NEWS
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021
Gardner, Anderson Hansell pull ahead
in Hermiston School District race
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Two new faces will be
joining the Hermiston Board
of Education and two incum-
bents kept their seats in the
May 18 election.
According to results
posted by the Umatilla
County Elections Divi-
sion after 10 p.m. on May
18, incumbent Brent Pit-
ney was defeated by Sally
Anderson Hansell.
Pitney, who works for
Knerr Construction, was
appointed to the board in
2018. He garnered 36.7%
of the 2,843 votes cast.
Anderson Hansell, an attor-
ney at Anderson Hansell
PC, received 63%.
She described herself as
“deeply humbled” by the
results, and said she looks
forward to learning more
about what is going on in
Hermiston schools.
“I think the election
tells me that the commu-
nity is looking forward to
Incumbents keep
their seats on Port
of Morrow board
the vote.
Healy was born and
raised in Morrow County
and lived there most of his
life, other than college and
a stint in the Peace Corps.
He has served on the Port
of Morrow Commission
for about 27 years and said
he keeps running because
the position is a worth-
while, exciting one that
helps accomplish a lot for
the community.
Of his two challeng-
ers for the seat, Rick
Weiss, pastor of First Bap-
tist Church in Boardman,
had 30.9% of the vote and
Chandler Schaak, an insur-
ance agent, had the remain-
ing 6.7%.
Joe Taylor, a farmer
who has served on the port
commission for 16 years,
was running unopposed,
with six write-in votes cast
against him out of 1,632
votes total.
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
more and better communi-
cation from the board and
administrators, as well as
enhanced transparency as
far as decisions go, and
the reasons for those deci-
sions,” she said.
After board member
Mark Gomolski decided
not to run again, in order
to focus on his new job as
director of the Agape House,
newcomers Dain Gardner
and Lili Gomez stepped up
to vie for Position 3.
According to results
posted late May 18, Gard-
ner held a large lead at
61.2% of the vote. Both
Gardner and Anderson
Hansell had emphasized in
their campaigns that stu-
dents should have returned
to in-person learning during
the pandemic sooner.
Gardner, a senior trooper
Gardner
Medelez
for the Oregon State
Police’s Fish and Wild-
life Division, expressed his
thanks to voters and said he
would work to stay in touch
with them and help the
board be more transparent.
“I’m just excited to get
to work,” he said.
The other two cur-
rent board members up for
another term will retain
their seats.
Karen Sherman, who
has served on the board
for 20 years, is in the lead
for her seat, with 63.1% of
the vote. The other person
on the ballot for Sherman’s
seat, Caitlin Melhorn, told
the Hermiston Herald prior
to the election that she had
decided she did not want
to run after all due to pre-
Sherman
Anderson
Hansell
vious time commitments,
but the deadline had passed
to withdraw her name from
the ballot.
Sherman said she looked
forward to working with
the new board, and to plan-
ning for a more “normal”
school year next year.
“I appreciate the support
and hope I can continue to
make the Hermiston School
District a strong and eff ec-
tive district,” she said.
Incumbent
Bryan
Medelez, operations man-
ager for Medelez, Inc.,
was appointed to the board
in 2019. He was running
unopposed to retain his
seat, and had 2,111 votes in
his favor, with 52 write-in
votes.
All three incumbents
on the Port of Morrow
Commission will retain
their seats, according to
unoffi cial election results
released Tuesday, May 18.
Rick Stokoe, who holds
Position 1 on the com-
mission, had 46.9% of the
vote.
Stokoe has been Board-
man Police Department
chief since 2011. He was
appointed as a port com-
missioner in 2015 and
reelected in 2017.
He had two challeng-
ers. John Kilkenny, an area
farmer, had 38% of the
vote, while Jonathan Tall-
man, whose family owns
The Farmer’s Cup, had the
remaining 16%.
Jerry Healy is set to
return for another term at
Position 3 with 62.2% of
Voters OK $13 million bond for Umatilla County Fire District 1
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Umatilla County Fire
District 1 Chief Scott Stan-
ton was feeling a sense of
relief on Tuesday, May 18,
after voters supported a
$13.1 million bond that will
pay for new safety equip-
ment, vehicles and facil-
ity upgrades for the fi re
district.
As of results posted after
10 p.m. that night, the bond
had 57.2% of the vote out
of 3,150 votes cast.
“We’ve got a lot of work
ahead of us, but we’re
excited to do it,” Stanton
said.
The bond will assess up
to 23 cents per $1,000 of
assessed value on proper-
ties for the next 20 years,
Hermiston Herald, File
New decals adorn the door of a Umatilla County Fire District 1
engine at the main station in Hermiston.
which would cost the
owner of a home valued at
$250,000 about $57.50 per
year.
The district plans to
spend the money on a wide
range of upgrades meant to
better protect the health and
safety of fi re district per-
sonnel, and improve their
ability to respond to fi res,
crashes and medical emer-
gencies. Once the district
has access to the fi rst funds
in July, Stanton said one top
priority will be purchasing
new turnouts for fi refi ght-
ers. The protective suits are
supposed to be used for up
to fi ve years, but some suits
still in use by the district
have been in use for as long
as nine years.
“We’ve got a lot of plan-
ning to do, but there is also
a lot of stuff we can get on
fast, including personal
protective equipment,” he
said.
Some of the other items
on the list for the next few
years includes replacing or
refurbishing old fi re trucks,
adding equipment to ambu-
lances to make it easier to
load patients, replacing the
aging rescue equipment
used to remove patients
trapped in crashed vehicles,
replacing communications
equipment and purchasing
new cardiac heart monitors.
The district also plans
to upgrade its facilities.
Stanton said the board felt
that upgrading current sta-
tions was a more eff ective
use of taxpayer dollars than
building new ones. Proj-
ects include new roofs on
two stations that are leak-
ing, additional bays for the
Westland station, adding
living quarters to the Stan-
fi eld station and adding
separate living quarters for
women at the main station
in downtown Hermiston.
The district also plans to
upgrade systems to reduce
the engine exhaust fumes
staff are breathing in while
in the bays.
Stanton said it will
take time to put together
requests for proposals and
work with the contractors
selected, but the district
already has a bond over-
sight committee made up of
citizens tasked with mak-
ing sure the money is being
spent wisely.
He said district person-
nel were texting him as the
results came in and talking
to him at the station the
next morning about how
excited they were to have
better equipment.
“We’re so thankful for
the community support,”
he said.
Hermiston
When people share their time, treasure and talent, the benefi ts spread throughout the entire
community. In celebration of this culture of generosity, we thank the tremendous work of
nonprofi ts, volunteers and donors who help improve the lives of all Oregonians.
JUST A FEW OF THE 350 EASTERN
OREGON GRANTS AWARDED IN 2020:
EASTERN OREGON 2020
LOCAL I M PAC T TOTA L S:
Burns Paiute Tribe
Grants and Scholarships: $5.6M
Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts
Grants: 350
Euvalcree
Scholarships: 320
Four Rivers Cultural Center & Museum
Value of Endowment: $47.7M
High Desert Partnership
Volunteers: 173
Kids Club of Harney County
Funds: 148
Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center
Northeast Oregon Compassion Center
Pendleton Friends of the Library
St. Mary’s Outreach Food Pantry
Umatilla County Historical Society
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 922
L E A R N | CO N N EC T | D O N AT E
BRINGING OREGONIANS TOGETHER SINCE 1973
PORTLAND | BEND | SALEM | EUGENE | MEDFORD
O R E G O N C F. O R G