city news
june26
2012
Vernonia City News...
At the June 18, 2012 City Council
Meeting
Council Approves Street Closures and
Beer Garden for Jamboree—Council
approved a request from the Friendship
Jamboree and Logging Show Committee
for use of several streets, part of an alley
way and a vacant lot during the 56th
Jamboree festival on August 3-5. The
request included Adams Avenue from
Bridge Street to Maple Street, Park
Drive, Weed Avenue from Bridge Street
to Maple Street on Saturday during the
parade, the alley way between the All
In Pub and the future Subway for a beer
garden, the use of the lot next to Shay
Park for a picnic area, the use of the lot
at the end of Maple St. for two garbage
dumpsters, and the use of the vacant lot
across from the former WOEC building
for vendor parking. Council also
approved a request from the All In Pub
to host a beer garden.
Police Chief to End Take Home Car
Program—Vernonia Police Chief Mike
Conner informed Council that he intends
to end the ‘Take Home Car Program” for
VPD officers in the next few months.
Conner cited the fact that his staff is
close to being at full force and it is no
5
longer necessary for officers to be on-
call and needing to respond from home.
Conner stated that the Chief would still
take a department vehicle home and be
the responding officer.
partners in the project, including ODOT,
NW Natural, Frontier Communications
and West Oregon Electric Cooperative,
all reported that city staff did “an
exemplary job” on the project.
Haack Commends Public Works
Workers-- City Administrator Bill
Haack commended the work of the
Public Works Department during a 300
hour project to replace over 400 feet
of water line along Bridge Street and
Missouri Avenue. The line replacement
was required as part of the roadway
improvement project near the new
school campus. Haack noted that all
Council Approves Ordinance Banning
All Smoking at Dewey Pool—Council
approved Ordinance 882 establishing a
no smoking area around the swimming
hole. The new ordinance includes
language that prohibits the use of all
tobacco products including nicotine
delivery devices such as e-cigarettes in
the area.
Vernonia to Receive EPA Brownfields Funding
EPA grants expected to help “breathe new life” into former industrial sites
The City of Vernonia, will receive a $200,000
Community-Wide
Assessment
Environmental
Protection Agency Brownsfield Grant which will be
used to inventory brownfield sites throughout the city,
perform environmental site assessments, and conduct
community outreach.
EPA Brownfields Grants fund site assessments
and site cleanups, supporting local efforts to clean
up contamination or otherwise make land useable for
housing, community space or commercial development.
EPA also provides often cash-strapped communities a
much-needed boost to bring abandoned lands back into
productive use.
According to Vernonia City Administrator
Bill Haack, the City of Vernonia will receive $100,000
for hazardous substances and $100,000 for petroleum
assessments. Community-wide hazardous substances
grant funds will be used to inventory brownfield sites
throughout the city and conduct up to three Phase I and
four Phase II environmental site assessments. Petroleum
grant funds will be used to inventory brownfield sites
throughout the city and conduct up to three Phase I and
two Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant
funds also will be used to develop cleanup plans as well
as conduct community outreach activities.
The City will enter into a grant agreement with
EPA and establish a revised multi-year work plan that
will inform the City and EPA on the plan to allocate
resources. The City will establish a community based
ad hoc committee to facilitate community input.
The EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers
states, communities, and other stakeholders to work
together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is
real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability
Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed
to help states and communities around the country
cleanup and revitalize brownfields sites. Under this law,
EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants
through four competitive grant programs: assessment
grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and
job training grants. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through
a separate mechanism.
Meet Your Police: Shawn Carnahan continued from front page
“It’s been a rough stretch,” says
Carnahan. “Conner and I really worked
together--it was a real team effort
between the two of us, because we had
to make it work.”
Carnahan is obviously happy to
have the two new officers on staff and
will be working with them as their Field
Training Officer. Both new officers are
expected to be available to take shifts
on their own starting this summer.
“They are both doing real good,” says
Carnahan. “Matt is a little older than
Brent and so he obviously has some
more life experience, and you can see
that in the way he talks with people.
That’s not a knock on Brent—it will
come for him.”
Upcoming Vernonia City Hall
Closures and City Council Meetings
City Hall will be closed:
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Upcoming City Council Meetings are scheduled for:
Monday, July 2, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Dates and Times subject to change due to conflicts of schedules
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Carnahan has also been pleased working
under Mike Conner as the new Chief.
“He’s an eleven to work for,” says
Carnahan. “He is by far one of the best
bosses I’ve worked for and it’s a real
privilege to work for him.”
Officer Carnahan is also
assisting Chief Conner with some
administrative duties. Currently he is
in charge of the vehicle fleet--taking
responsibility for vehicle maintenance.
He is also in charge of evidence for the
department.
The next step for Carnahan
in the VPD would be a move up to
Sergeant. Currently the department does
have that position, although currently it
is not filled. “In a small department you
want to have goals for people to meet,
because if you don’t you end up with
a high turnaround rate, and we don’t
want that,” says Carnahan. “I hope that
someday I can be considered for that
position.”
Carnahan is forty-two years
old and currently resides in Scappoose
with his wife and son, who is eighteen,
a step son who is fifteen and his seven
year old daughter. Carnahan says he
started collecting Hot Wheels and other
miniature cars for his son when he was
young and it has continued to be a hobby
for him, with a focus on public safety
vehicles. The walls of his office at the
VPD are lined with them. “They are
a good conversation piece, they help
break the ice, especially when you are
interviewing kids,” he says.
He and his wife both own Harley
Davidson motorcycles and love to spend
their free time riding those. Carnahan
jokes that during the last year his wife
has probably put more miles on hers then
he has put on his. He says he also enjoys
traveling down to Florence to spend time
with his father and grandmother.
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