WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
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UPDATES
Rent relief
program
$15 million
short of
demand
OREGON CAPITAL BUREAU
Hundreds of commer-
cial landlords and tenants
who applied for state fund-
ing to cover unpaid rent
went away empty-handed
last month — a disap-
pointment worth approxi-
mately $15.5 million.
Oregon’s Commercial
Rent Relief program is set
to hand out $49.9 million
to property owners after
the fi rst round of grant
funding closed March 22.
Applications outpaced
cash, with the requests
totaling $65.4 million.
The results aren’t unex-
pected: Oregon hasn’t
had a commercial evic-
tion moratorium in place
since the end of Septem-
ber 2020, and business
owners in arrears had until
March 31 to make up the
back rent.
State data released to
Pamplin Media Group
shows those applicants
with empty pockets —
more than 350 business
owners in total — are all
located in the Portland
metro area.
The state’s agency
funding formula allocates
20% of the fund each to
Portland metro and Wil-
lamette Valley businesses,
as well as a 15% slice
each to the eastern, south-
ern, central and coastal
regions of the state. But
rural applications came in
well below their cap, so
the money rolled over and
Portland area businesses
ended up with 63.7% of
the allocation.
“The lottery process
took out 356 applica-
tions,” said Nathan Bue-
hler, a spokesperson for
Business Oregon, “result-
ing in 2,609 applications
that will move forward for
funding.”
Unlike Oregon’s resi-
dential rent relief program,
the commercial program
doesn’t favor smaller
landlords. But the com-
mercial tenants seeking
state money to pay their
lease must be for-profi t
businesses, based in Ore-
gon, with fewer than 100
employees per storefront.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Hermiston School District Superintendent Tricia Mooney, second from right, speaks before a groundbreaking for the new Rocky Heights Elementary
School in Hermiston on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
Breaking new ground
HSD celebrates the start of construction for two new schools
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
INSIDE
Hermiston School District
had a lot to celebrate on Tuesday,
April 13.
The district welcomed all stu-
dents back to the classroom full
time for the fi rst time in over a
year, and celebrated the ground-
breaking for two new schools.
“This day could not get any
better,” Rocky Heights Elemen-
tary Principal Stefani Wyant
said.
She said she was thrilled to
see all of her school full again,
and to attend the groundbreak-
ing ceremony for a new, larger
Rocky Heights that will be con-
structed in the current athletic
fi elds next to the school.
The softball fi elds there are
in the process of being moved to
a new softball complex next to
Hermiston High School, on the
former fairgrounds. Students will
continue to attend at the current
building for the 2021-22 school
year while construction is under-
way, before transferring to the
new school in the fall of 2022.
For some, knowing the next
school year will be the last for
The artists for the murals at
Rocky Heights Elementary
School share the meaning and
history of the murals, Page
A11.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Jeff Deswert, president of Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co., takes a photo
as members of the Hermiston School Board and District Superintendent
Tricia Mooney pose at the groundbreaking of the new Rocky Heights
Elementary School on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
“GREAT COMMUNITIES
HAVE GREAT SCHOOLS,
AND THIS IS ONE STEP TO
GETTING THERE.”
the original Rocky Heights build-
ing is bittersweet. Wyant said the
school has served multiple gen-
erations of families, and some
current staff were Rocky Heights
students themselves.
“A lot of families have gone
through here,” she said, calling
it “home” for her after she began
her teaching career there and
eventually became principal.
The building was built in
1962, however, and has mainte-
nance and security issues. The
new $23 million building, built
to serve 600 students, will have
a one-story, 73,500-square-foot
layout with 24 classrooms plus a
library, gym and other common
areas.
At the April 13 ground-
breaking, Superintendent Tricia
See Schools, Page A11
— Tricia Mooney, superintendent, Hermiston School District
Lifeways closes Aspen Springs as a psychiatric hospital
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
When Aspen Springs Psychiatric
Hospital opened in Hermiston, it was
hailed as a sorely-needed addition to
the state’s meager supply of mental
health treatment beds. But the facility
closed at midnight on Thursday, April
8, after just over six months in oper-
ation, citing “unsustainable” diffi cul-
ties staffi ng it.
Umatilla County Commissioner
John Shafer said Aspen Springs had
been a “wonderful” addition to the
county’s eff orts to improve access to
mental health services, and he was
disappointed it would not continue.
“It kind of took the wind out of our
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald sails, to be honest,” he said. “It was a
At midnight on Thursday, April 8, 2021, Lifeways closed its Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital in Hermiston huge blow.”
after just over six months in operation.
Lifeways, a community men-
INSIDE
A3  Hermiston city council hears
diff ering opinions on need for more
assisted living units
A6  Stanfi eld Public Library
promotes dinosaur facts in April
A7  Umatilla Electric Cooperative
linemen get the job done faster
with GIS
tal health provider covering parts of
Eastern Oregon and Idaho, opened
the 16-bed inpatient hospital for acute
psychiatric care offi cially in Septem-
ber 2020, four years after it fi rst broke
ground on the project. According to
a news release, it served a total of 75
patients between then and its closure
on April 8. The facility was at the high-
est level of psychiatric care off ered in
Oregon, for individuals experiencing
a severe mental health crisis.
The news release stated Lifeways
will work with Oregon Health Author-
ity to fi nd “an alternative level of care
for Aspen Springs that is more aligned
with health care worker availability.”
Liz Johnsen, chief operating offi cer
for Lifeways, told the East Oregonian
See Lifeways, Page A11
A8  Morrow County cancels vac-
cine clinic after Johnson & Johnson
suspension