october12  2010
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
free
volume4    issue19
Vernonia GIS Ready To Take the Next Step WOEC Approves
and government agency information works,” says Sean Pickner, the GIS
By Scott Laird
Rate Increase
management.
Analyst hired by the city to build

The Vernonia GIS Project
has been developing slowly over
the last few years, with the help and
hard work of Ben Fousek, an em-
ployee of KLS Surveying in Verno-
nia. Now the City has expanded its
resources and is ready to take its in-
vestment to the next level, and will
be asking for community input as
this project moves forward into the
future.

Over the last few years, the
City of Vernonia has used resources
provided by Fousek and KLS to
initially create a basic, working
GIS system. Fousek, who worked
with GIS while studying at the
University of Oregon, has been a
strong proponent for the City of
Vernonia to adopt a more advanced
GIS program. He has volunteered
large amounts of time configuring
software
and
developing maps that
city staff are already
utilizing, and keeping
City Council and
community committees
up to date on how the
program is being used
and the benefits of
adopting a GIS system.
to
Sean Pickner, GIS Analyst, is working on the According
Vernonia GIS Project for the City of Vernonia. Fousek, the city has
been slowly putting
GIS, or Geographic Information together the system sort of piece-
Systems (GIS) is a geospatial meal. “We’ve gotten to the point
information system that functions where city staff is really seeing the
as a set of tools that captures, stores, benefits and using the system we
analyzes, manages, and presents have in place,” says Fousek.
Now City Hall has decided
data that are linked to land-based
locations. In the simplest terms, to advance the project and has made
GIS is the merging of cartography, additional investments, including
statistical analysis, and database software and hardware and a part-
technology. GIS systems are used time GIS Analyst. “We’re taking
in land surveying, public utility the next step to start tackling
management, natural resource some of the bigger issues that face
management, urban planning, Vernonia,” says Fousek.
“We want to be able to
emergency management, and in
many other forms of private industry model, spatially, how this city
inside
15
woec breaks
ground
16
vhs
homecoming
23
salmon
fest
Vernonia GIS into an operational
and functioning program. “With
some of these amazing tools that
these programmers have created, we
can utilize those tools for the city’s
benefit,” says Pickner.

Vernonia Interim City
Administrator Pro Tem Bill Haack
is excited about the possibilities
that having a GIS system in place
present. “The excellent work that
KLS Surveying has done over the
past two years in establishing a
GIS framework whet our appetite
for using this tool to the benefit of
the City,” said Haack. “In the past
month, having access to a high-
skilled GIS professional further
establishes the platform that should
position the City to proactively
manage information in the future
in ways that will serve the city for
decades as a cost-saving accessible
resource for City staff, project
developers and the community as a
whole.”

The practical benefits of
having a GIS system in place could
be multiple. Pickner envisions
Vernonia GIS being used extensively
by the City Planning Department.
“It gives them the ability to foresee
what is going to happen, or identify
issues prior to just reacting to a
problem,” said Pickner during a
recent interview at his office at the
Vernonia Community Learning
Center.
continued on page 10

In a unanimous decision, the Board of
Directors for West Oregon Electric Cooperative
(WOEC) voted to approved a four-percent rate
increase starting October 1, 2010, and a five-
percent increase taking effect next year. Members
will see an increase on their bills immediately.

The Board voted after a Members Meeting
on September 28, during which WOEC General
Manager Marc Farmer explained the reasons for
the requested increase. Farmer also took questions
from the members in the audience.

According to Farmer, WOEC management
recently completed a ten-year Load Forecast,
a ten-year Financial Forecast, and a Cost of
Services Analysis (COSA) and determined that a
9% increase spread over two years was needed to
maintain levels of services and cover operational
costs.

Included in the reasons given for the
increase were:
• An increase in wholesale power costs from
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) of 3%
this year and at least an increase of 9% next
year.
• An increase of $3 per month added to
every customer’s facility charge to pay for
construction of a new headquarters facility,
which equates to a 2% increase in the rates.
• Increases in overall costs of goods, services
and materials, especially metal prices.
• Cost of Living adjustments in labor and
benefits costs.

The rate increase is expected to generate
approximately $329,000 in additional revenue
over the next twelve months

Farmer also noted that WOEC is still trying
to recover financially from three weather events
that were all declared FEMA disasters. Although
continued on page 18
School Project Steadily Moves Forward
Groundbreaking Tentatively Scheduled for December 3rd

The Vernonia Schools Project
is slowly working its way through the
red tape and and moving towards a
historic groundbreaking on what has
been known for the last three years as
an infamous date.

On December 3, 2007, the
Vernonia community was hit with
a devastating flood that damaged,
among other things, all three local
school buildings.

On December 3, 2010,
Vernonia District 47J intends to hold
an official groundbreaking ceremony
for their new K-12 campus high above
the flood plain.

Although nothing is set in
stone yet, that announcement of good
news came during the School Town
Hall meeting on September 28th.

Vernonia Superintendent Ken
Cox stated that the NEPA/FEMA buyout
process is moving forward. There will
be a Public Comment Meeting on
October 14, 2010, immediately after
the regular School Board meeting
that will address the Environmental
Assessment that has been prepared for
the new school site. Public comments
on the Environmental Report will be
taken at this time. Written comments
must be submitted no later than 5:00
P.M., November 2, 2010. Cox said
that FEMA is expediting their timeline
to have their review of the report and
any public comment done in a few
weeks. If no significant issues are
identified, the buyout process will
move forward-- meaning the District
would receive upwards of $10 million
towards their new school construction
and the project could break ground in
mid- to late November.

At the Town Hall, Cox also
introduced Steve Anderson of P&C
Construction, who has been chosen
as the project Construction Manager/
General Contractor. Anderson noted
that P&C Construction intends to
invite local contractors and sub-
contractors to a meeting in late October
and also intends to meet with residents
along Missouri Avenue to talk about
how construction will impact their
neighborhood.

The
Vernonia
Rural
Sustainability Center continues to
be a viable opportunity. Washington
Grade School Principal Aaron Miller
continues to head that project for
the district. Faculty members from
Portland State University and Oregon
State University have visited Vernonia
for a tour and to look at possibilities
within the community to create
new educational opportunities. The
District continues to look for possible
community partnerships and plans
include the possibility of extended
public use of the facility that would
include art and cultural programs.

Cox said he is hopeful that at
least part of the new building will be
complete in time for spring of 2012,
allowing the class of 2012 to graduate
from the new facility.