[quote style=”2″]New Paint Expected to Match Old Paint After Oxidization[/quote]
The city of Hermiston inadvertently caused a minor uproar earlier this year when it repainted the south side of the water tower with the phrase, “Hermiston: You Can GROW Here.”
The Hermiston City Council voted in January to spend $16,000 to paint its word mark on the tower, leaving the watermelon graphic on the north side.
The problem, it seems, is the paint job looked unfinished (it still does – to a lesser extent). When a photo of the newly-painted water tower was posted on Northeast Oregon Now’s Facebook page in June, social media users went ballistic – figuratively speaking. Here’s a few of the more than 50 comments that were posted:
“What is with the unfinished paint job…when will it be completed??”
“Where’s the watermelon? This isn’t finished, is it?”
“Ugly and a total waste of tax dollars.”
“It does look extremely tacky that they didn’t finish painting it.”
Well, it turns out the water tower paint job was, indeed, finished – it just hasn’t oxidized yet.
Hermiston Assistant City Manager said the new paint is identical to the existing paint on the water tower, but that it takes time to oxidize.
“We anticipate it to oxidize to an almost perfect match within a year,” he told Northeast Oregon Now. “The paint is reacting as expected, and has begun to oxidize to match the existing paint, so it is less noticeable now than when it was fresh.”
The word mark was the result of feedback the Hermiston Futures Task Force heard that pointed out the need for the city to establish a “community identity.” A sub-group to the task force met throughout 2012 and early 2013 to examine Hermiston’s identity and to develop options for the future. Working with Limelight Design, the task force came up with Hermiston: You Can GROW Here.
At the time, Morgan said the city’s continuing population growth, its strong agriculture ties and its desire to attract new businesses were the reasons behind the push to create the new community identity.
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