Page 10 - Robert Strope News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council meets Wednesday evening, June 2, to consider passing the 2021-22 budgets for the urban renewal district and the city.

LA GRANDE — Ambulance fees are increasing in the city of La Grande, and residents enduring financial hardship because of the pandemic could get some utility bill relief. The La Grande City Council during its meeting Wednesday, April 7, voted 7-0 in favor of bumping up ambulance fees, which the council discussed during a work session March 8. “We have not increased our ambulance fees since 2009,” City Manager Robert Strope told the council during the Wednesday night meeting, “and the cost of doing business, as everyone knows, continues to go up.” In addition to the new...

LA GRANDE — The city of La Grande soon will be issuing parking tickets again in the downtown area. The city has not enforced downtown parking regulations since late March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city resumes enforcing downtown parking rules beginning Monday, March 22. The change comes after the state downgraded Union County’s COVID-19 risk category from extreme to moderate, allowing more businesses to serve more customers, particularly restaurants and bars, which now can operate at 50% capacity for dine-in service. That means more people are visiting downtown, whe...

LA GRANDE — A La Grande police officer is being saluted for going beyond the call of duty. Officer Ryan Herbel has received the city of La Grande’s Above and Beyond Award for service to his community. Herbel received the award after using his own time and resources to drive a family to Portland to see their daughter after she was seriously injured in car crash in the summer of 2020 on Highway 30 near Pierce Road. Herbel was among the La Grande police officers who were the first to arrive at the scene of a multi-vehicle crash, which caused injuries to a number of people.

LA GRANDE — The city council of La Grande held its annual work retreat, which this year took the form of two nights of hours-long video conferences, to discuss priorities for the coming year. The first was a session Monday night, Jan. 25, of the council in its role as the Urban Renewal Agency on economic development that also touched on COVID-19 relief. During the second meeting Tuesday evening, the council set the city’s goals and priorities for the future. The council made no decisions during the retreat, but La Grande Mayor Steve Clements said the meetings were key in setting the...