Shafer meets today with CDA, attorneys
By Terry Murry on Friday, April 5th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer, a member of the board of directors for the Columbia Development Authority, has a meeting with CDA Director Greg Smith to discuss rescinding the vote that dealt the county out of land planned for economic development at the former Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot.
County Counsel Doug Olsen and CDA Attorney Elizabeth Howard will also attend the meeting today (Friday). Shafer said the county is just getting started considering its legal options after 30 years as one of the five partners in the Columbia Development Authority.
“That’s just the first step of many,” he said of today’s meeting. “I look forward to seeing what happens, but more than anything, I think I’m really frustrated with the negotiating in bad faith.”
The bad faith negotiations, Shafer said, came from a meeting with Port of Umatilla Director Kim Puzey. He said they reached a compromise over who would benefit from the economic development on which pieces of land. While he said that agreement was not great, it was one with which the county could live. He said with only a minute’s notice, that changed at the last board meeting.
The Port of Morrow, Morrow County, and the Port of Umatilla voted that the ports would control all of the land for economic development. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation voted with Umatilla County in opposition.
