OFF PAGE ONE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022
HOMES
Continued from Page A1
They sought to use this land to help
address Hermiston’s housing supply
problems, Pickerill said.
“In early 2021, I was introduced
to the landowners,” he said.
MonteVista and the landowners
worked together to create a master
plan for the community, which they
would call The Hayfi elds.
Getting into the details of the
plan, Pickerill said the housing
units would consist of single-fam-
ily detached housing, single-fam-
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
ily workforce housing, apartment
sites, a senior manufactured facil-
ity and commercial sites, he said.
School and fi re sites also are part of
the plan, as shown on a layout Pick-
erill presented.
“Our community will unlock the
value of this land,” Pickerill said. “It
will also elevate Hermiston to a new
position in the region.”
After his presentation and dis-
cussion, the city council voted
unanimously to approve the res-
olution authorizing staff to begin
an urban renewal planning eff ort
and get the ball rolling on The
Hayfi elds.
The Hermiston City
Council, in its role as
the Hermiston Urban
Renewal Agency, during
its meeting March
14, 2022, approved a
resolution directing
staff to prepare a
plan for a new urban
renewal district along
Feedville Road to
develop The Hayfi elds, a
development that would
add more than 1,300
homes to Hermiston.
MonteVista Homes/
Contributed Image
JOBS
Continued from Page A1
with the company, and she
felt confi dent other people
can do likewise.
“There are opportunities
for people out there,” she
said. “You can see it all over
in here. There are places peo-
ple can go for jobs, and they
need to have hope.”
Erik Estrada, protection
technician with Corteva Agri-
Science, also had advice for
job seekers. He said he rec-
ommends people to accept
help from other people.
“We want to help them in
the best way that we can,” he
said.
He said he spoke with for-
mer Shearer’s workers, and
he felt good he could be of
assistance to them in fi nding
work.
There were a few job post-
ings on the Corteva table at
the job fair. They were for
a maintenance coordinator,
a fi eld research intern and a
production technician.
The production techni-
cian job comes with a $1,500
sign-on bonus, starting wages
of $20 per hour and benefi ts.
Estrada said this job or others
at Corteva would be good for
recently displaced Shearer’s
employees.
Another company repre-
sentative, Tom Clouse, also
was looking for workers.
Supervisor of operations for
Williams, an energy com-
pany, Clouse said he was
happy to speak with the for-
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Job lists for companies at the Port of Morrow line a table March 16, 2022, during a job fair at
the Hermiston Community Center.
mer Shearer’s workers.
These employees, he said,
have a lot of good experience,
including work with program-
mable logic controllers.
“We can use that,” he said.
“That’s why we’re here,” a
coworker said.
Perry Lamprey, who also
was representing Williams
at the job fair, said he was
pleased with the people he had
met from Shearer’s, and he
was hopeful of being part of a
solution to put people in jobs.
A similar sentiment was
expressed by Elsa Enriquez,
a human resources employee
for Walmart Distribution Cen-
ter, Hermiston. She said she
met one former Shearer’s
employee whose story stuck
with her.
Enriquez said the woman
she met was older and did
not speak English. She was
successful at Shearer’s, and
she was worried she would
not be able to fi nd another
job, Enriquez said. Though
Walmart did not hire the
woman on the spot, Enriquez
said she did give her informa-
tion about applying for a job.
It is possible, she said, that
Walmart will hire her and
other people like her.
“It was devastating what
happened to them, and I think
there are things we can do for
them,” Enriquez said. “I feel
good about that.”
Representing the Port
of Morrow, Kimberly Rill,
workforce training specialist,
was at the job fair to tell peo-
ple about jobs at several local
companies. She passed out job
posts from companies includ-
ing Boardman Foods, Ama-
zon, Tillamook and Threemile
Canyon Farms.
“It’s a sad situation,” she
said, “but I think there are a lot
of opportunities for people.”
She added she had spo-
ken to many people, includ-
ing Shearer’s employees. The
Port of Morrow, she said, was
happy to be part of the many
groups helping out.
Becky Self, Inter-Con
Security recruiter, agreed.
She said the Shearer’s work-
ers have gone through some-
thing that was “really devas-
tating.” Her husband, she said,
was a volunteer at the site of
the fi re, and she could attest to
the awful situation they were
facing.
Now meeting with the for-
mer employees, she said she
was glad to be assisting. As
Shearer’s, she said, is off er-
ing people six weeks of sever-
ance, it is good for them to be
out looking for jobs and think-
ing long term.
Inter-Con, she said, has 20
positions it is trying to fi ll, and
she could see Shearer’s work-
ers doing well as security
offi cers.
Sammantha Hoisington, of
Oregon Department of Cor-
rections, was trying to attract
people to be corrections offi -
cers. She told people that they
could start as offi cers for East-
ern Oregon Correctional Insti-
tution, Pendleton, then shift
over to maintenance if they
were interested.
This might be a good direc-
tion for Shearer’s employees,
she said. Requirements for
a corrections offi cer include
being 21 years old, passing a
background check, having a
high school diploma and pos-
sessing a driver’s license. She
said that if, after being with
EOCI for a while, offi cers
could shift over to a position
within the prison that might
be more suitable to their skill
sets.
Meanwhile, Becky Cherry,
human resources recruiter for
Community Counseling Solu-
tions, was at the fair looking
for people who could work
as peer support. She said her
company is growing and could
fi ll 40 openings, and she was
happy to tell former Shearer’s
employees of opportunities.
Even Blue Mountain Com-
munity College, which was
promoting its educational pro-
grams at the job fair, had jobs
to fi ll. Tammy Krawczyk,
dean, workforce development,
regional education and strate-
gic partnership, was looking
for candidates for a number
of jobs. Those jobs included
fi nancial aid advisor, athletic
trainer and a program assistant
at Two Rivers Correctional
Institution, Umatilla.
She said she met several
people at the job fair and was
happy to be part of it.
Chamber employees call
the job fair a success
Hoxie, the chamber
director behind the fair,
said she remembers the day
of the fi re. She could see it
from her offi ce. She looked
out and reported having felt
ill.
Her feelings changed,
however, when she started
hearing from employers.
As the smoke still rose from
Shearer’s, her phone started
ringing, she said. People
wanted to help. That is when
her offi ce teamed up with
the city of Hermiston to set
the job fair into motion.
“We knew we had to do
something,” she said.
At the end of the event,
while many people were
packing up, another cham-
ber employee stated her
feelings about the job fair.
“This event makes me
proud to be part of this com-
munity,” Ami Little, cham-
ber personal relations direc-
tor, said. “When someone
here is hurting, we help.”
March
26-27
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Sunday 9:00 am–3:00 pm
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