HERMISTON — The Hermiston City Council will hear a proposal during its Monday, May 10, meeting to help get local restaurants back on their feet.

Instead of a straightforward grant, the program would use gift certificates paid for by the city. The idea is to not only provide cash directly from the city, but also to provide people incentive to return to eating at restaurants, likely bringing more paying customers with them when they do.

According to the proposal by Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan, the city already did something similar with Hermiston Cinemas and Desert Lanes Family Fun Center last year. The city had partnered with Umatilla County to offer cash grants to small businesses affected by the pandemic, and when fewer than expected applied, they used some of the extra money to purchase large quantities of gift certificates from the movie theater and bowling alley.

The result was upfront cash for those businesses when they needed it to stay afloat during closures, Morgan said, but also boosted sales later as, for example, a child took their parents with them, or someone who had a gift certificate for a movie ticket purchased concessions while there.

“Those gift certificates have been getting pushed out to the community through the Parks & Rec and Library programs, and the overall arrangement has been well received by the participating businesses,” he wrote in a memo to the city council.

He is proposing the city do something similar through restaurants, although in this case the city would pay the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce a 10% administrative fee to administer the program on the city’s behalf. Morgan is proposing the city pay for $50,000 worth of $10 gift certificates, which could be handed out through the parks department, library, chamber and to utility customers.

The council will also consider a supplemental budget, which is used near the end of the fiscal year to add in large, unexpected expenses that weren’t originally included in the budget at the beginning of the year.

It will also consider a proposal to lease some of the city’s currently unused water allocations from the Regional Water System to agricultural users, on a year-by-year basis.

The agenda also includes an intergovernmental agreement between Hermiston, Umatilla, Stanfield, Echo and Umatilla County to more closely work together on projects that benefit the whole of western Umatilla County. The main provision of the agreement is for all parties to split the cost of the contract that Hermiston currently has with Pac/West, which provides lobbying, public relations and other services for the city.

The city council meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Hermiston Community Center, 415 S. Highway 395. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the city of Hermiston YouTube page. The full agenda packet for the meeting can be found at hermiston.or.us/meetings.