
within 90 days of enactment
of the NDAA.
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley and Con-
gressman Greg Walden
have provided support for
the CDA’s efforts to get the
Army to provide the depot
land to the CDA while meet-
ing the CDA’s three criteria:
that the land be free, clean
and have adequate water for
development. In May, they
sent a letter to Secretary of
the Army Ryan McCarthy
urging the Army to com-
plete the remaining cleanup.
Last week, Wyden said
in a statement he was
pleased to see the addition
about the depot in the final
defense bill.
“This
development
marks a major step forward
for Umatilla and Morrow
counties, which have been
working in good faith with
the Oregon National Guard
to transfer the historic
Chemical Depot lands and
property for multiple uses
in Eastern Oregon,” Wyden
said. “I’m proud to have
worked with Senator Merk-
ley on legislation to hold
the government accountable
and complete the cleanup
work so National Guard
members can train, and
neighboring properties are
protected for cultural and
economic uses.”
Smith said the CDA con-
tinues to make progress on
clearing the fi nal hurdles for
transfer, which include sign-
offs from a long list of fed-
eral government offi ces that
have sometimes been slow
to respond. Smith said in
the past the Army’s Base
Realignment and Closure
department had handled
interfacing with the vari-
ous agencies, but lately he
has found great success by
reaching out to people in
those agencies directly.
“It’s really broken the log
jam ... I just call them up,
and they don’t know who I
am, but I introduce myself
and say, ‘Do you know
you’ve been sitting on this
document for six months?’”
he said.
32 nd Annual ‘Light Up a
32 nd Annual ‘Light Up a Life’ Fundraiser
Vange John Memorial Hospice
invites the community to
support your local hospice
through this fundraiser which
Takes place
December through
January 10, 2021
32 nd Annual ‘Light Up a Life’ Fundraiser
Your contribution to Vange John Memorial Hospice will illuminate a symbolic light and ornament in a
window display area provided by Victory Baptist Church on Main Street. You may dedicate your light
and ornament in honor of someone you admire or in memory of someone you miss.
All memorials and honoree names received during the campaign will be read January 17, 2021 at
6 PM on our local radio station, KOHU. An MP3 recording is available upon request.
A meaningful gift, your contribution will help you celebrate the life of loved ones during the holiday
season and help us meet the needs of our hospice patients and their families all year long.
T
Light Up A Life
December
through
Memorial/Honoree Reading of the Names
January 17
January 10, 2021
Join us for the
Wishing You A Merry Christmas
21
broadcast on KOHU 1360AM
January 17, 2021 at 6 p.m.
& Happy New Year
Community Wide Memorial Service Postponed
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January 17
LIGHT UP A LIFE
21
Enclosed is my tax-deductible contribution
of $ ___________
1.
From:
1.
Name _____________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________
2.
City/State/Zip ______________________________________
Telephone Number __________________________________
2.
3.
* Suggested donation for each
memorial/honoree: $15
January 17
Designed by Ella Kessinger of Lewiston, ID.
She was the winner of our annual Holiday Design Contest.
Donate by Drive-Up This Holiday Season in Our Annual
Please mail check payable to:
John Memorial Hospice
21
. Vange
.
645 W. Orchard Ave., Suite 500
Hermiston, OR 97838
(541) 667-3543
Postponed
Your canceled check will be your receipt.
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- - - - of
- - Good
- - - Shepherd
- - - - - - Health
- - - - Care
- - - System)
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(A Division
Charity Drive
Funds Donated
in Pendleton Support:
Funds Donated
in Hermiston Support:
Feed The
Child Program
Community Bank will match your donations
DOLLAR for DOLLAR up to a max match of $1,000
per branch through Dec. 18th!
Pendleton 157 S Main St | Hermiston 50 E Theater Ln
800-472-4292 www.communitybanknet.com Member FDIC
Please place a light and ornament in the window display
to celebrate the life of:
1. ________________________________________________
Send acknowledgement of this gift to: Name
______________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________
City/State/Zip _______________________________________
2. ________________________________________________
Send acknowledgement of this gift to: Name
______________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________
City/State/Zip _______________________________________
3. ________________________________________________
Send acknowledgement of this gift to: Name
______________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________
City/State/Zip _______________________________________
3.