Open house set for city hall
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
HERMISTON – Hermiston municipal services, most operating in the basement of the library, will be closed the morning of Oct. 5. That will give employees time to move to 180 NE Second Street to their new home. The new city hall will officially open the same afternoon. Hermiston Municipal Court will move to its new courtroom a week later.
There will be a party. An open house is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 10 from 3-7 p.m. with the official ribbon cutting taking place at 6:30 p.m. People will be able to explore the building during the open house. Then, the gavel will sound for the first city council meeting in the new chambers at 7 p.m.
The building department will move into the new city hall as well, giving the Hermiston Public Library breathing room. City Manager Byron Smith said a great deal of thought went into the plans for the new building, including a survey of residents on how they prefer to access city services.
“This will create efficiencies with our staffing and the best customer service as Hermiston continues to grow,” Smith said. “We’re excited to welcome the community to the building and are very pleased that we were able to make it through a challenging couple of years with the project on time.”
The city funded the project with a $9.6 million bond to be paid off using enterprise zone funds. Umatilla County contributed $3 million to the project in exchange for office space on the lower floor to expand public health services in western Umatilla County. The project also upgraded parking lots to the east and west of the building and replaced century-old water and sewer lines serving downtown businesses. No taxpayer funds were used for the construction.
