Umatilla County will fight vote ousting it from the Columbia Development Authority
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, March 26th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Morrow County, the Port of Morrow, and the Port of Umatilla voted Tuesday 3 to 2 to take over all of the industrial land held by the Columbia Development Authority, including land that has been earmarked for Umatilla County since the beginning of discussions for the use of the depot land once it was turned back to local control by the U.S. Army.
The two “no” votes came from Umatilla County and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. CDA member and Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer said the county demands the vote be rescinded because it violated CDA intergovernmental agreement guidelines which state that the board members must be “provided written notice of the meeting and proposed action.”
“The board was handed the motion seconds before the motion was read by the Port of Morrow’s representative, Kelly Doherty,” Shafer said. “Umatilla County and CTUIR were blindsided by the motion and the vote today. This is now the second time this has happened.”
The motion takes all the land zoned for industrial use and for wildlife habitat from Umatilla County. It leaves 4,019 acres for wildlife habitat with CTUIR. The lands zoned for industrial development will be solely under the possession of the two ports.
The first time such a move was made Jim Doherty, who was then a Morrow County commissioner, raised the issue of the board only receiving the motion seconds before the vote took place. Further, Shafer said he met with Port of Umatilla Chairman Kim Puzey, along with one of the port board members a few months ago and agreed to a proposal that gave both Umatilla County and CTUIR land for economic development and wildlife habitat. Shafer said he carried that proposal back to the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners and they told him they were willing to agree to the counter-proposal.
“Mr. Puzey went against his word,” Shafer said.
He added that while the vote needs to be rescinded and held again, he imagines the outcome will be the same, but he’s prepared to fight it in the courts.
“I expect there to be litigation to rectify this,” he said. “It is my hope that Mr. Puzey will honor the deal we had in place before today’s vote. After a conversation with him after the meeting, he indicated he would stand by today’s (Tuesday’s) vote, however.”
