Another Umatilla business will be getting a facelift, courtesy of the city’s Downtown Revitalization Small Grant program.
The Umatilla City Council has approved a $10,000 grant for Photography Plus, Inc. The award is the maximum amount the city can give and represents the entire amount budgeted for this fiscal year.
“I’d like to thank the city for their generosity and for helping out to improve the looks of the city,” Photography Plus owner Martin Pitney said Monday.
Pitney has operated Photography Plus for more than 30 year at 220 Sixth St. Originally a gas station, then an office building, the business is one of the first travelers see when entering Umatilla from Irrigon. Pitney is planning renovations that will include replacing doors and windows and adding vinyl siding over the building. The project will take about a month and cost $25,253.
The Downtown Revitalization Grant provides up to a 50-percent match on a project that will improve the look of a downtown business. Although $10,000 is less than 50 percent of the project, it is the maximum the city allows. The city council unanimously approved the grant.
Pitney spoke positively about the program.
“I think it’s a good inventive to help businesses improve their appearance and dress up the town,” he said. “This shows the council has a goal to attract new businesses. It’s great for the city.”
In other business, the council:
• Adopted a new compensation plan for fiscal year 2014-15. The new pay scale increase pay for non-unionized city employees to be more in line with state and area averages. The raises fluctuate but will bring employees to a rate about 22 percent below equivalent positions in Hermiston. The new compensation plan will increase the city’s personnel costs about $60,000 and be paid from money the city had set aside for rising PERS costs. The city paid about $1.7 million in personnel costs in 2013-14, according to City Finance Officer Melissa Ince. City employees did not receive a cost-of-living increase, and the new plan does not include City Manager Bob Ward.
• Appointed Christine Harding to the Transient Room Tax Committee and the library board and Ramona Anderson to the Budget Committee.
• Adopted Ordinance 787, a policy for administering the proceeds of tax-exempt bonds. The city already complies with the procedures but has never formerly ratified a policy. The policy will be used to oversee sewer bonds recently refinanced. The refinance will save the city about $450,000 over the repayment period.
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