PENDLETON — The city of Pendleton is moving forward with plans to acquire land from the Round-Up as part of a partnership with Blue Mountain Community College.

During a city council meeting March 18, the council voted unanimously to approve a plan for the college’s newly constructed Equine Center, taking ownership of the land from Pendleton Round-Up Holdings LLC so it becomes non-taxable. The council also heard a report on the city’s financial audit, which found a few deficiencies to correct moving forward.

The BMCC Equine Center partnership has been planned, constructed and organized during the course of about a decade. The three parties agreed to terms, saying the college’s rodeo and equine teams will have a regular practice and competition schedule. However, when the college doesn’t have need for the center, the Round-Up can use it, as can the Pendleton Convention Center, which will be contracted to oversee scheduling and maintenance of the facility.

City attorney Nancy Kerns, said despite complex schedule conflicts and long negotiations, all parties made a genuine effort to find acceptable terms. She and others alluded to at least occasional conflict that ended up being resolved.

Representatives from each party were present at the vote, including the Round-Up Board of Directors President Tiah DeGrofft, BMCC President Mark Browning and Pendleton Convention Center Manager Pat Beard. Browning, DeGrofft and Beard all spoke in support of the agreement transferring land ownership to the city.

“ It’s been clunky at times, but we’ve worked through it,” Browning said, “and I think we have a facility and something that will really shine for our community and just help to make Pendleton even a larger draw and a beacon for many other small, rural communities of this state.”

DeGrofft said it’s taken about 10 years to see the completion of this project, but she’s excited for the ways that the center will be able to support Western traditions and rodeo culture. Beard echoed the others, saying he looks forward to how the Equine Center will benefit Pendleton.

The city council unanimously approved the transfer of the land and signing of the agreements.

DeGrofft said it’s taken about 10 years to see the completion of this project, but she’s excited for the ways the center will be able to support Western traditions and rodeo culture. Beard echoed the others, saying he looks forward to how the equine center will benefit Pendleton.

The city council unanimously approved the transfer of the land and signing of the agreements.

City audit offers corrective action plan

In other action, the council received its annual audit from independent certified public accounting firm Dickey and Tremper in Pendleton. Auditor Rob Tremper presented the findings, which included a few issues that will require corrective action moving forward. He asked the council to accept the audit and the corrective action plan.

State law requires the independent report. Tremper told the council that past years have had more deficiencies than this year, though there were some.

A larger problem citywide has to do with recordkeeping. Many files involving capital asset recording are hard copies, which makes it particularly challenging to keep track of everything.

“ One of our suggestions is looking at maybe an actual capital assets module or capital assets program that’s going to help and track some of those pieces,” Tremper said.

That shift would require additional training, but also would make secondary reviews easier and therefore limit inaccuracies in the city’s documents.

Other deficiencies Tremper mentioned are less significant or already are being addressed, such as those regarding accrued interest and debt schedules as well as late payments and delayed passenger facility charge reports at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport. Tremper reported the airport is aware of these issues and has improved over last year.

For problems noted in the audit, Tremper offered a future solution in a corrective action plan for the city to follow. The city council unanimously accepted the audit and corrective plan.

During the meeting, the council also approved a Pendleton UAS Range business development contract with Cole Rixe to help with sales. Rixe will travel to trade shows and host tours at the unmanned aerial systems range in addition to other duties. His contract for $57,500, as well as a $7,500 travel stipend, will last through Sept. 24. The money for the position was allocated in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget.