Regular visitors to the council chambers inside Hermiston City Hall are well familiar with its vintage-looking appearance. But those 1970s-style green and orange seats along with orange carpeting not only look like something out of the past, they literally will be a thing of the past.
The Hermiston City Council voted 5-3 this week to update the council chambers. Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann said the decision was made in order to give the council chambers a more modern, progress look “to reflect the direction of the city.”
The council approved spending up to $50,000 and will use the in-house interior design skills of Sabre Alleman to upgrade the chambers. Drotzmann said Alleman has been responsible for updating other offices inside city hall and has done so “very frugally.”
Along with the audience chairs and carpeting, the city will also be upgrading the walls, lighting and ceiling panels. The council also discussed technology updates to provide a better experience for audience members.
“The council felt it was time that our chamber, the area we do business in, reflects the progressive nature of the business we are performing,” Drotzmann said.
The $50,000 was intended to be part of the city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2014-15, but was inadvertently left out of the original document.
Voting against the expenditure were councilors John Kirwan, Lori Davis and George Anderson,
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