HERMISTON â A customerâs next lunch tab could be paid for, courtesy of the city of Hermiston.
At a Monday, May 10, meeting, the Hermiston City Council unanimously voted 6-0 to direct city staff to work with the Greater Hermiston Chamber of Commerce on developing the Restaurant Assistance Pilot Program, or RAPP.
Inspired by a similar initiative the city did with Hermiston Cinema and the Desert Lanes bowling alley over the summer, the program would use $50,000 from the latest COVID-19 federal relief package to create gift certificates redeemable at Hermiston restaurants.
Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said the city still needed to finalize the details with the chamber, but staff wanted to get the program funded before the end of the fiscal year in June.
April 16, 1996
As Hermistonâs Hispanic population grows, so does its number of Hispanic-owned businesses, though not proportionately.
According to 1990 census figures, about 15 percent of Hermistonâs population identifies itself as being of Hispanic origin. But only about 2 percent of businesses listed on the Hermiston-area directory of the Greater Hermiston Chamber of Commerce are Hispanic-owned.
These businesses run the full gamut of services from bakeries to restaurants to trucking services to shoe sales. But most of those businesses go unnoticed by the majority in the business community here.
Billie Jean Morris, executive director at the chamber, said thatâs partly the chamberâs fault.