city news
april24
2012
Vernonia City News...
At the Special City Council Meeting
on April 9, 2012:
Council Approves RFP for School De-
molition—Council discussed compli-
ance requirements and directed City
Administrator Bill Haack to sign docu-
ments for the RFP for demolition of the
current school campus.
Council Approves Goals—Council ap-
proved a list of goals for the City by de-
partment.
At the April 16, 2012 City Council
Meeting:
Council Approves Waiving School
Construction Fees—Council autho-
rized City Administrator Bill Haack
to waive Water and Sewer connection
hook-up fees for the Vernonia School
District for the new school construction
project. According to Haack, when the
construction project first began the City
and School District never established
what those fees would be and conse-
quently provided the School District
with the assumption there would be no
fees. According to Haack, the City has
no record of why this happened. Haack
told Council that the City usually charg-
es new construction projects for staff
time to physically make these connec-
tions, but that the school project did all
the work themselves with the City Pub-
lic Works foreman observing the work.
Council Approves Update to Mas-
ter Capital Plan—Council authorized
City Administrator Haack to negotiate a
contract with Tetra Tech to update the
City Master Capital Plan (MCP) and
SDC Fee Schedule. According to Haack
the current MCP was written in 1999
and MCP’ s should be updated every
four to ten years. According to Haack
several of the assumptions used to create
the plan are no longer accurate, like pop-
ulation growth estimates. Because of the
Volunteers Needed for City Committees
City’s interest in creating an alternative
SDC fee schedule, it is prudent to update
the MCP at this time. Haack also noted
that work that has been either recently
completed or planned to be completed in
the near future will be used in the pro-
cess, including the Transportation Sys-
tem Update Plan, Wastewater Facility
Improvement Plan and proposed Master
Park Plan. The proposed scope of work
presented by Tetra Tech lists four phases
to the project. Cost for Phase I, which
includes an initial scoping and review of
how the City should use it’s MCP and
establishes the sequence for updating the
components of the plan, is to be no more
than $10,000. Funding would come
from City SDC Funds.
Council Approves Application Exten-
sion—Council approved a suggestion
from City Administrator Haack to re-
quest a six month extension on a DEQ
Clean Water State Revolving Fund Ap-
plication for $5 million. According to
Haack, in 2009 the City submitted an
application for a line of credit with DEQ
for completion of the Wastewater Fa-
cility Update project. That application
was eligible for 36 months and expires
in July 2012. This extension holds the
City’s place with DEQ.
The City already has a loan
with DEQ for $8.6 million and has al-
ready spent $4.3 million on Phase I of
the Wastewater project. The City has a
remaining balance of $4.3 million avail-
able to spend on the completion of the
project, but is still unsure of the final
costs. If those costs exceed the balance
on the current loan, the City could need
to use additional funds provided by the
DEQ line of credit.
Council Discusses School Project
SDC’s—City Administrator Haack
brought forward to Council for infor-
mational purposes a letter he sent to the
Vernonia School District (VSD) con-
cerning System Development Charges
(SDC’s) associated with construction
of the new school campus. The City
5
and VSD have been negotiating a final
cost for approximately one year and
have reached an agreement on the final
figures. The negotiated SDC fee as-
sessment is $139, 159, which is down
from the original amount of $261,144,
a reduction of $121,985. According to
Haack’s report, the District will present
this to the School Board, and it will be
determined whether to pay this amount
in full or to accept a payment schedule.
Council Fails to Act on Traffic Pattern
Change in Park—Council chose to take
no action on a request from Police Chief
Mike Conner to change the traffic pat-
tern of a portion of the roadway through
Anderson Park. The roadway is current-
ly one-way –the proposed change would
make a section of the road two-way.
Chief Conner had been contacted by
Bill Sword, an adjacent property owner,
who travels through the park to reach his
private property. Sword expressed con-
cerns about safety issues with the current
traffic pattern. Chief Conner told Coun-
cil he found no concerns with changing
the traffic pattern in the park. There was
not enough Council support for a motion
to make the change.
Council Approves Resolution to Sup-
port Pinchot Institute—Council ap-
proved Resolution 12-12 supporting the
Pinchot Institute Forest Health—Human
Health Initiative. The Pinchot Institute
recently launched the innovative initia-
tive to address concerns by private forest
landowner by connecting new markets
for forest carbon credits with health care
coverage options through sustainable
management of forest land. The Pin-
chot Institute has targeted Vernonia and
Columbia County as a pilot area for the
project. Vernonia Councilor Bruce Mc-
Nair voted against supporting the proj-
ect.
Mayor Appoints Cedergreen—With
approval from Council, Mayor Josette
Mitchell appointed Janelle Cedergreen
to the City Library Committee.
The City of Vernonia will have three offices open for
election in the General Election on November 6th, 2012:
Vernonia Mayor
Two Year Term
Vernonia Council Member Four Year Term
Vernonia Council Member Four Year Term
Election Packets are available at the office of
the City Recorder, 1001 Bridge St. Vernonia,
OR 97064.
Vernonia
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Mon, Wed & Saturday
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Call for Appointments
(503) 429-1612
Or 24 hr. Emergency Number (503) 397-6470
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Original nomination petitions can be filed no
sooner than May 30, 2012 and filed no later
than August 23, 2012 by 4:00 PM with the City
Recorder.
For more information call Joann Glass, City
Recorder at 503-429-5291, ext. 106.
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