NEWS/FROM PAGE ONE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Fate of Green Property back under consideration
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
An idea to turn an unde-
veloped piece of city prop-
erty into a senior living
project in Hermiston has
hit a signifi cant bump after
the developer the city had
planned to partner with
backed out.
City Manager Byron
Smith said during the
Hermiston City Council’s
April 26 council meeting
that Paradigm Compass
LLC had decided not to
build a $4 million combina-
tion assisted living, mem-
ory care and independent
living complex after all.
The city purchased a
20-acre parcel next to the
Recycled Water Treat-
ment Plant, known as the
Green Property, in 2005 for
School Board:
Continued from Page A1
LLC, a farming company.
She has past experience on
the Hermiston School Dis-
trict Bond Oversight Com-
mittee in 2008 and other
boards. She graduated from
Hermiston High School.
Anderson Hansell has
three children in the dis-
trict, and said she is deeply
interested in the success
of the school district. She
said after such a challeng-
ing and “deeply concern-
ing” year during the pan-
demic, she has devoted a lot
of time and energy to under-
standing the school district’s
decision-making.
“The amount of time I’ve
spent advocating, as well, I
decided I needed to step up
and volunteer,” she said.
She said she would like
to see more transparency
and communication from
the district, and better over-
sight of administrators by
the school board. She shared
a letter she sent to the school
board on Feb. 1, stating the
district had a “severe public
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
The city of Hermiston was interested in off ering 7.18 acres
of land, near the city’s recycled water treatment plant, for a
potential senior living development.
$420,000, but plans to use
it for recycled water cool-
ing did not pan out. In late
2020, Assistant City Man-
ager Mark Morgan pro-
posed giving a 7-acre piece
of the property to a devel-
oper for free if they would
build housing for seniors
on it, which would pro-
vide what the city felt was
a needed service, and gen-
relations problem” during
the pandemic, and said in an
interview that although the
pandemic was an unprece-
dented situation no one at
the district had signed up
for, she thought there were
ways the district could have
handled the situation better,
particularly communication
with parents.
“I think there were a lot
of missed opportunities,”
she said.
as it begins construction on
projects funded by the 2019
bond.
“I feel that our kids are
our future and I want to be a
part of helping them excel,”
he said.
He said while the pan-
demic has been a “terrible
time in our lives,” in hind-
sight there are things the dis-
trict probably could have
done better. He said it is also
important to keep in mind
that often the board’s hands
were tied by state rules, and
the district did achieve its
end goal of bringing stu-
dents back full time.
He touted programs the
district has put in place to
help diff erent groups of stu-
dents, and said the numbers
for the district show contin-
ued improvement in those
areas. He also pointed to
work the district has put in
place to make sure the bond
projects run smoothly, from
budgeting to hiring Wen-
aha Group to manage the
project.
Brent Pitney
Brent Pitney is running
to retain his seat at Position
No. 4 after he was appointed
to the Board of Education
out of fi ve candidates who
applied for an open seat in
2018.
Pitney, a lifelong Herm-
iston resident, is vice pres-
ident of Knerr Construc-
tion and has a child in high
school and one who gradu-
ated last year. He said he is
running again because he
has learned a lot during his
service on the board so far
and would like to continue
that work. He also feels his
background in construction
can be useful to the district
Karen Sherman
Karen Sherman is run-
ning to retain Position No. 6
erate revenue over time
through property taxes and
utilities. The city put out a
request for proposals and
selected the proposed proj-
ect by Paradigm Compass.
When the company pre-
sented its plan to the city
council during their April 12
meeting, however, represen-
tatives of Guardian Angel
Homes and Sun Terrace tes-
tifi ed that they already had
trouble fi lling their assisted
living facilities and Herm-
iston did not need another
such facility. City council-
ors voted at that meeting to
take two weeks to consider
the information presented
by both sides.
On Monday, Smith said
that Paradigm Compass
had pulled out after internal
discussions and additional
due diligence.
“It seemed like maybe
they were able to verify
at some level some of the
information that was pro-
vided by the competitors,
and that maybe they felt
like they needed to relook
at their market study,” he
said.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann and some other coun-
cilors expressed frustra-
tion that the project had
fallen apart after coming
so far. Drotzmann noted
the many hours that Mor-
gan and other staff , as well
as councilors who served
on the selection committee
for the proposals, spent on
it, and told other councilors
that “you are always going
to have critics.”
Councilor Nancy Peter-
son, who had been the one
to initially propose post-
poning a decision until
April 26, pushed back on
the idea that the council’s
decision not to approve
the next step in the plan
was what caused Paradigm
Compass’s decision, stat-
ing that if the company had
been truly committed to
going forward, and extra
two weeks to consider the
information shouldn’t have
been enough to derail it.
Morgan said there were
developers who would still
be interested in the prop-
erty for other purposes.
Councilors came to a con-
sensus that they were still
interested in off ering up
the property for a project
that would serve the pub-
lic good, and staff said they
would regroup and come
back with more information
and ideas at a later date.
on the school board. While
she does have an opponent
on the ballot, Caitlin Mel-
horn told the East Orego-
nian that she was drop-
ping out of the race due to
the time commitments she
already has.
Sherman has served on
the Board of Education for
20 years and is a retired
teacher with several family
members also in education,
including a daughter who
works for Hermiston High
School as an instructional
coach. She also volunteers
in other capacities, includ-
ing membership in Altrusa
International.
Sherman said right now,
the school board’s number
one priority should be the
safety of staff and students
during the pandemic. Her
other top goals if reelected,
she said, are boosting aca-
demic achievement, main-
taining good fi nancial stew-
ardship and doing more
community outreach.
She said the past school
year has been a diffi cult
one, starting with all the
plans the district made in
July 2020 for hybrid learn-
ing before being told by
the state it wouldn’t be
allowed.
“All of us were in a sit-
uation where the unknowns
were incredible,” she said.
She said the district
spent a lot of time look-
ing at the state regulations
and the area’s COVID-19
metrics, and she is pleased
students have been able to
return to full-time school
at a time that is safer, from
a COVID-19 standpoint,
than any other time since
school was closed.
He said he is running
because he has always been
dedicated to serving the
community, particularly to
help Hermiston’s youths. He
said his goals for the school
board include making sure
the district has the right
superintendent to lead the
district in the right direction,
seeing students in the class-
room full time and helping
the district be the best it can
be.
“I want to see our school
district at the top of the list
when it comes to school dis-
tricts across the state,” he
said.
He said there was a lot
of frustration at the district
during comprehensive dis-
tance learning, and as a par-
ent himself, he could sym-
pathize with how diffi cult it
has been, even though the
district was often under state
mandate.
Medelez said he believes
district staff are doing
the best they can to close
achievement gaps for diff er-
ent groups of students, and
said he would like to see the
district continue to work to
hire more bilingual teachers.
Bryan Medelez
Bryan Medelez is run-
ning unopposed for Posi-
tion No. 2, a seat he was fi rst
appointed to in 2019.
Medelez is operations
manager for Medelez Inc.,
a Hermiston trucking com-
pany, and serves on the
Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce’s board and as
vice president of the city’s
Hispanic Advisory Commit-
tee. He was born and raised
in Hermiston, and has two
children in the school dis-
trict, with a third who is cur-
rently too young.
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