WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Commissioner: Port of Morrow not ready to choose a new director
President of port
board laments
unexpected death
of Ryan Neal
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
The Port of Morrow is
operating under an adminis-
trative team in the wake of
the recent death of its execu-
tive director.
Former port boss Ryan
Neal died Jan. 17 at age 40
after suff ering a heart attack.
Rick Stokoe, president of
the port’s board of commis-
sioners, said Friday, Feb. 4,
the port has no immediate
plans to fi ll the vacancy.
“Ryan was a very smart
young man,” Stokoe said.
“He led the port in a very
positive direction, so the
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
Industrial facilities operate Jan. 11, 2022, at the Port of
Morrow near Boardman. After the death of the port’s
executive director, Ryan Neal, on Jan. 17, the port is operating
under an administrative team.
loss that the port has in los-
ing him has been extreme.”
Stokoe, who also is the
Boardman chief of police,
said the loss extends beyond
the port; the entire region is
suff ering for losing a leader
who was “very good at what
he did.”
The commissioner said
the passing of Neal has “hit
staff ” as well as people who
benefi ted from Neal’s work
in the community.
“He was an important
leader,” he said of Neal. “He
was very involved in educa-
tion. He cared about educa-
tion for youth, not to men-
tion he was a loving father.”
At the port, according to
Stokoe, there is an admin-
istrative team covering for
the absence of an exec-
utive director. The team
members are experienced,
Stokoe said, and have been
able to manage.
“Ryan was instrumen-
tal in creating a team envi-
ronment that keeps the rails
on. And two of those indi-
viduals, senior leaders of
the team, have stepped up
and they are fully involved
until we go through a pro-
cess (of hiring a new exec-
utive director),” Stokoe said.
These two leaders, he
said, are Chief Operations
Offi cer Mark Patton and
Economic
Development
Director Lisa Mittelsdorf.
Stokoe recalled the pro-
cess of hiring Neal. His
father, Gary Neal, helmed
the port until he retired in Neal’s successor.
“It’s too early,” he said.
2018. The port began a
search for a replacement that “Out of respect for Mr. Neal,
“went on for quite a while,” we’re not going to get in a
rush. Our administrative
Stokoe said.
“We ended up interview- team has done an absolutely
ing several candidates for wonderful job, carrying on,
even though they are
that position,” he
under a great deal of
said. “And Ryan
pressure, obviously,
was one of them that
losing their execu-
was part of the inter-
tive director.”
view process.”
He added the
He said Neal
port board has not
“rose to the top” of
decided on how to
the candidate list
Neal
move forward just
quickly. He had been
yet. According to
working for the port
in the warehouse, so the port Stokoe, there will be some
board experience was valued. sort of process to replace
“It seemed like a natural Neal, though he does not
progression,” Stokoe said of know what it might look like.
“Ryan was a great guy.
Neal’s advancement to the
executive director job. “We It’s really tough, because it
were familiar with him, and was so unexpected.” Stokoe
he did extremely well in the said. “He was a great leader,
a great man and a loving
interview process.”
Stokoe said the port is not father. He’s truly going to
ready to begin searching for be missed.”
U of O asking Hermiston: How do you get your news?
University of Oregon
promotes study to
understand how
people get their news
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
A University of Ore-
gon survey is reaching out
to Hermiston residents with
questions about their media
preferences.
Where do you go to learn
of news? What type of infor-
mation is most important to
you? How informed do you
feel about things happening
in your community? All of
these questions, and more,
are on the survey, which
is part of a larger initiative
called Sustainable City Year
Program, is available at bit.
ly/uosurvey-hermiston.
Andrew DeVigal, pro-
fessor at the UO School of
Journalism and Communi-
cation, is one of the people
behind the survey. Also, he
is the director of the Agora
Journalism Center, Univer-
sity of Oregon’s forum for
the future of local news and
civic health in Oregon and
beyond.
“Increasing our knowl-
edge of how information
is received and shared in a
local information ecosys-
tem would be good for our
communities and informa-
tion providers, such as news
organizations and commu-
nity organizations,” DeVi-
gal said.
He said he is teaching a
class on how “journalism
can authentically start with
community fi rst in its cov-
erage of the community.”
Referred to as “participatory
journalism” or “social jour-
nalism,” DeVigal’s work
centers on communities.
He described a move-
ment in journalism that has
been infl uential to the work
behind the survey. People
within journalism, he said,
are looking to better under-
stand informational fl ow.
Initiatives, such as the Lis-
tening Post Collective and
this survey seek to learn how
information passes from one
person or organization to
another.
The survey asks for
demographic information,
name and contact informa-
tion, if a person should want
to answer. Ethnicity, home
location and how long some-
one has lived in town also
are questions on the survey.
Then, the survey gets into
questions about media con-
sumption — websites, social
media use, etc. Also, it asks
for physical locations, such
as a farmers market or a
church, where people obtain
information.
In learning about how
people receive their news,
DeVigal said, researchers
can discover the best ways
to communicate to people.
The survey also attempts
to discover the information
people want to know, which
past, but this is the fi rst time
it has worked with an East-
ern Oregon city, according
to Megan Banks, the Sus-
tainable City director.
“We want to span the
entire state,” Banks said.
Because Hermiston is the
city with the largest popu-
lation in Eastern Oregon, it
made sense to select it for
study, she said.
Banks complimented the
town as forward-thinking
and added her program has
worked on other Hermiston
projects recently. She said
those collaborations have
been productive.
“We’re lucky to be work-
ing with Hermiston,” she
said. “A lot of this comes
can be helpful to local politi-
cians, too.
DeVigal said the survey
will end by the second or
third week of February, and
he should have results by the
end of March.
Sustainable City Year
Program
The program has orga-
nized UO classes, such as
DeVigal’s, to get a deep dive
into understanding a particu-
lar city. The initiative now is
focusing on Hermiston, col-
laborating with its city gov-
ernment. Information sug-
gesting recommendations
will be shared with the city.
The program has focused
on other Oregon cities in the
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CORRECTION
Correction: A head-
line for “COVID-19 claims
lives of three more Uma-
tilla County residents” con-
fl icted with information
in the article. There were
four recent deaths. The arti-
cle was on page A3 of the
Hermiston Herald in the
February 2 edition.
down to how the city
approaches the partner-
ship, and (Hermiston) has
been very welcoming and
extremely knowledgeable.
I have nothing but good
things to say about the city
staff and community.”
Byron Smith, Hermiston
city manager, said he is very
happy with Sustainable City.
Also, he said he is looking
forward to the results of the
survey.
“We are looking for ways
that people get information
so we can be a better source
of information,” he said.
Banks said UO will
be doing more studies in
Hermiston in the coming
months.
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