The La Grande City Council on Wednesday, Nov. 4, unanimously appointed Parks and Recreation Director Stu Spence as city manager pro tem, six days after it ended its contract with City Manager John O'Brien, and approved a 3.7% increase in garbage collection rates for 2027. In Pendleton, the City Council voted 8-0 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to amend the city's lodging tax ordinance. Here is what local governments in Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and Baker counties did from Friday, Oct. 30, through Thursday, Nov. 5.
Umatilla County
Pendleton City Council
After a public hearing at which no one commented, the council voted 8-0 to adopt Ordinance No. 4057, which amends the city's lodging room tax ordinance, according to the city's council recap. The recap says the ordinance clarifies how online travel and short-term rental platforms are treated, reallocates lodging tax revenue among city funds without changing the total the city receives, and cuts the share that lodging operators keep for collecting the tax from 7% to 5%, which the city expects to generate about $47,000 in revenue.
On its consent agenda, the council approved interfund loans by Resolutions 3003 through 3006 for the Urban Forestry Fund, the UAS airport improvement projects fund, the Building Maintenance Fund and the Equine Center, and appointed Chris Zimmerman to the Pendleton Convention Center Commission. A housing study item was moved to Nov. 17, and the appeal hearing on the withdrawn Meadows Subdivision was removed.
Hermiston and the City of Umatilla
Hermiston is examining legal remedies, with partner agencies, to Gov. Tina Kotek's Oct. 9 directive pausing state air and water permits for new or expanding data centers through July 1, 2027, Deputy Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said Nov. 3, the Hermiston Herald reported. Morgan said the city projects that losing data center development on about 800 acres it annexed this year with a hyperscale data center overlay would cost local taxpayers and the state's school fund $500 million to $1 billion between 2030 and 2050. The Umatilla City Council declared a state of emergency over the directive on Oct. 20.
Coming up: the Hermiston City Council will consider adopting its 2026 Transportation System Plan and related code changes (Ordinance Nos. 2388 and 2389) after a public hearing, along with the purchase of land for a park on Southeast 10th Street, at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at City Hall, 180 NE Second St., according to its agenda. The Pendleton City Council will consider the housing study at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, at City Hall, 500 SW Dorion Ave., according to the recap.
Union County
La Grande City Council
The council voted unanimously to name Spence city manager pro tem, effective immediately, The Observer reported, and then adopted a resolution declaring its intent to appoint a permanent city manager, which the city charter requires at the first meeting after a vacancy. Mayor Justin Rock said no other department director had expressed interest; The Observer reported that Spence had filled in when O'Brien traveled for meetings. The charter gives the council six months to fill the job. Councilors said they would use the same outside search firm as in past searches, and Rock suggested a work session in December to plan the search, Elkhorn Media Group reported. Residents packed City Hall to express disappointment in the council's Oct. 29 decision to end O'Brien's contract, according to The Observer.
The council also unanimously approved a 3.7% increase in Waste-Pro's refuse collection rates, The Observer reported. Weekly garbage service with every-other-week curbside recycling rises to $34.55 a month, every-other-week garbage service to $28.80 and monthly service to $21.55. The Observer and the council's agenda packet put the effective date at Jan. 1, 2027; Elkhorn Media Group reported Jan. 21. Waste-Pro operations manager Darin Larvik told councilors that the cost of a tanker load of fuel had doubled to $60,000, that tariffs had raised equipment prices and that the county's landfill contract with Baker Sanitary carries a 5% annual increase in tipping fees.
On a 5-2 vote, the council sent a request for a stop sign at Benton Avenue and Depot Street back to the city's traffic safety advisory commission, asking it to consider a broader range of options, according to the meeting video. Residents had asked for the sign and the commission had recommended it; city staff said crash and incident records did not show a stop sign was warranted, and staff said Police Chief Jason Hays agreed. Councilor David Glabe made the motion, saying he wanted alternatives supported by evidence.
Without opposition, the council directed staff to write an ordinance setting system development charges, fees on new construction, for water, wastewater, storm water, transportation and parks, based on a report by consultant FCS Group, for a first reading in December. Staff said no comments came in during a 90-day comment period. Staff estimated that charges on a standard new home, now about $8,400 for water, sewer and parks, would go down under the proposed method even with all five charges, and that charges on one commercial lot would drop from more than $25,000 to about $18,600.
The council also authorized a state Land and Water Conservation Fund grant application for a restroom and pavilion at Candy Cane Park, annexed 204 S. 12th St. at the owner's request, accepted the final plat of the La Grande School District's eight-lot Tiger Homes Subdivision and authorized an application to the Oregon Water Resources Department for groundwater rights for the city's municipal water system.
Union County Board of Commissioners
The commissioners' Nov. 4 agenda listed a public hearing, with possible action, on an appeal that the county's hearing notice describes as filed through the Planning Department. Whether the board decided the appeal had not been reported by Friday.
Coming up: the La Grande City Council will consider the system development charge ordinance at a first reading during its December regular session in the council chambers at City Hall, 1000 Adams Ave. The Union County Board of Commissioners next meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 1106 K Ave., La Grande, according to its agenda.
Wallowa County
Wallowa County Board of Commissioners
Commissioners on Nov. 4 put off a $1,000 request from the county's Transient Lodging Tax Fund for grab-and-go dinner kits at the Fair Lights holiday display until December, when they expect to know how much is in the fund, the Wallowa County Chieftain reported. On a $120,000 road department request to assemble and install swim docks at Wallowa Lake, Commissioners Cody Lathrop and John Hillock said they wanted to see photographs of the new docks; the Chieftain did not report a decision.
The board appointed six people to the county's Land Development Ordinance Revision Citizen Advisory Committee: Roger Averbeck, Gina Birkmaier, Diane Daggett, Erika Polmar, Kenneth Michael Roberts and Ramona Phillips, the planning commission's vice chair, with terms ending May 31. It also approved a $4,413 grant initiation request to County Insurance Services for vehicle telematics and a backup camera for public works and canceled its Nov. 11 work session. The Nov. 18 meeting is canceled because commissioners will be out of town.
Coming up: the board will consider the Fair Lights funding request at its meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the Thornton Conference Room of the courthouse, 101 S. River St., Enterprise, according to the county's meetings list and the Chieftain.
Baker County
Baker County Board of Commissioners
At their Nov. 4 session, commissioners heard from weed control supervisor Gussie Cook that the county has treated 1,037 acres for noxious weeds so far in 2026, up from about 400 acres in 2024, with state and federal grants covering about 85% of the spraying budget, the Baker City Herald reported. The session's agenda also listed a Greater Idaho discussion and a possible decision on the Natural Resources Advisory Committee; their outcomes had not been reported by Friday.
Baker County Planning Commission
Representatives of solar developer MN8 told the planning commission Nov. 4 that the company is considering a 100-megawatt, 525-acre solar farm with about 100 megawatts of battery storage at the northeast corner of Baker Valley, north of Highway 203 and east of Schetky Road, the Baker City Herald reported. Brian Walsh, MN8's senior director for project development, said the company has not decided whether to pursue the site. Matt Hutchinson, a senior manager for MN8, said that if it does, the company would likely apply within six to nine months for a conditional use permit, decided by the planning commission, and a comprehensive plan amendment, which would need approval from the county commissioners. Walsh estimated the project could generate about $700,000 a year in property taxes and said it likely would not produce power before late 2030.
Coming up: the Baker City Council will consider restriping a half-mile of Main Street downtown, between Campbell Street and Auburn Avenue, from four travel lanes to two with a center turn lane and bike lanes, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at City Hall, 1655 First St. City Manager Barry Murphy recommends approval, and his staff report says the Oregon Department of Transportation would pay most of the cost, with the city paying about $10,000 to repaint parking markers, the Herald reported. Opponents, who say the change would add congestion without making the street safer, are gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would require voter approval before lanes are reduced, according to the Herald.
