6
september
area news
2009
Columbia County Sheriff’s Office Looks For Stable Funding
By April Bamburg
Three retirements and a resignation saved the
Columbia County Sheriff’s Office from moving for-
ward with layoffs last month. Now, the county must
secure stable funding for the agency, in order to avoid
another crisis like the one recently averted.
Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde
set out early this summer to create a task force of citi-
zens, law enforcement and other stakeholders to ex-
plore funding options for the agency. He said on Aug.
12 that an announcement would come in the next week
or so, identifying stakeholders. The next steps will be
to craft a mission statement and begin gathering infor-
mation on the various options.
Although tension may have existed between
the commissioners and Sheriff Jeff Dickerson in the
past months, Dickerson said that there is no animosity
now.
“I never believed that they should do some-
thing they weren’t prepared to do,” Dickerson said.
“They needed to make their case, [explain] why things
would be the way it was. I owed it to the public to ex-
plain [my position] and did the best I could to represent
the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.”
The Commissioners’ decision to put funding
into the Sheriff’s Office prevented layoffs, but Dicker-
son said that his agency is reeling from the budget cuts.
He said that his agency will have to be more careful
about the times that deputies are on duty and where
they work, where he puts people.
“There are two sergeants, and four deputies
assigned to handle calls in Columbia County. Right
now, one deputy is injured, so that leaves us with three
deputies. We have an agreement with Rainier to put a
deputy in the school district, which saved a job.”
With one deputy stationed in the school, that
leaves the department with two available deputies and
two sergeants to take calls.
There is a possibility that deputies who cur-
rently have positions in Columbia County could leave,
as they have put applications in elsewhere, according to
Dickerson.
“The citizens are going to have to come up
with a solution,” Dickerson said. “We support the con-
cept of a task force, but I have my own ideas about how
this is going to be, and I will put [those] forth to the task
force.”
One idea is a taxing district to fund the patrol
side of the Sheriff’s Office. “A taxing district is the
only way to provide an adequate public safety pres-
ence,” Dickerson said. “Not to expand the city’s roles
outside their jurisdictions.”
Dickerson said that funding of the adminis-
tration of the sheriff’s office, county-wide detectives,
and jail funding and civil processes would continue to
come from the county’s general fund, but that the patrol
Mist-Birkenfeld RFPD
Fights Wildland Fire
At approximately 2:45 PM on
August 19, a passer-by stopped at the
Mist-Birkenfeld Rural Fire Protec-
tion District Main Station to report a
wildland fire on Flora Road. Upon ar-
rival, fire-fighting crews found an area
of about 3 acres to be involved with
fire, which was quickly spreading up
a steep hillside in brush and replanted
trees. Responding Mist-Birkenfeld
personnel set up a defensive attack,
stopping the fire from spreading to a
nearby home and limiting its spread
into adjacent standing timber. Ac-
cording to Mist-Birkenfeld Fire Chief
David Crawford, Oregon Department
of Forestry personnel arrived along
with mutual aid units from both Clats-
kanie and Vernonia, as well as units
from John Day and Knappa in Clat-
sop County. Additionally, a Colum-
bia County Wildland Taskforce was
requested, including units from all fire
districts in County. Two heavy doz-
ers arrived to place effective fire trails
quickly. Air support was requested
and commenced operations late in the
afternoon.
At 6:40 PM, the fire was 80%
contained with fire lines within 50
yards of completion. Fire manage-
ment transitioned into night operations
under Unified Command. Highway
202 was closed to traffic due to air op-
erations. By 8:30 PM, the fire was un-
der control and contained, and mop-up
procedures were being used to widen
the fire lines. Mop-up operations con-
tinued the following day using Oregon
Department of Forestry personnel with
fire district personnel supporting the
efforts. At 3:30 PM, mop-up efforts
continued, aided by cooler tempera-
tures and higher overnight fuel mois-
ture recovery.
“The quick response of all the
responding units and districts played
a big part in our ability to control the
fire,” said Crawford. Chief Crawford
extended a big thank you to firefighters
from Clatskanie and Knappa who cov-
ered overnight so the Mist-Birkenfeld
volunteers could get some rest. “Ev-
eryone who responded was a hero,”
said Crawford.
Records indicate 27 fire district
apparatus from both Columbia and
Clatsop Counties and 10 Oregon De-
partment of Forestry units responded
to the fire. According to Chief Craw-
ford, an estimated 170 people were on
scene to assist. The burned-over area
included about 20 acres. Loss due to
fire damage to the growing crop of
trees has not yet been determined by
the land-owner, and the cause of the
fire was under investigation.
Readers Lend Their Voices continued from page 5
To the Editor-
This letter is in regards to a
birthday party held at Vernonia Lake
under the shelter near the Snack Shack.
The folks that held the party were from
Hillsboro, and had previously stopped
by to get permission to hold this party
here. They wanted to barbecue ham-
burgers so my husband Larry, who runs
the Snack Shack, accommodated them.
They could not say enough about how
they enjoyed the lake, the fishing and
just boating on the water. It is wonder-
ful to see folks like this enjoy our park.
These people were a great bunch, and
I think we should encourage more out-
ings like this at the lake. This summer
has been good for groups of old and
young coming to enjoy our area.
Gail Snethen
Vernonia
side of things would be funded through a taxing district
for an enhanced patrol district.
Cities would pick up some of the costs, be-
cause they would benefit, as deputies would respond to
calls for assistance if available, but citizens outside the
incorporated cities would pay more than city residents,
as they would benefit more from this option. Dicker-
son said that he was not ready to announce figures for
either citizen group.
As part of this special district, Dickerson said
he would push for sheriff’s outposts in Vernonia and
Clatskanie, with deputies assigned to both outposts,
along with one clerical staff member. This would cre-
ate, he said, “a true county presence.”
Instead of commenting on any one option at
this time, Hyde deferred to the task force.
The task force will “take a look at all of the
options” to find a “sustainable funding option,” Hyde
said.
“Even in depressed economic times, people
need a stable law enforcement presence,” Dickerson
said.
Negotiations with the Columbia County Board
of Commissioners resulted in keeping five enforcement
deputies slated for layoff and, through an agreement
with the State of Oregon in which the state pays for law
enforcement to patrol Sauvie Island, no layoffs were
needed.
WOEC Annual
Meeting Report
The West Oregon Electric Co-
operative Annual Meeting was held
on Saturday, August 22, in Verno-
nia.
At the meeting, election results
for the Board of Directors were an-
nounced. In District #1, eighteen-year
incumbent Bernard Bird was defeated
222-154 and will be replaced by Brian
Baker. In District #4, Joe Riley ran un-
opposed and was re-elected. In District
#6, incumbent Dixie London retained
her seat, defeating Jonelle Stroup 218-
141.
Board President Robert Van-
Natta ran the meeting and stated that
the Co-op has taken on a number of
projects that the Board hopes will in-
crease reliability.
Darlene McLeod gave a sober-
ing financial report. After three straight
years of difficult winter weather, includ-
ing last winter’s snowstorm,WOEC
finances have been adversely affected.
According to McLeod, the December
2008 snowstorm cost the co-op well
over $1.5 million. Overall, WOEC
showed a loss of $720,000 in 2008.
The good news is that FEMA is expect-
ed to reimburse WOEC at about 75% of
eligible storm expenses.
Operations Manager Steve
Scott discussed progress of the under-
grounding of the seventeen mile Tim-
ber-Elsie transmission line-- a major,
$6 million dollar project that the Co-op
has undertaken, with the help of over
$2 million in FEMA funds. The project
has been in the works for three years,
and was finally started this spring, and
is expected to be completed by the be-
ginning of November. The project is a
combination of directional boring and
trenching. Scott stated that the weather
has been very cooperative, allowing the
project to progress on schedule and has
encountered very few problems from
the general public. “As far as I know,
this is the largest project ever undertak-
en by the Co-op,” said Scott. Scott also
discussed an upcoming project that will
replace one of the Vernonia substations
with a new substation on high ground at
the pole yard.
General Manager Marc Farm-
er discussed WOEC’s response to the
snowstorm last year, and how the
storm allowed WOEC to identify and
prioritize special trouble-spots along
transmission lines. That information is
leading to a ten-year plan that will at-
tempt to underground approximately
ten miles of line each year and increase
reliability.
Farmer also announced that
WOEC members should expect a 6%
rate increase in October 2009. The
increase is directly related to a rate in-
crease of 6.25% from Bonneville Pow-
er Administration to WOEC and will be
directly passed on to customers.
Farmer also discussed the pro-
posed project to build a new headquar-
ters and move the WOEC headquar-
ters out of the flood-zone in Vernonia.
Farmer stated that the Board of Direc-
tors has chosen not to move forward at
this time on this project. Farmer dis-
cussed the pros of initiating the proj-
ect now-- a need to move and protect
Co-op assets; the current building is not
seismically safe; the costs of repairing
a building that was flooded in the past
(about $750,000 in 2007); current fa-
vorable construction costs and interest
rates; and $750,000 in available FEMA
funds that will expire in December of
2011 if not used-- against the cons-- a
poor economy; the expected upcoming
6% rate increase; the expense of other
current projects; and the expenses the
Co-op has incurred over the last win-
ter events. Farmer stated that a new
building would cost around $3 per
month per meter in rate increases. He
also noted that in a survey done before
the economic downturn, in which 12%
of members responded, over 80% of
members were in favor of moving for-
ward with new construction. Farmer
said that as the General Manager, he is
in favor of building a new building, but
the Board of Directors, which repre-
sents the membership, is against it, and
that right now the project is on hold.
