LOCAL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Umatilla County again discusses
hiring a professional manager
By JOHN TILLMAN
Hermiston Herald
Talk is on the table again
for hiring a professional
manager to administer the
day-to-day operations of
Umatilla County. That’s a
move Commissioner Dan
Dorran favors.
Dorran was a member of
the Umatilla County Char-
ter Review Committee in
2019 that recommended the
county move off having a
board of commissioners run
the county and bring on a
manager.
“After hours of testi-
mony from staff , past staff ,
past commissioners, local
community leaders, outside
county administrators and
others, the charter review
committee brought back a
recommendation to put a
county administrator on the
ballot along with other rec-
ommendations. Although
the commissioners at the
time did not put the recom-
mendation on the ballot,
they did make a commit-
ment to further the discus-
sion. Although four years
have passed, we are having
those discussions now.”
Since Dorran’s 2020
election to the county
board, he has led the eff ort
to reconsider the issue. He
will become commission
chair in January.
Dorran convened a meet-
ing
on
March 22
to
revisit
the commit-
tee’s recom-
mendation
to employ
a
county
Dorran
m a n -
ager.
He
reminded participants of its
conclusion.
Commissioners George
Murdock and John Sha-
fer were there, along with
county counsel Doug Olsen,
who staff ed the charter
review process. Two of the
original members of the
charter review committee,
Sally Anderson Hansell and
Jerry Baker, also attended,
as did Hermiston Mayor
David Drotzmann and City
Manager Byron Smith.
Looking on as well was Bill
Grable, husband of Michele
Grable, who chaired the
committee.
At the meeting, commis-
sioners agreed to discuss the
issue further with a veteran
county manager, who has
yet to be identifi ed.
“Umatilla County has
grown in population, reve-
nue and complexity,” Dor-
ran argued. “With this
growth and complexity,
the commissioners’ abil-
ity to eff ectively and suc-
cessfully manage, partici-
pate and advocate for the
best advancement of Uma-
tilla County becomes a chal-
lenge.” Several others pres-
ent concurred.
Umatilla County’s bud-
get last year was almost
$124 million.
Impending changes in
the composition of the com-
mission make this a timely
topic. While there were no
votes at the meeting, there
was a suggestion to hold off
hiring a manager until the
November election, should
the county even decide to
go that route.
The makeup of the com-
mission in 2023 will be dif-
ferent. Murdock is retiring,
and six candidates are run-
ning for his position. Shafer
is seeking reelection and has
two challengers.
In the meantime, the
county plans to hold discus-
sions with an outside expert.
“To further this dis-
cussion and decision, it is
important for the commis-
sioners to have the ability
to listen, question and have
a conversation with a pro-
fessional county adminis-
trator consultant to have
our options and parameters
defi ned,” Dorran said.
Oregon counties employ
various
administrative
systems. Gilliam, Sher-
man, Wheeler, Crook,
Grant, Malheur and Har-
ney still use county courts,
with a judge and two part-
time commissioners. Such
judges serve as chairs of the
county boards of commis-
sioner. Their judicial author-
ity extends only to juvenile
and probate matters. These
activities are secondary to
their primary administrative
duties as county heads.
Umatilla is among
those with three, full-time,
co-equal commissioners.
Some counties with far
fewer than Umatilla’s about
82,000 residents hire pro-
fessional managers, includ-
ing Morrow, Hood River
and Clatsop.
Umatilla’s
population
ranks 14th among Ore-
gon’s 36 counties, but is
14,000 higher than num-
ber 15 Klamath’s. Number
13 Polk’s is only slightly
higher.
Administrators
are
the norm in larger coun-
ties, including Washing-
ton, Clackamas and Marion.
Multnomah County elects
an at-large chair and four
commissioners from geo-
graphical districts.
County commissioner candidates give their spiels
By PHIL WRIGHT
Hermiston Herald
Umatilla County com-
missioner candidates during
a forum Thursday night,
March 31, generally agreed
homelessness, drug addic-
tion and mental health are key
areas to improve in the county.
The seven candidates
on the stage at the Pend-
leton Convention Center
also expressed near identi-
cal stances on a number of
issues, including universal
support for Umatilla County
as a 2nd Amendment sanc-
tuary, which voters passed in
2020, legal immigration and
opposition to moving from a
board of commissioners to a
county manager.
Incumbent John Shafer is
vying against two challeng-
ers: conservative activist Hol-
lyJo Beers and former Uma-
tilla County employee Rick
Pullen. Six candidates are
running for the open Position
1 seat on the board: Business
owners Bob Barton of Herm-
iston, Jesse Bonifer of Ath-
ena, Susan Bower of Pend-
leton and Cindy Timmons
of Milton-Freewater partici-
pated in the forum, but Alvin
Young, a Hermiston store
manager, and David Nelson,
former state senator of Pend-
leton, were no-shows.
The format allowed a min-
ute for some answers and 30
seconds for others. Some-
times, then, responses from
candidates were like a puddle
— wide but not very deep.
Shafer touted his work
spearheading the move for
the county to not renew the
contract with Lifeways Inc.
for mental health services and
instead bring on Community
Counseling Solutions. The
new nonprofi t has been han-
dling County mental health
and addiction treatment since
December 2021, and Shafer
said there has been signifi cant
improvement in services.
“Now we go to where
you are when you are in cri-
sis,” he said, instead of telling
someone they should go to a
hospital.
He also said communities
and organizations are making
some headway dealing with
homelessness, pointing to the
work of Community Action
Program of East Central Ore-
gon to revitalize a former
hotel in downtown Pendleton
as the Promise Inn, homeless
shelter and transitional hous-
ing project.
But the county has work to
do when it comes to recharg-
ing aquifers in the west side
of the county, he said, in criti-
cal groundwater areas.
Beers said she is the East-
ern Oregon head of Oregon
Three Percenters, a right-wing
group. She said she is a con-
stitutionalist and would “bring
a constitutional approach to
county government.” She
said she would push for more
accessibility and transparency
in county government if she
wins and make fi ghting drugs
a priority.
She and several candidates
said the county has to take on
the increase in drug use and
addiction in the wake of the
passage of Measure 110, the
law that decriminalized the
personal possession of small
amounts of hard drugs.
Pullen said Umatilla
County is his home and
talked up his 10 years in
county management and 20
years in government over-
all. He also is serving a three-
year term on the Tillamook
County Fair Board, which
expires June 30, 2023.
He said he would make
improving county roads a pri-
ority. While some are fi ne,
others are in serious need of
repair.
“They look like they’re on
the moon,” he said.
And the county needs to
be ready to help farmers due
to the 2022 Legislature pass-
ing a bill to establish overtime
pay requirements for agricul-
tural workers in Oregon after
40 hours per week. He said
that bill is going to have dev-
astating eff ects on local farm-
ers and the county needs to
get ahead of what is coming.
Barton, owner of Barton
Laser Leveling Inc., said his
decades in business give him
the skills the county board
needs. He said he considers
homelessness a major hurdle
for the county, which faces
challenges to increase hous-
ing and providing enough
services.
In a similar vein, he said,
the county needs to fi nd a
way to confi ne people suf-
fering from mental illness to
protect them and the public.
He also said he wants more
for the county’s youth, such
as a virtual recreation center.
Umatilla County, he said,
aff orded him the opportunity
to have a good life, and he
wants to pass that on.
Bonifer said as commis-
sioner he would take hard
stances again state mandates
for masks and vaccines.
“We are a charter county.
We don’t have to listen to the
state,” he said.
He also said he would
cut “unnecessary” county
jobs to free up more funds to
help with mental health and
homelessness.
Bower said as commis-
sioner she would focus on
the roll the county plays in
regional economic develop-
ment and working on ways
to improve mental health ser-
vices, perhaps through grants
but also through private-pub-
lic partnerships.
The county’s organiza-
tional health also is of impor-
tance, she said, and voters
need to support commissioner
candidates who have pro-
fessional backgrounds. That
way, she explained, the
county would not have to go
down the road of hiring a pro-
fessional manager.
During a question about
what the candidates know
on the defunct Blue Moun-
tain forest management plan,
Bower said as a commis-
sioner, she would not have to
know the ins and outs of that
Pendleton Friends of the Library
B OOK S ALE
April 15th & 16th • 10am-5pm
kind of sweeping plan, but she
has to know who the experts
are to call about the topic.
Timmons touted her work
serving on the Blue Mountain
Community College Founda-
tion and as vice-chair on the
Umatilla County board for
CAPECO.
“I think it’s important to
be involved because that’s
how you have the thumb on
the pulse of the community
and know what’s going on,”
she said.
As commissioner, she
said, she would want to take
on homelessness as well as
push for helping local busi-
nesses keep their doors open
while recruiting new busi-
nesses to the county. The
county also needs to address
the rising use of drugs, she
said, and focus on elder care.
Beers, Pullen and Boni-
fer admitted they knew noth-
ing of the Boardman to Hem-
ingway transmission line, the
project to build a massive
500-kilovolt line across from
Boardman to Western Idaho.
The Umatilla County
Republican Party hosted
the forum at the Pendle-
ton Convention Center, and
Vance Day, a former Marion
County Circuit Court judge,
served as moderator. Day
was on a swing through East-
ern Oregon campaigning for
a seat on the Oregon Court of
Appeals. Perhaps as many as
50 people were in the audi-
ence when the event began at
6 p.m.
The Oregon primary elec-
tion is May 17. The last day
to register to vote in the pri-
mary is April 26. For more
information about voter reg-
istration, visit bit.ly/38lxaHk.
Antonio Sierra/Hermiston Herald
Kevin
Headings,
speaks
Thursday,
March 31,
2022, during
a public
interview at
the Pendleton
School District
administrative
offi ces.
Pendleton School
District names
Hermiston principal
next superintendent
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
The Pendleton School
District stayed local with its
pick for superintendent.
At a special board meet-
ing on Saturday, April 2, the
board unanimously voted
to enter into contract nego-
tiations with Kevin Head-
ings, the principal of Herm-
iston’s West Park Elementary
School and the former super-
intendent of the Stanfi eld
School District.
Headings had been vying
with Kim Casey, a high
school principal from Grand-
view, Washington, to replace
Superintendent Chris Fritsch,
who is retiring after fi ve years
in Pendleton.
Both introduced them-
selves and fi elded ques-
tions at a community forum
Thursday, March 31, before
meeting with the Pendleton
School Board behind closed
doors. The board deliber-
ated its choice well into the
night, but held off on making
an offi cial decision until the
minute-long special meeting
on Saturday.
The board expects to come
to an agreement with Head-
ings later this month. Con-
tract pending, Headings will
start the job on July 1.
While candid board dis-
cussion on the two candidates
remains private, Headings
and Casey previously made a
public case for their hiring at
the community forums.
‘My strength is doing the
work’
During his public inter-
view, Headings assured com-
munity members this was not
the best format to speak to
him in.
“I don’t really interview
well at all,” he said. “My
strength is doing the work.”
Following stints working
in public and private schools
in Kansas, Salem and Leb-
anon, Headings arrived in
Eastern Oregon to work in
the Stanfi eld School Dis-
trict, fi rst as a K-6 princi-
pal and then superintendent.
During that time, Headings
said he worked to make the
district more transparent and
improve its perception in the
community.
While he went from
superintendent to principal
when he took the job at West
Park, he said he made the
move so that he could learn
to lead a larger district under
the tutelage of former Super-
intendent Fred Maiocco and
former Assistant Superin-
tendent Wade Smith. Nearly
nine years later, Headings
said he was ready to return to
the top job.
Headings said he plans to
be out and about in schools
and the community as much
as possible.
“I don’t enjoy sitting in
my offi ce,” he said. “I don’t
enjoy offi ce work.”
Both Stanfi eld and Herm-
iston have signifi cant Latino
populations and Headings
was asked the same ques-
tion Casey was about what
he would do to help them
in Pendleton. While Head-
ings didn’t want to imple-
ment anything before further
studying the situation, Head-
ings said Stanfi eld had some
success with Hispanic fam-
ily nights at the schools to
increase trust and participa-
tion in the Latino community.
The runner-up
Casey spent the early
parts of her introduc-
tion spotlighting her rural
bonafi des.
She said she grew up in
Ellensburg, Washington, in
a farming family that spent
plenty of time on horseback
and in the combine.
“You can solve a lot of
things with baling wire and
baling twine,” she said.
Casey started her career
in business, including a stint
working in Chrysler’s Port-
land offi ce, but switched
tracks to education after get-
ting a divorce. Casey said
her career move encouraged
other women in her fam-
ily to go back to school and
was hoping she could “break
the cycle” with students in
Pendleton.
Casey said she could get
creative in recruiting and
retaining teachers, having
hired a math teacher through
a job ad on Craigslist and
working hands-on with fi rst-
year teachers to fi nd them
housing in Grandview.
“We really need to think
outside of our box,” she said.
Grandview High School
is a majority Latino school
and an audience member
asked what she did to serve
that student population and
she might implement those
ideas in Pendleton, where
Latinos are a small but grow-
ing population. Casey said
it’s not just about translating
school messages into Span-
ish, but also about under-
standing Latino culture and
incorporating it into how the
school approaches students
and families. She said a
similar, culturally-sensitive
approach also could be used
for students from the Con-
federated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation.
2022
I
Northeast Oregon
Pendleton Public Library
502 SW Dorion Ave
FREE ADMISSION
Specials: April 3-8
Are allergies
bothering you?
$ 1
0
F
F
PHOTO
CONTEST
SINUS CALM
by Boiron
Feel Great, Live it Up!
541-567-0272
2150 N. First St., Hermiston
WE ARE OPEN TO SERVE YOUR HEALTH NEEDS
20 %
MANGO MADNESS
SMOOTHIE
0
F
F
can help relieve sinus
pressure, headache,
congestion and pain.
These non-drowsy meltaway tables offer year-
round relief for colds and allergies.
$7.95 DELI
SPECIAL
Guac A Mole Wrap w/12 oz. Soup
CALL AHEAD AND USE OUR DRIVE THRU!
• WATCH FOR OUR IN-STORE
IN STORE SPECIALS •
FACE SHIELDS & MASKS $5-$7
Visit hermistonherald.com and enter today!