april12 2011
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
free
volume5 issue7
An Example of Community: Governor Vernonia Police Officer
Subject of Conduct Review
Salutes Vernonia’s Efforts
By Jill Hult
Dr. Ken Cox, Superintendent of the
Vernonia 47J School District, welcomed Oregon
Governor John Kitzhaber and many other
distinguished guests to celebrate the future of
Vernonia on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.
The celebration highlighted the award
of a FEMA grant in the amount of $11.2 million
dollars for the mitigation of the current Vernonia
schoolgrounds, which will be converted into
city parklands. The FEMA funds are also being
used for the relocation and construction of the
District’s new K-12 school campus that is out of
the flood plain.
The day started with a continental
breakfast in the cafeteria, where Dr. Cox updated
the guests on the progress of the new school
construction. The site has been cleared of timber,
some leveling has been completed and forms for
the footings of the building can be seen. The
building is slated to be completed by September
of 2012. He announced that we have reached
80 percent of the needed funds to complete
the project. “This is phenomenal, considering
fourteen months ago we were at zero,” said
Cox. He went on to say that “this is thanks to
the commitment of community members for the
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber visited Vernonia
on March 29. Photo by Alan MacComb.
13 million dollar bond, the salvation today of the
FEMA grant, and to other donors who are making
significant progress. We have many things in
the works thanks to the Metropolitan Group and
the Oregon Solutions who continue to make this
Veteran Photos Needed
Memorial Day is just around the corner
and we need your help. We would like to bring
recognition and honor to our own Vernonia
Veterans.
During the Memorial Day Service
we are planning to display photos and short
biographies including branch of service, tour
of duty, length of service, etc. of each man and
woman who served their country with courage
inside
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and distinction.
We would love for you to provide
copies of photos of family members and friends,
preferably in uniform. If you must send an
original it will be returned.
At this time when we honor all veterans
wouldn’t it be wonderful to get to know our own
heroes?
Please mail to: Shirlee Daughtry, 1800
Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064 (503) 429-
9002 or Diane Marusa, 18085 SW Granada Dr.,
Aloha, OR 97007 (503) 807-8411
According
to
a
memo handed out by Interim
City
Administrator
Bill
Haack (provided during the
March 21, 2011, Vernonia
City
Council
Meeting)
the Oregon Department of
Public Safety Standards and
Training (DPSST), following
an investigation, intends to
conduct a policy review of a
member of the Vernonia Police
Department.
According to the
memo, Haack, following the
receipt of the information,
initiated a parallel personnel
disciplinary process and
placed the officer who is
under investigation on paid
administrative leave as of
4:00 P.M., March 21, 2011.
Although the officer under
investigation was not named
in the memo or during the
discussion during the Council
meeting, both Vernonia Police
Chief Michael Conner and
Patrolman Shawn Carnahan
were present and in uniform
during the meeting, leaving
those in the room to assume the
officer in question is current
Vernonia Police Sergeant Mike
Kay. The Vernonia Police
Department currently only has
three officers.
Kay has previously
served in Vernonia as Interim
Police Chief and Police
Captain.
The memo states,
“During the DPSST review
process and the city’s personnel
process, the city of Vernonia
intends to protect the integrity
of those processes, as well as
the members of the Vernonia
Police Department and the City
of Vernonia.”
“This is a State
process, not our process,”
said Haack about the DPSST
review in a separate interview
in early April, “and I am not
privy to date when the review
will occur. What the City has
done is open our own parallel
process to take a look at the
information that has been
brought to our attention by
the State to inform us what
options we may need to select
should disciplinary action be
warranted.”
Haack
requested
Council attend a special
Executive Session on March
28th to consult with legal
counsel about legal rights and
duties regarding litigation
likely to be filed and to discuss
information and records
exempt from public inspection.
“As soon as the City
has more information, we will
bring it back to City Council,”
said Haack. “I am anticipating
that we will have more
information sometime in May,
2011.”
As of press time, the
officer in question remains on
paid administrative leave.
Vernonia To Create Baseline Measurement
of Community Vitality
What difference will all
of the community projects make
in Vernonia? To help answer that
question, the Vernonia Economic
Development Council has partnered
with Extension faculty members
from Oregon State University to
create a series of indicators that
reflect the community’s economic,
environmental, social, and capacity
goals.
The process, known as the
Vital Vernonia Indicator Project,
will use community input to
create measureable benchmarks
of Vernonia’s progress towards its
vision for a healthy, sustainable
future. The project will produce a
baseline measurement of vitality and,
in the future, the community will be
able to continue to monitor how these
indicators change.
Locally, Vernonia Economic
Development Council members
Sally Harrison, Karin Davenport, and
Chris Scheuerman will be directing
this process and will organize
opportunities for residents to provide
input to the vision and indicators.
Additional community members will
be asked to serve on an advisory
committee for this project.
The community will also be
asked to collaborate during the data
collection process if some indicators
are based on surveys. This project
was initiated in December of 2010
and is still in the planning phases.
The final results, which show how
the community is doing on each of its
goals, will be presented in late 2012.
As Vernonia undergoes many
changes, the indicator project may
provide information residents and
decision-makers need to plan and
assess the results of implemented
plans against the community-wide
vision.
This project has successfully
been completed through community
partnerships in both Wallowa
and Tillamook counties in 2009.
Tillamook has used the indicator
report to improve and inform local
decision-making.
Oregon State Extension
Service has provided the funding to
make this project possible. For more
information, contact OSU Extension
agents Social Demographer Lena
Etuk (541) 737-6121, Community
Economist Mallory Rahe (541) 737-
1403, or Extension Forester Amy
Grotta (503) 397-3462.
