Good morning.
At last, the community may get the truth about the costs and expenses of the Treasure Valley Reload Center, the public project that is far behind schedule and still in need of $6 million to get finished.
Your news team at the Enterprise has been asking officials with the Malheur County Development Corp. for months for details on project finances. Only summaries have been provided. Grant Kitamura, company president, tells us he has nothing but that handful of documents given out at board meetings about a project now expected to cost about $35 million in public funds.
Greg Smith, whose company just got a raise from $6,000 to $9,000 a month to run the project, for weeks ignored a legal request for the budget information.
Until Friday.
He has now promised to produce the documents by this Wednesday, acting only after the Enterprise sought a legal order requiring the disclosure.
Meantime, the board of the development company will meet in an unusual public session at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13 – “on the east end of Gamble Island Road.” This likely means near the Union Pacific Railroad crossing and could perhaps involve a ceremony to drive the first spike in new rail lines to serve the shipping center.
The public can attend, and there is a period for citizens to address the board, which includes Kitamura, Kay Riley, Corey Maag, Jason Pearson and Lynn Findley.
Watch the Enterprise for updates on all of these matters.
–Les Zaitz, editor and publisher
Now, here’s some of the work done recently by your team at the Malheur Enterprise.
Football scores
Vale 41, New Plymouth 14
Nyssa 28, Caldwell 20
Adrian 96, Pilot Rock 0
La Grande 62, Ontario 30
Joseph 32, Harper 12
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Have a tip? Let us know….
We get some of our best stories and photos after tips from readers. If you have an idea on something we can report on or just have questions about something happening in the community, send an email to Editor Les Zaitz at [email protected].