City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, yeah. Hello, welcome everybody to our September 14th city council meeting. I am your council president, David McCarthy. We do not have a quorum tonight, ladies and gentlemen. So as such, we won't be able to conduct any business. We will not be accepting the normal public comment portion. We will do the flag salute and then we'll adjourn the meeting, at which time we'll have a couple of public presentations that won't be part of the regular meeting. So join me, please, in the flag salute.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

At this time, I'll adjourn the city council meeting. And then we have a couple of presentations tonight. First, we have a flag retirement box from item A. Mr. Smith, do you want to start us off there?

Good evening, members of City Council. My name is Thomas Greenough. I'm a Boy Scout of Troop 654 here in Hermiston, and for my Eagle Scout project, I have created this flag retirement box. I've been in Scouts for close to 10 years now, and attaining the rank of Eagle has always been a lifelong goal of mine. The most challenging piece of this is the Eagle Scout project. An Eagle Scout project is an impactful community-based assignment that requires planning, coordination, and leadership from the Scout. Throughout my time in the troop, my scoutmaster has been approached numerous times by members of the community, asked if the troop can retire their U.S. flags. When our nation's flag is worn, ripped, or otherwise unfit to be flown, it should be retired with respect and dignity, and that's why I decided to build a flag retirement box. So, uh, the purpose of the box is simple. People bring in their, uh, their, their old us flags to city hall and deposit them in the box. Um, the troop will, uh, check the box repeatedly or periodically throughout the year. I'm thinking about a month or once a month or so. And the flags that we collect will be respectfully disposed of at our next flag retirement ceremony. Flag retirement ceremony is a solemn and respectful event in which the history and meaning of the flag is told, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The flag is then placed in a fire where the audience sends that attention until the flag has been burnt completely to ash. I would like to give a thank you to City Hall, my troop, my family, for allowing this project to become a reality, and a special thanks to Ms. Alarcon Strong for working with me on behalf of the city. my grandpa for helping build the box, John Fisher for assisting me with the plaque, and my dad for his countless hours put in to help me achieve my goal. Is there any questions?

Well, thank you for your commitment as an Eagle Scout. And honestly, thank you for the community project that you've done. Honestly, I was just talking to Mr. Chris Elliott about having a flag that I need to dispose in the most appropriate way. And so this is a fantastic opportunity. think it's important for people to know that there is a way a respectful way of honoring the flag and retiring the flag and I think this does all that and more it's gonna be a great resource to have here at the city and I really appreciate the work that you've done this is a huge gift to the city thank you for uh, your commitment. Uh, thank you for, uh, what you've been able to do. And I, I think of this, uh, as a mere stepping stone into what you're going to be able to do in the future. This is a fantastic project. Uh, and I look forward, uh, along with the rest of the community to utilize it. So thank you.

Thank you very much. And I, once again, I appreciate you guys for allowing the box to be here where people can see it and then, uh, utilize it as well.

How many hours did it take?

Probably close to 20 or so.

The other question that I, more than 20 hours.

I also wanted to ask,

Is there anything on there that says your troop or your name on there, the date? I think it's important for us to remember those kinds of things because, you know, I don't know, 20 years from now, someone I'm sure will ask, how did this come to be?

Yes, there's a plaque on there that has just what the box is, its purpose, and then it has my name, the troop, and the date.

Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Anything?

Not a question, but a comment, if I may. Go for it. I was a parent of someone in Scouts, and I know how much dedication and time it takes to achieve the rank of Eagle, and so I just want to say, first off, this is a beautiful box, a wonderful project, well thought out, and just congratulations to you for getting as far as you have and and your dedication to the rank of eagle is is certainly commendable because it is not an easy uh achievement to make and so good job thank you very much perfect thank you very much for this and congratulations as well yeah thank you guys counselor duron has another clip thomas counselor duron has another question for you do you think it would be appropriate for thomas and

you to be part of a picture so that we can, it can be posted on our social media.

Well, do you do the presentation and do that at the end?

Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, Thomas. Next, we've got recognition. City Manager Smith, I'll let you take the charge on that one.

Yeah, so we're really excited to have Heaven Dougherty here. She'll wave. She doesn't want to talk. This year, she was awarded the Building Inspector of the Year by the Oregon Building Officials Association. And we've been really excited to have Heaven here. She fairly recently came over from the city of Pendleton. And since she's been here, she's been getting new certifications and taking on more and more opportunities to learn. And so we're really excited to Just have her recognize there's been a story in the news as well as in your packet an explanation and a write-up of some of the things that she's accomplished. So we just wanted to recognize her in front of the council and let you know the great things that city staff is doing.

What an accomplishment. Does the council have anything to say? Go ahead, Councilor Durham.

I think it's awesome. I know that the city has been waiting to have a new staff member and it seems like you hit the ground running with all the growth that is happening in our area. I can't imagine how often you're out and about and going about your business. But we appreciate the work that you've done. And it's amazing that, you know, in such a short amount of time that you've been with the city of Hermiston, people have already begun to recognize your hard work. So very proud and thank you for being part of the city.

Thank you very much. All right, that's all that we have not on the agenda here today. So thank you all for coming. Stick around for a picture with the flag box.