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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2012)
community A Conversation with Bill Haack and move into those houses. So I’ve had a preliminary discussion with City Council and they have asked me to take a look at System Development Charges (SDC’s) to determine whether our SDC fee structure needs to be modified and/ or if there might be a way to create in- centives related to the fee structure. So I will be bringing back to Council some modifications to our SDC charges which may help us figure out a way to reduce the cost of developing a house by $10,000. So we are going to explore if we can develop a way to delay or defer that SDC cost to a future date. The final priority on my A list is that, it is the goal of the City to pay attention to all of the elements of the school construction project. The school has in effect five projects that are all connected to simply building a new school—they are building a new school campus, they are going to demolish their existing school, they are going to build a new park on that site, related to build- ing the new school campus--they are improving the roads associated with that new school and they, as a consequence of the land swap that happened for the new campus, they are required to miti- gate wetlands at another location. So the City and the school are inter-related on all five of these projects in a variety of ways. Between now and December all five of these projects will have reached significant conclusion. In all of those pieces the City and the school have re- spective responsibilities and are partners on all five projects—they are all moving together, they are all time sensitive. So we will be working on that. VV: The Rose Avenue Project was in- tended to house the Senior Center, Food Bank and Health Clinic on the land the City acquired next to the new West Or- egon Electric Headquarters. We haven’t heard anything about that project for a while—will it ever be built? BH: Forever is a really long time (laugh- ing)! No, it will be built. I think the is- sue is that the City was successful in getting two acres of land donated from the State of Oregon, but we have been unsuccessful with another agency at the State to help us mutually resolve a struc- tural problem which is that the City has too many open CDBG (Community De- velopment Block Grant) Grants, which disallows us from making an applica- tion for this project. And we are simply stuck until we can find a way around that problem. We are planning to bring to- gether all the key stakeholders involved with the project very soon in a meeting. We are also working with the Pinchot Institute and International WoodFuels on a USDA Woody Biofuels Utilization Grant to design a conceptual biomass thermal heating hub to be installed on the site, so that is moving forward. We may also pursue a State Special Public Works Grant for road improvements. I will be apprising the Council of the status of the Rose Avenue Project soon and if they accept this project as a goal and direct me that this is a priority I will spend more time on it. VV: The Vernonia Police Department has a new permanent Chief and three of- ficers. Are you satisfied with the situa- tion with our Police Department? BH: We have a recently promoted to Chief of Police, Mike Conner, a gentle- man who has been with the City for a number of years already. Chief Conner has earned my respect and has demon- strated to the City that he is willing to take on the challenge of being the Chief in this small town. We have two officers in place who are in training, one through early February and one through early April, so it won’t be until April that we have a full four-person force that is fully engaged with the community. I think it is important for the public to realize that we are still not fully staffed. When they have all been here, what I have seen of them is that they are collectively working together and talking with each other. I think they are demonstrating to the com- munity that we will have a value-added community policing model established in this town that supports and protects the community. I think we are already starting to see that—our police force has been involved in some high value inves- tigations in recent weeks with good out- comes and we are seeing the caliber of the people we have put on the street. VV: We don’t currently have any police officers who live here in town. Do you see that as an issue in any way? BH: I don’t see it as an issue. Over the years I have been made aware that there are generally two schools of thought on this question. One side is that it’s great to have police officers, teachers, and em- ployees all living where they work—that is a great model for civic engagement. What we have in Vernonia is not that dif- ferent than what we see in other commu- nities—we have people that either com- mute out for their work or people, like our police officers, who commute in for their work. Sometimes police officers are more uniquely challenged to hav- ing their personal life live side-by-side with their work life. I am of the opinion that it’s important to give police officers january24 2012 15 continued from page 13 the ability to go home from work, and be home from their work and a chance to simply be at rest with their families, which gives them a sense of support that they may need and in fact may help them be a good employee here. What I have heard is that in this town in the past po- lice officers were called on 24/7—peo- ple would come to their door at home or call them on their personal phone. Right now we don’t require it and I don’t see it as critical—I don’t see it as being a loss of service to the community. They meet the standards set in the industry as far as their ability to respond to an emergency. VV: Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about today that you expect to be- come a priority? BH: I’ve already talked a little bit about the budget. It is simply an unknown how entrenched the economic downturn that we are all suffering through is, or how long it will last. If in fact we as a city don’t find ways to increase revenues in the next three to five years—if rev- enues stay stable and expenses increase there will come a pinch point at some time that will impact services provided. It is something that I am staying aware of and paying attention to. The current City Council is rightfully asking the cor- rect questions as we head into the budget process this year, specifically am I pay- ing attention to our costs and are there any costs I can manage differently and reduce? And are there any revenues that are likely to change? I will need to be finding ways to forecast revenue streams against expenses to try to de- termine if there is a pinch point in three to five years and if so, what do I need to be mindful of today. Holding the line on salaries and keeping external costs neutral--we can’t keep doing that. Cost will creep up, that is just the reality. And taking forty houses off the property tax roll will impact revenues. That is why I am looking at an SDC incentive to pro- mote development—to begin to increase property tax revenue. I am excited that we are moving forward with the Wastewater Facility Improvement Project. I am hopeful that the outcome of the school demolition and the construction of the New Spencer Park will generate a ten to twenty year plan to complete a unified concept for the 180 acres of land that will be your central park in the center of this city and that it will become a viable and prof- itable and used facility by the city and the region—a place that people come to. And I’m hopeful that we as a commu- nity, specifically the downtown business community, finds its economic feet and that things begin to re-establish them- selves in the city. It’s been a long pro- cess—the flood and the downturn in the economy really slapped this town pretty hard. It’s been heart wrenching to watch the city and the entrepreneurs suffer and sometimes fail. I am simply hope- ful that we can find ways to work col- lectively together to improve things. I think the people in this community have already been on a roller coaster ride here since back in the sixties, and this is just another roll on the roller coaster. You have been on the high points and you’ve been in the low points and you will live through it. It’s my job to be mindful of those things that are within my control to help promote this towns future. Mariolino’s Pizza & Grill Serving breakfast, lunch, dinner & ice cream Phone (503) 429.2617 Kitchen Countertops Fax (503) 429.0941 Fireplace & Furniture ABSOLUTE@AGALIS.NET Tubs & Vanities www.absolutemarbleandgraniteinc.net Family owned and operated for over 40 years. 721 Madison Avenue, Vernonia (503) 429-5018
