march8 2011
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
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volume5 issue5
Rebuilding Vernonia, Part I: The Rose Avenue Project
By Scott Laird
The community of Vernonia is currently in
the process of rebuilding significant pieces of its
infrastructure. Major projects are currently under
construction or in the planning stages. Over the next
few months, Vernonia’s Voice intends to take an in-
depth look at some of these projects and talk with the
people closely associated with them with the intent of
informing and educating the public. In Part I, we look
at the “Rose Avenue Project.”
move were the Vernonia Health Clinic--currently being
operated by Providence Health Services, the Vernonia
Senior Center, the Vernonia Cares Food Bank, and
WOEC—organizations that provide services for some
of our most vulnerable citizens—heat and electricity,
services for the elderly, those in need of food assistance
and those choosing to receive personal medical care in
their own community.
WOEC was able to find a suitable location,
purchase property and has already broken ground
on their construction projects. The Senior Center,
Health Center and Food Bank, all non-profits, have
been working through the long process of creating a
development plan and identifying suitable locations
and funding.
“We have been told by our current service
provider that they do not have the capacity to rebuild
if we have another flood,” says Vernonia Health Board
consultant, Heather Lewis. “We need to find a solution
to our situation.”
Finding that solution has proven to be a
challenge— three years after the Flood of 2007, all
three are still sitting in the flood zone, vulnerable to
being damaged again.
“All three organizations, if they had the ability
to just go down to U.S. Bank or Wauna Federal Credit
Union and borrow the money would just do that,” says
Vernonia’s Interim City Administrator, Bill Haack,
Most citizens of Vernonia have heard at least
something about the “Rose Avenue Project” in the
last year. The Rose Avenue Project is the proposed
development at the south end of town that would be
constructed adjacent to the new West Oregon Electric
Cooperative (WOEC) headquarters and would include
the new Vernonia Health Clinic, the Senior Center and
the Vernonia Cares Food Bank. Because the project is
still in the planning stages, not many details are known
by the general public about the ongoing planning
process. This has led to much speculation within the
community about what elements the project will or
won’t contain and to what level the City of Vernonia
will participate in its development.
The idea for something like the Rose Avenue
Project began after the Flood of 1996. Several
organizations within the community were
looking to relocate outside the flood zone, but
those moves never came to fruition
After
the Flood of December 2007, in order to stay
in compliance with National Flood Insurance
standards, the City began to prepare to enforce
its 1988 flood ordinance, that among other
At the February 22, 2011
things, mandates that substantially damaged
Vernonia City Council meeting,
structures must be elevated or demolished. This
Council, in a split vote, 3-2, voted
effectively dictates that three of the entities that
to begin a search process for City
provide essential services for the community
Administrator candidates.
must to move out of the flood zone. After the
Voting in support of
declarations of substantial damage, the idea of
beginning the search process were
moving certain services became not only a good
new Councilors Willow Burch and
idea, but necessary and the Rose Avenue Project
Marilyn Nicks, along with Councilor
took even greater significance and shape.
Kevin Hudson. Voting to offer the
Those mandated by city ordinance to
position to current Interim Pro Tem
City Administrator, Bill Haack, was
new Mayor Josette Mitchell and
Councilor Randy Parrow. Burch,
Nicks and Mitchell were all elected
this past November and took office in
January, 2011.
Haack has been serving as
Interim Pro Tem since the resignation
of previous Administrator Bob Young
in June, 2010. Haack has been
working under a Professional Services
Contract provided by Columbia
Pacific Economic Development
(ColPac). Council approved an
extension of that contract at their
January 3, 2011, meeting. That
extension is set to expire on June 30,
2011.
Council has been debating
what to do about the City Administrator
position for the last several weeks
in workshops and Council sessions,
meeting twice in January and twice
in February to specifically discuss the
City Administrator position. During
those sessions, Council discussed
three options: offer the regular City
Administrator position to Haack,
or begin a search process for new
candidates, either by paying the
who has been working with all three groups since
he was brought to town by Columbia County to help
with economic recovery in 2008. “Instead, since they
need to have the benefit of federal or state funding or
private philanthropy, they have to go through the long
and drawn-out process of getting in the queue and
than successfully managing the process to get those
resources. In addition, they each need to figure out
how to develop their projects.” Haack was named the
Interim City Administrator in June of 2010.
continued on page 5
St. Patrick’s Day
Parade!
March 17th
5:15 PM
at Pat Knight’s House
(across from the school)
Vernonia Council Votes to Begin Search for
City Administrator
inside
7
eagle
scout
9
taekwon-do
tournament
9
dr. gilmore
retires
League of Oregon Cities (LOC) to
assist with the process or doing the
process themselves. Using the LOC
would cost the city $6,000, along
with any other expenses the city
might incur to bring candidates to the
city for interviews.
After four workshops,
Council still has not reached a clear
decision about whether they want to
hire a full-time City Administrator
or whether they think someone can
perform the job on a part-time basis.
Haack has offered to work
full-time for the next year for $60,000
plus benefits, which the Council has
identified as a reasonable salary to
offer to a full time candidate-- a
salary they can likely afford for next
year. Previous City Administrator
Bob Young was paid $75,000.
Council met again in a
workshop prior to the February 22
meeting to discuss their options.
At the beginning of the workshop,
City Recorder Joann Glass read
three letters of support for Haack.
The first was a letter from city staff
signed by eight employees including
Police Chief Michael Conner, City
Planner Carole Connell, Finance
Officer Angie Handegard, Public
Works Foreman Jeff Burch and City
Recorder Joann Glass. Letters of
support were also read from Librarian
Nancy Burch, and from West Oregon
Electric Cooperative Director, Marc
Farmer.
“We would encourage you
all to consider what is currently on
the plate of the City and if bringing
in someone new who will have to
spend months getting familiar with
everything is the best choice for the
City and the community,” stated the
letter from staff.
Mayor Mitchell noted during
the discussion that she recently spoke
with the Mayor of Shady Cove, a city
that is similar in size to Vernonia.
“They are going through the same
thing right now and they had two
candidates, neither one of which they
liked,” stated Mitchell.
During the workshop,
Councilor Burch noted that she has not
been happy with the communication
from the City Administrator. “The
communication level from City
Administrator to Council at this point
has been poor.”
Councilor Parrow advocated
for hiring Haack. “We are going to go
so far backwards without Bill,” said
Parrow. “The learning curve is going
to be tremendous. We have someone
who is willing to put the hours in for
less pay and we’re sitting here talking
about hiring someone half-time. The
work is not going to get done.”
Councilors Burch, Hudson
and Nicks all stated that they felt they
needed to trust a search process.
When the official vote was
taken during the regular Council
meeting, many members of the
audience stood and left the Chambers.
Council was scheduled to
begin the search process with the
assistance of the LOC on March 7 th .
