opinion
An Opinion: The Revolving Door Goes
‘Round and ‘Round
By Scott Laird
The revolving door that is Vernonia City Hall
is back in action and may or may not see more activity
in the next few months.
In November, Vernonians will go to the polls
and have a chance to possibly replace three of five
positions on our City Council. The fact that eight
people have put themselves forward as candidates
for two City Council positions and three people have
elected to run against current Mayor Sally Harrison,
is, I think, a clear indication that the citizens in this
community are not happy with the performance of the
current City Council. This community is in the midst of
profound and catalytic change, with immense problems
and issues standing in its way. This is a critical time in
the future of this community and strong leadership is
needed.
The poor performance and sudden resignation
of former City Administrator Bob Young was an
indication of what has been wrong with the Vernonia
City Council-- lack of engagement and oversight.
The inability of Council to monitor and hold Young
accountable for his performance resulted in Young
accomplishing almost nothing in his twelve months
on the job. We need a strong, thoughtful, hands-on
Council that understands their role in city government--
setting policy and making sure the City Administrator
is carrying out that policy.
Because I attend almost every City Council
meeting, I know that only about half of the twelve
candidates that will appear on the ballot that arrives
in October regularly attend Council meetings or are
actively serving city government in some way. That’s
not to say that qualified and capable candidates who
aren’t engaged in City functions aren’t in the mix. My
hope is that all the candidates are doing their homework,
developing a working understanding of the current
budget and its deficiencies, a working understanding of
the vast number projects that the City has undertaken
or is moving towards, and the numerous issues that
surround current staffing shortfalls. Any citizen elected
to serve on this Council needs to be prepared to hit the
ground running. There is a lot of work to do and it will
require a Council that is ready to roll up its sleeves, pay
attention to details and make hard decisions.
That being said, this election also requires that
the citizens who will be choosing their representatives
on City Council also need to do their homework and
make informed choices when voting. Vernonia’s Voice
will be be sending out questionnaires to each candidate
and publish their responses in our October 12, 2010
issue. In addition, on October 5, 2010, Vernonia’s
Voice will host a “Meet the Candidates” forum where
citizens will have a chance to hear the candidates
answer questions about themselves and the Vernonia
city government. This will be a great opportunity for
voters to better inform themselves about their choices
and better understand the qualifications and viewpoints
of those running for office-- I hope as many of you as
possible will join me at the Vernonia Scout Cabin at
7:00 P.M. for this informative evening.
***
At the September 7, 2010, City Council
meeting, City Administrator Interim Pro Tem Bill
Haack presented the Council with four options for
going through the process of hiring a permanent City
Administrator. In my mind, they really only have one
choice-- find a way to keep Bill Haack on the job.
Since the Flood of 2007, Vernonia City Hall
has had five City Administrators: Dick Kline, Aldie
Howard, Jim Johnson, Bob Young, and currently Bill
Haack. Haack came gift-wrapped to the city through
Columbia Pacific Economic Development District
(ColPac) where he has been under contract assisting
Columbia County, and mainly Vernonia, with economic
recovery since almost immediately after the December
3, 2007 flood. The City entered into a personal services
contract with ColPac in June allowing Haack to fill the
role of City Administrator while still technically under
the employment of ColPac.
Haack’s contract with ColPac expires in
December of this year, meaning the city needs to consider
how to fill the position that Haack has taken over since
september14
2010
3
Bob Young’s ignominious resignation in June
of this year. As Haack presented to Council
on September 7th, they have a number of
options in front of them. They can hire the
League of Oregon Cities (LOC) to assist them
with a search for the best possible candidates
Publisher and Managing Editor
and then hire the best choice, which will cost
Scott Laird
the city between $8,000 and $10,000. They
503-367-0098
can directly appoint someone to the position.
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
They can go through a Confirmation Process
Copy Editor
that leads to a final selection-- basically having
Haack go through as extensive an interview
Dennis Nicks
Contributors
process as Council deems necessary. Or they
Nancy Burch
can negotiate to extend the personal services
Jessica Jensen Jones
Photography
contract with ColPac and delay making a
Shannon Romtvedt
Scott Laird
permanent hire until a later time.
Shannon Romtvedt
Three of the options presented include
Kris Stuart
retaining Bill Haack as City Administrator,
and that to me is what needs to happen.
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The city is limited by fiscal constraints
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as to whom they will able to hire and how
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much they can afford to pay someone to
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work-- they have only budgeted for a half-
time City administrator after January 1, 2011.
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An employee who works more than 600
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hours triggers the need to pay PERS benefits,
Vernonia,
OR 97064
something the city would like to avoid given
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its tight finances. The options available to
Council are very limited, indeed.
www.VernoniasVoice.com
Hiring the LOC to help with the process
does give the city the opportunity to interview
other possible choices and, according to the
LOC, the current pool of potential candidates
more important.
who are retired and willing to work part time is fairly
The possibility of extending the personal
deep. At the September 7th meeting, Council chose to services contract with ColPac would allow the City
forego this option at this time.
Council time to monitor the city budget and develop
There are a number of reasons why I agree a plan for the next fiscal year, hopefully making more
with this decision by the Council. The money would money available to hire someone. Appointing Haack
be better spent compensating current staff or helping also makes sense-- he’s been doing a good job so far
fill empty positions at City Hall. A candidate who and wants the job. Going through a confirmation
would come through this process would most likely be process allows the Council to cover themselves and
an unknown entity in Vernonia-- look what happened show they have done their due diligence. These are
when we hired Bob Young using this same process. all good options as far as I’m concerned. Whichever
Haack would be included in that interview process option they choose, the Vernonia City Council needs
and we could go through the entire process and spend to get this decision right. They need to decide to retain
the money only to decide the best candidate is already Bill Haack.
sitting in the office he’s interviewing for.
***
And Haack is an excellent candidate. Bill
August 31 was officially the end of the of the
Haack has been working in Vernonia for the last two Frank Grace era as the Vernonia Chief of Police.
and a half years. He is familiar with the landscape here.
Whenever I’m about to say something negative
He is familiar with the scope of current projects that the about someone, I always try to find something positive
city has in progress or is considering undertaking. He to say first. So here it goes-- on the surface, Frank
is familiar with and seems to have the respect of, and a Grace was a nice man.
good working relationship with, current city staff. He is
That being said, the effects of Grace’s one year
smart enough to know and admit when he doesn’t know on the job here in Vernonia could be felt for years to
something, and smart enough to obtain the knowledge come. Grace showed fiscal irresponsibility, spending
he needs to do the job. He understands the strengths money the city couldn’t afford on a security system for
and weaknesses of the current City Council and current City Hall and committing the city to a five-year lease
city staff. He has shown good follow through and does on a brand new SUV-- a type of vehicle the city could
a great job informing Council of the work he is doing. have procured for much less money.
And, most importantly, he wants to be here.
When Grace refused to enforce the no
Haack has experience managing large alcohol policy on school grounds during this year’s
construction projects. He also has experience obtaining Friendship Jamboree, he did serious damage to the
and managing large federal and state grant funds. He relationship between the School District and the group
sat through the City budget process this past year and that organizes the Softball Tournament and uses those
understands the current financial situation. He has grounds. The one task he was assigned to complete--
been obtaining valuable experience overseeing the revising the City Emergency Plan took him the entire
Police Department since Chief Frank Grace resigned time he was here. His twice-a-month reports to City
on August 31, as well as public works experience in the Council were filled with useless information and were
absence of a Public Works Director in Vernonia. He a waste of paper, time and effort. We still don’t know
has served on the Beaverton Planning Commission so all the details of the damage Frank Grace did while he
he has a working knowledge of planning concepts and was here in Vernonia.
requirements.
Yes, Grace was being managed by Bob Young,
Haack is obviously committed to this whose failures as City Administrator are becoming
community. After observing all the missteps, and more self-evident with each passing day, and Young
inefficiencies of the past few years from a front row was being managed (or not) by the Vernonia City
seat, and uncovering even more issues to contend with Council, so blame for Grace’s performance can be
as the acting City Administrator, Haack is still interested spread around. But in the end, Grace’s decisions were
in working for and serving this community.
mostly of his own choosing.
No, Haack doesn’t have previous experience
No, City Council didn’t give Grace a warm
working as a City Administrator, except for his farewell when he left last month. No, they didn’t give
appointment here as Interim. But he brings something him a smile and a friendly handshake. They handed
much more valuable to the table-- experience working him his hat and showed him the door.
in Vernonia. And at this critical juncture that is much
