NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston votes to discontinue EOTEC contract
General Manager Davis
says that the venue
is doing well after
pandemic setbacks
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
The city of Hermiston
is planning to take over the
management of the East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event
Center at the start of 2023.
This represents a change
for EOTEC. The city had
awarded a fi ve-year contract
to VenuWorks, an Iowa-based
venue management com-
pany, to manage the center.
This contract is set to expire
at the end of 2022. Accord-
ing to City Manager Byron
Smith, the contract gives par-
ties options to renew.
In
its
most recent
meeting,
May 9, the
Hermiston
City Council
decided 7-0
Davis
not to renew
the contract.
There was one absence.
The city manager pre-
sented the case for the city
managing EOTEC.
Smith
passed
out
EOTEC’s budget to coun-
cil members at the meet-
ing, showing total expenses
for fi scal year 2022-23 to be
Downtown Hermiston
hosts 2022 Art Show
$587,950. He said the city
could run the event center and
roughly break even.
“We’ve been pleased with
a great relationship with the
local staff here from Venu-
Works, but I think our chal-
lenges have been more with
the corporate side, particu-
larly on the fi nancial report-
ing and diff erent things we’ve
wanted from them,” he said.
He added there is “poten-
tial that we can go after them
for breach of contract.”
However, he expressed,
the company had understand-
able struggles due to the pan-
demic. For its part, Venu-
Works was able to build a
staff , a problem when the
city had tried it previously,
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Correction
The article, “Patriot Heights: Ribbon cutting planned
for new Stanfi eld homes” on A7 of the May 11 edition of
the Hermiston Herald referred to the wrong organization
partnering with the Umatilla County Housing Authority.
The UCHA worked with Casa and the National Equity
Fund for Patriot Heights.
EOTEC is back from pandemic
Prior to a vote to not
renew the VenuWorks con-
tract, Al Davis, EOTEC gen-
eral manager, gave an update
about the state of EOTEC.
He said before the corona-
virus pandemic, the center
had a full calendar of events.
This soon changed, as only
43 of 173 scheduled events
actually occurred in 2020.
In 2021, he said, EOTEC
obtained grants to help keep
it afl oat and add to the facil-
ity and certain events.
This year, Davis told
the council, EOTEC has
177 event days booked. He
said this puts the center in a
Boardman pool closes
following ‘incident’
Hermiston Herald
Attendees peruse vendor booths at the 2022 Art Festival
Saturday, May 14, 2022, in downtown Hermiston. The
event featured entertainment, story time and art for
sale and viewing.
according to Smith.
The Boardman Pool and
Recreation Center closed its
pool the evening of May 10
until Monday, May 16, at
5:30 a.m. due to “staff train-
ing and a shortage of staff .”
The closure followed what
the Boardman Park & Rec-
reation District referred to
as an incident at the pool.
According to a state-
ment from the district,
during swim lessons at
about 6:30 p.m. May 10,
“there were both a dis-
tressed swimmer and an
active drowning incident
simultaneously.”
Beyond that, however,
the district is mum about
what happened. District
representatives said the
press release was the only
statement they would make
at this time.
“At the time of the inci-
dent the pool was properly
staff ed with one lifeguard
on the guard stand and
eight lifeguards on the pool
deck or in the water teach-
ing swim lessons,” the press
release states. “Ratios for
swim lessons do not exceed
1-to-6 in our 4–5-year-old
lessons and the instruc-
tor ratio for the class was
1-to-2.”
The district’s press
release also stated “aquatic
incidents can happen in
a matter of seconds and
drowning is the leading
cause of death for children.”
Posts to Facebook claim
children started drowning
during swimming classes
and their parents jumped in
the pool to rescue them.
The district in its release
reported it is aware of com-
ments on Facebook but
stated it “is our policy to not
publicly respond to social
media posts or comment on
personnel matters.” .
spot similar to where it was
prior to the pandemic. More
events are expected, he said.
EOTEC staff OK with change
Looking forward to 2023,
the city of Hermiston is
planning to retain EOTEC’s
three full-time employees.
And those employees on
May 11 said they are fi ne
with this arrangement.
Davis said he is not
a long-term VenuWorks
employee, as he started with
the company when he was
hired to be the EOTEC gen-
eral manager. He moved to
Hermiston from Kansas to
take the job, and he said he
had not heard of the com-
pany prior to his application.
“VenuWorks has been
very good to me and good to
my family,” he said. “I don’t
have any hard feelings about
VenuWorks. I think they’re a
good company to work for.”
He said that Hermiston
may have future dealings
with the company, espe-
cially when it comes to nam-
ing rights and future events.
Davis, operations man-
ager Brian Rust and offi ce
manager Jennifer Oswald
said they do not have neg-
ative feelings about joining
city staff at the end of the
VenuWorks contract.
“I just like working here,
period,” Oswald said. “I
don’t care, really, who runs
it . ”
Two local special
districts receive grants
Hermiston Herald
One special district in
Umatilla County and one in
Morrow County received
grants to help cover the costs
of summer internships.
Umatilla County Fire
District No. 1, Hermiston,
and West Extension Irriga-
tion District, Irrigon, each
received a $3,000 grant from
the Special Districts Asso-
ciation of Oregon. The local
special districts are among 15
statewide to receive SDAO
grants totaling $42,000.
According to a press release
from the association, many
districts off er summer intern-
ships to college-level students
in their area who are seeking
to learn more about local gov-
ernment careers. SDAO pro-
vides 50% matching grants to
the districts for the internships.
The maximum grant is $3,000
for a project that would cost
$6,000 or more.
For grant consideration,
districts must submit appli-
cations outlining the details
of their project, the benefi ts
it will bring to the district and
how they will utilize a summer
intern. At the end of the sum-
mer, recipients must submit a
project summary and receipts
to Special Districts Association
of Oregon.
Special Districts Associ-
ation of Oregon represents
more than 920 special dis-
tricts in the state.
Specials: May 15-20
20
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