City council to begin Uber discussion at next work session

By Terry Murry on Thursday, January 20th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – Uber will be the topic for the Feb. 8 Pendleton City Council work session. Several drivers for the service attended this week’s city council meeting to ask to be allowed to operate in the city. City Manager Robb Corbett said this is a fine example of how change can happen.

“That’s the way things change is people come to the city and they ask for change,” Corbett said. “The city council is responsible to hear both sides of the issue and staff’s job is to make sure that they get the information that they need to be able to make those decisions for the betterment of our community.”

Mayor John Turner said that normally Uber doesn’t operate in rural America because it doesn’t fit the company’s business model. He said the proposal raised questions, so the council will hold a work session to get answers.

“We’ve invited the Uber drivers to come talk and we’ll invite the Johlke family that runs Elite Taxi to come give their perspective too,” he said. “This is something we’ll be grappling with for several months.”