city news
august
2009
Message from the Mayor
By Mayor Sally Harrison
I thought I’d set to words some of the things
that have been going on in Vernonia. When there are
no glaring headlines, one may assume things aren’t
happening. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I’ve learned, being your Mayor, that anything worth
doing takes time, lots of time and lots of paperwork.
SCHOOLS:
Of course, the major project for our community
is the building of safe, green, new schools for our
children. The site has been chosen, and the Bond
amount arrived at, $13 million, which equates to $1.90
per $1,000 assessed value. Sounds like a lot of money
because it is a lot of money. Originally, the Architects
presented a plan for a campus that would cost $48
million. But the School District and School Board have
asked them to adjust their plan and try to find ways to
reduce the cost to between $35 and $40 million-- still a
lot of money. But, let’s also look at the benefits when
the Bond passes. First, the other $20-plus million will
become available. That means we would have a $35-$40
million school system for our investment of $13 million.
Also, the value of your properties will increase. It may
sound melodramatic, but our town will slowly decline
without good schools, for they are the cornerstone of
any community. Economic development will dry up,
the costs of other services needed will increase because
there will be fewer sharing the expenses. I can’t stress
enough the importance of passing the School Bond. The
other stake-holders-- Federal, State, and Philanthropic--
need to know that we are willing to make sacrifices for
the sake of our children and our town. Please, attend
the School Town Hall meetings and become informed
on what’s planned, ask questions, know the facts.
WASTEWATER:
The sewer rehab project is going swimmingly,
no pun intended. Our engineering firm of Brown &
Caldwell is working double-time because here again
we’re on a tight schedule to make ourselves eligible
for major grant awards. We must be shovel-ready
by 02-15-10. The Public Works Committee received
cost analysis for eight different options from Brown
& Caldwell this past week. They narrowed it down to
four options that will need more information before a
final choice can be made. We are very fortunate to have
contracted with former Interim City Administrator Jim
Johnson to stay with this and the school projects, so we
can stay on task while City Administrator Bob Young
gets up to speed.
STORMWATER:
Along with the sewer, we now have a viable
Storm Water Plan-- very important first step for the City
to be able to correct problems that have been with us
forever. Soon we will also have a rate study. Then we
can correctly explain why you and I pay the utility bills
we do. A concept way overdue!
BOB YOUNG:
We are so pleased to have our new City
Administrator, Bob Young, on board. Bob and his wife
are presently renting a home, but hope to buy soon, and
be an integral part of our community. Bob maintains an
open door policy, so feel free to stop by City Hall and
say Hello!
CROSSWALKS:
Have you seen the new crosswalk, by City Hall
on Weed Avenue? It is a new kind of application that
promises to outlast the blacktop itself. The stamped
and painted crosswalks, unfortunately, couldn’t hold
up to Vernonia traffic. ODOT is going to replace all
7
crosswalks with this new technique.
COLUMBIA COUNTY RIDER:
I know there’s been some buzz about the fact
that we have bus service to the Hillsboro-Beaverton
area daily. This is wonderful news for PCC students,
commuting workers, etc… It opens possibilities to
hook up with Tri-Met and Max. Check it out!
FLOOD WATER ABATEMENT:
The City has a contract with the Corps of
Engineers for mapping of the possibilities to Control
Flood Waters during our next flooding event. LIDAR is
a major component for this to be done. Now, don’t expect
me to give you the definitive description of LIDAR. All
I know is that it’s a geographical photography process,
very sophisticated. I’m eagerly waiting for the Corps’
recommendations and, more importantly, solutions to
our flooding. I’ll keep you posted.
ALUMNI FOR SCHOOLS:
I have a challenge for all the Alumni of
Vernonia High! The Class of ‘59 had its 50 th Class
Reunion recently, (we had a wonderful time) and they
have donated $410 so far to the rebuilding fund for our
schools. I challenge other classes to match or exceed
this amount. All donations are tax-deductible and all
proceeds will go to the building of new schools. We
received our education on someone else’s dime, now
it’s our turn to ante up the dime for future generations’
education. Please contact me at 503-429-8425 or
sallyharrison@verizon.net or at 1689 N. Mist Drive,
Vernonia, OR 97064. I will be keeping records of
whom, what class and how much, so we’ll have a
winner to announce.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to
contact me.
What’s the Plan Stan? A Monthly Update on City Planning
By Seth Lenaerts
In the last six months, a few
interesting studies have been done in
Vernonia. These studies were developed
to forecast future population, economic
growth and future land needs. State law
requires cities to periodically update City
inventories and create future projections
to help prepare and plan for the next
twenty years. Generally, all three of
the reports are saying the same thing.
Vernonia is in for a slow 20 years of
growth.
What does this mean? What are the
implications? And should Vernonia
care?
The characteristics of a city play
a major role in attracting or discouraging
growth. The City of Alexandria, Egypt,
for example, was and continues to be
quite the City. Imagine asking a person
in 50 B.C. why they chose to settle in
the City of Alexandria, Egypt. They
would most likely say ‘work,’ since the
City was a trading hub and offered a
variety of jobs; or maybe they liked the
beach and the climate, since Alexandria
was located on the Mediterranean. A
few residents may have just really liked
cats and appreciated all the cat statutes.
Personally, during the era of Cleopatra,
I would have enjoyed having a chariot
with the bumper sticker, “The ruler of
my empire is hotter than the ruler of
your empire.” All of these would be
legitimate answers, and if you ask people
today why they live or choose to live in
a specific place, the answers probably
wouldn’t be much different: work,
geography/climate, wanting to be around
people with similar interests or chances
to recreate.
Although the reasons why people
live or decide to live in places seem to be
more or less the same, the priorities are
much different. This is due to several
factors. One major difference about
today’s job market from any other time
in history is the fluid nature of today’s
work force. Ask somebody who is close
to retiring how many jobs they have
had and most will say fewer than seven.
Compare that to a worker just entering
the workforce who will probably have
20-30 throughout their career!
So what does this mean for
cities trying to attract people and
business? Tons, actually, but one aspect
that is especially interesting is that the
priorities of new workers are changing
and evolving almost as quickly as
the technology and job market. For
cities to stay competitive in attracting
skilled workers, they too must adapt.
Recently, a study done at the University
of Wisconsin-Stevens Point surveyed
junior and senior students about life
after graduation; specifically, about jobs,
quality of life and livable cities. Results
showed students were more influenced
by amenity values (like recreation,
shopping, music, geography, schools,
parks) than jobs. Those surveyed even
put their money where their mouths
were. When asked if they were willing
to take pay cuts to live in a location that
did have the amenity values, a significant
amount said yes and many went even
further by saying that certain amenities
were so valuable that no wage could
compensate!
This study, along with others,
came to the same conclusions. They
suggest not only a change in the mentality
of future workers, but also a change in
lifestyle. Historically, the two highest
priorities for entry level employees were
finding a steady job and staying close to
family. With this no longer being the
case, cities are going to have to adapt
or market their city to attract skilled
workers.
The changing market and
potential employee perceptions create
opportunities and risks. In next month’s
article, I will bring this conversation
home and focus on implications for
Vernonia. Until next time---you don’t
have to be coy, Roy, just listen to me.
Geography Matters
By Ben Fousek
Having the last two months to research
monkeys and palm trees in Vernonia, I have come to
a rather surprising conclusion: there are no monkeys
or palm trees in Vernonia. I hope you are not as
disappointed as myself. This turn of events will give
me the opportunity to discuss something else entirely.
I have been working the last few months on
the user interface for the City’s GIS. I am happy to say
it’s up and running. The City of Vernonia Information
Portal (CVIP) is a user-friendly way for city staff to
access data related to each parcel of land in Vernonia.
In one place a user can see what the land use zoning of
a particular parcel is as well as flood zone information.
The CVIP allows the user to view the property in several
maps showing different geospatial data, including the
flood zones, natural resources and utilities. Another
function of the CVIP is to manage city operations such
as issuing and managing building permits. And, as I’ve
mentioned in previous articles, as time goes by and
more and more data is added to the Vernonia GIS, the
City will have reporting abilities. As a quick example,
I’ve added a simple interface for city staff to mark a
property as a rented property. It will take some time,
but after a year or so, we will have a pretty good idea
of how many rentals are in Vernonia and the spatial
distribution thereof.
I have been meeting regularly with Bob Young,
Vernonia’s new city administrator, and others and we
are gearing up to develop new GIS programs for the
City. Here’s a brief overview of a couple projects. I
won’t get into specific detail here, as these projects are
in the initial stages.
1) A CVIP module for the Vernonia Police
Department to input police reports and other crime data
concerning Vernonia. Quarterly reports with crime
data and maps will be made available to the Police
Department to help provide better public safety for
Vernonia.
2) Another public safety concern is the
condition, operational quality and exact location of fire
hydrants in town. A plan is being put together to map
the fire hydrants and collect data about them. The end
result will be replacement of hydrants in need thereof,
a system to track maintenance, and the ability for the
proper authorities to check that new development
in Vernonia meets the minimum distance from a fire
hydrant.
These projects and those to come are ways that
the Vernonia GIS is working toward more effective
government at less cost. Expect to hear more about
some of these projects in the future.
In wrapping up this month’s article I would
like to invite you to check out the public access version
of the CVIP at http://www.klssurveying.com/vernonia/
. See what flood zones cross your property, or read up
on the characteristics of the soil your home is built on.
Until next time…