city news
march13
2012
Vernonia City News...
At the March 5, 2012 City Council
Meeting:
uled to present the Budget Message on
April 3 rd . The Committee is then sched-
uled to meet on each successive Tues-
Council Discusses Water Rate Sched- day evening until they complete their
ule Changes—After accepting a recom- work of creating a proposed budget to
mendation from the City Public Works be adopted by the City Council before
Committee, Council discussed the rec- June 30, 2012. All meeting are currently
ommendation, made changes to the scheduled for 6:00 PM at the Vernonia
proposal and asked City Administrator Community Learning Center.
Bill Haack to provide them with more
information. Council then scheduled a Council Adopts Emergency Plan—
special meeting on March 12 at 7:00 PM Based on a recommendation by the
to review the additional information. A current Emergency Preparedness Com-
Public Hearing is scheduled for March mittee, Council adopted the Columbia
19 at 6:00 PM prior to the regular City County All Hazards Mitigation Plan as
Council Meeting where the Council will the official Vernonia Emergency Opera-
hear public testimony on proposed rate tions Plan. The current approved Emer-
changes. (See article on front page)
gency Operations Plan for Vernonia was
written in 2005 and is out of date. The
Council Discusses Budget Schedule— Committee has been working to update
Council was presented with a proposed the current city plan, but agreed, with in-
schedule for the City Budget process put from Columbia County Emergency
for fiscal year 2012-13. According to Operations Director Peter Tassoni that
the schedule, which is still being final- the County plan is more comprehensive
ized, the City Budget Committee, which and would meet Vernonia’s needs in a di-
is made up of the five members of City saster situation. According to Vernonia
Council and five citizen members, is Police Chief Mike Conner, a member of
scheduled to begin the process with a the Vernonia Emergency Preparedness
preliminary meeting on March 13, 2012. Committee, the City does plan to contin-
City Budget Officer Bill Haack is sched- ue work to update and eventually adopt
their own plan.
Council Establishes Emergency Pre-
paredness Committee—Council passed
Resolution 10-12 which officially estab-
lishes an Emergency Preparedness Com-
mittee for the City of Vernonia and pre-
scribes its powers and duties.
Mayor Appoints Brown to Emergen-
cy Preparedness Committee—With
approval from Council, Mayor Josette
Mitchell appointed Mark Brown to
the Vernonia Emergency Preparedness
Committee.
Council Adopts LEP and Section 3
Plans—Council adopted Resolution 07-
12, a Limited English Proficiency Plan,
which establishes protocols for the City
for communications with customers and
vendors who do not speak or read Eng-
lish with proficiency.
Council also adopted Resolution
08-12, the Section 3 Plan, to comply with
requirements by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
5
lic Works Committee, spoke against a
recommendation from the Public Works
Committee that was on the Agenda to be
Discussed by Council during this meet-
ing.
Jim Tierney gave Council an
update from Columbia County Flood
Recovery (CCFR) on the impact on
Substantially Damaged Structures in
Vernonia after the 2007 flood. Accord-
ing to Tierney’s report, 210 homes have
been reviewed by CCFR, 134 were
found to be Substantially Damaged and
90% of those are expected to be cleared
by CCFR. Tierney expects 13 structures
to remain that will require enforcement
by the City of Vernonia.
Council Meets Sheriff Candidate—
City Council heard a presentation from
Dave Fuller who is running for Colum-
bia County Sheriff. Fuller is a twenty-
eight year veteran of the Columbia
County Sheriff’s Department, where he
has served as a school resource officer,
on the Columbia Enforcement Narcotics
Team, as a patrol deputy, as a temporary
Sergeant, and is currently the Columbia
Topics From the Floor—Sam Potter, River Patrol deputy. He lives in Scap-
who is a member of the Vernonia Pub- poose.
City of Vernonia Considers Changes to Water Rates continued from front page
ing a meter multiplier that varies the base rate based on assess need for in/out of town differential, (5) assess
meter size (e.g. 0.5”, 0.75”, 1.0”, 1.5”, 2.0”, 4.0” and need for stand-alone commercial rate, and (6) estab-
6.0”). The base rate will vary by meter size as will the lish a reserve and annual index. In addition, OAWU
amount of water included in the base rate. The com- took analysis produced by the Public Works Committee
modity charge under review is a flat rate that kicks in members Dale Webb and Roger Lindsley.
after the base rate allowance is used and charges the
customer by the amount
of units used.
OAWU reviewed
the City of Vernonia ex-
isting rate structure, and
took as direction the City
The Vernonia Public Library Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Council goals of estab-
is pleased to announce the books The activities relating to this book are
lishing a rate based on
and activities that will comprise The a joint undertaking between Vernonia
the following assump-
Vernonia Community Reads for 2012. High School and library staff and will
tions: (1) water fund bud-
Funded by a joint grant from The include a food drive, discussions, and
get of $550,000, (2) base
Columbia County Cultural Coalition art projects.
rate plus up to five tier
and The Friends of the Vernonia Library, Adults will be reading Craig Lesley’s
blocks, (3) incorporate
the ultimate goal of the project is to books—especially The Sky Fisherman
a meter multiplier, (4)
create and perpetuate an ongoing love with Mr. Lesley reading from and
of books, the arts and the humanities.
discussing his writing Saturday, April
Youngsters will be reading and 14 at 4:00 PM in the library.
participating in an activity related
Several copies of each of these
to Addie Boswell’s book, The Rain titles are available in the library. The
Upcoming City Council Meetings are scheduled for:
Stomper. Ms. Boswell will be at the public is encouraged to read the selected
library Tuesday, April 10 at 3:30 PM to books, take part in the associated
Monday, March 19, 2012
do an interactive reading, talk about how activities and enjoy the art work and
Monday, April 2, 2012
the book was made and lead a drawing projects displayed during National
Monday, April 16, 2012
activity on character development.
Library Week—April 8-14.
Dates and Times subject to change due to conflicts of schedules
Young adults will be reading The
The demand charge or base rate comprises
those costs associated with serving customers irrespec-
tive of the amount of water used. The City of Vernonia
water utility demand charges include meter reading,
water billing, accounting, collections, maintenance,
capital costs, metering, and management. “The City
water service is the equivalent of managing the busi-
ness of providing water,” says Vernonia City Adminis-
trator Bill Haack.
The commodity charge is a per unit fee based
on units of water (one unit of water equals 1000 gal-
lons). This charge captures system costs that tend to
vary with the total water used plus those operations and
maintenance expenses and capital costs associated with
service to customers under average and peak load con-
ditions. Typically commodity charges recover O & M
expenses of supply, treatment, pumping, and distribu-
tion.
The alternative rate structure under review is
similar in structure to the existing rate schedule, add-
Upcoming Vernonia City Council Meetings
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On the Shelves: What’s
Happening at the Vernonia Library
