city news
At the June 20. 2011 Vernonia City
Council Meeting:
Council Can Not Agree on
Replacement—Before the start of
the June 20 th City Council Meeting,
Council met in a workshop and agreed to
interview all five applicants for the open
City Council seat, vacated by the recall
of Kevin Hudson. The five applicants
were Brett Costley, Ilene Grady, Ed
Johnson, Victoria Peters and Kim
Tierney. Interviews with the applicants
were scheduled for Tuesday June 21.
After the interviews, Council could
not agree on who to appoint to fill the
seat. Another round of interviews was
scheduled for Friday June 24 with the
two applicants that were the Councils
top choices: Brett Costley and Victoria
Peters. Council was again unable to
reach a decision. They will revisit the
issue on Monday June 27 at the start of a
special meeting.
Council Approves IGA for School
Acquisition Project—After a workshop,
Council approved an Intergovernmental
Agreement (IGA) between the City of
Vernonia, Columbia County, and the
Vernonia School District 47J for the
implementation of the Vernonia School
District Acquisition Project. The project
is being funded by a FEMA Flood
Mitigation Assistance grant; the IGA
collects in one place all the various
obligations and conditions imposed by
june28
2011
Vernonia City News...
the grant and allocates responsibility to on at the time Council terminated his
contract on May 2, 2011. Council had
the parties involved.
requested Haack provide them with a
Council Approves Transportation comprehensive list of ongoing projects,
Plan Update—After a public hearing, contacts, and other pertinent information.
Council adopted the Vernonia Current Interim City Administrators
Transportation Plan Update and passed Jim Johnson and Josette Mitchell have
Ordinance #875 which amended divided responsibility for temporarily
the Vernonia Comprehensive Plan, overseeing the projects.
the Vernonia Transportation System
Plan, and the Title 9 Land Use and Council Approves Street Closures
for Jamboree—Council approved a
Development Code.
The Transportation Plan Update request for street closures from the
began in August of 2010 and focused on Jamboree Committee. Along with the
projects that would update the roadway street closures the Jamboree Committee
plan and on bicycle and pedestrian also asked for and received permission
improvements, including incorporating to close part of the Alley next to the All
the “Safe Routes to School” program to In Pub and Eatery for a beer garden and
provide safe access to the new Vernonia use of two vacant lots for vendors, one
K-12 school complex. Overall the plan next to Shay Park and one at the corner
lists thirteen potential Bike/Pedestrian of Bridge and Washington Streets.
project improvements and six potential
Council Discusses Requests From
Roadway project improvements.
Airport
Committee—Council
Council Discusses City Administrator discussed three requests from the Airport
Contract—Council held a discussion Committee. Council approved a request
and gave direction to staff about what to retroactively grandfather tie down and
terms they would like included in the ingress/egress rates for Keith Crimin
Employment Agreement to be offered and Tim Bero until the Committee can
to a newly hired Permanent City revisit the fee schedule at the Airport.
Council granted this request for six
Administrator.
months. Council also heard that Mike
Council
Receives
Project Hartzell is working with the County
Summaries—Council received a list Building Department to make approved
and information about the thirty-two repairs to Hanger #1 and bring it up to
projects that previous Interim City code so he can lease it from the city.
Administrator Bill Haack was working Council gave Hartzell permission to
5
proceed. Council also heard a request
to expand the membership of the Airport
Committee from five to seven members;
Mayor Josette Mitchell stated that she
is working with the City Attorney on
this request and will bring an amended
ordinance to a future meeting.
Reserve Officer is On Duty—Police
Sergeant Mike Conner reported that
Reserve Police Officer Brent Thompson
has begun working for the Vernonia
Police Department.
New Legal Partner Introduced-- City
Attorney Alex Sosnkowski introduced
Rubin Cleveland, her new partner in her
law firm.
Burch Makes Statement—After saying
she didn’t have a prepared statement,
Councilor Willow Burch stated the
following concerning the recall of Kevin
Hudson. “It made me sad to see the
recall and the way it happened and what
happened in our community. I just hope
we can come together in our community
and work together and just see if we
can’t keep pushing forward. This is a
tough time and I really, really care about
Vernonia and I don’t like seeing it torn
up like this. I’m working hard to be
your representative and we’ll go forward
from here and see what happens.”
Burch also said she would try to
prepare something official.
Council Can’t Agree on Replacement or Administrator
continued from front page
Prior to the start of the June
20 th City Council Meeting, Council met
in a workshop and agreed to interview
all five applicants for the open City
Council seat; the five applicants were
Costley, Ilene Grady, Edward Johnson,
Peters and Kim Tierney.
If Council can agree on a
selection, that person would hold that
seat for the rest of Hudson’s unfulfilled
term. The seat will be open for election
in November of 2012.
Council also held interviews
for the permanent City Administrator
position on Thursday June 23. The
League of Oregon Cities (LOC) had
helped the City Council narrow the
field of applicants to three, who were
invited for interviews. One candidate
removed his name from consideration
prior to the interviews. The final two
applicants were Dennis Rhodes, from
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
Blaine, WA., and former Vernonia
Interim City Administrator Pro Tem,
William Haack. Haack’s contract with
the City as Interim was terminated
without cause on May 2 in a 3-2 vote
by the Vernonia City Council.
Both applicants met with three
panels during the interview process: a
citizen panel who were selected by the
four City Council members; a panel
of city staff department heads; and the
four City Council members. During
his interview with the City Council
panel, Rhodes informed the panel
that he has been tracking and is aware
of what has been happening in the
community, referencing the recall of
Hudson and potential recall of Burch
and Nicks. He stated he has some
concerns about the direction the city is
going. “This is a Council issue, and
Council has got to resolve their issues,”
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said Rhodes. “You couldn’t decide the
other night on a fifth [Councilor]. So
you still have to pick a fifth. And there
is s possible recall coming up here in
July, which means two more might not
be here. So there could be a whole
new Council effectively—three new
members. That’s something to me that
is critically important—who do I work
for? I need to learn who I am working
for. And I don’t know when I’m going
to know that yet.”
Council held a discussion in
Executive Session after the interviews
and upon returning to open session
announced that no decision was
reached to offer either applicant the
position and they would be waiting
for a future date to make any further
decision, probably not until after
August 1 st .
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