Hermiston Civic Leadership Academy presents community-driven plan to engage residents on Carnegie Building reuse

A group of Hermiston Civic Leadership Academy participants presented to the Hermiston City Council on June 9 a recommended engagement process to determine reuse of the Carnegie Building at 215 East Gladys Avenue.

The presentation, led by Krista Vanveen, described a seven-week project in which the cohort met in person for more than 20 hours and conducted stakeholder interviews and limited surveys to design a community-centered outreach plan. "Our primary goal was to develop an engagement process that the city council might use when reaching out to the Hermiston community in order to determine the next best use for the Carnegie Building," Vanveen said.

The students told the council that Hermiston residents prefer short, simple outreach that is both accessible on mobile devices and offered face to face at community events. Kendra Stone, a cohort member and county inspector for Umatilla Public Health, said face-to-face contact "builds trust by fostering human connection and shared experience" and helps reach older and bilingual populations.

The cohort recommended a hybrid model that pairs short in-person micro-surveys ("little big polls") at events with targeted digital prompts. Kendra Stone described micro-polls as "1 or 2 question" surveys distributed by QR code or iPad at fairs, parades and booths to capture quick feedback and increase participation among underrepresented groups.

Presenters also summarized the Carnegie Building's history and constraints. Kelsey Rodemaker reported that the building was built in 1918 with Andrew Carnegie funds and served as a public library from 1919 until 1989; it is zoned Commercial C-1. Cohort members emphasized preserving the building's historic character while exploring flexible uses such as a cultural center, multiuse community hub, local history/interpretive center or youth programming space.

Students and councilors repeatedly cautioned that the cohort's quantitative data were limited. Adrianna Negroho, a Hermiston High School sophomore who conducted a small survey, said her sample included 55 responses—many from teachers—and is not representative of the full city. Councilor Litton pointed to that limitation when she asked whether the statistic that "75% of people do not have access to technology" applied citywide; Negroho and other presenters clarified the figure came from her small high-school-centered sample.

Council members praised the cohort's recommendations and pressed staff and the students for follow-up: Councilor Duran encouraged a hybrid approach using QR codes at public events while also offering non-digital options; City Manager Smith and presenters acknowledged a need for a broader, citywide survey if the council wants quantitative preferences for building use. "We were not tasked with deciding what to do with the building," Vanveen said. "We were tasked with designing engagement recommendations for city council to develop a survey or engagement strategy."

The council did not take formal action on the Carnegie Building at the June 9 meeting; members thanked the cohort and accepted the students' recommendations as information for staff and future outreach planning.

The students offered to provide raw survey results and stakeholder lists to city staff upon request; students and staff agreed that any future public polling should note the building's physical limits—small interior footprint and ADA constraints—when asking residents to select preferred uses.