PHOTO COURTESY OF BMCC
Blue Mountain Community College’s bond measure 30-106 passed in both Umatilla and Morrow counties Tuesday, thrilling the college community and bond supporters who worked for a year and a half on the measure.
The $23 million bond will cost taxpayers approximately 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for 15 years.
In Umatilla County, the bond passed with 52.96 percent of the vote, and in Morrow County with 52.25 percent. These results remain unofficial.
“It’s so nice to live in a community that really values education,” said BMCC President Cam Preus. “I want to thank all of our supporters, including our employee associations, Board of Education, students, the Friends of BMCC, business partners, and countless community members who came out to support our efforts. Without you, we would not be celebrating right now.”
The real winners, Preus said, are the students.
“They’ll have up-to-date facilities, quality instruction and new opportunities for learning, which equals prosperity for our community,” Preus said, noting that 82 percent of BMCC students stay to work in the region after leaving the College.
The passage of the bond means BMCC can move forward with a plan to renovate its Agriculture Center, construct a Precision Irrigated Agriculture Center on OSU Experiment Station property in Hermiston, construct a Workforce Training & Early Childhood Education Training center on Port of Morrow property behind the SAGE Center in Boardman, and conduct improvements to buildings across campus to improve efficiencies, safety and provide cost savings on utilities.
BMCC attempted to pass a bond in November 2013, but failed to garner enough votes in both Umatilla and Morrow counties. Following that attempt, BMCC took a step back to re-evaluate and spent three months listening to the public about what it did and did not support in its community college. A Citizen’s Review Panel spent four months identifying and reprioritizing projects, eventually coming up with a recommendation for the Board’s consideration. In October 2014, the Board approved moving forward with that recommendation, and in March 2015 approved placing the bond on the May ballot.
Throughout the spring, BMCC President Cam Preus and Vice President of Public Relations Casey White-Zollman hit the pavement, making 100 presentations throughout Umatilla and Morrow counties to civic clubs, community organizations, city councils, county governments, school boards, tribal officials and many others to provide the community with information about the bond. In addition, community meetings were held in Pendleton, Milton-Freewater, Hermiston and Boardman.
The Friends of BMCC political action committee also made a strong presence in the community, led by BMCC Board of Education Chair Ed Taber. The group spent countless hours soliciting support through phone banking, canvassing door-to-door, and making appearances at a variety of community events, as well as providing support during informational presentations.
“It’s a proud day for BMCC,” Taber. “I cannot thank enough the many people who came out to support BMCC. I’m especially proud that both our faculty and classified employee associations not only supported this bond, but were active in the campaign efforts. It really shows the community that we’re all in this together.”
BMCC will select its project manager this week, and Requests For Proposals for architectural services are due next week.
“I’m just really looking forward to bringing our plan to fruition,” Preus said. “We’ve talked about it for so long, and it will be exciting to see it come to life, finally.”
BMCC will keep citizens up to speed on bond projects through its website, www.bluecc.edu, and Facebook page.
