free
february2009
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
volume2 issue9
vernonia
visitors
guide
Page 13
What Would New Schools Look Like in Vernonia? A Day With the Linemen
By Scott Laird
More than a year after the December, 2007, Flood, Ver- Growth Boundary of the city, and the raising of millions of
nonia school students, teachers, administrators and parents dollars (current estimates are around $30-40 million), that
will undoubtedly in-
are still trying to work around the
clude passing a bond
devastation it left behind. Stu-
issue that citizens will
dents and teachers are attending
have to back. All diffi-
classes in modular classrooms,
cult and time-consum-
the community watches sporting
ing chores.
events in a temporarily repaired
Although a fi-
gymnasium, students have to
nal
site
for the schools
travel outdoors in the rain be-
has
yet
to be deter-
tween classrooms, and every-
mined,
the
Facilities
one is uncertain what the future
Committee,
which
is
holds for Vernonia schools.
working
as
part
of
the
How many classes will
Oregon Solutions pro-
graduate having spent their high
cess, has put together an
school years in mods? Are run
initial plan that provid-
down and temporary classrooms
ed estimates of square
and schools what Vernonians
footage that would be
want for the children of our
community? How many teach- A classroom at Bonnie Slope Elementary in Beaverton is bright and colorful needed, which is now
being used to help de-
ers will continue to stay and
termine
the
final
site,
and
which
then
allowed architects to
work in these current conditions? How many families will
create
preliminary
cost
estimates.
According
to Vernonia
give up and move away if we don’t build new schools? And
Superintendent
Ken
Cox,
a
final
TGM
report
is
expected to
how will the district recruit new talent for its faculty?
be
presented
to
the
Oregon
Solutions
Team
on
February
20,
These were just some of the questions facing the Or-
paving
the
way
for
the
School
Board
to
choose
a
final
site.
egon Solutions team that is working on the plan to build new
schools in Vernonia. Building new schools is a complicated Then would come some public input as to what the com-
process that involves Transportation and Growth Manage- munity wants to see included in a new campus, before a final
ment (TGM) studies, the possible expansion of the Urban design is created. Cox also expects to begin the process for
choosing an architect in the near future. “The process is tak-
ing longer than any of us would like,” said Cox. “But with
all this work completed on the front end, we will be able to
move ahead much quicker once we have a site chosen.”
And the process also includes some fun work for the
Facilities Committee, who get to help figure out what should
be included in a new campus, and do some dreaming about
what a new campus would look like. The Facilities Commit-
tee has authorized a group of teachers and interested com-
munity members to do visitations to recently constructed
school campuses in Oregon. The group has been charged
with investigating what kinds of design features are being
used, to see what new buildings look and feel like, and to ask
questions of staff and administrators about how the buildings
are functioning.
continued on page 12
The cafeteria at West Salem High School
inside
new
officer
6
A WOEC member gets educated in how our electric coop oper-
ates, and a glimpse at what linemen do to keep the power on.
By Scott Laird
The service area is very big. And it’s very, very rural.
That was the first, and most important thing I learned when I
was the given the opportunity to spend a day with some of the Line-
men crews from the West Oregon Electric Cooperative (WOEC)
in mid-January. WOEC are the providers of electric service to Ver-
nonia and a bunch of other rural customers in Northwest Oregon.
Another important thing I learned was that those crews, and the rest
of the people who run WOEC, are dedicated, and work incredibly
hard to provide us with electrical service, under what can be some
pretty extreme and difficult circumstances.
One other thing I want to point out, before starting this story,
and it really turns out to be the moral, so I want to make it clear
early. As members of this Coop, we are all in this together-- we are
all owners and operators of this service system. As much we don’t
like high rates and unreliable winter service, it’s our Coop, and our
situation is not likely to change significantly anytime soon.
***
***
***
***
This past December, a series of snowstorms dumped two to
three feet of snow on the WOEC service area. Some customers
were without power for days, some for weeks, and some were just
being reconnected
in
mid-January.
Many of the Coop
members
were
very understand-
ing-- others com-
plained about the
lack of service--
some pretty loudly.
There seemed to be
a lot of questions
on people’s minds
about what it takes
to operate a rural
power provider, me
included. It seemed
Randy Heath and Jim King reconnect to
like a good time to
power to a WOEC customer.
take WOEC Op-
erations Manager Steve Scott, and General Manager Marc Farmer
up on their offer to do a ride-along with some of their crews and see
what a day is like for the linemen and other folks at WOEC,
continued on page 10
Vernonia Flood Stories: Part III- Community Services
In early January, 2009, the city of Vernonia stared down two potential storms that had the potential to cause flooding. In the
wake of the devastating floods that hit the area in December, 2007, National Weather Service predictions led city and community
leaders to gather and make preparations-- initiating contingency plans, activating emergency shelters, moving important equip-
ment-- even sandbagging, and trying a new technology that was called “shrink wrapping” to preserve the interiors of some build-
ings in the flood plain. Fortunately, the nasty weather spared Vernonia, and gave us an excellent opportunity to work through a
live drill, showing how much was learned from last year’s disaster. The community was organized, alert, vigilant, informed and
prepared-- and emergency Incident Commanders did an excellent job of running the show.
In this series of articles, Vernonia’s Voice has been looking at the Flood of 2007, its effects on the community, what has hap-
pened since last December, and where we are now. This month, we look at vital community services and organizations, and get a
chance to see how they prepared for the possible flooding that was predicted in early January, 2009.
By Scott Laird
18
23
happy
150th
oregon
winter
formal
Vernonia Cares -- Initiating an Action Plan
One of the truly amazing stories from the Flood of 2007 was the
Vernonia Cares Food Bank, which lost everything at their head-
quarters when the flood hit-- leaving the devastated community
without the food assistance so many residents desperately needed.
On top of that, Director Sandy Welch’s home was also flooded,
leaving the recovery effort in the hands of volunteers and board
members. And what a response they got. Flooded on Monday
with almost three feet of water, through the herculean efforts of
volunteers, Vernonia Cares reopened on Saturday December 8, and
began receiving food donations and handing out assistance imme-
diately.
Taking over the entire American Legion Hall, when they had pre-
viously worked out of two small storage rooms, Vernonia Cares
bounced back with a vengeance.
continued on page 14
WOEC staff moved office equipment to an upstairs crawl space in
January during the flood warning
